Mount Mercy Academy recently celebrated two important events related to its founding and history. The school celebrated Mercy Day on Sept. 24 and recognized Catherine McAuley’s birthday on Sept. 29.
Mercy Day is the feast that honors the day that Catherine McAuley founded the religious order, the Sisters of Mercy. It is also the feast day of Our Lady of Mercy. On this day in 1827, the House of Mercy on Baggot Street was opened as a school for young girls and residence for homeless women and girls, marking the formal beginning of Catherine McAuley’s mission of mercy. Today the Sisters of Mercy are present in 46 countries, working to actively share Catherine McAuley’s legacy with people around the world.
The students and staff participated in several different activities during Mercy Day. The day began with ice-breaker activities among small groups of students from different grades, facilitated by members of the senior class. The students then made joke cards to be sent to local nursing homes. An outside mass following all the protocols of social distancing was then held on school grounds.
The remainder of the day consisted of fun activities such as Mercy Bingo and chalk drawing outside the school and convent. The students used the chalk to highlight the critical concerns of the Sisters of Mercy. The critical concerns include to stand in solidarity with immigrants, to reverence the Earth, to practice nonviolence, to deepen response to racism and to embrace particular concerns for women. In addition, students created chalk squares to honor the Sisters of Mercy who were celebrating their jubilee anniversaries.
Catherine McAuley was born in Dublin, Ireland on Sept. 29, 1778. The school celebrated during lunches with ice cream treats.
Both celebrations were spearheaded by the school’s campus minister, Mary Colby.
