“Them ladies with sheets over their heads ain’t so bad.” So spoke a visitor to one of the clinics at St. Joseph’s Infirmary in Atlanta. For almost a hundred years “Them ladies,” or others like them, have devoted themselves to Christ and His Church in this diocese through prayer and the apostolate of nursing, teaching and caring for the less fortunate. The citizens of Atlanta have truly come to acclaim they really “ain’t so bad.” What inspired these Sisters to come to Atlanta to spend and be spent for others? The spirit of Mercy inspired them to respond to the words of Our Divine Savior: “I was hungry and you gave Me to eat.

I was thirsty and you gave Me to drink.

I was in prison and you visited Me.

I was homeless and you took Me in.

Amen, amen I say unto you

As long as you did it to the least of these My brethren, you did it unto Me.” This spirit of mercy was the legacy left to the Sisters of Mercy by their foundress, Mother Mary Catherine McAuley. Catherine McAuley had been the recipient of many natural gifts. Her appearance, her station in life, her gifts of mind and her financial status were all far above average. However, her greatest gift and her most precious possession was her deep Catholic faith. So great was her faith and so sincere her gratitude for it, that the desire to share this faith with others became the burning flame that was to enkindle generous hearts around the world.

In order to reach and care for the poor, the sick, and the ignorant, Mother Catherine McAuley founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland. Although Mother McAuley lived to govern her new founded community for only ten years, the example she gave while she lived and the legacy of charity she bequeathed to her community in her death have accounted for the growth of the Sisters of Mercy all over the world.

Generous young women who are eager to serve in the active apostolate can find many varied works in the Congregation of Sisters of Mercy. Those who wish to teach little children, teenagers or adults may enter the field of teaching in elementary, high schools or colleges. Those who wish to be other eyes and hands and feet for the aged, retarded, and the handicapped, may enter the field of homes for the less fortunate. The hospitals and lepersariums offer an abundant harvest in the apostolate of bringing health and relief to the suffering members of the Mystical Body, while the Confraternities of Christian Doctrine provide areas for bringing Christ and His mysteries to souls.

The Sisters of Mercy of the Union, or the R.S.M.’s, have nine provinces with the general motherhouse at Bethesda, Maryland. These nine provinces stretch from New York to Florida with foreign missions in Central and South America.

Since there is no more important work on earth than the work of Christ’s Church, preparation for this work is essential. The Sisters of Mercy adhere strictly to the Sister Formation Program, which considers the formation of heart and head vital to religious life. Therefore, the young girl who enters the Sisters of Mercy of the Union spends from six months to a year in the postulancy before becoming a novice for two years. She then spends two more years as a member of the house of studies, as no one is allowed to teach or supervise a department until she is prepared for it. She must then spend three more years under temporary vows before she is admitted to perpetual profession.

Abundantly has God blessed the faithful daughters of Mother Catherine McAuley. Although the Sisters of Mercy are not one of the early foundations, so great has been its growth that it is one of the largest congregations of religious women in the world. Yet, as we look around we see so many vineyards without laborers.

We listen and we hear the Master saying: “So varied and so many are the works of the Sisters of Mercy, that whatever vineyard you may feel a desire to labor in, you can be sure that you are always carrying out the words of Our Lord, “Whatever you do to the least of these, my little ones, you do unto Me.”