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Mid-Atlantic Regional
Community Motherhouse |
The Merion Regional Community of the Sisters of Mercy began Mercy Volunteer Corps in 1978 and enthusiastically supported MVC through all its initial years. When the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas formed in 1991, the Merion Regional Community Leadership believed that MVC should become a sponsored work of the Institute. How true to Catherine McAuley are her daughters-responding to new needs and opportunities as they emerge.
Starting with the first two volunteers in 1978 (commissioned on the "grand stairs" of the Merion Regional Community Motherhouse), MVC's history grew and developed into an international reality.
Mercy Volunteer Corps has received abundant blessings from the Merion Regional Community. During these 27 years, over fifty Sisters of Mercy and twenty Associates in Mercy have assisted the growth of the MVC program. Grants from the Patricia Waldron and Loaves and Fishes Funds to MVC are also among our blessings. In 1978, at the urging of Elizabeth Carroll, RSM, then leader of the Sisters of Mercy of Merion, PA, a lay volunteer organization was created as an extension of the ministerial works of the Sisters of Mercy. Ellen Cavanaugh, RSM, was the first director of this program named Mercy Corps. When asked what energized her in those beginning days, Sister Ellen says, "There is something inside the people who come to service that shines through them. It inspired me then and still does. I believe they are Mercy for the future.
Under the leadership of Kathleen Lyons, RSM, second director, Mercy Corps grew to be known and duplicated in various Mercy Regional Communities throughout the United States. A dream of Sister Kathleen's, and of others who recognized the potential of Mercy Corps as an extension of the Mercy mission, was realized in 1991 when the first Institute Chapter of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas affirmed Mercy Corps as a significant ministerial partner of the Institute. By 1992, formal sponsorship of Mercy Corps occurred under the auspices of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, and a Board of Directors was established. Other milestones in 2000 include the change of name from Mercy Corps to Mercy volunteer Corps (MVC) and the extension of service to Guyana, South America.
Sister Kathleen captures two important constants amidst the wonderful changes over these 27 years: "Our volunteers are still the same inspiring, courageous, and dedicated women and men I welcomed each year. The mission remains the same-service to people who are poor and marginalized in the context of simplicity, community, and spirituality."
The first full-time Mercy Volunteer, Regina (Zwaan) Campo, fondly remembers her service year at St. John's School in Hialeah, FL. She explains, "I got more out of MVC than I ever gave. To this day, I am still moved by my experience, and have made lasting relationships with the Sisters of Mercy. I read the newsletters and love to see how MVC has grown. Maybe later in life, I can volunteer again."
MVC has connected Regina and over 900 other women and men to compassionate service in 122 different service sites in 24 states and Guyana, South America and Honduras, Central America. Catherine McAuley, as lay woman, as woman in the church, and as Sister of Mercy, lives on through Mercy Volunteer Corps.
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