Faith
and the seed of a religious vocation in me were nurtured first
and foremost by the strong Christian family to which I belonged,
and also by the Catholic elementary and high school education,
which I received. I met the Sisters of Mercy in high school and
was attracted to their cheerfulness, dedication and ministry of
education. I joined the Community in 1962 at the age of seventeen.
Key
elements which have permeated these years are my relationship
to God, responding to the needs of our time and a love of the
poor. These have led me to other countries - one year in Nicaragua
and 17 years in Belize - and various ministries - teacher, director
of religious education, pastoral administrator of an inner city
parish, spiritual director and retreat director at a spiritual
life center, and community leadership. At each step of the journey,
when confronted with need, I have attempted, as a daughter of
Catherine McAuley, to respond, and to do so with vision and courage
and commitment. In all of this, I have been blessed in numerous
ways, especially through relationships and multi-cultural experiences.
I returned to the United States in August of 2001 and was given
the opportunity to spend the year in personal renewal, which included
four months in the renewal program at Berakah. In addition to
being renewed in body, mind and spirit, this was also a time to
explore once again the meaning of religious life today and specifically
our call a Mercy in today's world. Where is the need today? With
the realization that we are destroying our earth at an alarming
rate and in, doing so, also destroying ourselves, came the conviction
that we do need a new worldview…we need to establish the kingdom
of God, now, on this earth. A dream was born within me…a dream
of establishing an Earth Center…a place that would reverence the
earth and all of life, educate others in a new way of being, reach
out to the poor.
During
the next few years, while this dream takes shape and becomes a
reality, I have chosen to minister to the poor and marginalized
in Providence, RI as Administrator of McAuley House, a soup kitchen,
which not only feeds over 200 people daily but also provides other
services. I am proud to be a Mercy! I look to the future with
hope, knowing my response ability/our responsibility to shape
the future of Mercy and the earth!
suzannelach@juno.com
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