The four Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Mich., who serve the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson, N.J., on Dec. 10, welcomed Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney into their convent, established at nearby St. Michael Parish, also in Paterson, for an early-morning visit, which included breakfast and a Mass he celebrated in the convent chapel.
Salesian Sister Theresa Lee, chancellor and delegate for religious of the Paterson Diocese in New Jersey, also joined in the visit to the Religious Sisters of Mercy, who arrived at St. John’s on Sept. 6.
Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
“It was nice to have Bishop Sweeney come into our house and bless it with his presence,” said Sister Moira Debono, the community’s local superior.
Sister Debono, along with Sisters Mary Mia Menke and Paul Miriam MacInnes, assists in the Compostela after-school program for children from kindergarten to eighth grade at the cathedral, the diocese’s mother church. The Sisters of Mercy also help with St. John’s religious education program and adult education program, offered in both English and Spanish.
A fourth Sister of Mercy in Paterson, Sister Marie Bernadette Steinmetz, is preparing for other apostolic work.
“We are participating in ministries more to see where we can be effective evangelizers,” Sister Debono said.
