Thursday, August 23, 2012

Longford nun to be new Mercy world leader

The Mercy Congregation has elected a Longford-born nun, Sister Margaret Casey, as its new Congregational Leader.

She has served as Congregational Treasurer since last October and will take up duty as Congregational Leader in October, replacing Sr Coirle McCarthy (pictured). She described her election as a, “surprise,” and added that she felt, “very honoured and privileged and also very humbled.” 

She accepted that she would be heading the organisation in a difficult period, but said she believes she has the experience and support needed to meet those challenges.  

“I have experienced people I can ask advice of and I know I also have the prayers of many of the Sisters; whatever comes our way, we will hopefully get through it.”

In 2005, she testified before the Ryan Commission on Child Abuse that, she said, gave her an, “experience of the pain of all involved. Another challenge we face is our diminishing numbers here in Ireland and that is a reality for us.”

A native of Newtownforbes, Sr Casey was one of a family of six and entered the order in 1967 as a teenager with, she recalls, a dream, “to serve and to help people. I was attracted to a life of prayer and ministry and it has been good to me - I have had huge opportunities which I am very grateful for,” she said.

And she numbered the day she took her vows and the day she was elected Provincial Leader as the great milestones in her life as well as days when others took vows, which she found, “very enriching and rewarding to share.”

Sr Casey took a primary degree in Commerce at UCC, a Higher Diploma in Education from NUI Maynooth, and a Masters in Social Work at Queen’s University, Belfast.  

In the 1980s and 90s, Sr Casey worked as a teacher in St. Joseph’s School in her native Newtownforbes, the Mercy Secondary School and subsequently the Community College in Lanesboro.

From 2001 to 2007, she served as Provincial Leader of the order’s Western Province and it was in that capacity that she was called before the Ryan Commission where she admitted that many of the children in Mercy controlled institutions found the experience school to be, "harsh, impersonal, abusive and deeply humiliating.”

She then spent four years ministering as a local leader in St Vincent’s Mercy Community in Galway until moving to Clondalkin in Dublin last year.

The organisation Sr Casey will lead has 2,282 members and has a growing number of affiliated associates, volunteers and partners spread across many countries, including Britain, Kenya, South Africa,  the United States, Nigeria, Brazil, Peru,  and Zambia.