Mercy Health Celebrates Past and Present on Mercy Day

Staff and seniors will unite at Mercy Place Cairns (Bethlehem) to commemorate Mercy Day on September 24, the anniversary of the opening of the first ‘House of Mercy’ in Ireland in 1827 by the Founder of the Sisters of Mercy, Catherine McAuley.

Centred around a celebratory morning tea at the popular Cairns aged care home, and including guests from the adjacent Coral Sea Gardens retirement villas and Bareki Apartments, as well as the Sisters of Mercy, the morning will offer a time to reflect on Catherine McAuley, who sought to make a difference for the poor, sick and uneducated.

Sister Faye, herself a Sister of Mercy in the Cairns diocese, says the day offers the chance to celebrate the journey of Mercy Health in Cairns, and to reenergise with everyone who seeks to keep the Mercy story and ministry evolving in far north Queensland.

“This Mercy Day we are invited to reflect on Catherine McAuley as a ‘boundary breaker’in her courageous endeavours to make a tangible difference in the lives of people through care, compassion, education and hospitality in the context of that time. This is a source of inspiration for all of us who now continue Catherine’s legacy in the name of Mercy,”

“The day gives us a chance to reflect on our works of mercy, and to look forward to how we can continue to be of service to the people of Cairns into the future.”

Mercy Place Cairns (Bethlehem) General Manager Precinct, Zubair Coovadia, said Mercy Day is both a time of reflection on the past and a time of looking to the future as Mercy Health continues to help write the remarkable story begun by Catherine McAuley in 1827.

“It is a time to pay tribute to the hard work, commitment and devotion of the Sisters and people of Mercy for what has been achieved over the past 195 years,” he says.

“Their dedication has made and continues to make a very positive difference in the lives of so many people, not only all over the world, but also here in Cairns.”

Catherine McAuley was born in Dublin, Ireland, and founded the Sisters of Mercy. A woman of deep faith, Catherine spent her entire inheritance building a home to educate children and care for women in need. Her “House of Mercy” still endures today, as does the ministry of the Sisters.

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