Sister Sheila - The Good Life

Catherine McAuley and The Good Life Remarks of Sister Sheila Carney, RSM September 23, 2014

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REMARKS OF SISTER SHEILA CARNEY, RSM When I received the invitation to be with you today, I was intrigued by the topic, I think mainly because my first notion of the phrase “The Good Life” had to do with comfort and ease and the resources to provide them–a notion that didn’t seem comfortable in association with Catherine McAuley. After I dug a little deeper, however, through a query to Sr. Helen Marie Burns, RSM about how you were interpreting that phrase in your exploration this year and through, what else but a Google search, I became more comfortable with the association.

There were, of course, two periods in Catherine’s life when comfort and ease and resources were her companions, if only briefly. The first was in her earliest years, before the death of her father when she was five. During this time, the McAuley family was well off and enjoyed all that went with a more than adequate income. The second period of ease and comfort came 40 or so years later when, as heir to the Callaghan fortune, she continued to live for a time on their estate and enjoyed the lifestyle her inheritance afforded.

Vita Mary Pandolfo, a Sister of Mercy from Detroit has captured this period in a poem titled “Catherine’s Call.” Here’s how she described it.

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Catherine’s Call Catherine, young woman of high esteem, heiress with pale gold hair, who kept a carriage and dressed in black merino or rose brocade, highwaisted and trimmed with Irish lace as the fashion went, was mistress of Coolock House – a kind one, common folk said, and Merciful to the poor.

She love her flower-strewn gardens, her oak-paneled doors (among the finest in Dublin, it was said); her house was often filled with friends and sounds of the harpsichord, and the clink of claret glasses–and dancing: jig, reel, hornpipe, hopjig, dancing – swivel and spin, Kitty dancing, bow and circle (Sir Roger de Coverly), bend and bob in the See-Saw Dance; now change of pace with the Duval Trio lately imported from France, Then – Grand Right and Left: winding, right hand, left hand, passing, winding, coming to where she’d begun – Now, partnered by One in her heart, all circles closed in a vortex of love, She whirled to the boundaries of time, leaped over and danced, and did not stop until her step resounded Mercy around the world.

appreciation for fine architecture, her love of flowers, the sounds of the harpsichord and the clinking of claret glasses and the voices of dear friends and the floor pounding as they danced.

This poem is teeming with images!

There are images of Catherine: a highly esteemed, golden-haired, fashionably dressed, comfortably housed heiress. There are images of what was important to her: her great heart for those who are poor, central to her being from her earliest days until her death. And then wonderful sensuous images of the life she created during her Coolock days, filling the house with friends and music and dancing. This stanza of the poem leaves you almost breathless in its listing and description of the steps – swivel and spin, bend and bob, passing, winding, leaping. We glimpse in the poem Catherine’s enjoyment of wearing fashionable clothing, her

This poem, of course, comes from Vita Mary’s imagination. There are no historical descriptions of scenes such as those she portrays. But we do know that Catherine used goods she had inherited, as long as she had them, to accomplish what she deemed to be important. For instance, when she wanted to begin the ministry of visiting the sick in hospitals – a ministry from which Catholics were barred for fear that they would proselytize the patients – she realized that it would behoove her to create the appearance of being a wealthy Protestant woman. And so she and some of her companions arrived at the hospital in the finery of her Coolock days, transported by

the coach and coachman. Not long afterwards the estate and its trappings were sold but, while she had them, she knew how to use– for her purposes – the trappings of wealth.

While we can’t place our complete confidence in the poem’s description of Catherine’s life at Coolock, we do recognize her spirit in it. Especially in the poem’s ending – Now, partnered by One in her heart, all circles closed in a vortex of love, she whirled to the boundaries of time, leaped over and danced, and did not stop until her step resounded Mercy around the world.

Whatever else was happening during these years at Coolock – the whole of the 20 some years she lived there – there was the awareness of God’s call and the conviction that she was “meant to make some lasting effort for the sake of the poor.” The image with

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which the poem leaves us is God’s hand grasping hers and swinging her and her mercy out across the aching world. And that’s where our understanding of Catherine McAuley and The Good Life turns. Because it was in her partnering with the God of Mercy and her great heart for the poor – it was in the wedding of these two that, I believe, The Good Life consisted for Catherine McAuley.

And it was the integration of these two movements that she expected from those who wished to join their energies to hers. When asked for the requirements for a woman seeking entrance into the Sisters of Mercy, her response was, “an ardent desire to be united to God and to serve the poor.” Integration is an important word here for, in Catherine, these were not separate energies or separate experiences but one life force flowing within her–her union with God

turning her outward toward the suffering world; her service to the poor inspired by and energized by the God in whom her heart was centered.

In The Familiar Instructions, a book written to accompany the Rule, Catherine quotes Saint Theresa as saying, “We must leave God for God. That is, we must be ready to quit even prayer to find God in our neighbor.”

The call to “leave God for God” is, Catherine wrote in her Rule, a reason for joy and gratitude as in “Let those whom Jesus Christ has graciously permitted to assist Him in the Persons of his suffering poor, have their hearts animated with gratitude and love and placing all their confidence in Him endeavor to imitate Him more perfectly day-by-day.” (Chapter 3, 3rd) Other teachings – “Love of God and love of neighbor are cause and effect;” or, “If the love of God really reigns in your heart it will quickly show itself in the exterior” continues

the theme of the necessary integration of union with God and service of the poor.

A primary characteristic of Catherine’s approach to service was her reverence for each person. The witness of her father and his care for the poor planted this seed in her and it flourished throughout her life. Might we imagine that in the Callaghan household, Quakeress Catherine Callaghan introduced her to the central tenet of that religion – There is that of God in every man, in every person? We certainly know that the Callaghans gave both moral and financial support to her work with the poor. In Tender Courage, written

by Joanna Regan and Isabell Keiss, we read that her biographers spoke of Catherine as having “impeccable manners which she bent to the ministry of a courteous presence that revealed the divine spirit alive in her services of mercy and charity.”

When describing her in this way, her biographers are describing a woman who reverenced those with whom she interacted as bearing within them the presence of God. While Catherine lived at Coolock – both before and after the death of the Callaghans – she regularly travelled into the city to pursue her ministry of visiting the sick poor in their homes. On one such occasion, she discovered an elderly, somewhat demented woman named Mrs. Harper living in a hovel and much in need of care. Rather than try to see to her needs there, Catherine decided to offer her a home with her.

She brought her to Coolock where, because Catherine was now the only resident, there was plenty of room.

But rather than move into one of the available bedrooms, Mrs. Harper chose to take up residence under the basement stairs near the kitchen. She was a nocturnal creature, unseen by day and coming out only at night

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when the rest of the household had gone to bed. During these night-time excursions she was in the habit of acquiring things that struck her fancy – a candelabra, a silver tea pot. So every day began with the struggle to retrieve what had disappeared during the night. Catherine was usually the mediator of these encounters between Mrs. Harper and the household staff.

One might think that someone thus cared for would be grateful but such was not the case. Mrs. Harper, in her dementia, developed a hatred for Catherine and she responded with vitriol to her kindnesses.

Nevertheless, Catherine cared for her until her death – a period of several years.

It is noteworthy, I think, that though Catherine, in inviting Mrs. Harper to Coolock, undoubtedly had a notion of what The Good Life might consist of for her - her guest had a very different idea. Catherine’s reverence for Mrs. Harper is seen not only in providing for her and warding off the anger of the household staff, but in respecting Mrs. Harper’s wishes about how she would live – her sense of what The Good Life was for her. There is a depth of hospitality here that allows the guest to be free.

In my Google search around this topic I discovered the web site of the

Good Life Project. Here’s is how they describe themselves:

all that is edifying and respectable of your Institution.”

“Good Life Project” is a movement.

A set of shared values. A community.

A creed, bundled with a voracious commitment to move beyond words and act. First, as a manifestation of your soul. And then as a quest to have the adventure of a lifetime, and to leave the world around you changed.

Travel back with me in time one year and you’ll understand the deep significance of this praise.

It was Catherine’s practice to stay with each new foundation for 30 days. During this time she helped the sisters to organize their living situation, establish ministries and welcome new members. Meanwhile, the entire Institute prayed the Thirty Days Prayer for the success of the new venture. When the 30 days were drawing to a close in Limerick, Catherine decided that she could not yet leave. As she wrote to Frances Warde, “As to Sister Elizabeth, with all her readiness to undertake it, we never sent forward such a fainthearted soldier, now that she is in the field. She will do all interior and exterior work, but to meet on business, confer with the Bishop, conclude with a Sister, you might as well send the child that opens the door. I am sure this will surprise you.

She gets white as death, and her eyes like fever. She is greatly liked, and when the alarms are over and few in the House, I expect all will go on well.” In the end Catherine stayed for three months and found it difficult to leave even then.

It’s about building an extraordinary life, deeper relationships and meaningful bodies of work, businesses and movements. It’s about becoming a creator, a leader, a mentor, a giver, a doer. It’s about telling a story with your life that you’d want to read and share. (www. goodlifeproject.com) Creator, leader, mentor, giver, doer.

These are all words descriptive of Catherine. I’d like to focus for a minute on the word “mentor” and offer and example of Catherine in that role.

When the Sisters of Mercy were asked to establish a foundation in Limerick, Elizabeth Moore was chosen as the leader. A year after the foundation was begun, Catherine wrote to Elizabeth a letter that ended, ”I ought to say all that could animate and comfort you, for you are a credit and a comfort to me. Every week I hear

Young Elizabeth Moore, it seemed, was in need of a great deal of support

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and mentoring. Catherine found her a little stiff and perhaps severe in her role as superior. But there is great delicacy in her manner of conveying this observation. Rather that discuss it with Elizabeth in person, she wrapped it in a poem and left it for her to read after Catherine had gone.

My dearest Sister M. E. Don’t let crosses vex or tease: Try to meet all with peace & ease notice the faults of every Day but often in a playful way And when you seriously complain let it be known - to give you pain Attend to one thing at a time you’ve 15 hours from 6 to 9! be mild and sweet in all your ways now & again bestow some praise. avoid all solemn declaration all serious, close investigation Turn what you can into a jest and with few words dismiss the rest keep patience ever at your side: you’ll need it for a constant guide show fond affection every Day and, above all - Devoutly pray That God may bless the charge He’s given, and make of you - their guide to Heaven.

The parting advice of your ever affectionate MCM.

Austin Carroll, in the first volume of her Leaves from the Annals of the Sisters of Mercy, tells us that Catherine’s confidence in Elizabeth was well rewarded for when she finally seized her responsibilities as superior, she did so with great faith and dedication. She lived for 30 years in Limerick, making 10 foundations during that time. At her death, the obituary in the local newspaper described her as possessing, “gentleness that never wounded, firmness that never relaxed when duty commanded resolution, subdued ardor that ever invigorated without exciting, grand hope that was never confounded, charity that embraced every evil and individual, thoughtful providence that in all the magnitude and multiplicity of labors and projects comprehended all things and never failed in anything, and noble majesty.”

All this, after gentle and wise mentoring, from the young girl who was afraid to open the door.

One of the projects of the Good Life movement was to interview 29 people described as change makers and solicit their response to the question – “What does it mean to you to live The Good Life?” Some of the responses were: peacefulness, intentionality, integration, passion, gratitude, authenticity. Again – all that could be applied to Catherine, but three descriptions that stood out for me were: heartfelt connection, contribution and service; connection to source and self; and connection to ordinary moments rather than steamrolling over them. The word connection is common to all these responses – connection to others that calls forth service, (as in the story of Mrs. Harper) connection to God and to oneself, (as in the ardent desire to be united to God) connection to the simple, ordinary moments of life.

This last is contained in Catherine’s teaching on the perfection of the ordinary action which calls upon us

not to seek to do extraordinary things but to do extraordinarily well the ordinary actions of every day. This is another expression of reverence - one that manifests itself in careful attention to each moment, each task as a gift from God to be honored, to be savored as revelatory. Remember that, in her poem to Elizabeth Moore, Catherine wrote “Attend to one thing at a time, you’ve 15 hours from 6 to 9.”

By way of example, I’d like to slip in here a homage to one of my heroes among the early sisters – a woman named Veronica McDarby.

In 1843, the pope created the new Diocese of Pittsburgh and appointed Michael O’Connor as its first bishop.

O’Connor knew of the Sisters of Mercy because he had translated Catherine’s Rule from English to Latin during its approval process. He knew this was a community well-adapted to life in the new world. And so, on his way from Rome to Pittsburgh, he stopped in Carlow to solicit sisters to come with him to build this new local church. Of the 36 members of the Carlow community, 35 volunteered.

The one who demurred was Veronica.

She was, nevertheless, chosen for the mission and, in obedience, off she went with the others. Her task in the new world was to answer the door.

While the others went out into the city establishing ministries, she stayed home and answered the door – for 40 years. A pretty unknown life you might think. Yet, when Veronica died, there was public mourning in the city because she had turned the answering of the door into an art form. She is described as being warm, witty and motherly and, with those characteristics, she met everyone who rang the convent bell. Sometimes she could supply their need – food for the children or warm clothing, perhaps. Sometimes all she could do was cheer them up but what she could do she did and she did it in a way that was heartwarming. She was

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even though there was controversy about it at first.

the living embodiment of Catherine’s maxim, “There are three things the poor prize more highly that gold though they cost the donor nothing.

Among these are the kind word, the gentle, compassionate look and the patient hearing of their sorrows.”

Veronica took the menial task of responding to the bell and made of it an opportunity to witness the mercy of God to everyone who came to the door. I am challenged by her to do the same, to create The Good Life for others by making every encounter an opportunity to know God’s love and mercy.

This turning away from ease and comfort and personal preference and seeking instead the dignity and well-being of the reverenced other – this movement that I am naming The Good Life as it applies to Catherine McAuley – was evident also in those who joined her in her endeavors. Each woman who donned the garb of the Sisters of Mercy robed herself also in those requisites that Catherine named for her followers – an ardent desire to be united to God and to serve the poor. These were

the garments they wore out across Ireland and then to England and then around the world. In each place they went, they sought the good, not only of the individuals they served, but of the places where they settled. Some ministries were common among them – education and visitation of the sick poor. But, beyond that, the new community sought to understand local needs and to find ways to meet them. In Catherine’s words, “Each place has its own peculiarities which must be yielded to when possible.”

This attitude allowed for flexibility and adaptability to each circumstance.

Carlow is a good example. In every new foundation, the Sisters began a school for the poor. But in Carlow, the Presentation Sisters had already done that. What was needed was a school for the middle-class. After careful discernment between Catherine and Frances Warde, the local leader, it was decided to put aside community custom in order to meet local need.

The fact that Catherine had consented to this arrangement made way for communities in America to establish academies, the profits from which supported the ministries to the poor

As the Sisters of Mercy spread across the United States, this movement of turning outward toward need took new forms as they met and engaged a variety of circumstances. Sisters in Pittsburgh became aware of a need for the religious education of adults and engaged in that ministry.

Frances Warde ransomed at least one slave – a woman named Mary.

Visitation of the imprisoned was also a need and was undertaken by the sisters. This ministry continued until a long unused law was invoked barring gentle women with religious purposes from jails. Prison ministry was also important in New York where Catherine Seton, daughter of Elizabeth Ann Seton was called the Angel of the Tombs because of her work there. In New Orleans, when officials declined to provide female wardens for female prisoners, Theresa Austin Carroll took out a full-page ad in the paper both chiding and daring them with the offer that the Sisters of Mercy would pay the salaries of female wardens if the prison officials would not. In Michigan, the need was for medical insurance for loggers and the sisters met this need at the price of 25 cents a year. The stories could go on and on – each new foundation beginning the traditional ministries of education and health care, coupled with attention to whatever local need presented itself. When Catherine McAuley wrote that the spiritual and corporal works of mercy are the business of our lives, she laid out a path as broad and diverse as human need. And the response in each new situation was uniformly selfforgetful, and the sufferings which accompanied this “turned outward life” were accepted with equanimity and even cheer. In Birr, where they endured a harsh winter in the Irishmidlands, they danced to warm themselves up before getting into bed

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between damp, cold sheets. Kathleen Healy’s biography of Frances Warde relates a story that actually occurred 168 years ago today – September 23, 1846. When Bishop Quarter invited the sisters to Chicago, he turned over his own house to them – described in the book as an unpainted frame building – a shanty, without a single living convenience. The bishop, repenting of this arrangement, found himself unable to sleep. Kathleen writes, “He was tortured with doubts and misgivings at having brought five young women to labor in so bleak a wilderness. The next morning, the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy, while he was talking to Frances Warde – he heard the laughter of the five sisters ringing through the house. “I am contented,” he said to Mother Frances.

“Such laughter could never come from the dissatisfied.” Nothing, it

seems, overcame the gladness of the call to serve God’s people.

As I prepared for this presentation, my reflections were drawn toward the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas’ most recent statement of how we will engage the world and be turned toward the world – the Declaration adopted in 2011.

At the heart of this document is the question: “God of Mercy, of Wisdom and Mystery, where do we need to be led now to come to both a deeper response to our Critical Concerns and a radical embrace of our identity?”

Invoking the question of our identity takes us right back to the beginning, to Catherine’s statement of what is required of one who would be a Sister of Mercy – “an ardent desire to be united to God and to serve the poor.”

Down through the 186 years since the opening of the House of Mercy on Baggot Street – an event the Mercy world commemorates tomorrow – that rhythmic call reminds of us how Catherine McAuley experienced what we are calling The Good Life. It is the rhythm that moved her life and it is to this same rhythm that she invites all of us who follow in her path.

Yesterday, a quotation from Catherine appeared in the evening prayer of the Sisters of Mercy. “Jesus, implant your love in my heart. It is all I desire in this world or in the next.” It seemed to me a final gift as I was finishing up this presentation – Catherine reminding me – once again – of the ardency of her desire to be united to God, knowing full well that the cost of that love is that she and her mercy would be danced out across the aching world.

Sister Sheila Carney, RSM Sister Sheila Carney, RSM is a member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. During her years of membership she has served her community and the local and national church in a wide variety of positions from teaching in elementary school to serving in regional and national leadership.

Americas based in Silver Spring, Maryland. Following sabbatical time, Sister Sheila joined the staff of Carlow University, her alma mater, as Special Assistant to the President for Mercy Heritage, a position she has held for nine years.

From 1967 - 1974, Sister Sheila taught English and Language Arts in elementary and secondary schools in the Diocese of Pittsburgh and served as Principal of Saint Clare in Clairton, PA. Following a year of theological studies in Rome, she was appointed Director of Incorporation for the Pittsburgh Sisters of Mercy, a ministry in which she served for seven years. After completing a Master of Divinity degree from Saint Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, Pa., she was hired to teach in the seminary and college at Saint Vincent.

In addition to the professional positions listed above, Sister Sheila has served on the boards of The Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, Holy Cross Hospital, Holy Cross Health Ministries, Holy Cross Foundation, and Carlow University. She was the founding chair of the board of Well of Mercy in North Carolina and chaired the Members of both Eastern Mercy Health System and the Conference for Mercy Higher Education. Currently, she chairs the Board of McAuley Ministries and serves as Vice Postulator for the Cause for the Canonization of Catherine McAuley.

In 1987, Sister Sheila was elected President of the Pittsburgh Sisters of Mercy and after nine years in that position enjoyed three years as a resource person, travelling the Mercy world offering retreats and conferences on the community’s history and spirituality. During this time, she also served as Acting President of Holy Cross Health Ministries and as Acting Vice President of Mission Services at Holy Cross Hospital, both in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Elected in 1999, she served for six years on the leadership team of the Sisters of Mercy of the

Sister Sheila is an internationally known speaker and retreat director. She is the co-author of Praying with Catherine McAuley and author of numerous articles which have appeared in books and periodicals, including the MAST Journal and Downside Review. Sister Sheila is a native of Pittsburgh. She is a graduate of Our Lady of Mercy Academy and Mount Mercy College now Carlow University - and Saint Vincent Seminary. She did additional studies at the National University of Ireland, the ARC Program in Rome and Duquesne University.