We have one solid comfort amidst this little tripping about, our hearts can always be in the same place, centered in God, for whom alone we go forward or stay back.
Works of Mercy Education
"No work can be more productive or good to society than the careful education of women."
--Catherine McAuley
As classroom teachers, principals and tutors, our Sisters have remained true to one of their first pioneering missions - providing excellent instruction. Individual Sisters also teach in schools not necessarily sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy. They remain experts in elementary education while several teach at the university level.
Sister Mary Lou Podzimek is the house chaplain at the Dennis & Donna Oldorf Hospice House of Mercy in Hiawatha, Iowa. Mary Lou thinks of her ministry as “sharing the final journey with her patients” as she performs spiritual assessments, assists with funeral plans if they are not complete, prays with the patients and their families, distributes Holy Communion and works with the patient’s clergy and family.
Recently, Mary Lou took part in a remembrance of the patients she has served during a Lovelights celebration at the Hospice House. In a new tradition, patients’ families, staff, volunteers and community supporters gathered for the holiday season in a remembrance of the hospice patients who have entered eternal rest. The celebration included the lighting of two spruce trees outside the hospice house, prayer, readings from the Gospel of St. Luke, singing Christmas carols to current hospice patients and refreshments of cookies and Wassail.