In the late 1950’s, a young Irish woman moved to Twentynine Palms to teach the children of military families.
“When I first came to the desert from mist-covered, lovely and green Ireland, I felt like the end of the world had come that the sins of my youth had caught up with me,” said Sister Maura Feeley, a member of The Congregation of Sisters of Mercy.
Left to Right: Srs. Maura Redington, Vera Whelan, Rosaline O’Connor, Maura Feeley, Mary Frances Coleman, Camillus Gavigan and Carmel Crimmins
The current Redlands resident soon came around to doing what the Sisters of Mercy do best: educating people of all ages and making a difference in the lives of the needy. It is work they have done since September of 1827, when Catherine McAuley established a House of Mercy on Baggot Street in Dublin. There, she and several companions provided food, clothing, housing and education to many of the city’s poorest women and girls.
In 1831, with the approval of Archbishop Daniel Murray, she and her companions founded The Congregation of Sisters of Mercy. Within a few decades, the Sisters were doing their work all over the world. Feeley was one of a group who came to San Bernardino County in the 1950’s. At the time, they did ministry for the Diocese of San Diego, and then continued that work when the Diocese of San Bernardino was founded in 1978.
Sister Rosaline O’Connor, Provincial Leader of the US Province of Sisters of Mercy, said since that time the group has been involved in schools, religious education, spiritual direction and counseling.
Many work as Pastoral Co-Ordinators, responsible for the administration of Catholic parishes and in leadership roles within the diocese. The deeply spiritual Sisters can also be found visiting the sick in nursing homes and hospitals. Once Feeley was over her initial culture shock, she embarked on a life of teaching and reaching out to the needy.
After helping military parents cope and teaching their children, she was next assigned to Our Lady of the Assumption school in San Bernardino, before earning a master’s degree in theology at the University of San Francisco. She returned to the area, teaching for a time before being appointed vicar for religious for the diocese. In that role, she was active in boosting the role of women in the Catholic church.
“I was very concerned about women’s issues and had extraordinary opportunities to campaign for women’s rights in the church,” she said. Feeley was so respected that she became the first woman chancellor of the diocese, where she was involved in all decision making.
Her last stop was St. Adelaide Catholic Church in Highland, where she most recently served as Pastoral Co-Ordinator. Among her duties was reaching out to 3,000 families served by the parish. “Every day we were giving out food and helping families solve problems,” she said. “At Christmas we did toy drives and at Thanksgiving gave out food baskets.”
After 50 years of giving back without expecting anything in return, Feeley retired. Although many Sisters return to Ireland upon retirement, Feeley, who was recently recognized for her efforts with a proclamation from Pope Benedict XVI, plans to continue her good work in this country for now.
Following a sabbatical, she hopes to return to her work with Mary’s Mercy Center, a San Bernardino nonprofit that reaches out to the poor and powerless in society, and visit hospitals. “As a Sister of Mercy, it’s in your very being to reach out to people,” she said. “I would not be comfortable just sitting around.”
Article by : Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell, Staff Writer – The Sun, San Bernardino
US Province
