Eighteen years ago when I first came over to live in Ireland I remember feeling that I was living through a very mysterious phase of my life. A phase that I did not fully understand, yet I believed that all that was happening in my life felt ‘right’.  It took sixteen years for that mystery to unfold and clarify and eighteen months ago I experienced the wonder of it all.

The first four years of my working life were spent in an office in Southport, Lancashire, England.  Typing was an important part of the job. After I left office work this was a skill I did not use regularly, until I was asked to help with the typing for the Oral Archives in the Northern Province.  After office work, the next twenty years were spent in Social Work in the Docks area of Liverpool and later in Nottingham – here I worked mainly with disabled people.  More recently I was so pleased to be able to put these skills to good use again by working as a volunteer and member of the Bereavement Support Group in the Northern Ireland Hospice here in Belfast.

Five years ago I became linked with the Tres Dias, an ecumenical Christian organisation offering an annual three day renewal programme to people from different Christian traditions.  This is something I have previously written about in our Provincial Newsletter ‘Connections’.  I have felt pleased to be able to use some of the skills acquired during my four years training for the ordained ministry in the United Reformed Church.  However, I still felt that much of this experience was not being fully used.  Then two years ago I was asked to become part of the chaplaincy team at the Hospice which meant that I was preparing an Ecumenical Service each week for Day Patients and volunteers.

Last October I joined a twelve strong team of Christian women from various denominations, some of whom had gone into Hydebank Women’s Prison in Belfast the previous year to offer a Kairos Programme. This is a highly structured Christian programme designed for use in both Male and Female prisons.  It is a three and a half day event which allows participants to witness Christ’s love through the service of Christian Kairos volunteers. During this event participants are given the opportunity to experience a religious renewal programme which leads to accepting God’s call to a life of Christian witness and service to one another during their stay in the Institution, and beyond. After the weekend, participants are encouraged to establish strong Christian communities within their Institution to continue their spiritual formation.

Kairos Programme Logo

Members of the Team return each fortnight to enable participants to continue to grow in understanding through sharing and praying together. There were twelve participants on the weekend and together we listened to talks, shared what we had heard through different means, writing, drawing, singing.  Gradually a strong bond of friendship and love built over the three days. As a Team we are humbled by the trust they placed in us and are challenged to share in the pain of their incarceration through our thoughts and prayers. Please pray that this work will continue as many of the stories that we hear are of broken homes with little stability in many of their lives.  Many of those we have met are so young and some fear their release, they fear facing responsibilities and temptations that they know they will face on the outside and they fear they will have little support on their release.

As I have reflected on all that has happened since coming into Mercy, the mystery has become clearer.  I realise the opportunities I have had to be alongside people from such different backgrounds, would not have been available to me if I had remained in my ministry within the United Reformed Church. I feel a bit like Simeon who experienced the revelation of God as he held the child Jesus in his arms, I too pray a blessing all on that has been revealed to me.

Sr. Enid Slater

I thank God for the love and hospitality of the Belfast Mercy Sisters which brought me to Northern Ireland and for all the opportunities that the Lord has put before me.

And in the word of our Foundress, Catherine McAuley “Hurrah for the foundations, they make the old young and the young merry”.

Enid Slater rsm
Northern Province