Detroit Mercy among 17 institutions that renew commitment with Sisters of Mercy
In a Feb. 5 virtual ceremony, 17 Mercy colleges and universities — including University of Detroit Mercy — made or affirmed a covenant with the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, the Catholic women’s religious order that founded them.
The covenant represents a renewed commitment of these institutions to the mission of the Sisters of Mercy. The colleges and universities are members or affiliates of the Conference for Mercy Higher Education (CMHE), an organization dedicated to sustaining and promoting the values and traditions of the Sisters of Mercy.
"This covenant is about relationships," said Sister Patricia McDermott, president of the Sisters of Mercy. "It speaks to a collective, a circle of Mercy, where leaders of these treasured institutions join with the Sisters of Mercy, all in service to deepening our ownership of a common mission."
The mission is about "the Sisters of Mercy commitment to accompany those who are poor, especially women and children, and to address the systemic causes of such poverty," McDermott said. "These concerns, which also include overcoming racism, walking with immigrants and refugees, protecting the Earth, and embracing nonviolence, are "critical" to Mercy higher education, she continued.
The Sisters of Mercy—an international community of Roman Catholic women—dedicate their lives to God through vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and service. For more than 190 years, motivated by the Gospel of Jesus and inspired by the spirit of their founder Catherine McAuley, they have responded to the continually changing needs of the times.
The Conference for Mercy Higher Education (CMHE) was established in 2002 to ensure that colleges and universities founded by the Sisters of Mercy have a strong and innovative Mercy and Catholic identity in the 21st century. It provides oversight, guidance, and programming to the institutions of higher learning that the sisters lovingly founded and continue to nourish and support.