Religious
Life The
Art of Mercy takes many forms
By ARTHUR JONES
NCR Staff
The Art of Mercy takes many
forms.
Sr. Celeste Marie Nuttman in Burlingame, Calif., created the icon
for the New Jersey region of the Sisters of Mercy. In Detroit, Sr. Cheryl M.
Phillips has taken on tasks ranging from directing an art project in a
neighborhood youth center for troubled children or those needing shelter to
performing art therapy ministry in a chemical dependency unit.
Among the many artists in the Mercys, Sr. Renee Yamm in Merion
Station, Pa., does poetry and mime, and Sr. Estelle Martin in Rochester, N.Y.,
is a graphic artist. Sr. Mary Fahy in West Hartford, Conn., is known for her
book, The Tree That Survived the Winter. Sr. Jeanette Goglia in Merion
Station is famed for her music and compositions, Sr. Martha Elizabeth Hoyle and
Sr. Judith Kapp for their photography and art reflections.
But the Mercys understand the mind and skills-opening value of art
at another level. The Mercy Center of the Arts in Erie, Pa., has been taking
preschoolers into the worlds of the arts and sciences for 30 years.
Founded by Sr. Catherine Edward Delaney and laywoman Patricia
Daley, the center developed programs of drama and dramatic movement, music
through games and theory, art -- from finger painting to working with clay to
puppetry -- and science as exploration and discovery in nature.
From space in a locker room at Mercyhurst Prep, the center has
grown into a multi-space facility within the motherhouse. Which provides some
of the best art discoveries of all: those that grow out of intergenerational
exchanges between the tots and the elderly sisters.
National Catholic Reporter, February 18,
2000
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