By Connor Adams Sheets
The Sisters of Mercy are coming to Whitestone.
The Roman Catholic ministry group, dedicated to serving the disadvantaged and those without means, recently announced plans to house 30 senior sisters from across New York in a former seminarian residence the group will lease at 22-04 Parsons Blvd.
The sisters, who will spend a large portion of their day in prayer, will move into the building after four to five months of renovations designed to make the space more handicapped-accessible. The exterior of the building will remain as it is.
“Some of our older sisters are not in active ministry and we needed a new location for them to reside,” Debbi Della Porta, communications director for the Mid-Atlantic Sisters of Mercy, said. “It’s close to where the sisters have ministered for many years, many of them are from the area, and so are many of their family members and other sisters in the Mid-Atlantic community.”
The location was previously occupied by the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province, a society of missionary priests.
Some of the sisters who are being relocated to the new space will require assisted living care, but it will primarily serve as a residence, they will continue with their prayers from the new location.
“The Parsons Boulevard location offers an ideal convent residence for our older sisters,” Sister Christine McCann, president of the Mid-Atlantic Sisters of Mercy, said in a statement. “The building chapel has a beautiful chapel and simple but lovely rooms and common areas. The locale has green open space, ample parking and is centrally located in the New York area, where our sisters have ministered for many years.”
The Sisters of Mercy Mid-Atlantic community encompasses New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and has more than 1,000 sisters and 900 associates.
Sisters of Mercy follow in the footsteps of Catherine McAuley, the group’s founding member, by committing their lives and resources to helping people in need and changing unjust systems.
Reach reporter Connor Adams Sheets by e-mail at csheets@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
