Irish America

Nuns

Hospital Nuns: From the Civil War to Today

By Mary Pat Kelly, Contributor
August / September 2013

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From the Civil War to Chicago’s Mercy Hospital, the extraordinary history of Irish nuns in health care. The Sisters of Mercy were the first women to go with Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War in 1854. They worked with her to make nursing more effective and to improve sanitary conditions. In America, the Sisters of Mercy would make their impact on the battlefields in … [Read more...] about Hospital Nuns: From the Civil War to Today

Ladies of Mercy

By Elizabeth Raggi, Contributor
October / November 2001

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On July 18, 2001, Dorothy Marie and Gwen Hennessey of the Sisters of St. Francis of The Holy Family, left their fellow sisters and friends to report to Pekin Federal Correctional Institute in Illinois. They were sentenced to six months for a November 2000 protest at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia. Founded in 1946 and funded by U.S. taxpayers, SOA … [Read more...] about Ladies of Mercy

Ireland’s Banished Children

By Emer Mullins, Contributor
March / April 1997

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Many of the thousands of Irish babies adopted in the U.S. in the '40s, '50s, and '60s are reclaiming their roots. Emer Mullins reports. ℘℘℘ In a quiet convent outside Dublin, an elderly nun is in possession of a veritable Pandora's Box relating to one of the most controversial periods in Irish social history. Sr. Patricia Quinn used to work at St. Patrick's Guild in Dublin, a … [Read more...] about Ireland’s Banished Children