Facilitators and Resource People 2013

Áine Barrins rsm is a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, Western Province. Her early years in ministry were in second level education. Since the early nineties Áine has been ministering in the area of spirituality and was directress of formation and vocations in the Western Province. She holds a Masters in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois (USA) and a Masters in Theology from The National Council for Educational Awards in Ireland. Áine has had many opportunities to deepen her knowledge of and love for Catherine McAuley and she is always delighted to share that love with others. She has given workshops and retreats on the Letters of Catherine McAuley throughout Ireland and in Australia and Great Britain.

Dervilla Byrne rsm is a member of the Congregation of Sisters of Mercy, South Central Province. Having trained as a teacher, she entered the Sisters of Mercy in Dublin in 1964. Dervilla spent fourteen years working in the field of Education and then moved to the area of Spirituality. She trained as a spiritual director in the Guelph Centre of Spirituality, Canada and worked as a team member in Manresa Retreat Centre Dublin until she was called to take up the ministry of Leadership in 1986. She spent the following fourteen years in leadership, eight in the Dublin diocese and six years as Congregational Leader for Mercy Ireland. Dervilla is a member of All Ireland Spiritual Guidance Association and has been working in the area of spirituality and retreat work since completing her term of leadership in 2000.

Marie Chin rsm, a native of Jamaica, West Indies, has been a Sister of Mercy since 1961. She describes her life of service as a tapestry woven with three strands of thread: In her youth learning how to reach and teach adolescent girls in a High School setting in Jamaica and in her mature years learning of how to tap into and channel the desires of newer members in their becoming Sisters of Mercy, and unleashing the incredible energies of women of Mercy for community, mission and ministry in her capacity as congregational leader throughout the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. During the past thirty years Marie has addressed and provided retreats and spiritual direction to religious congregations and church groups in the Caribbean, North and South America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Currently she is the Area Administrator of the Sisters of Mercy and Co-Vicar of Religious in Jamaica.

Brenda Dolphin rsm is a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy. At present she is the postulator for the Cause of Catherine McAuley. She is also a teaching member on the staff of the Institute of Psychology at the Gregorian University, Rome.

Madeline Duckett rsm is a member of the Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea. She works widely as a spiritual director and retreat facilitator. Journeying through education, adult formation and mercy ethos work, she arrived at her current ministry which is her passion and joy – sharing soul with others and discovering together the mystical at the core of the practical. It was this that led her to co-produce The Mystical Heart of Catherine McAuley which reflects on this underlying touchstone in Catherine’s busy life.

Veronica Lawson rsm is a member of the Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea. She is a biblical scholar who taught for twenty-six years at Australian Catholic University. She was Congregation Leader of the Ballarat East Sisters of Mercy for seven years and hopes to find her new ministry home in the emerging Mission “Centres” of ISMAPNG. She writes weekly on-line reflections on the Sunday Gospels and is involved in theological reflection processes in Australia and other parts of the world.

Breege O’Neill rsm is a member of the Western Province and was previously leader of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy (Ireland). She has worked in the area of education for many years and also trained and worked as a Family Therapist. She has served on a number of commissions, including communications, formation and women’s development. She has given talks on many aspects of Religious Life and was a member of the executive board of the Conference of Religious of Ireland.

Anne Reid, a native of Ireland, is an Associate with the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. She has been involved in the ministry of Mercy International Centre since 1994. Anne is the author of Daring to be Different - The life of Catherine Elizabeth McAuley. Foundress of the Sisters of Mercy, which is a story of Catherine written in a way to appeal to young people and those young at heart. She is also the narrator for several Mercy resources including A Pictorial Tour of Catherine McAuley’s House of Mercy and Your Ever Affectionate, M.C. McAuley.

Janet Ruffing rsm is a member of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. She is Professor in the Practice of Spirituality and Ministerial Leadership at Yale Divinity School in Hamden, Connecticut. She chaired a program in spiritual direction at Fordham University for nearly 24 years and has taught or presented in many parts of the world. She has published nearly 100 articles in various journals and five books including Lettres sur la souffrance: Correspondance avec soeur Marie Goby(1910-1914) (2012); To Tell the Sacred Tale: Spiritual Direction and Narrative (2011); Elisabeth Leseur: Selected Writings (2005); (2001); Mysticism and Social Transformation (2000); and Elisabeth Leseur: Selected Writings (2005).

Mary C. Sullivan rsm is the author of Catherine McAuley and the Tradition of Mercy (1995, reprinted 2000); editor of The Correspondence of Catherine McAuley, 1818-1841 (2004); and author of The Path of Mercy: The Life of Catherine McAuley.