by Sr. Harriet Mutonyi, MMM Uganda 11.07.2026
My internship at Serenity Centre, here in Entebbe, Uganda, has been one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. There are lessons that books can teach and there are lessons that reality teaches. Reality teaches in a way that leaves a lasting mark on your mind and heart. Before coming to Serenity Centre, I thought I understood addiction. I had attended classes, read books, listened to lectures. I believed I knew what addiction looked like and who was most vulnerable to it.
However, my experience here has challenged many of my assumptions. One of the biggest surprises for me was the issue of peer pressure. Peer pressure is often discussed in relation to children and adolescents. Yet, at the Serenity Centre, I have met grown men and women whose journeys into addiction began through the influence of friends, workmates and social circles. Some started drinking simply to belong. Over time, what started as a social activity became dependency that affected their health, relationships and livelihoods.
Another misconception that was shattered was my understanding of addiction itself. Like many people, I used to associate addiction mainly with alcohol and drugs. Today, I know that addiction is far broader than that. It can take many forms including behavioural addictions such as gambling, internet use, gaming, social media, shopping, food, sex, pornography, work and exercise. Beyond these are emotional and relationship addictions, where individuals become dependent on validation, attention, relationships or unhealthy patterns of attachment.
What struck me most was seeing people from all walks of life struggling with addiction. I met individuals who were respected in their communities, successful in their careers and influential in society. I met young people from families that seemed to have every resource necessary to protect them from harm. Yet addiction had found its way into their lives. It reminded me that addiction does not discriminate. It does not respect social status, education, wealth, profession, age, tribe or religion. It can affect anyone. It means that none of us is completely immune. If we honestly examine our lives, many of us may discover unhealthy attachments or habits that have gained more control over us than we would like to admit. They may not all be visible or socially condemned, but they exist. Addiction is often closer than we think.
As one of the saints wisely said, “There goes I, if it were not for the grace of God.” Those words remind us that our circumstances are not solely the result of our own strength or wisdom. The struggles we see in others could easily become our own struggles under different circumstances. Instead of condemning those who suffer from addiction, we are called to extend compassion, understanding and support, recognizing our shared human vulnerability. This is why addiction should not be approached with blame, condemnation or indifference.
My time at the Serenity Centre has taught me many lessons, but perhaps the greatest is this: every choice we make today has consequences tomorrow. In life, there is always a “few moments later.” The habits we nurture today become the realities we face tomorrow. The decisions we make in private eventually reveal themselves in public. The warning signs we ignore today may become the crises we struggle with tomorrow.
Reality has indeed slapped me directly in the face. Yet I am grateful for the lesson. It has made me more compassionate, less judgmental and more aware of the struggles people carry. It has reminded me that addiction is not simply about substances; it is about people, pain, choices and hope. And above all, it has convinced me that when we join hands, support one another and seek help when needed, recovery and healing are always possible.
by Sr. Sheila Devane, MMM Ireland 08.07.2026
Whenever I think of endings, I am inclined to think of transitions like finishing a course, retirement from a job, moving from a mission or indeed the death of a loved one. All of us could write our own book about any, or all, of these major milestones. Haven’t we experienced so many? Today I am writing about two endings that couldn’t be classified as either transitions or milestones in the more general sense, but which nonetheless pose their own special & unique challenges. I have only recently thought about them – let me tell you about these.by Sr. Margaret Anne Meyer, MMM USA o4.07.2026
We were happy to have another lay Doctor, Paddy O’Neil, and his wife and two children come to replace Dr. Judith Galvin who did marvelous work during her two-year tour. Doctor O’Neil did great research on each patient with AIDS. All this helped us to learn much more about the disease and how it is presented. At that time, we had no ante retroviral medicines.
He also made a discovery in treating chloroquine resistant malaria. We had thought that the convulsions were due to cerebral malaria. He passed by a patient in the maternity ward who was convulsing and took her blood sugar, He had brought a small device from England, and it gave the answer very quickly. Her blood sugar was extremely low. The convulsions were from hypoglycemia. Intravenous quinine caused an increase in insulin production which, in turn caused a lowering of the blood sugar. We were then able to prevent this. We read about this later in a medical journal.
Another tragedy was the occurrence of many premature deliveries. The mother would suffer high fever from malaria and suffer a miscarriage. Sometimes babies were born at term with palpable spleens, and a blood slide was taken which was positive for malaria. Other babies from 3-4 months old would develop severe pneumonia and have a positive blood slide for malaria. We had never seen that before and were comforted to confirm our findings by reading about it in the medical journals three months later. God was with us as we pioneered in learning about HIV/AIDS as well as chloroquine-resistant malaria.
New Sisters came to the Community. Sr. Mary Donato returned to the USA and Sr. Sheila Devane replaced her as midwifery tutor. Sister Doctor Rosalinda Gonzales was a welcome addition to our medical Staff as were Sisters Helen Mc Kenna, Benedicta Nannyondo, Helen Ahern, and Marcellina McCarthy. We had a very fun-loving Community and many of the young temporary professed were sent to us. We enjoyed the young Sisters and their great enthusiasm for life and learning the language.
We were sad to lose Sr. Christina Hanley who broke her hip while in Belgium trying to get to her plane. Her motherly care was not replaced although we each tried to do something to help the smooth running of the house. I looked after the vegetable garden. I had never watched green string beans growing and it was a delight to have them prepared for supper.
We found that all these changes added to our love and support of one another as we all joined hands to bring Christ’s Healing Love to the people.
A visitor called recently. We hadn’t met for a long time. Our conversation went in many directions; at times we just sat in silence looking out at the sea here in Bettystown. The tide was in, and by the time we had finished that afternoon it was away on the horizon.by Nadia Ramoutar MMM Communications Coordinator Ireland 27.06.2026
If you had an 8th day in the week just for you, what would you do?
This may seem like an odd question. But it can be useful in determining what kind of holiday you need. This is a question that a life coach recently asked on a radio show. Her question led into how important it is to take proper holidays. Apparently there is an increase in people not taking time off work or their typical life to get away or have a proper holiday.
I am writing today to defend the important of holidays.
There are several reasons why holidays are important to us and why we need time each year to get away and to reconnect with loved ones – including with ourselves.
Try and bring some balance to your life as in if you have sedentary job or work, think of a holiday that brings you more activity. For example being out in the sun and getting more Vitamin D can be important for us if we are usually always in doors. Getting some extra walks in or even a swim might be helpful. This can even reset our health for the whole year!
Reconnecting with family and loved ones is important on holidays and it is a time to make your bonds with others stronger. It’s about taking the time to notice on another and give attention that maybe you normally don’t have time to do. But it can also be stressful to be with other people more than you are used to being so it is also important to speak up. Daily, state your needs on your holidays. If you are with people who want to do too much, tell them upfront you will not be doing so much. If they need rest, then let them get it.
A holiday is a good chance to get away from screens and to reconnect with people and ourselves. Sometimes we have so much pressure on us being on screens all the time for work. So making time to be off screens is worth the effort.
Fill your holiday with what you love, just like you would if you had an 8th day to enjoy. Be sure that each day you have something to look forward to enjoying. Work can be stressful even if you enjoy it, so taking a total break for schedules may be a nice change. Leave some time for the spontaneous. Though sometimes now if you are going somewhere popular you will have to make reservations in advance.
When returning to work, try to ease back into work so the benefit of your time away lingers a bit longer.
Have a wonderful holiday!
by Paul Campbell, S.J. USA 23.06.2026
When my sister, Sheila, asks me to write a blog post, I’m always aware that the MMMs are a worldwide, multi-cultural group. She asked for something about the summer and, while for many of us who live in the northern hemisphere, the opening line of the famous aria from George Gershwin’s “Porgy & Bess, “Summertime, and the livin’ is easy…” may be appropriate — for others in the southern hemisphere, their experience of summer may be markedly different.
Another song talks about the “lazy, hazy days of summer” and it’s true that, once the school year ends, life’s rhythms tend to slow down. We’re invited to notice how God speaks to us through creation. In these bright months, the Gospel’s call to see God’s care becomes more tangible: fields flourish, fruits ripen, and long, unhurried afternoons can give us the space for relaxation and prayer.
Mornings arrive with birdsong and a golden hush – our windows are often cracked open to the warm, familiar scent of sun-warmed grass. Our morning tea or coffee tastes more glorious when sipped slowly on a porch, and the hours ahead feel generous and wide enough for unplanned adventures.
Summer teaches us a kind of gentle reckoning: to savor the heat without haste, [although, as an Irishman, I find Washington, D.C.’s fetid humidity almost unbearable], to choose to play over work sometimes, and to relish ordinary joys like a long cold drink, a good book, and the particular comfort of wearing loose clothing and sandals. It’s season of light, of relaxed schedules and active senses, an annual reminder to step outside and let small pleasures fill our days.
by Sr. Sheila Devane, MMM Ireland 20.06.2026
I want to describe one of the efforts of the School of Nursing in Dareda Hospital, Tanzania, to address by far the biggest health issue in their area – malaria – and of how they zealously tried to bring understanding and prevention of this immense public health issue to the people in their immediate locality.
The student nurses were receiving training in delivering appropriate health education to the patients in the hospital, to the relatives caring and cooking for them, to their own peers and to the parishioners. A decision was made to move out a little further to a place quite near the hospital from where a high percentage of the sickest patients came – a small market village – Dareda Kati.
The nurse tutor, Sr. Nuala Horgan, and her colleagues in the School of Nursing accepted the challenge and eagerly set about creating very large diagrams of the various bugs and micro-organisms that caused the most serious illnesses to patients brought into the hospital.
The diagrams could be proudly, but honestly, described as “world class.” They were large, detailed, delicately coloured and on large white cardboard that was covered in plastic to keep them clean. Indeed, they were pretty scary too!
On their first outing, three second year students – Clotilda, Theresia and Martha – went along to the village with Sr. Nuala herself, Tom a driver and plenty of the local tea in flasks and, of course, some lovely mandazis, the local donuts. They were met by a large crowd of people, some selling their own wares as it was a market, others returning from mass and many there having heard the announcement of this special health education event.
Clotilda and a companion assisting her got up on the back of the land rover – this was their stage and a very good one it proved to be! She took the loudspeaker and called the people. The teaching began. As she talked of a particular bug a suitable diagram of it was shown all around from the stage, then some people moved close, asked to have the diagram right in front of them and were duly assisted. All was going well.
Then Martha took to the stage, she was a native of that locality, greeted the people in the tribal language, they clapped; then she spoke in Swahili with a member of the audience quickly volunteering himself as interpreter! Her topic was malaria and she gave an impassioned presentation to a village where one could hear a pin drop. The traders stopped their work, moved over to the stage, and were captivated by what she said and by the splendid diagrams. They were truly magnificent. Everyone wanted to see them, touch them and some would come near and then turn away quickly in fright!
It is customary in Tanzania to thank people for their efforts so when Martha finished and came off the Land Rover an elderly man was helped up, a seat was supplied, he slowly sat down and looked attentively at the audience. He started by saying he hadn’t much to say – again as is customary there – and proceeded to talk for about fifteen minutes, maybe longer. He spoke in both languages, was most articulate and clearly had listened to every word said. He commended Sr. Nuala for her great work as a teacher reminding her that this was the most prized profession in Tanzania, to be called Teacher. He spoke of the great effort of the Sisters and nurses in coming to Dareda Kati, how they were so well equipped with a platform, loud-speaker, and diagrams and how well each one delivered her material. He talked of how the people all appreciated them and even stopped their normal business to listen and take note.
Then he stopped; the people knew he wasn’t finished; there was a pause, even a long pause, he fixed his hat on his head, looked around, and with a deep voice continued:
“I am old, so old I don’t know my real age, but I know I am old. I have lived here all my life.
I have seen people get sick and die of malaria and of many other diseases. But one thing I have never seen, and I believe no one has ever seen in Dareda Kati or maybe in all of Tanzania is a mosquito as big as the one we have just seen on that board. I want to say to the people here if this is the creature that causes the malaria to the people in this locality, we will be alright; our own mosquito found here is very small, smaller than my thumbnail, ah much smaller so we are all safe. We don’t have any mosquitos like this great big one! Amen”
There is always more to learn; every day is truly a school day.
What we hope to impart and how it is understood can be so different!
Our work in Primary Health Care has taught us all that valuable lesson many times over.
We continue.
by Sr. Rita Kelly, MMM Ireland 17.06.2026
Recently, Sr. Sheila Campbell came up to me. She knows I had written a book about Mother Mary Martin, our Founder, told through the eyes of a child. I co-wrote this book a couple of years ago with Dr. Briege Rafferty, a dear friend. Sheila also knew I was beginning work about the small group of women who surrounded Mother Mary and who were key to the success of her vision. “Write me a blog about Magdalen”, she asked. So here goes…
Sr. Magdalen O’Rourke, known as Brigid (Bridie to her family) was one of the first pioneers to support Marie Martin in her vision for a new missionary congregation. She was born in 1909 From an early age Bridie was a prolific writer. Through her letters and memoirs, one gets a picture of her life story. While working in the Civil Service in Dublin for “eight years a happy and fulfilled life” a call to religious life to train as a nurse and go to Africa emerged. She was a woman of her era. There was a strong Missionary Movement both in Ireland and at Global level.
Through her Spiritual Director she was introduced to Marie Martin. From the first meeting, in 1934, Bridie was inspired by Marie’s vision of a new missionary order to serve the needs of Mother and Child. But Marie, an astute woman, recognized Bridie’s leadership, business and organizational skills.
In 1935 Bridie accompanied Marie to the Benedictine Monastery in Glenstal, Co. Limerick, for Spiritual formation. In 1936 “as a half a midwife” she set sail for Nigeria. She spent only two years on “mission”. By 1938 she was back in Ireland. She was the trusted assistant to Mother Mary Martin promoting MMM, fund-raising, and the first Editor of the magazine. She was adaptable, courageous and responded to Mother Mary Martin’s wishes with the attitude of Fiat- “God’s will be done”
This good and faithful servant was called home in November 2008 a few days before her 99th Birthday.
by Sr. Sheila Campbell, MMM Ireland 13.06.2026
In 1940, Sr. M. Elizabeth wrote in her letter home –
“At 5am the alarm goes off and, thinking you are in Ireland, you wonder what the cage of netting is doing all around your bed. Then you realise that you are in Africa and locked in the folds of a mosquito net. Then you remember spending half the night chasing a mosquito which accidently got in somehow before the net was let down the previous evening. You could not imagine anything so tantalising. He comes along and sings a little buzz in your ear and then disappears. A sense of duty compels you to try and catch him in case you would get malaria and you would get no sympathy for your laziness. The next step is to get a match and light your bush lamp and then the chase begins which, I needn’t tell you, is often a lengthy one because he is the size of nothing.”
After reading this I had a memory of sitting in our little chapel in Salvador, Brazil, and casually asking the Sisters: “Does the sound of all these mosquitos not bother you?” They looked at me blankly and then at one another. “There are no mosquitos, Sheila”, Maria ventured.
Then it slowly dawned on me – what I was experiencing was tinnitus, due to hearing loss, and not mosquitos! They are annoying little inscets, but can’t be blamed for everything!!
Sometime after moving from Boyle to Dundalk in 1954 a few neighbours in our estate – Muirhevna – remarked to my mother that my face seemed to be growing very round. They said it in a way that meant I was sick or something. This needed a trip to our doctor who believed there was nothing wrong with me at all and that I was a lovely little girl and so good at answering his questions. Well, they weren’t hard questions for me! The good thing was that the talk of my round face got me a trip to Dublin by train with mammy and a neighbour on December 8th when all the “down country” women went to the city for their Christmas shopping. I was being specially treated and looked after by being brought along whilst my siblings spent the day off school at home in Dundalk with Daddy. They said it was not fair.