by Sr. Sheila Campbell  MMM    Ireland      17.03.2022

Today is the Feast of Saint Patrick, a great missionary of the 5th Century. In some sense, having always grown up with “Saint Patrick” in our lives, we tend to take him for granted. But recently I have been turning to Patrick and looking at him as a young man, called to transmit God’s love to a people who were not at all interested. How did he do it?

Read more: Patrick

by  Sr. Margaret Anne Meyer MMM          U.S.A.         15.03.2022

Recently I was asked “What is it like to be on a protest march?” Here is my answer. So often, the feeling of hopelessness comes over me when I hear the cries of suffering people. What can I do? I am so small and the need is so great. Did Jesus feel like that in the Garden of Gethsemane? Did Jeremiah and the prophets want to hide like Jonas and not deal with where God was leading them? What happens? Jeremiah says God put a fire in his belly and it would not go away. 

Somehow God leads you to likeminded people who also want to do something. This happened to me after a retreat. A Sister came up to me and asked me to join the Boston Coalition of Sisters against Human Trafficking. I was overjoyed and at the same time wondered how I could contribute.

Read more: On a Protest March

By Sr. Keresifon Clement Ekanem     Republic of Benin    13.03.2022
She walked into the Clinic (one of the Clinics I worked after my training) emaciated with wrinkled skin, looked weak and breathless, accompanied by her mother who looked exhausted too. Other patients were excused and Patience (not her real name) was received as an emergency. Her name and other data were taken; she looked older than her age. Several laboratory analyses were run on her as well as physical examination. On the long run, it was discovered she had a terminal illness and an umbilical hernia. My goodness, is this not a case for a Teaching Hospital? I thought to myself but I knew that the Doctor was going to accept her, if he does accept her then God will have to perform a miracle in this Clinic. In fact he did admit her and God worked a miracle.

Read more: The Power of a Simple Touch

by Sr. Prisca Ovat MMM       Kenya          11.03.2022

Here she is called Mama Kemba, Mercy, 85 years old. She was referred to us by one of the palliative caregivers (Esther). The latter had, alongside others, received a couple of training on identifying, reporting and assisting palliative care patients within their communities. Mercy lives with a son and a daughter who are rarely sober, leading to her neglect. She also suffers from a terrible breast sore of gory sight and unbearable stench.

Read more: Words Bring Results

by Vera Grant  AMMM         Ireland      09.03.2022
It wouldn’t have been hard to identify the grandparents waiting at the school gate. We stood apart, not knowing one another and wrapped up warmly with masks intact. The young mothers near us with babies in slings or in prams were bare footed in their ankle length leggings. The babies were jogged up and down or idly pushed in their prams as the mothers stood in small clusters, chatting and laughing.

Read more: Seeds of Hope 1

by Lisa Murphy     MMM Archivist        08.03.2022

The issuing of the Constans ac Sedula in 1936, enabled MMM Sisters to undertake pioneering medical work. Throughout the history of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, there have been many women who have devoted themselves to particular causes and one such MMM was Sister Mairead Chambers, known in her early years as Sr. M. Visitation. Sister Doctor Chambers would go on to dedicate much of her life’s work to alleviating the suffering of patients with Hansen’s disease (leprosy). Born in County Clare, Mairead entered the Medical Missionaries of Mary in 1940 after finishing school. She was one of the first MMM’s to qualify as a Doctor at University College Dublin in 1947. Her first assignment upon qualifying was to assist Doctor Joseph Barnes at the leprosy settlement in Ogoja, Nigeria. The leprosy scheme had begun just two years previous in 1945 after Bishop Thomas McGettrick enlisted the help of Dr. Barnes and the Medical Missionaries of Mary to undertake this vital work. Sister Doctor Chambers writes in the MMM Magazine that ‘Prior to 1945 there were no facilities for the treatment of the thousands of sufferers in Ogoja division’.

Read more: Sister Doctor Mairead Chambers

by Sr. Sheila Campbell  MMM         Ireland       07.03.2022

Tomorrow is International Women’s Day. So today I want to tell you part of the story of Sr. Nina Underwood MMM. I say part of the story because recently I read her account of being kidnapped by guerrilla fighters during a bloody civil war. But we will let that part of the story sit for another day.

Read more: Nun and Pilot

By Sr. Margaret Anne Meyer, MMM       U.S.A.           06.03.2022
When I last wrote to you about the meaning of Advocacy which I learned from Sister Cora Wall MMM, I also remembered the very beginnings of the founding of our Mission in Ogoja to those suffering from Hansen’s Disease as Leprosy is now called.  Three Sisters, Theresa Connolly, Sr. de Lourdes Gogan, and Sr. Philomena Doyle travelled by lorry from Lagos to Ogoja in 1945. The distance was over five hundred kilometers.  What must it have been like for them travelling over bumpy dusty roads for that length of a journey? 

Read more: Fund-Raising for Leprosy

By Sr. Sheila Campbell MMM          Ireland         05/03/2022
Isn’t it cheating a little bit to say you are walking for Lent when actually you do go out walking most days? These thoughts were in my head when I set out to start the MMM Steps for Hope 2022 Lenten Campaign. Well, I thought to myself, if I make a pledge to do something I still have to do it, especially on days that are raining, and days when I just want to sleep a little bit later.

Read more: Walking for Lent

by Theresa McDonnell Friström, AMMM      Ireland      03.03.2022

When I unexpectedly walked in the funeral procession of Fr. Mick Reynolds, CSSp, from Kimmage Manor to the Church of the Holy Spirit in Dublin one Monday morning, something strange happened. Firstly, I was the only woman. Secondly, I felt I was in holy space; and thirdly, I felt I was representing the very many people around the world and those predeceased who were helped and graced by that intelligent, wise, and unassuming man.
The list of Mick’s beneficiaries includes Medical Missionaries of Mary.

Read more: Joining the Funeral