The Catherine McAuley school community gathered on Wednesday morning, 2nd July 2025, for the blessing of the statue of Our Lady of Mercy and the new Mercy Chapel windows.
“This morning is a joyful celebration of our school culture and history,” said Mary Refalo, School Principal. “For the first time in quite some time, we are enhancing the Mercy Chapel through the addition of the wonderful statue of Our Lady of Mercy, a special gift from the Parramatta Sisters of Mercy, and also through the installation of stained-glass windows, a collaboration between Catherine McAuley students and teachers. The introduction of both of these works of art is special to us, and it was important that we included every member of our community in this special celebration and blessing.”
As students and teachers watched a livestream of the service from their Homerooms, the Mercy Chapel hosted Sisters of Mercy Sr Margaret, Sr Barbara, Sr Margaret and Sr Patricia (and Sisters Margaret and Catherine watching via livestream); stained glass window artists Gillian Brown and Karen Elengikal, Stained Glass Overlay Penrith; students and teachers who oversaw the stained glass window project and developed its design; and student leaders. Father Walter Fogarty, Coordinating Pastor, Westmead Catholic Community, celebrated the service and gave the blessing.
Sr Margaret Jones RSM, Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Mercy, Parramatta, spoke about the history of the statue, which had initially been gifted to the Sisters of Mercy at Holy Cross Woollahra. She told those gathered and watching the livestream that Portuguese artist Jose Thedim had carved the statue, modelled on the painting of Our Lady of Mercy in Rome, in the chapel of Pudenziana. “This painting is the original picture which His Holiness Pope Leo XIII used to shape the emblem of Our Lady of Mercy for the Sisters of Mercy,” Sr Margaret said. Sr Margaret asked Ms Genevieve Banks, Director of Catholic Identity & Mission, to hold up a framed picture that the Sisters have also given to the school, showing Our Lady of Mercy or Our Lady of Ransom.
School Principal Mary Refalo thanked all those who contributed to creating both new beautiful works of art to be displayed in the chapel. “I invite everyone in our school to take ownership of them and to look at them as evidence of our Mercy charism and a way of life that expresses mercy, hospitality, justice, courage, integrity, and excellence.”