Dear Members of the Mercy Community,

It is with a mixture of joy and sadness that I write this last letter to you as I leave my role as Interim President of Mercy High School.   There is always sadness in parting.  I have treasured my time with you, delighted in new friends, found inspiration in the dedication of faculty members, parents and Mercy community members, and am awed by the way in which the Mercy charism gives life to our school.   This was the year of my 50^th anniversary as a Sister of Mercy and I have often shared with others that being with you was God’s jubilee gift to me.  Thank you.

I also leave my post with great joy in my heart because you have been entrusted to fantastic leaders.  Your Board of Directors could not be more gifted or dedicated and they will guide you well.  Your new Educational Leadership Team led by your President, Karen Hanrahan, and your Principal, Ivan Hrga, are full of energy, vision, great ideas and a total dedication to the education of young women in the Mercy tradition.   They are supported by a wonderful Leadership Team which you know well, Deans Betsy Pfeiffer and Natalie Cirigliano; Sandy Flaherty, Director of Mission Integration;  Mary Lund , Director of Advancement  and Kay Carter, Director of Finance/Human Resources.   They are a formidable team!

Mercy is a great school and over the past year we have reflected on its mission, its outreach to the community, its academic excellence and its call to train young women to be transformative leaders of the society in which we live.  Much energy and dialogue has been focused on how to not only deepen each of those aspects of our school but how to let the people of the San Mateo peninsula become more aware that they have such an education treasure right in their midst.

As I return to my other duties and responsibilities, the one thing I ask of each of you is to help tell Mercy’s story.  It is a powerful one, for our school makes a difference in the lives of its young women in a way that also impacts our world.  We are committed to sending forth young women who are impelled by their faith to preach the Gospel in their deeds, to make our world more just and more compassionate.   It is a work that is valuable beyond measure.   The passion of Catherine McAuley was catching.  Mercy’s work of unleashing the full potential of each young women is equally so.   In the Gospel when the farmer found the pearl of great price in a field, he sold everything he had to buy that field.   We who treasure Mercy have been given it freely.   It is our call and responsibility to invite others to taste what we have received.

May God continue to bless your community and know that I hold you all affectionately in my heart.

Sr. Katherine Doyle, RSM