The Catholic primate Archbishop Seán Brady has said that "no group has contributed more to the development of Irish society as the Mercy Order".
He said that "if Ireland today is to some degree, North and South, a more confident and prosperous place, taking its rightful place among the nations of the world, holding its head high and commanding a key role in many aspects of the world order, it is in no small portion due to the self-giving of the Mercy Sisters."
Speaking at ceremonies in Dundalk, Co Louth, to mark the 150th anniversary of St Vincent's secondary school, he said that "notwithstanding the difficult and painful issues from the past which the Mercy Order, as other religious congregations, and indeed the church in general in Ireland must courageously confront, I pay warm tribute to the sisters". He said "it would be a travesty of truth and justice if the excellent work the Mercy Sisters have done in the past were to be forgotten in the present.
"Irish society owes the Mercy Order a debt which can never be repaid and that we must remember.
"Always those who want to raise an oppressed people see education as a tool of liberation. When Nelson Mandela was asked during his years of imprisonment whether students in South Africa should go on strike to support him, he dismissed the idea out of hand. 'Education is power,' he said, and told the youth leaders to go back to school and prepare for times ahead in the best way possible, by unlocking their potential through education," he said.
Speaking of the role of women in Irish society today, he said they had "perhaps never been more crucial to our spiritual growth and development, and to the health of our family life".
