Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma will operate on wounded and care for patients in Haiti

Four Sisters, who specialize in medicine, respond to call for help in Haiti: They fly out from Michigan on Friday.

ALMA — Four members of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma prepare to fly from Michigan to Haiti tomorrow to care for the wounded in that country. The Religious Sisters of Mercy Motherhouse is located in Alma, but sisters belonging to the order provide health care across the country and around the world.

Sister Mary Rebecca Koterba RSM, MD is a general surgeon in Alma’s Sacred Heart Mercy Health Care Center, and she will lead a team of RSMs to Haiti. Her team includes: Sister Marie Paul Lockerd RSM, DO, a general practitioner at Sacred Heart Mercy Health Care Center in Jackson, Minnesota, Sister Edith Mary Hart RSM, DO, who is completing her medical residency in general practice at Ingham Medical Center in Lansing, MI, and Sister Marianna Koonce RSM, MD, a Sister who is in early religious formation. Two of the physicians on this team, Sister Mary Rebecca and Sister Marie Paul, have spent time in Peru giving medical treatment to the poor.

In Haiti, the Religious Sisters of Mercy will care for the injured and provide medical attention to those who are in desperate need of a doctor. They will work most directly with the Missionaries of Charity, a religious community begun by Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The Religious Sisters of Mercy have had a long and deep friendship with the Missionaries of Charity.

The four Sisters who will travel to Haiti will be joined in prayer by all members of their community.

The Religious Sisters of Mercy is a Religious Institute of Pontifical Right dedicated to the Spiritual and Corporal works of Mercy. Mercy is a virtue influencing one's will to have compassion for, and, if possible, to alleviate another's misfortune. Established in 1973 in response to the renewal called for in the Second Vatican Council, the Institute recognizes Venerable Catherine McAuley as its original foundress.

The goal of the Institute is the praise and worship of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the boundless mercy which has been revealed through the works of creation, redemption, and sanctification. The Sisters profess the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, as well as a fourth vow of service.

For more information on the Religious Sister of Mercy visit their website at http://www.rsmofalma.org.