MMM in USA

Our communities in the United States work closely with all our friends there to provide support for our overseas work.

A major part of this effort involves Mission Appeals in Catholic parishes assigned to us each year. Our Development Office at 4425 W. 63rd St., Chicago also works very hard at other forms of fund-raising.

The first community of MMMS was established on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston in 1950. That is now located at Somerville, MA. Since then MMM has made foundations in New York, Chicago and San Diego, and Clinchco, Virginia. Over the years, the services provided by Sister Bernadette Kenny and her Health Wagon Team won several awards.

Sisters who have many years of experience in our overseas missions, now work among disadvantaged communities in the USA.  

On the Mission Appeal Trail in the USA
It all starts around the middle of July. Next year’s work, that is. Our Sisters are still busy coping with the current year’s round of Mission Appeals but July is the time to start planning. Dozens of letters have to be despatched, applying to be part of the Missionary Co-op Plan for the following year.
Replies begin to trickle in and are filed away till there are enough to take a look at how the new year will shape up. How many Sisters will it take? Who will go where? Who will go with who? Who knows which highways from previous experience? How many Sisters can be released from overseas to give us a hand? >>> more.

Drawing on Lifetime Skills - Sister Ronnie Cawley writes from Boston
USA, 2005: The Shepherd's Center is a concept of linking older adults together to reflect meaning and dignity. In this way identified needs can be met. Life is sustained. It is people helping people. The name reflects the support and caring expressed by the Psalmist ‘The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want...’ Ps. 22
The primary purpose of the Shepherd's Center is to enrich the later years of a person’s life with opportunities for services to others. This gives scope for self expression, meaningful work, and close friendships. >>> more.

25 Years in Appalachia
USA, 2003: “Kathleen Counts was the first woman coal miner in the US to be killed. We stood outside the coalmine for three days in protest because of the unsafe conditions... Then there was a situation where somebody inherited a whole town and tried to sell it, people and all... And there was a strike, a textile strike. The textile production was too hard for the women, and they wanted to reduce the amount they had to produce in order to get paid a wage. And to have a ten-minute break. They were not allowed to leave their machines from 7 a.m. till noon. So they walked out and there was a picket line for five weeks. We supported them through the co-op also, we gave discount of 25% for food. And we had a big parade of many church supporters...” >>> more.

Healing at Lonesome Pine
USA, 2001:  Sister Bernie Kenny drove into Lonesome Pine Airport, in Wise County, Virginia at 4 a.m. She thought she and her team from the Health Wagon would get a headstart setting up the clinics due to open at 6 a.m. in the hangar. But she found people there already. They had been waiting in line since 1.30 a.m.
“It is difficult to believe that for many people in the United States today, health services are so hard to access. 43 million people are without health insurance, which means they cannot access proper health care”, she says. >>> more.

Time for a 'Hoe-down' in Appalachia
USA, 1998:  Sister Bernadette Kenny gave them all an excuse for a Hoe Down on October 12 1998, when she received the national Lumen Christi Award of the Catholic Church Extension Society in the United States.
Every year, this national Award is presented to honour outstanding work of lay and religious missionaries, especially in isolated and poor regions of the US.
In Appalachia, people just love to dance. A 'Hoe-Down ' is what they call it when you put down your hoe and you pick up your feet!  >>> more.

History of MMM in USA

Last modified: Friday, July 30th, 2010