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Mercy sister has found fulfillment in ministry in service to others
archived from: 2013-01-11
by: Patricia Bartos

She has headed the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System for five years

When talking about her vocation to religious life, Sister Susan Welsh points to the fourth vow taken by all Mercy sisters -- that of service.

“In addition to the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, we have the vow of service,” she said of the idea that encompasses her 48-plus years in the order and explains why she has loved every ministry she filled during those decades.

“I’ve always seen ‘service’ as important through all of life,” she said. “It’s a very, very humbling experience, it’s certainly been for me in ministry.”

Sister Susan has headed the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System for five years, overseeing the region’s largest health and social service non-profit organization.

Earlier she had served as treasurer and chief financial officer for the Mercy order for 30 years and as vice president of the community for eight years.

The native of St. Elizabeth in Pleasant Hills entered after high school and completed studies at Carlow University and earned a master’s degree in education from Duquesne University, before teaching at St. Peter School on Pittsburgh’s North Side and at Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Monroeville.

“The sisters place great value on education and I loved teaching,” she said. She described herself as “quite desolate” when she learned the academy was closing -- and surprised to learn her new assignment was as treasurer for the order.

This led her to Robert Morris University, where she earned a master’s in business administration to ground her in her new role.

“I loved the idea that in religious community where you have a vow of poverty and share everything in common, it’s nice to have someone in charge of finances, in service to the sisters. That part appealed to me.”

In 2007, the Mercy leadership consolidated 25 communities of sisters in Pittsburgh, Erie, Buffalo, Rochester and the Philippines to form the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.

Sister Susan’s position was eliminated and she had no immediate plans other than to begin cleaning out her papers after decades as treasurer.

At the same time, the Mercy sisters sold Mercy Hospital to UPMC. While the hospital itself was sold, “we were still going to have all these other ministries affiliated with Mercy that were going to continue,” she said.

In yet another surprise appointment, Sister Susan was named to oversee those ministries, gathered under the title of Pittsburgh Mercy Health System.

“After I picked myself up from the floor, I began doing what needed to be done,” she said. “I’ve been fortunate to work with wonderful, wonderful people who have helped me, people who have been part of the Mercy Health System for many years. It’s a very well-respected entity in the area,” she said of the health system.

Part of her work involves “telling our story” and trying to overcome confusion about the new system -- which does not include Mercy Hospital.

Pittsburgh Mercy Health System includes 1,700 employees staffing health and social service programs which reach more than 26,000 people each year.

The system includes A Child’s Place at Mercy, McAuley Ministries, Mercy Behavioral Health, Mercy Community Health, Mercy Intellectual Disabilities Services, Mercy Parish Nurse and Health Ministry Program, Operation Safety Net, Pittsburgh Mercy Health System Development and Pittsburgh Mercy Family Health Center. Services are provided to 26,000 people annually in more than 60 locations in Allegheny County.

Sister Susan entered religious life at a very young age, and recalls, “I look back on how highly I valued that concept of a ‘call’ to follow God. I saw it as a call, but in the very beginning I thought that maybe in six months or so God would say, ‘This is not right for you, get on with your life.’”

That message never came and “over the years it just became truly a very special life that I grew comfortable with,” she said. “After 48-plus years I see how my life has evolved. I have loved every single thing I did. I loved teaching kids, I loved being in financial ministry and I love the job I have now.”

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