[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 127 (Wednesday, October 2, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1717]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




MERCY HIGH SCHOOL OF SAN FRANCISCO CELEBRATES A HALF CENTURY OF SERVICE

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                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, October 1, 2002

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to pay tribute to Mercy High 
School of San Francisco, located in my congressional district, on the 
occasion of the 50th Anniversary of its founding. Since its inception 
in 1952, this extraordinary educational institution has dedicated 
itself to providing the finest education for young women in the Bay 
area.
  Mr. Speaker, Mercy High School was founded half a century ago by the 
Sisters of Mercy, at the request of the San Francisco Archdiocese, in 
order to create a high school for girls in the growing Sunset, 
Lakeside, and Park Merced neighborhoods of San Francisco, as well as in 
communities in northern San Mateo County.
  Mercy High School has come a long way since it first opened its doors 
to 199 students in 1952. When Mercy High School was first founded, the 
school consisted of one partially finished building and was staffed by 
six Sisters of Mercy and one lay person. Today the school can boast of 
a student body of 600 students, and they are educated on a campus of 
six and half acres located in the heart of San Francisco's Sunset 
District. The meticulously maintained campus includes 22 classrooms, a 
campus ministry, three science laboratories, a chapel, a 10,000-volume 
library, two computer labs, and studios for the fine and performing 
arts. Additionally, the school recently completed the Catherine McAuley 
Pavilion—a magnificent structure containing state-of-the-art 
athletic facilities and an outstanding art gallery.
  Mr. Speaker, Catherine McAuley founded the Sisters of Mercy, a 
religious order, in Dublin, Ireland in 1831. She was an extraordinary 
woman who was a socialite turned social worker, a lady of fashion who 
lived among the poor, a woman of wealth who had no money, and a 
dedicated activist who learned the discipline of sanctity. Catherine 
McAuley and her Sisters of Mercy brought aid and comfort to the 
impoverished of Dublin. Within ten years of its foundation, the Sisters 
of Mercy had expanded to aid people in other cities in Ireland and in 
England. In 1843, the first mission was started in the United States, 
and in 1854, the Sisters of Mercy came to San Francisco. In 1990, in 
completion of one stage of the process by which the Catholic Church 
defines sainthood, Pope John Paul II declared Catherine McAuley 
Venerable.
  Since its foundation, Mercy High School in San Francisco has 
dedicated itself to its mission of educating young women to be leaders 
who make a difference in their church and in their world. The school's 
fine arts program is one of the most diverse in the entire Bay Area, 
and the athletic and speech programs have received state level 
recognition as well. Additionally, Mercy High School's student 
government has received the Medalist Award, the highest award given by 
the California Association of Student Councils.
  Mr. Speaker, I am delighted and honored to pay tribute to this 
outstanding educational institution, and I invite all of my colleagues 
to join me in congratulating Mercy High School on half century of 
service to the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the Bay Area, and our 
nation.

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