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“Small acts of service and of virtue are daily within our reach.” —Catherine McAuley, Founder, Sisters of Mercy

Four women are gathered around a small cafe-style table. Their fingers busily twist and knot strands of yarn. Every now and then, someone is visibly counting—quietly, to herself, so as not to disturb anyone.

There is a round plastic loom on the table with red and green acrylic fiber swirled around its pegs. One of the women peers down through her glasses and scolds herself as she repeatedly tries to get the hang of it, wrapping and pulling small loops of yarn. The other three women are intent on the work in their hands and laps, row after row of yarn knotted and knitted in colors from blue to brown to burgundy.

A sense of calm surrounds the women. They talk softly as they work, sharing good news and lamenting each others’ sorrows. Births, deaths, and bittersweet memories surface—the intimate details of a group that has bonded together. Bonded over a common interest.

But though these women clearly enjoy their craft, they come together for a higher purpose—beyond the bonding experience. These women are stitching prayers and blessings into everything they touch. The beautiful, soft blankets they create are not the familiar afghans often draped casually over the backs of the sofas.

They are prayer shawls.

These dedicated women belong to the Sisters of Mercy and TMercy Associates Prayer Shawl Ministry, a group of 35 women who come together in a prayerful ministry that utilizes their love of knitting and/or crocheting. They meet every second and fourth Thursday in Carlow’s Convent of Mercy conference room. Through their handiwork, more than 317 shawls have been created for those in need of comfort, friendship, and solace, as well as celebration.

Every knot they tie and strand of yarn they pull is done in prayer.

During their bi-monthly meetings and at home, in their spare time, members knit or crochet shawls. While they’re working, they think or pray about the shawl recipient. Sometimes the shawl’s creator passes her current project to the other members so that they can crochet or knit a few stitches as they pray for the recipient.

When the shawl is finished, it is blessed by the group and adorned with small symbols, tied on with ribbon, that are appropriate to the recipient—such as a sea shell in remembrance of baptism, or a white feather to symbolize the Holy Spirit. And while most shawl recipients are Christians, the shawls can be tailored accordingly for non-Christians, as well.

“... We come together in community to ask your blessing upon these shawls. May these mantles be a safe haven, a sacred place of security and well-being in good times, as well as in diffi cult ones. May the ones who receive them be cradled in hope, kept in joy, graced with peace, and wrapped in love. Amen.”

A nondenominational ministry that today spans continents, the fi rst Prayer Shawl Ministry was originally begun in Hartford, Connecticut in 1998 by Janet Bristow and Victoria Galo, two graduates of the Women’s Leadership Institute at The Hartford Seminary. Shawl ministries continue to spring up within communities across the United States.

Carlow’s group began three years ago, on August 31, 2003, when Sister Mercy McGrady brought the idea back with her after visiting a group sponsored by the Buffalo, New York Sisters of Mercy. She thought such a ministry fi t well with the charism of the Sisters of Mercy, emphasizing ministering to the needs of others.

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To date, the Mercy Shawl Ministry has introduced the ministry to twelve parishes in the Pittsburgh area. They have sent shawls worldwide, including a shawl to His Holiness Pope John Paul II in his final days, crocheted by Mercy Associate (and Carlow alum) Mary Jane Longo—one of the group’s most prolific and dedicated crafters.

Shawls can be personalized by use of color such as a black and gold “Steelers” shawl that was made for a young boy with a brain aneurism. They are also sized accordingly, so that they will comfortably fi t the recipient.

And, according to Carol Lacher, a Mercy Associate and the shawl ministry group’s contact person, recipients become quite attached to their shawls.

“People wear them to bed, to doctors’ offices...they just don’t want to leave them,” says Carol.

Sister Noreen Sheehan, who has been a Sister of Mercy for 58 years, is one of these people. Sister Noreen suffers from multiple sclerosis, which confi nes her to a wheelchair, and she recently broke her leg. But her spirit is unbroken and bright.

“My prayer shawl is present at all times in my room,” says Sister Noreen. “It’s a kind of solace, a quietness to me. It reminds me first of the person who cared enough to make it for me, and it is something else to remind me of prayer.”

The group’s ministry to others is reminiscent of the mission of Catherine McAuley, who founded the Sisters of Mercy in 1831, almost 100 years before the Sisters of Mercy founded Pittsburgh’s Mt. Mercy College—which would later become Carlow University.

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To this date, the Sisters of Mercy continue to serve others as an international community of religious women vowed to serve people who suffer from poverty, sickness, and lack of education—with a special concern for women and children.

Carlow University, too, remains dedicated to making a difference in others’ lives—pledging, as part of the University Mission, to “respond reverently and sensitively to God and others, and to render competent and compassionate service in personal and professional life.” Which makes the shawl ministry a perfect fit for the campus.

“The ministry is a spiritual work of mercy,” says Carol Lacher, “and that was the charism of Catherine McAuley. She was out there reaching out to the people.”

Catherine McAuley called on the Sisters of Mercy to not just talk about love and compassion, but to do something about helping other people in need.

“Creating prayer shawls is a way you can do something for someone else that is very tangible—visible and yet symbolic,” says Leslie Lehman, a Mercy Associate and a therapist with Pittsburgh Pastoral Care. “It’s a way to sort of actually see what you’re giving spiritually.”

A regular at the prayer shawl meetings, Leslie had crocheted a while back, but says she relearned the craft in order to create prayer shawls. She calls it a good spiritual exercise.

“Some people have said that just doing it is a form of prayer,” says Leslie. “It gets you into a meditative state. It’s a very relaxing thing.”

Like Leslie, some of the women in the group either learned or relearned knitting or crocheting so they could be a part of a meaningful ministry. Others have been knitting their whole lives.

Carol, 64, can’t remember a time when she didn’t know how to crochet. When she was five years old growing up in Pittsburgh’s Mt. Oliver neighborhood, she couldn’t wait until after dinner when she could race down the street to Mrs. Trocie’s front porch to watch and learn as her neighbor crocheted intricate trim on ladies’ handkerchiefs.

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More recently, Carol passed these skills along when she taught Sister Margaret Alice Koteles to crochet. Now the lively 69-year-old calls herself a “crochet addict.”

A Sister of Mercy for 53 years, Sister Margaret Alice often serves as an escort, taking other sisters to doctors’ offi ces around the city. “When the patients are through, they check with me to see how many rows I’ve done,” she jokes.

Mercy Associate Bernadette Ogurchak fondly recalls the early start of her crocheting career.

“When I was getting married,” she says, “my husband’s family was Hungarian. I was told the women in the family had to knit or crochet, and my sister-in-law spent a whole afternoon teaching me how to crochet—I crocheted one afghan, and that was it. Thirtyseven years later, Carol re-taught me, and now I can’t put it down.”

Bernadette, and many others who have been touched by the shawl ministry, are adamant about the healing power of prayer, and the difference that the shawls have made in recipients’ lives.

In March 2004, Bernadette’s sister was diagnosed with irreparable heart damage. “We were told she had two weeks to live,” she says. “I gave her a prayer shawl on Holy Thursday, and she was well enough to go to church on Easter Sunday. She’s been going ever since.”

It was this experience that inspired Bernadette to get serious about making the shawls—she has also started a group at her own parish, St. Maurice in Forest Hills, where she knits on the first and third Thursdays of every month.

“Even the ones that aren’t cured,” says Bernadette, “have a sense of peace and comfort that someone made this for them and is praying for them.”

Thomas Coe, Carol’s 93-year-old father, didn’t have a specific medical need for a prayer shawl, but the prayers that go with the shawl his daughter made for him give a sense of comfort in later life.

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“As you go through life, you don’t think about how long you’re going to live,” he says. “And then you outlive all your friends—that’s the hardest part.”

Thomas calls himself a great believer, and the shawl rests on the back of the chair, right within his reach. “Every time I go around the bend and up the steps, I put my hand on it and say ‘Hail Mary,’” he says. “And so far, so good.”

The shawl ministry enters each recipient’s name in a prayer journal, so that they can remember the recipients and intentions in prayer at each of their meetings. Then the shawls are given to those in need.

“That’s the beauty of it,” says Carol. “We’re reaching out, helping people, consoling people, comforting people. The thing that really grabs at my heart is that when you give a person a prayer shawl, they can’t believe that a stranger made it for them, that a stranger took the time to put so much effort into it.And that the prayers and the blessing of a whole community go into it.

” According to Carol, anyone can contact the Mercy Prayer Shawl Ministry and request a shawl by calling her at 724.348.4692. And, though you can’t put a price on their ministry, she says, the group accepts donations, as the majority of the funds used to create the shawls come from members themselves.

And the members keep quite busy. Many of them work or are active volunteering throughout the Pittsburgh area, but the power of prayer and the need for prayer shawls keeps them going.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t have a request for a shawl,” says Carol, who also runs a shawl ministry at her parish, St. Joan of Arc in Library, Pa. Though she calls her work for both groups almost a full-time job, it’s a job she loves.

“Our cupboard at Mercy is totally empty. It seems like every time we get one prayer shawl made, it’s gone. But that’s the nicest part about it,” adds Carol. “Seeing people and giving the shawls away.”

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The Mercy ministry keeps a journal which includes thank you notes—some of which tell of miraculous accounts similar to that of Bernadette’s sister. The group is adamant, though, that their handiwork is not done for thank you notes or for any sort of recognition, but rather because they want to bring their prayers into the lives of others and leave them there as a gifts.

And as they craft the shawls together, in prayer and meditation, these women have formed a strong bond that is rooted in their mission. They have become, says Carol, like one big family.

“It’s bonding, it’s prayer, it’s social time. It’s everything,” says Carol. “We pray, we knit, we crochet. We laugh, we talk, and we eat. Everyone opens up. It’s a very comforting time.”

Comforting for both the group, and, ultimately, for the recipients of the shawls they create.

Donations to the group can be made to “The Mercy Prayer Shawl Ministry” and sent to Sister Susan Welsh, Convent of Mercy, 3333 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15129. Anyone who is interested in joining the group—regardless of skill level—is welcome to join them the second and fourth Thursday of each month at 9:00 a.m. in the Conference Room behind the Convent of Mercy dining room.

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