Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy in New Zealand - UC Research ...

In (1) 1912 the O'Conor Home for the Aged was opened in
53
accordance with the wi
of the late Eugene O'Conor, Esq.,
and har3 been conducted by the Sisters of 7vestport since
then. '.::'he present number of inmates is twenty~nine. During
the influenza epidemic of 1918 the Sisters offered the
authorities one of' the
dormitories as a Wai."'d for out-side
patients, and for weeks they nursed all who were sent to
thelrl. Ihur of the ~)iste:r.'s nur·sed in the public homes.
rrhe total nlill:ber of pupils attending the Westport Sisters I
Schools last year (1938) was as follows:- St. Canice's 80;
St. Joseph's 106; Granity 53; St. J;Jar~·'s College 48; rnalcing
a total of 287. In the year that followed its foundation
~estport's need exceede~ that of its parent, Reefton,
accordin.:ElY the l.iot.her House and Novitiate were tr•ansferred
frOL, Heeftcm to Fv'estport and, after arnalgamation in 1927,
to ·~Iel
ngton.
'rhe little band of three who left Auckland to found
the first convent in Wellington has indeed increased and 'multiplied
until at the present tirae the amalgamated Communi ties
of the Archdiocese m:unber slightly over two hundred while the
.
nlilnber of ch1ldren ·taught in their schools approximates
to four hundred out of a
(2) . Catholic Population
of 66,714 according to Government Census of 1 6.