Presenter: Sister Mary Christine Cremin, RSM

Title: “The Asceticism of Participation as Seen in the Life and Writings of Venerable Catherine McAuley” 

While Venerable Catherine apparently never used the term “Asceticism of Participation” it appears, even to a casual reader, that her life was driven by this very dynamic: she was never simply an onlooker, either regarding the Passion of Christ or that of one of His members. My aim in this presentation is to look at Venerable Catherine’s life and writings through the “lens” of the asceticism of participation and to see there the founding charism of “union and charity” as she lived it and as she chose to incorporate it into the community she founded. 

Biography of Presenter

Sister Mary Christine was born in 1941 in the Bronx.  She entered the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor in 1958 and transferred to the newly founded community of the Religious Sisters of Mercy shortly after our foundation in 1973.  Sister received her BSN from Mercy College of Detroit, and her MSW and PhD in Anthropology from Michigan State University. 

Sister worked as a visiting nurse in Michigan, Ohio, and New York; after obtaining her MSW she worked at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing and at Michigan State University, for Caritas in Germany and Catholic Charities in Knoxville and at Sacred Heart Mercy Health Care Center (SHMHCC).  Sister also served as the Executive Director of the CMSWR from 2018 – 2021 before returning to Alma and SHMHCC where she serves as a member of the Behavioral Health team.