Care of our Retired Missionaries.
The Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa is a Congregation of Religious women whose purpose is be a Franciscan fraternity of prayer and apostolic love and to respond with courage and zeal to the real needs of the Church in Africa.
We go among the poor and oppressed and try to be an effective sign of hope in their lives. We hold as our responsibility the care of our retired, elderly, sick and infirm Sisters.
MOUNT OLIVER CONVENT DUNDALK IRELAND
Mount Oliver Convent is the Motherhouse of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa. It was the first of our convents to be opened in Ireland in 1935. Its function was to receive young women interested to join the congregation in our missionary way of life. In 1956, Mount Oliver was officially established as the Motherhouse (principal house of the community in Ireland) and Novitiate of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa. Over the years, Mount Oliver has welcomed sisters on home leave from Africa, offered premises to the Archdiocese of Armagh for use as a Pastoral Centre and has been used for group retreats and various meetings of the Congregation.
In recent times, the convent has been home to our more elderly, retired and frail sisters who have given most of their lives to missionary service within Africa. They care for each other as best they can with the help of a dedicated group of lay staff who facilitate their other needs as far as possible. Just over a decade ago, St. Francis Nursing Home was built onto the premises to facilitate our infirm, retired missionaries who needed more care and was open also to admit members of the local community. Presently there are sixteen sisters and fourteen other women resident in the thirty bedded nursing home.
Since the pandemic, many small nursing homes like ours have found it difficult to survive due to the difficulty to engage permanent staff and extremely high running costs. We are grateful to all our staff in St. Francis Nursing Home who maintain a high standard of care to all the residents.
If you are able, please help us to fund this valuable facility.
Thank you
To enable the most disadvantaged and marginalised people to access a better quality life