Care of our Retired Missionaries.

 

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