On this date 31 years ago, CNEWA’s Mother of Mercy Clinic opened in the Jordanian city of Zerqa. Mother of Mercy is the creation of not one person, community or organization, but of a partnership.
In 1981, Zerqa’s Latin Catholic community asked the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood and CNEWA’s operating agency in the Middle East, the Pontifical Mission for Palestine, to consider opening a mother and child clinic on the grounds of the Latin parish. A congregation of nursing sisters based in England, the Franciscan Missionaries, had collaborated with the Pontifical Mission in operating mobile health clinics in Jordan’s refugee camps since 1971. Their principle concern at that time was the reduction of the mortality rate — then 40 percent — among babies born to Palestinian refugee mothers. Poor nutrition and the lack of education and health awareness contributed to many of these deaths, as well as to deaths of the elderly.
After a period of review, CNEWA and the Franciscan Missionaries, with the support of the Latin Patriarchate, agreed to open the clinic, receiving monies to build, furnish and operate the center from Canadian members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. After just a few years, the number of patients receiving care at the clinic increased by 214 percent, requiring an extensive refurbishment. In 1985, the German bishops’ relief and development fund, Misereor, provided the necessary funds.
Today, the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena, an Iraqi community based in Mosul, administer the clinic, which treats more than 33,000 mothers and children a year.
Happy Birthday!