Mass celebrates Mount Mercy name change

Mount Mercy is an institution that has never been afraid of change, Archbishop Jerome Hanus of the Dubuque Archdiocese, said Tuesday.

The school began as a two-year junior college for women in 1928 and over the years became a four-year school for women, and eventually a co-ed college. The school officially became Mount Mercy University Monday, and change years in the making, and Archbishop Hanus on Tuesday led about 125 people in a Mass of celebration.

“To grow is to change and to become perfect is to change often,” Hanus said.

It's appropriate that prayer be part of such a momentous event, Hanus said, to gather and thank God and ask God's blessings.

The Gospel reading was the story of the good Samaritan, where Jesus tells someone that to be a good neighbor is to treat someone with mercy, and he says to “go and do likewise.” That Gospel story is the basis, the foundation for the entire Sisters of Mercy tradition, Hanus said. The Mercy tradition also places strong value on using wisdom and skills to benefit the common good, which is why a liberal arts education is so important, Hanus said.

“Mount Mercy University today accepts anew the charge given by Jesus: go and do likewise,” Hanus said.

Mount Mercy President Christopher Blake's greeting of “welcome to the Chapel of Mercy at Mount Mercy University,” with emphasis on “university,”  was met with cheers and claps from the audience.

After the Mass, Hanus blessed with holy water the construction site for the planned University Center, a 43,000-square-foot building set for completion in the winter of 2011-12 that will be a central meeting place on campus.

Paula Hermsen, 20, a junior from New Vienna studying nursing, said after the Mass she thinks the change will broaden the opportunities for Mount Mercy students.

“It's a big celebration,” she said. “It's special today.”