More of "Back to the Beginning"
Bonus content from the 75th anniversary issue of TODAY magazine
Cardinal Dennis Dougherty's Full Speech
From Gwynedd-Mercy Junior College's Opening Ceremony in 1948
Thank you for the eloquent and lovely address of welcome and also for this beautiful token of your esteem.
I hope that some years from now the only difficulty will be to find room for all applicants.
Now that the Sisters of Mercy are here, it will grow in leaps and bounds and I feel before you young ladies become of age — 10 or 15 years from now — you will be known far and wide for your culture, learning, and religion.
I do not expect to be here then, but I am looking forward to it prophetically.
I do believe that the Lord is with these Sisters for they are growing in leaps and bounds.
I do not mean physically, but educationally and spiritually.
May you be blessed by God with an abundance of outstanding zeal. Some of you are probably from other states and you will go back bringing with you the culture of the Sisters of Mercy.
Some of you are probably from other states and you will go back bringing with you the culture of the Sisters of Mercy.
It is a pleasure to be here today and share in your day.
Thank you for your welcome and we will pray that God will continue to bless the Sisters and their noble work in higher education.
I pray that each one of you have wonderful success in the future and by that I do not mean necessarily material success but success with a background of culture and religious training typical of the Sisters of Mercy, whom may God continue to bless.
The Original Owners of GMercyU's Property
In 1906-07, the Bond family of Philadelphia built Assumption Hall as their country estate. Their son, James Bond (shown here), would later become the inspiration for the name of the famous spy character in Ian Fleming's novels and movies.
Mrs. Bond death led to the sale of the estate in 1914 to Roland Leslie Taylor. Much later, in 1947, the Sisters of Mercy purchased the estate from the Taylor family for their junior college.
