Celebrating the Society's Centenary in London
On Tuesday, 9th September around 60 persons joined Baroness O’Loan in the River Room at the House of Lords in the presence of the Lord Speaker, Lord McFall, at an event that she hosted to celebrate the Society’s Centenary. The Lord Speaker addressed the meeting, congratulating the Medical Mission Sisters on all they have achieved over the years and highlighting their outstanding contribution to healthcare delivery across the world. A message of congratulations from Cardinal Vincent Nichols was read on his behalf by Fr Christopher Colven, Catholic Chaplain to the Houses of Parliament.
In welcoming guests, Baroness O’Loan recalled how on 30th September 2025, the Centenary year had been launched in Kulmasa, Northern Ghana, along with the inauguration of the Holy Family Polyclinic. On that festive day, 1,000 local people, men, women and children, with limited access to healthcare in their villages, were so excited at having a new facility made available for them at last that they had made the long journey, mainly on foot, to join in the celebration. Now to mark the closing of their Centenary year, Baroness O'Loan noted what an honour it was for guests to gather in the House of Lords with many Medical Mission Sisters in their midst - including from most of the 19 countries where they are present. At this once-in-a-100 years event, Sister Agnes Lanfermann, Society Coordinator, expressed how grateful and humbled she and the Medical Mission Sisters felt to be permitted by the Lord Speaker to mark their Centenary in such a beautiful and historic room in the presence of guests, who are interested in journeying together, to find ways of promoting healing and wholeness in our world. She warmly thanked members of a small UK-based committee, chaired by Professor Phil Harris, that had helped to prepare the celebrations.
To mark this major milestone, a presentation was made by Dr Ana Jelnikar from the Institute of Anthropological and Spatial Studies (IAPŠ) at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU) on “Healing Presence in a Wounded World: Medical Mission Sisters and Their Contribution to the Global Humanitarian Sector”.
The full speech can be read here: Healing Presence in a Wounded World: Medical Mission Sisters and their contribution to the global humanitarian sector | Medical Mission Sisters
On Thursday, 11th September, a Thanksgiving Mass was presided over in Farm Street Jesuit Church by the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, His Excellency Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía, who gave the homily. At the reception afterwards, the theme was, “Fostering a Global Coalition for Healing”, with four examples given of the Society’s projects and partnerships in: Frankfurt, Germany; Kulmasa, Ghana; Pune, India; and a suburb of northern Callao, Peru, marked by extreme poverty and long-standing social exclusion.
During the Mass, we sang "You, God, Are My Firmament" composed by Sister Miriam Therese Winter. You can listen to this song in the recording by the Medical Mission Sisters, as found opposite.
We are most grateful to Father Dominic Robinson and members of the Cana Café for their kind hospitality. The catering for this event was prepared by the Cana Café, a project linked to the church, where all staff are volunteers, typically homeless or unemployed. The café's mission is to help people to develop new skills for employment.