Sister Mary Harper, R.S.M., poet, chaplain and counselor, dies at 80

Religious Sister of Mercy Mary Harper, who served as chaplain and counselor at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore for nearly three decades and as a counselor to homeless women in Baltimore, died Feb. 2 at Springwell Senior Living in Mount Washington. She was 80.

“Her lifelong ministry was centered on helping others see their value and self-worth,” said Religious Sister of Mercy Helen Amos, executive chair of Mercy Health Services Board of Trustees in Baltimore.

Leaders of Mercy Medical Center said Sister Mary touched the lives of many patients through visitation and prayer, in addition to helping numerous Mercy employees earn their GEDs and advance their professional skills. 

Dr. David Maine, Mercy Health Services president and CEO, said in a written statement that Sister Mary was a “voice for social justice.”

“She cared for and served the people of Baltimore with compassion, dignity and respect,” he said.

Sister Helen first became acquainted with Sister Mary when Sister Helen taught Sister Mary’s blood sister. It was in 1991, when Sister Helen joined Mercy Medical Center, that the two began working together. 

“She was a very gentle and genuine soul,” said Sister Helen, noting that Sister Mary avoided the spotlight. 

Sister Mary was born in Savannah, Ga., in 1941. After her mother died, she lived and was cared for by the Sisters of Mercy. Educated by the Mercy Sisters for 12 years, she attended Blessed Sacrament Elementary School and St. Vincent’s Academy High School in Savannah.

Shortly after graduating from St. Vincent’s Academy in 1959, she joined the Sisters of Mercy in Mount Washington, taking the religious name of Sister Mary Benjamin.

Sister Mary graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from Mount Saint Agnes College in Mount Washington in 1965. A decade later, she earned a master’s degree in elementary education from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Her first ministries included teaching at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Baynesville and Mercy High School in Baltimore, as well as her alma mater in Savannah.

In 1978, she earned a second master’s degree in liberal arts from what is now Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore. She served as Loyola’s campus minister and earned another master’s degree in pastoral counseling.

Sister Mary later joined the staff at Marian House in Baltimore as a personal counselor to women who were homeless due to drug and alcohol addiction, and traumatic abuse. She also served at COIL, a program that offered education and other assistance to underserved people in an impoverished neighborhood in West Baltimore.

In 1990 Sister Mary began her ministry at Mercy Medical Center as a counselor and pastoral care minister, where she served up until her retirement in 2017.

Sister Helen said her friend was passionate about literature and wrote many poems. In 2019, the Sisters of Mercy “managed to get her permission” to collect and publish her poems in a book, “The Sky in Me.”

“She had written these beautiful poems,” Sister Helen said. “Many were about the sea, inspired by living at a seaport town in Savannah.”

Sister Helen said many did not know about her friend’s literary pieces until a party in which the poems were read – another sign of her humility since Sister Mary had never mentioned them, Sister Helen said.

A viewing will be held Feb. 12 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. in the McAuley Chapel at Mercy Medical Chapel in downtown Baltimore, 301 St. Paul Place followed by a funeral Mass at 10:30 a.m.

Email Priscila González de Doran at pdoran@CatholicReview.org

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