About Sister Mary Concilia Moran, RSM
The Sister Mary Concilia Moran Award celebrates the memory of a woman who, as a leader in religious life and in the health care ministry, was an agent of change, a shaper of dreams, and an enabler of persons.
Sr. Concilia was the first post-Vatican II superior of the Sisters of Mercy of the Union. Elected president at age 40, she brought her youth, her energy, and her joy in her vocation to both congregational leadership and health care ministry. Sr. Concilia's involvement in health care made excellent use of her abilities to develop persons, to articulate a vision, and to reach out and include others. Her presence to health care spanned years of enormous change, from individual institutions accountable to congregational superiors to complex systems with multiple boards of trustees. She served in nearly every health care role: nurse, hospital administrator, provincial superior, institute superior, hospital and system trustee, and system executive.
In the late 70s, she adopted the concept of "sponsorship" to describe the new relationship between the religious congregation and its institutional ministries. That vision required new perceptions and skills, new practices and new structures for the mission of Catholic health care to continue. Sr. Concilia pioneered the development of these tools of sponsorship through mission effectiveness policies and programs in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, England, and Korea.
As a leader, she connected organizations with people, ideas with action, reality with hope, resources with need-and she did all this with Irish humor. She was the embodiment of warmth, hospitality, gentleness, and strength.
Sr. Concilia died in 1990, at age 59.
First awarded in 1992, and named for Sister Mary Concilia Moran, RSM, this award is presented each year to an individual in Catholic health care recognized for creativity and breakthrough thinking that advances the ministry.
For a visionary leader