Marilyn Lacey

“Mercy” - song written by Anna Dagmar

-- read poem (by Jacqueline Suskin)

-- read lyrics

honored in partnership with AARP

Sister Marilyn Lacey is the founder and executive director of Mercy Beyond Borders, a non-profit organization that partners with displaced women and children overseas to alleviate their poverty. A California native, Lacey has been a Sister of Mercy since 1966.

For 25 years Sister Lacey has worked with refugees in the U.S., Africa, and Southeast Asia. She has dedicated her life to making the world a more welcoming place for persons forced to leave their homelands because of war or persecution. For many years she directed programs for refugees and immigrants, including the resettlement of the Lost Boys of Sudan at Catholic Charities in San Jose.

In 2001, Lacey was honored by the Dalai Lama as an "Unsung Hero of Compassion” and in Spring 2009 Ave Maria Press released her memoir, This Flowing Toward Me: A Story of God Arriving in Strangers. She holds a master's degree in social work from the University of California, Berkeley.