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Mary Potter's vision of the mission of the Little Company of Mary was that we share in the work of the Church, and are called to "spread the good news" so that it permeates all aspects of human living.
Brief History of Region
It was Bishop John Grimes SM, the late Bishop of Christchurch who met Mary Potter in England in her youth and again in 1905 during his ad limina visit to Rome. He subsequently requested that the Little Company of Mary Sisters make a foundation in his Christchurch diocese.
The first group of 6 sisters arrived from Australia in January 1914. They were involved in district nursing until the first Lewisham Hospital opened in Christchurch in 1914. In later years the first group of Religious sisters trained as midwives and a Maternity section was added. Lewisham became Calvary Hospital and over the years offered a wide range of healthcare services including medical, surgical, care of the elderly and psychiatric patients. Calvary Hospital was sold in 1979, the Mary Potter Hospital for Continuing Care closed in 2004.
Calvary Hospital in Wellington opened in July 1929 providing surgical and medical care until the Hospital was sold in 1987.
The Novitiate was situated in Wellington from 1960-1966 and a nursing training school functioned from 1961-1970.
NZ was part of the Australian Province until the opening of Calvary Hospital Hawera in Taranaki in 1956. New Zealand then became a separate Province. Calvary Hawera was sold in 1999.
Calvary Invercargill opened in 1958 and was transferred to the Diocese of Otago in 2000
The first 2 sisters went to Tonga in 1974 in response to a request by Bishop John Rogers SM to establish the LCM Mission in the Friendly Isles.
Two Tongan sisters currently minister at the Mary Potter Health Centre in Ma’ufanga and are involved in Vocation Ministry.
The decision to move from LCM facilities has been difficult, but the Sisters take pride in the high standard of Little Company of Mary health care services they have provided for over 90 years. They believe the time has come to live and share the Little Company of Mary charism, spirituality and mission into the future through involvement in other and varied ministries.
 We believe that God's love for humankind urges us to respect the human dignity of all those with whom we share our life, and to whom we are sent to minister in his name. Further more, we are called to make credible by our lives and our works that God is good. This means we will cooperate with those striving to create a world in which love, justice and peace prevail; and we reject whatever would be a compromise with any form of social injustice Mary addresses to us the words: "Do whatever he tells you". United with her in Spirit, we seek to respond to this call, though our love for God who lives in all people. With Mary we stand at the Cross of the World and offer ourselves that others might have life.
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