Academy celebrates 75th year
The Sisters of Mercy, along with faculty, staff, students, alumnae, friends and supporters, celebrated the Academy of Our Lady of Guam's 75th diamond anniversary on Sunday in Hagåtña.
A procession of classes by decade from 1953 to 2024 took place before the 75th anniversary Mass celebrated in the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica, with Academy alumnae and their families in attendance.
A gala brunch fundraiser was held in the Academy gymnasium.
The Sisters of Mercy religious order established the all-girls Catholic high school on Sept. 8, 1949, and have served in Guam and Micronesia for 78 years. The Mercy Sisters first arrived on the island on Nov. 5, 1946, establishing their order here in response to a call by Bishop Apollinaris Baumgartner for religious women to serve in Guam following World War II.
That first group of Mercy Sister pioneers comprised the Superior, Sister Mary Inez Underwood, a native of Guam; Sister Mary Louise Wiensenforth; and Sister Mary Annette McBennett. They journeyed here from their community in Belmont, North Carolina.
