Mary Scullion

Mary Scullion
Awards	Laetare Medal (2011) Philadelphia Award (1991) Time 100 (2009)

Sister Mary Scullion, R.S.M. is a Philadelphia-based American Roman Catholic religious sister and activist, named by "Time" as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" in 2009, alongside Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey.

Scullion has helped to found a number of organizations to address homelessness in Philadelphia, including Project H.O.M.E., which focuses on affordable housing ("H"), opportunities for employment ("O"), medical care ("M"), and education ("E"). With a staff of 450, Project H.O.M.E. provides 1,000 units of housing as well as other services through its 19 residences. Her work has had a major impact in Philadelphia and is seen as a model for other cities.

Education

Scullion attended Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls in Philadelphia, where she became aware of the work of the Sisters of Mercy. She volunteered at Camp Ozanam, a summer camp run by the sisters for underprivileged children.

Scullion attended Temple University for one year before transferring to St. Joseph’s University where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1976. She returned to Temple University and earned a Master’s degree in social work from the School of Social Administration in 1986.

Scullion joined the Sisters of Mercy at age 19 in 1972, while a student at St. Joseph’s. She professed temporary vows in 1975, and final vows in 1980.

Career

During her time at St. Joseph's, Scullion volunteered at St. John’s Hospice in Philadelphia, a local soup kitchen. While men were the predominant population, there were also women with nowhere to go. The Sisters initially responded by setting up cots for the women at St. Rita’s, a local bingo hall, to give them a place to sleep. It was the beginning of Scullion's homeless ministry.

After joining the Sisters of Mercy, Scullion began working at Mercy Hospice, which was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1976. Under the auspices of the Philadelphia Archdiocese, the Hospice offered shelter to women, including those with mental illness.

In 1978, at her own request, Scullion spent a week-long mandatory yearly retreat living as a homeless woman on the streets of Philadelphia. She slept, ate, and used restrooms wherever she could, learning first-hand what it meant to be homeless.

She has been involved in service work and advocacy for homeless and mentally ill persons since 1978.

Scullion co-founded Woman of Hope in 1985 to provide support and permanent residences for mentally ill women who would otherwise be homeless.

In 1988, she founded the Outreach Coordination Center, the nation's first program that coordinated city private and public agencies to assist people living on the streets with special needs in finding housing and shelter in a more systematic way.

The following year, she and her associate, Joan Dawson McConnon, co-founded Project H.O.M.E., a nationally recognized organization that provides supportive housing, employment, education and health care to enable chronically homeless and low-income persons to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty in Philadelphia. Under their guiding vision, "None of us are home until all of us are home", Project HOME is committed to ending and preventing chronic street homelessness.

Project HOME has grown from an emergency winter shelter to over 600 units of housing, with an additional 200 units in development, and ten businesses that provide employment to formerly homeless persons. It includes the Honickman Learning Center and Comcast Technology Labs, a state-of-the-art technology center in North Central Philadelphia that offers after-school enrichment opportunities for students, a college access program, and educational and occupational programming for adults. In 2015, Project HOME opened the Stephen Klein Wellness Center, a federally qualified health center (FQHC) that provides integrated health care including primary care, behavioral health, dental, a YMCA, pharmacy and wellness services.

Sister Mary is also a powerful voice on political issues affecting homelessness and mentally ill persons. As an activist, Scullion has led demonstrations at City Hall, camped at 30th Street Station, and been arrested for civil disobedience. Her advocacy efforts have resulted in the right of homeless persons to vote as well as a landmark federal court decision that affects the fair housing rights of persons with disabilities.

She serves on the board of The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation and as a trustee at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. In 2010, she was appointed by Mayor Michael Nutter to serve on the City of Philadelphia's Board of Ethics.

Awards/honors/affiliations

Sister Mary has received numerous awards and honorary doctorates for her leadership in the City of Philadelphia, including The Philadelphia Award in 1991. She was selected as The Philadelphia Inquirer's Citizen of the Year in 2011.

Scullion and Joan Dawson McConnon were national awardees of the Ford Foundation's prestigious "Leadership for a Changing World Award". Scullion was also selected as an Eisenhower Fellow in 2002, and named an Eisenhower Distinguished Fellow in 2010.

In 2011, Scullion and McConnon received the Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame, the highest award given to an American Catholic. In 2013, Sister Mary was awarded the James Cardinal Gibbons Award from The Catholic University of America.

The Harvard Observer recognized Sister Mary's Lifetime advocacy achievement in 2016.

She was the commencement speaker at Georgetown University's graduation ceremonies on May 20, 2017.