Best in Philadelphia: Sister Mary Scullion

In Philadelphia there are few people whose name resonates with what makes the city a unique place to live and work; that through their reputation and work they have become as much a part of the city as historical figures like Ben Franklin, Stephen Girard and Betsy Ross. One of those people is Philadelphia native Sister Mary Scullion.

Sister Mary Scullion grew up in Northeast Philly and became a member of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of the Catholic Church in 1976. The members of the religious order vow to serve people who suffer from poverty and sickness. Throughout the years Sister Mary has done just that and then some.

There are people in life who say that they are activists who want to make the world a better place and then you have Sister Mary. She doesn’t stand around and cry about the unfairness of it all or postulate about man’s inhumanity to man. She gets down in the trenches with the people who need her help the most: the homeless. She is the real deal.

In 1978 she became an advocate for the homeless and mentally ill.

In 1985 she was one of the co-founders of the Women of Hope which gave permanent homes and services to homeless women who were mentally ill.

In 1988 she founded the Outreach Coordination Center which coordinates outreach services for the chronically homeless between public and private agencies.

In 1989 she co-founded Project HOME which provides actual solutions to homelessness and poverty through employment, medical care and education; they empower the powerless.

Along the way she has struck a couple of blows for the homeless by making sure they have the right to vote and that people with disabilities have fair housing rights..

In both 2009 and 2010 she was named Time magazine’s Time 100. These are annual issues where the magazine honors people who are making an impact on the world.

She has also made some connections with caring celebrities such as rocker Jon Bon Jovi. The nun even appeared in one of Bon Jovi’s music videos, Superman Tonight, which aired on MTV. All these things are nice, but they aren’t what fuels Sister Mary’s mission.

Her personal motto is, ‘none of us are home until all of us are home’. She has lived on the streets to realize what the homeless went through. Just like the homeless she wanted to help, Sister Mary slept on park benches and in doorways. During the days she spent her time at places that had public restrooms. She learned firsthand what it felt like to be dirty, tired, hungry, and helplessly hopeless.

Sister Mary, as Philadelphians call her, understood only too well through her experiences what an uphill battle it was going to be to get agencies, Philly’s residents and political officials to stop thinking of the homeless as nuisances and unwelcomed members of society.

Despite Philly being referred to as The City of Brotherly Love, too often that love wasn’t extended to the homeless. In fact they were usually regarded as people who were responsible for its moral decay. Sister Mary Scullion went to work changing people’s attitudes and providing the homeless with much needed services.

In a city where political leaders can be stubborn, narcissistic and hard-headed they met their true opponent when the nun came calling. No matter how many times she was rejected, Sister Mary kept coming. They eventually understood that they were no match when it came to dealing with the scrappy and tenacious woman who grew up in the Oxford Circle section of Philly; they learned through trial and error to give her whatever she wanted the first time she approached them.

Overtime, and with her continuous efforts, the judgments against the homeless eased. Programs became more available which included safe housing; where the homeless had the same opportunities as anyone else in the city that had fallen on hard times.

When Sister Mary Scullion walks in the room you tend to sit up straight and not because she’s a nun, but because she’s been helping those who need it most for 30 years and has more moxy, more determination, more decency about her than any politician or so-called activist in the nation.

Through her organization Project HOME housing opportunities were opened around the city such as Rowan Homes, Kate’s Place, Women of Change, and St. Elizabeth’s Recovery Residence. In all, there are 11 opportunities throughout the city that aim to end chronic homelessness.

No matter how much of a political figure or celebrity she has become through her work, she still lives among the people in a one bedroom apartment in a Project HOME building.

Philadelphia officials hope that her days of being arrested inside the 30th Street Train Station and making front page news are over, but with Sister Mary Scullion they can never be too sure.