Sister Maria Luisa Vera, RSM, has served Laredo for 13 years, first as an emergency room nurse from 1975 to 1985 and currently as the CEO of Mercy Ministries of Laredo.

She was 21 years old when she met the woman who would shape her life and become her mentor, Sister Alvera Simon, RSM. The year was 1962 and Sr. Maria Luisa was working in her first job as a licensed vocational nurse in the emergency room at Mercy Hospital in Brownsville, Texas. Sr. Alvera was the surgery and emergency room supervisor.

“Sister Alvera taught me that leadership means challenging people to be their best, helping them to grow and actualize their potential. When I would tell her I needed help, she would always come to my side without question and show me what to do,” she recalled. “She once told me that she knew her help would not have been requested if it wasn’t needed. She was my ideal supervisor and the guiding force of my youth.”

Sr. Alvera’s example also influenced Sr. Maria Luisa’s decision to enter religious life. In 1963, after having worked with Sr. Alvera for only one year, Sr. Maria Luisa entered the Sisters of Mercy. Three years later she took her first vows and was assigned to Mercy Hospital in Fort Scott, Kansas, where she received her registered nurse’s license from Mercy School of Nursing in 1970. She then returned to Mercy Hospital in her hometown of Brownsville where she worked for three years before moving to San Antonio to pursue her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Incarnate Word College. After graduating, she accepted the position of director of in-service education at Mercy Hospital in Laredo, Texas. It was there, in 1978, 16 years after she met Sr. Alvera, that Sr. Maria Luisa found herself working in the same position her mentor had held, emergency room supervisor. It was now her turn to be a leader.

In 1980, Sr. Maria Luisa began formal leadership training in Denver, Colorado, as part of a ministry training services program. Five years later she was elected to her first religious leadership position as a member of the St. Louis Province Leadership Team, where she served for 10 years. In 1992, she became president of the Sisters of Mercy St. Louis Regional Community. Three years later, she was elected to the leadership team of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas in Silver Spring, Maryland. She remained with the Institute for 10 years, until taking a sabbatical in 2005.

Her return to Laredo in 2005 was one of renewal, reassessment and re-visioning, according to Sr. Maria Luisa. Having served on the board of Mercy Ministries of Laredo since is creation, Sr. Maria Luisa began working informally in the community – acting as a visible sign of the continued presence of the Sisters of Mercy in their midst. In 2006, she was selected to serve as CEO of the Mercy Ministries.

Not long after this life-changing decision, Sr. Maria Luisa went on a trip to Ghana, Africa, to visit Sister Elizabeth Burns, RSM, who assists the poor in finding resources to address their needs and is helping to build a new fistula hospital for young African women. There she found the inspiration to carry her through the challenges that inevitably accompany a new job and into her new mission of service in Laredo.

“The message that kept coming back to me during the trip was that when you really want to do something, you find a way,” Sr. Maria Luisa said. “Sister Elizabeth is my inspiration. She is almost 20 years my senior and she is still going at full force.”

As Sr. Maria Luisa embarks upon the new experience of being a CEO, the memory of Sr. Alvera remains strong. “I never thought about it consciously until now, but the example she showed me has become my style of leadership – to trust people and to believe that they can and will do their best, while finding ways to let them know that I am here if they need me,” she said. “I hope that the people of Laredo will see that I and the other Sisters of Mercy are here for them, continuing our tradition of service.”