Marilyn Lacey

Who is Marilyn Lacey?

Marilyn Lacey, R.S.M., is the founder and executive director of Mercy Beyond Borders, a non-profit organization which partners with displaced women and children overseas to alleviate their extreme poverty. Sr. Lacey is a California native, and has been a Sister of Mercy since 1966.

For twenty-five years Sr. Lacey has worked with refugees in the U.S., Africa, and Southeast Asia. She has dedicated her life to making the world a more welcoming place for persons forced to leave their homelands because of war or persecution.[1] For many years she directed programs for refugees and immigrants, including the resettlement of the Lost Boys of Sudan, at Catholic Charities in San Jose.

In 2001, Lacey was personally honored by the Dalai Lama as an "Unsung Hero of Compassion” and in Spring 2009 Ave Maria Press released her memoir This Flowing Toward Me: A Story of God Arriving in Strangers. She holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of California, Berkeley.