NEWPORT -- When Sister Therese Antone studied at Salve Regina 45 years ago, dozens of nuns in habits taught at the college the order founded in 1947.

Today, seven Sisters of Mercy remain, with little hope of a younger generation coming to replace them. But they want the order's mission of mercy to carry on.

Five years ago, the president created a new position, the vice president of mission integration, headed by her old friend and former classmate, Sister Leona Misto, to preserve the nuns' mission of helping the needy.

Bookmarks, posters and quotes from the Irish founder of the Sisters of Mercy, Catherine McAuley, abound on the campus. All students are required to perform 10 hours of community service in their freshman year and are encouraged to volunteer throughout their college years.

"Our mission is to seek wisdom and to promote justice," Sister Leona says. "Most students know they will acquire knowledge and gain professional skills when they go to college, and that's all well and good. But gaining wisdom is more than that. It's about making distinctions about right and wrong. And practicing justice is about looking at injustices. Why is it that we have so much poverty? Why is it that 1 in 4 children in Newport lives in poverty? These are the questions we want our students to be asking."

Sister Therese, the sixth nun to serve as president in the school's 58 years, says it does not sadden her that in the future, Salve Regina will probably not be headed by a Sister of Mercy.

While the order of nuns is growing in the developing world, just 4,900 members remain in North, Central and South America.

"There is a time for all things, and in terms of what we needed to do as a religious community, we have done that," says Sister Therese. "Mercy in action is something that you live every day in your responsiveness to other people, in your compassion and love for them, and in understanding we are all in need at times in our lives. The more we give, the more we receive."

For more information on the Sister of Mercy, visit: www.sistersofmercy.org