BUSHWICK — Brooklyn-born Sister Mercedes Torres grew up in Catholicism, but she still had a conversion to the faith. 

Not in the same way people leave a denomination to become Roman Catholic. Her conversion was one of “the heart,” and it was made specifically to Jesus Christ.

 After graduating from the University of Southern California with degrees in Spanish and international relations, she embarked on a career at a Manhattan-based humanitarian nonprofit group. It sent her traveling throughout Latin America. 

While back home in the U.S., she attended a weekend retreat where she had a “profound encounter with Christ.” 

“I realized he just loves me, beyond all things and within all things,” Sister Mercedes said. “The only thing that really could stand in the way of it … was me. That needed to change, and it would change, because I was determined to be part of the love that he had for me.” 

In August 2011 she entered the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. She made her solemn vows in 2019. 

She is now serving a term as the community’s vocation director and has also become a sought-after speaker on virtues and vocations for Catholic conferences across the U.S.

Sister Mercedes’ faith journey began as the second of two children born to parents who came from the Dominican Republic. There, Jose and Esperanza Torres were deeply committed to the Catholic faith, which they brought to Brooklyn.

The family belonged to St. Martin of Tours Parish in Bushwick, where Sister Mercedes said she received “1990s-style” catechesis and the sacraments.

Sunday Mass was a weekly event attended with her parents and older brother, Joseph, plus lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Influences of family and faith were reinforced during summers spent visiting grandparents in her parents’ hometown, San José de Las Matas. 

After graduating from USC, her work with the nonprofit group proved exciting and fulfilling. Still, an emptiness persisted within her. 

“I had a very beautiful foundation of the Catholic faith in my family,” she said. “But it was kind of like a skeleton. A relationship with Christ — that animating feature of the faith — was something missing in my life.” 

Upon returning to New York after college, she spent time with her cousins Gilbert Rodriguez and Christy (Torres) Vaissade, who is like an older sister to her.

They invited her to socialize with their friends — all committed Catholics who were, well, fun. 

“They bore witness to just being young adults who were trying to live their Catholic faith in a very normal way,” Sister Mercedes said. “That experience really helped me realize that people who believe in Jesus might actually be normal.”

Sister Mercedes joined her cousins and new friends at ministry events.

Subsequently, she came to know, admire, and participate in the pro-life work of the Franciscan Friars of Renewal and the Sisters of Life. 

Sister Mercedes said the “beautiful charisms” of both congregations inspired her to discern a vocation of religious life. 

Still, she did not feel drawn to a particular congregation until joining the friars at the 2011 March for Life in Washington, D.C. There, she discovered the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.

The sisters were marching with a banner bearing the name of their community. The words “Mother of the Eucharist” intrigued Sister Mercedes. 

“What could be better than that,” she said. “I couldn’t stop thinking about it.” 

Her next move was to attend a retreat at the Ann Arbor Mother House in February 2011. And that’s where the aforementioned “profound encounter with Christ” occurred. 

“And I saw the sisters with each other,” she said. “I just thought, ‘You know, yes, I can do that.’ Seeing them praying was, ‘No, actually, I am made for this — made for this type of gift.’ ” 

During a family get-together in Miami, Sister Mercedes shared her desire to enter religious life.

“My family was very, very surprised.” she said. “But they met the sisters and saw how I hadn’t changed — like I wasn’t like an odd version of myself. I was just myself.” 

Regarding family, Sister Mercedes is not related to Father Henry Torres, pastor of Mary of Nazareth Parish in Fort Greene, even though both are from Brooklyn and grew up in Dominican families and have the same last name. 

“But,” Father Torres noted, “given we are Dominican we say we are cousins — cousins by culture!” 

Father Torres and Sister Mercedes participated in a hometown reunion of sorts when he brought several kids from his parish to the 2023 National Catholic Youth Conference, Nov. 16-18, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Sister Mercedes was one of the speakers. 

“She spoke about prayer and faithfulness,” said Jocelyn Navarro Rijo, one of the Mary of Nazareth pilgrims.

“Virtue,” she added, “is a firm habitual petition to do good. Virtue takes practice, prayer takes practice.” 

Sister Mercedes said she loves speaking to youth because it’s in line with the Dominican charism of teaching and preaching the truth that leads to a full encounter with Jesus Christ, and a desire to share His love. 

“I just love people, and I’ve always loved to love,” she said. “I get to give my love and value to Christ and He’ll perfect it so I can give it to others.

“And through that, I’ll be able to have everyone in my own heart, and that’s what I was created for — that type of spiritual motherhood.”