Conway's first work in journalism was done on the Rochester
Daily Union and Advertiser. In 1875, she commenced a Catholic monthly, contributing poems and moral tales under the
pen name of "Mercedes" to other Catholic journals from spare hours after editing her monthly, and teaching in the convent; She edited the
West End Journal, a religious monthly, for five years. Conway served as assistant editor of
Buffalo's
Catholic Union and Times from 1880 to 1883. In that year, she was invited to visit Boston to recuperate from illness. There, she met the editor who had given her the earliest recognition for her poems by paying with a check,
John Boyle O'Reilly. After an opportune vacancy occurred with the staff of
The Pilot, O'Reilly offered it to Conway, who accepted and started her new job in the autumn of 1883. Besides a liberal salary, opportunities for outside literary work were often put in Conway's direction by O'Reilly. Two years previous to that change, in 1881, Conway had gathered her poems into a volume, published with the title,
On the Sunrise Slope. Conway also edited
Clara Erskine Clement Waters's collection, called
Christian Symbols and Stories of the Saints as Illustrated in Art. Conway organized the first Catholic reading circle in Boston, of which she was president, and served as presiding officer of the New England Woman's Press Association. In the spring of 1891, Conway was invited to give before the Woman's Council in Washington, D.C., her paper upon "The Literature of Moral Loveliness". She was the first Catholic who appeared before the
Women's Educational and Industrial Union of Boston to speak upon a religious theme. Also during that year, she read before the Women's Press Club papers on "Some Obstacles to Women's Success in Journalism", "Personal Journalism", and "On Magnifying Mine Office", a satire. Her poems appeared in
The Providence Journal and
Life, with articles of literary trend in the Catholic and secular periodicals. Conway was chosen president of the press department of the Isabella Association, in connection with the
World's Columbian Exposition in
Chicago. She served as associate editor of
The Pilot, under
James Jeffrey Roche, chief editor; she was an active member of the Boston Authors' Club, and a reader of original essays on religious and intellectual topics before prominent literary and social clubs. Conway, who had chronic poor health, supported women's education but opposed
suffrage. She died in Boston on January 2, 1927. ==Selected works==