Mercy Global Action: Latest Updates
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News from MIA working group on Cosmology and Eco Justice
May 1, 2012
Letter from Mary Tinney RSM a member of the MIA working group on Cosmology and Eco Justice on a proposed mining project in Felton, Toowoomba in Queensland, Australia. From left to right Deirdre Gardiner rsm, Mary Costello rsm, Mary Cleary mss, Nancy Doyle mss (absent from photo Patricia MacGinley and Mary Tinney) Tentatively some good news! Last Sunday (April 29) I noticed 4 Sisters of Mercy and 2 Missionary Sisters of Servic…
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Sisters of Mercy of the Americas lobby President Obama to Reconsider Support for Pipeline Segment
March 12, 2012
The Sisters of Mercy have been speaking out regularly with concerns about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry dirty tar sands from Alberta, Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast. While President Obama rejected a permit for the section crossing from Canada through the U.S., he is now supporting a small pipeline portion to carry a glut of oil between Cushing, Oklahoma, and Port Arthur, Texas. The Sisters of Mercy of…
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Mercy Sister Inspired to Create sanctuary in baltinglass, Co. Wicklow
March 12, 2012
The Community Garden called Tearmann (safe area or sanctuary) was launched in August 2005 and has become a garden which is an ecologically friendly area with educational, practical and spiritual dimensions and which is also a local effort to protect our endangered planet – Mother Earth. The planetüs biodiversity is the foundation of all life. From a human point of view our agriculture, forestry, fisheries and tourism sector depends …
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The new story of the universe and the interconnectedness of all forms of life.
March 8, 2012
In the third session of the Soup and Substance Lenten programme, Carmel Bracken rsm and Kathleen Glennon rsm, two members of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy (Ireland), led the group through a reflective process on the new story of the universe and the interconnectedness of all forms of life. You are invited to view the videos of Carmelüs presentation on Awakening to Interconnectedness and Kathleenüs presentation on the Unive…
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The coal seam gas mining industry in Australia.
March 6, 2012
The abuses of the extractive industries are a major issue for Sisters of Mercy in many countries.Communities struggle with the gold mining industry in Peru which is responsible for contaminating the water supply with their extraction methods. Problems concerning hydrofracking exist in the USA, Canada, Ireland and England.¼ In this update we are examining the coal seam gas mining industry in Australia. Deirdre Gardiner rsm and Carmel …
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Environmental Sustainability at Mater Health Services Brisbane
February 21, 2012
The Sisters of Mercy in Australia have been¼offering¼compassionate care to the sick and needy according to the values of mercy, dignity, care, commitment and quality since the Mater Hospital in Brisbane opened in 1906.¼ Mater Health Services¼ is now a network of seven hospitals and has approximately 7500 staff and volunteers providing care to some 500 000 people each year. In October 2011, MHS was the winner of the Business South Bank…
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Opening doorways to new life
January 13, 2012
Opening doorways to new life ¼ Between 2002 and 2010, more than 100 women who enrolled at Te Waipuna Puawai, the Mercy community development centre in Ellerslie, gained a qualification giving them entry to one of two Auckland polytechs. Of those who graduated at Te Waipuna Puawai¼(TWP)¼in the seven years to 2008, 50% were in full or part-time employment; 17% were doing further studies; and 33% were homemakers, caring for pre-school o…
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What can we do about Human Trafficking?
December 14, 2011
Human Trafficking is one of the most horrific crimes committed in our society today. It is illegal and criminal. Human beings are being bought and sold, often repeatedly, for profit. Human trafficking places persons in slavery or in slave-like conditions against their will. It is the second, after arms trading, most lucritive ?businessü in the world. But Trafficking is a grave offence against the dignity of the human person and a seriou…
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Global Action: Who else is in the boat or in the lorry?
December 1, 2011
Mixed Flows: Trafficking and Forced Migration - Dr Maryanne Loughry RSM Please click here to view this case study.…
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Global Action Lived Locally: A Case Study from Australia
October 10, 2011
Mercy Sisters in Australia are very active in ACRATH, the Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans. ACRATH are endorsed by Catholic Religious Australia – the peak body for 180 religious orders in Australia, representing 8000 religious sisters, brothers and priests. ACRATH is committed to working together towards the elimination of human trafficking in Australia, the Pacific and Internationally. ACRATH is invol…
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Global Action Lived Locally: A Case Study from Argentina
October 10, 2011
Trafficking is an issue which engages the Sisters of Mercy in Argentina . One example of trafficking into the country is the story of a young Aymara woman, Aida, who was brought by the police to the Sisters of Mercy refuge for women in Moreno, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Aida comes from a remote and very poor village in Bolivia. She responded to an offer by relatives in Buenos Aires to come and work for them. She left her village (much a…
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Global Action Lived Locally: A Case Study from the United States
October 10, 2011
The Sisters of Mercy, West Midwest Community, are the primary funders of the Justice Project in Kansas City, a project which works with women who have been trafficked within the United States. A number of Mercy Sisters volunteer at the project, including Sister Donna Ryan, chair of the board. The term human trafficking usually conjures up images of women brought to the United States from impoverished nations and forced into prostit…
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Global Action Lived Locally: A Case Study from Ireland
October 10, 2011
One of the major issues being addressed by the Irish Congregation is the issue of human trafficking, particularly of women for prostitution. Sr Mary Ryan is working with the major organisation in Ireland working on prostitution, Ruhama, providing a safe house for women who have been trafficked. The work involves accompanying trafficked women to court, helping them access medical and educational services etc. Most of these women com…
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East Africa Food Security Update
August 24, 2011
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET)¼has brought their latest food security update for the Horn of Africa. These updates, together with other FEWSNET reports, give the clearest current, and likely future (at least until Dec 2011), situation in this region.¼ Current food security outcomes ? Famine is expanding in Somalia while the food security emergency is deepening in the rest of the eastern Horn. About 3.7 million peop…
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Aid efforts in the Horn of Africa need to be scaled up further, says UN relief chief
August 18, 2011
17 August 2011 – The United Nations humanitarian chief today stressed the need to further scale up efforts to assist the millions of people suffering in Somalia and the wider Horn of Africa, warning that more lives will be lost to famine and disease without urgent action. There are already 3.2 million people on the brink of starvation in Somalia, where the UN has formally declared a state of famine in five regions in the southern an…
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The drought situation in Kenya
August 12, 2011
The current drought in the Turkana County of Kenyaüs Rift Valley Province threatens the traditional pastoralist lifestyle of its communities, who up to now had managed to survive in the harsh, arid climate of northwestern Kenya. Water and grazing land have become so precious, in fact, that there has been an increase in the use of small arms to settle disputes over access to natural resources. The current situation is the cumulative res…
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UN moves on two fronts to combat life-threatening famine in Horn of Africa
August 10, 2011
9 August 2011-The United Nations is moving on two fronts to counter the worsening food crisis in the Horn of Africa, with an immediate infusion of food in an area where 640,000 children alone are threatened with acute malnutrition, and longer-term steps to spark an agricultural recovery. “It is vital that we not only save lives today but also save the livelihoods on which people's lives depend tomorrow,? said Rod Charters, UN Food and…
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UN Declares famine in another three areas of Somalia
August 3, 2011
3 August 2011 – The United Nations today declared a famine in three more areas in drought-ravaged Somalia, bringing to five the number of regions in the Horn of Africa country where acute malnutrition and starvation have already claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, said the Afgoye corridor outside Mogadishu, the capital itself, and the Middle Shabelle region are …
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The Horn of Africa
July 26, 2011
At the United Nations on Tuesday, July 26, 2011, the Director of the Coordination and Response Division, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) held a briefing on “The Humanitarian Situation in the Horn of Africa.? Representatives from UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) updated Member States on their response to the…
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UN airlift arrives with vital aid for Somali refugees in Kenya
July 19, 2011
17 July 2011 – The first in a series of emergency airlift flights arrived in the Kenyan capital on Sunday as part of the efforts of the United Nations refugee agency to assist the hundreds of thousands of Somalis who have taken refuge in neighbouring countries. The giant cargo jet chartered by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that landed in Nairobi brought with it 100 tonnes of tents that are destined for the Dadaab refuge…
