April 9 is the anniversary on which John Paul 11 recognized the profound charity of Catherine McAuley and declared her Venerable:

"The Servant of God Catherine McAuley... practised to a heroic degree the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity toward God and neighbour, and along with them the cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude (Decree, April 9, 1990, Congregation for the Causes of Saints).

Prayers through the intercession of Venerable Catherine are requested for the intentions of all those on the MIA Prayer list and in particular those whose names are newly added to the list: Michael Purello, Laureen Clarke.

Messages to:
Anne Hannon rsm - Vice postulator Europe and Africa
Sheila Carney rsm - Vice postulator Americas
Mary Duffy rsm - Vice postulator Australia, New Zealand, Philippines

In the countdown to Rio+20, Sisters of Mercy and Mercy Associates worldwide are calling on governments to respond with immediacy and measurable efficacy to end poverty and to shift development and economic policies onto a sustainable and equitable pathway.

The Statement of Mercy International Association to Governments on Rio+20, United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development is linked to this item.

The next phase of negotiations on the Zero Draft of the Outcome Document will take place from April 24 to May 4, 2012. Mercy Global Action Coordinator at the UN, Áine O’Connor rsm will be on the ground for these Informal-Informals.

The Rio+20 Conference will take place from June 20-22, 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Mary Bilderback rsm, a veteran attendee of the Commission on Sustainable Development, will represent Mercy International at the conference.

With less than seventy days to go until the event, the United Nations Rio+20 Secretariat invites you to let them know what message you would like to speak to the world about the Conference Outcome. Please consider adding your unique and important voice to the voices of millions on the RIO+20 website.

An update on the state of the negotiations and the plans for the Rio+20 Conference will be provided in May. We also encourage you to follow events of this decisive Conference.

Messages to Áine O’Connor rsm - Mercy Global Action Coordinator at the UN

There are a number of programmes on offer at MIC for which places are still available:

This One Day - is Our Whole Life
Come Home to Catherine
"Eucharistic Themes": Source and Summit ( see article from last week's Mercy E-News here)
Watering the Roots at the Wellspring of Mercy
To Act Justly, To Love Tenderly, To walk Humbly

Details of these programmes are linked to this item.

Messages to Mary Kay Dobrovolny rsm - Assistant Director Heritage  & Spirituality

This week the Postulator of Catherine's Canonisation Cause, Brenda Dolphin rsm (The Congregation), will meet with the Vice postulators (Anne Hannon rsm - Vice postulator Europe and Africa, Sheila Carney rsm - Vice postulator Americas and Mary Duffy rsm - Vice postulator Australia, New Zealand, Philippines)  and members of the International Canonisation Committee from 8 of the 9 member countries of MIA , at MIC,  to discuss their work for Catherine's Cause.

We are mindful of them during their deliberations.

Messages to Brenda Dolphin rsm - Postulator

The Conference for Mercy Higher Education and the Mercy Institute Justice Team are offering a "Justice Immersion Experience" in Washington, DC on May 20-24, 2012.

Students from Mercy colleges and universities will participate in an immersion experience in justice advocacy in Washington, D.C. The four-day program will give students direct experience of advocacy through the lens of the Critical Concern of immigration. They will hear from immigrants about the obstacles they face under current U.S. immigration policy and learn advocacy techniques from seasoned faith-based advocates. Students will meet with legislative staff in their Members of Congress’ offices to advocate for comprehensive immigration reform, one of the Sisters of Mercy’s legislative priorities. The students will then identify ways in which they can continue advocacy on social justice issues once they return to campus. The entire program will be offered in an environment that encourages community, reflection and prayer and that nurtures relationships among participating students from around the country.

Forty-one participants from the following nine member colleges and universities are registered: Georgian Court University (NJ), Gwynedd Mercy College (PA), Misericordia University (PA), Mount Aloysius College (PA), Mount Mercy University (IA), Saint Joseph College (CT), Saint Joseph's College of Maine, Saint Xavier University (IL), and the University of Detroit Mercy (MI).

Messages to:  Moya K. Dittmeier - Executive Director, Conference for Mercy Higher Education (CMHE)

Editor: Immigration is one of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas six 'Critical Concerns'. The image used by the Institute to illustrate this concern is shown here - the path and travelling feet depict the migrant journey. Further details about the Institute's stance on Justice Issues and the Critical Concerns (poverty, the Earth, immigration, nonviolence, racism, and women’s issues) can be found on the Institute's website.
 

It took two Sudanese immigrants, the Sisters of Mercy in Manchester and more than 200 donors to bring water to two drought-stricken African communities.

Kenyang Nhomot and James Abiem are celebrating news that both their hometowns in the Republic of South Sudan have access to clean water. The wells were built this winter by the International Aid Service, a faith-based European organization that helps communities not only build wells, but teaches locals about the well's mechanics and disease prevention.

The funds to build the wells came in response to the letter writing efforts of Anastasia Smith rsm.

“The sisters showed us the way to get water. They showed our people how to get a life (that's) new,” said Abiem.
 
Source: New Hampshire Union Leader

Messages to: Madonna Moran rsm and Anastasia Smith rsm c/- Pat Kenny rsm Institute Communications

Direction Three Group and Justice Desk of the Western Province of the Irish Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy published this article in the Spring copy of their newsletter, Scealta on Iarthar.
See attached.

They have asked Sisters to send letters to Ministers for Communication, Energy and Natural Resources, the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government and their local politicians to raise their concerns about fracking and its possible effects on the environment.
See attached.

Messages to: Nora Burke rsm - Western Province

The influx of an estimated 400,000 staying visitors and 5 million day visitors to the London Olympics (July 27-August 12) creates an opportunity for investors across the U.K. and Europe to raise concerns about human trafficking. Members of The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), Christian Brothers Investment Services and the Church Investor Group are working with investor-focused and human rights NGOs to address human trafficking with Olympic sponsors, providers, suppliers, and partners and major hotels with chains in the London area.

 What investors are doing and ways in which readers of Mercy E-News can take action are linked to this item.

Messages to:  Pat Zerega - Director of Shareholder Advocacy

Rosalie Ruiz rsm is looking forward to a life of bringing Mercy to her ministries in the Philippines after professing her final vows on March 10 during a liturgy at Corpus Christi Church, Tubod, Iligan City.

Sister Rosalie, who wants to serve the poor, teach children and organize youth choirs, has a definite idea of the type of woman religious she wants to be. “A Sister of Mercy is one who shares and gives her life to all, especially to serving the needy with courage, mercy and compassion,” she said.

Messages to: Rosalie Ruiz rsm c/- Pat Kenny rsm Institute Communications

Editor: There are two groups of Mercies in the Philippines. The first foundation was made in 1954 when six Sisters of Mercy arrived in Tacloban City from Cork, Ireland. The sisters from this foundation became an autonomous congregation, the Religious Sisters of Mercy, Tacloban Philippines, in 1981.

A second foundation was established in the Philippines in 1957 when four Sisters of Mercy from Buffalo, New York, USA, went to Kolambugan in the northern portion of Mindanao. The sisters from this foundation belong to the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, NYPPaW Community (New York, Pennsylvania, and Pacific West Community).

To access further information about the works of the Sisters of Mercy in the Philippines, click here

Sisters of Mercy have been working in Timor Leste since 2003. Read the story of Mercy involvement in Timor Leste here. Details of projects supported by Mercy Works can be found here.

The Catholic Church in Timor-Leste is currently conducting 111 days of prayer for peace and stability during the Presidential election held on March 17, and elections for the Parliament which are scheduled for June 12.

“People of Timor-Leste must participate with peaceful hearts and a sense of unity,” Bishop Alberto Ricardo da Silva of Dili told the 5,000 people who accompanied him in a prayerful procession recently.

“Violence, disunity and war must not happen,” he warned.

These prayerful efforts towards peace are part of a programme called "Change your heart, change the world", organized by the Conference of Religious Superiors of East Timor in collaboration with the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Diocese of Dili.

The Bishop asked all the faithful to pray and work for the success of the elections, to change the external reality by internal conversion of the heart.

Messages to: Helen Nolen rsm

This year St Joseph's College of Maine celebrates 100 years of Mercy higher education.

In 1912, the Sisters of Mercy at Catherine McAuley High School began instruction with the class of students that would become the first graduates of Saint Joseph's College.

The centennial website displays details of all planned events. It features a timeline of the history of the college, highlighting the important developments of each decade that has seen the progress from a cluster of classrooms for young women in Portland, to a global undergraduate and graduate co-educational college for students of all ages and all faiths.

Messages to: Charmaine Daniels - Editor/public relations

In the April issue of Imaging Mercy Today is a reflection on the various sources of our knowledge of Catherine McAuley through biographies, such as the recently released The Path of Mercy, and Catherine's own letters remarking that  "it’s in her deeds that the real story of Catherine’s life is written – actions that flowed from her resolve to share the blessings of a loving God with whoever could benefit from the outpouring of her love." The author concludes that "The challenge this book poses for every reader is to know - and nurture - what will get them up again to meet the ‘least’ in need, "today, not next week.”

Messages to: Katrina Fabish rsm - Congregation Communications Contact

Editor: The Path of Mercy : The life of Catherine McAuley by Mary C Sullivan rsm is now available.
North America, Australia and New Zealand residents are invited to order from: Catholic University Press of America . Residents of Ireland, UK and Europe are reminded about the Special offer: €30/£27 plus free postage if ordered prior to 30 April 2012 from Four Courts Press Dublin. See details and download order form here. Alternatively, you can order online at the special web price plus postage.

The biography is also available from the Mercy International Centre Gift Shop

Two years ago an earthquake devastated Haiti, killing more than 230,000 people. Western North Carolina based Sisters of Mercy Urgent Care Medical Director, Dr. Ellen Lawson, led a medical team to the area shortly afterwards, but the caregivers were hampered without the use of a four-wheel-drive vehicle from reaching those suffering in more remote areas.

On Sunday, April 1, 2012, Dr. Ellen Lawson returned along with Sister Jill Weber (Physical Therapy), Wendy Gade (EMT), Randy Lane (EMT), and Leah Singleton (Accounting/Logistics). This time around, mercy teammates raised more than $33,000 for a 4WD vehicle, dubbed the Mercy Wagon and gifted to Haitian physicians Drs. Vladimyr and Merline Roseau, enabling them to care for thousands of Haitian people living in crude tent cities.

Click here to read our Haiti Blog, which was continuously updated with a series of entries relayed via email as told by Dr. Lawson from the Sisters of Mercy Urgent Care staff serving in Haiti April 2-7, 2012. 

Messages to: Sharon Owen - Catherine McAuley MERCY Foundation Development Director

The Australasian Mercy Secondary Schools Association (AMSSA) Executive warmly invites staff and two students from Mercy secondary schools to the 12th Biennial AMSSA Conference "Mercy Alive"; July 13-16, 2013, Auckland New Zealand

• to honor the beginnings of our Mercy story,
• to celebrate our growth and unity, and
• be challenged to revitalise Mercy for the future.

Messages to: Frances Fitzgerald rsm - AMSSA Executive Officer

1827: Mary Ann Doyle offered her services as a helper at Baggot Street
1861: Foundation to Longford from Baggot Street - M Bernard Maguire

Good Friday marked exactly 1,000 days until the start of 2015, when the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed a decade ago are due to expire, warned CAFOD, the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. Read the statement here.

Mercy and Justice Shall Meet  through the telling of eight key stories assists users to engage with the inspiration of Scripture and the Mercy tradition and the Millenium Development Goals to make a difference in our world.

St. Leo’s College, Carlow opened its doors to the first students on1st May 1839. It was named after St. Leo on whose feast day, 11th April, the Sisters of Mercy arrived in Carlow. The school building was part of the convent, and the sense of urgency in providing a centre of education was so great that the school section was completed before the sisters’ accommodation. The present community/living room was the first school. In this one large room the students were organised in little groups. It was the first second-level (secondary) Mercy school to be established.

Time: To find the current time in any world city, type " time in [city name]' into Google and the current time will appear.

Weather: To find the current weather in any world city, type " weather in [city name]' into Google and the day's temperature, humidity and wind forecasts as well as predictions for the next five days, will appear on screen.