The Eucharistic Congress Bell began its pilgrimage through the Dioceses of Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day in 2011. Like St. Patrick’s Bell, the Congress Bell is being rung across the land calling God’s people together, to hear anew the good news that God is present among us and calls us to communion. The forthcoming Eucharistic Congress offers us an opportunity to reflect together on the place of the Eucharist in our lives, as individuals and as communities...

On Monday, 30th April, the Congress bell and its accompanying four icons came to the chapel of Mercy International Centre. An international community gathered to welcome the Congress Bell to this sacred space.

Further details and images of the event are linked to this item.

Messages to Mary Reynolds rsm - Executive Director MIA

Editor: Further information about Mercy involvement with the 50th International Eucharistic Congress (IEC2012) was published in Mercy E-News issue 456. That article can be found here

The IEC2012 has launched a free iPhone and iPad App, designed exclusively for Congress pilgrims by Dominican Friar Luuk Dominiek Jansen, in conjunction with IEC2012 staff. To download the App, Login to the iTunes store, search for IEC2012 or click here.

On Sunday, April 29, St. Andrews Church on Westland Row celebrated its 180th anniversary. Because of the close connections of the Church in Westland Row with the Sisters of Mercy in Baggot Street, we received a special invitation...

This 180th anniversary of St. Andrews and the 180th anniversary of the founding of the Sisters of Mercy challenge us to faithfully ensure that we ‘keep alive the founding spirit of Catherine among the people most in need of God’s compassion today’. (MIA Vision Statement)

Messages to Mary Reynolds rsm - Executive Director MIA

Editor: This year the Mercy International Association’s Luncheon series focussed on Mercy Global Action’s two major themes: Opposing Human Trafficking and Eco Justice. In the article linked to this item,  Catherine Gibbons rsm, MGA Intern, reflects on the 2012 Lenten Series of Soup and Substance, highlights the learnings and explores the challenges.

Soup and Substance 2012 began with the Human Trafficking Focus. Sheila Crowley from Ruhama, Dublin, gave an informative and thought-provoking input on What is Human Trafficking? and on the work of Ruhama, the main agency that deals with trafficked women in Ireland. Trafficking in human beings is “a gross violation of human rights, a modern form of slavery and an extremely profitable business for organised crime”...

Messages to Catherine Gibbons rsm - MGA Intern

All members of civil society are invited to participate in an online sustainable development platform conversation in preparation for Rio+ 20. This initiative, known as the Rio Dialogues, is being organized by the UN and the Brazilian government.

It is hoped that people can engage in a dialogue and make some recommendations for heads of state who will participate in the Rio + 20 conference. Participants can contribute in one of four languages: English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Thirty recommendations will be selected (3 from each dialogue area) and presented to heads of state for consideration during the high level segment of the Rio +20 conference, June 20-22, 2012.

Further details are linked to this item.

Messages to Aine O'Connor rsm - Mercy Global Action Coordinator at the UN

Editor: Over the weeks leading up to Rio+20, and during the event, the Guardian invites contributions of questions, messages and pictures to the debate. For further information, click here.

The Mercy Sisters and Presentation Sisters in Ireland are jointly seeking a meeting with officials from the Department of the Environment who will be the official delegation at the Rio + 20 meeting. Both Congregations have been lobbying the United Nations and national governments on common issues.

Both Congregations are committed to advance an ethical and equitable global vision that promotes ecological and social integrity, the global common good and the well-being of all.

Messages to Mary Purcell - Assistant Director Mercy Global Action

Editor: The Elements of Mercy Retreat was an exploration and experience of Mercy through the filter of the four elements, poetry and the Celtic tradition and Catherine's story. Mary Wickham rsm, the programme facilitator who has published two books of poetry (Souvenirs of the Spirit and In The Water Was The Fire) writes of the week:

"Greetings from Dublin where we are reaching the end of the week's programmme called Elements Of Mercy, that I have been facilitating.

We have had a great week and the group has been a really interesting one to work with having participants from the USA, Ireland, Britain and Australia. It's been a mixed group- some Mercies, a lay associate, a married couple from Adelaide (both Primary Principals) a Marist Sister from Dublin and for some of the time a priest from a country parish in County Cork who came up and went back on the train (two hour trip each way) each day he was able to be here!...Adding to the experience considerably for us has been the presence of Tom and Maureen Smythe who are here at Baggot Street for a couple of months as volunteers. Tom plays the mandolin and has accompanied us at the daily Eucharist, which has been lovely.

It has been such a privilege and a wonderful experience for me to run a Retreat here in Catherine's house, and to be "poet in residence" even for a few days, and the house itself, of course, invites one to reflection and stillness...

Messages to Mary Wickham rsm

Places are still available in the following programmes:

Source and Summit: Eucharistic Themes and Daily Living
This retreat led by Anthony Gittins CSSp will be an extended reflection on Eucharistic themes:
Real Presence, Thanksgiving, Sacrifice, Famine, Meal.

Dates: Sunday 17th June - Friday 22nd June.

Watering the Roots
The programme is designed for vowed Mercy women who are seeking refreshment and renewal.
Dates:  July 1st - 28th.

Come Home to Catherine
August 19th - 25th

To enrol in any of these programmes, contact Madeleine at +353 1 6618061 or on e-mail

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

Mercy International Association invites applications for the Volunteer Live In/General Duties Position
Mid August to November/December 2012 (dates are flexible).
Open to Sisters, Associates and Friends of Mercy.
Single person or couple welcome.

Full details of the position are linked to this item.

Applications close on June 8, 2012.

Messages to Sylvia Williams rsm - Assistant Director - Administration & Finance

Seventy Sisters, including our Leadership Team, gathered at High Leigh Conference Centre on Thursday afternoon, April 19 to continue the Chapter process. This was the first of the two Pre-Chapter Gatherings (April 19-22 and April 27-30). Ably and sensitively facilitated by Sr. Raymunda Jordan OP and assisted by Fr. Gabriel Zsidi, we were a good mix of Sisters representing every cluster which brought much wisdom to our discussions and deliberations.

A report on this Gathering, including the questions the sisters were asked to consider in their deliberations and images from the event, are linked to this item.

Messages to Patricia Bell rsm - Institute Leader

As the nation’s eighth largest Catholic health system, Mercy has a long tradition of caring for patients across the seven states it serves. Now the health system is taking steps to create a more meaningful and unified identity. To that end, the health system has begun a plan to move the facilities in its 100 communities across the region to one name: Mercy...

The new Mercy symbol is a contemporary version of the original cross which Catherine McAuley, founder of the Sisters of Mercy, adopted for her ministry. The outer extensions of the cross represent a ministry that is diverse but aligned around a common purpose, forming a cross-within-a-cross. For Catherine, the inner cross was a reminder that we should dedicate ourselves to the work God has given us, take up our own cross and serve with a deep respect for others.

Messages to Nancy Corbett - Mercy Media Relations Director, Marketing and Communications

Te Ngakau Waiora Mercy Spirituality Centre is delighted to offer a six week (31 January - 10 March 2013) Sabbatical Programme to Sisters from New Zealand and from overseas. This will be a time of sabbath rest - an opportunity for renewal through prayer, reading and reflection and a time for deepening awarness of the God who walks with us.

The sabbatical will include input, personal time, a retreat and pilgrimage, following in the footsteps of the pioneer missionaries in Northland of New Zealand, with Joy Cowley as your spiritual guide.

Interested parties may find out more by clicking on www.mercycentreauckland.org.nz (see our Programmes tab).

Messages to: Valerie Jabir - Programmes Co-ordinator

Editor: Te Ngakau Waiora Mercy Spirituality Centre is this week's featured Mercy website

In this edition of Mercy E-News we meet the leaders of each of the six communities of the new Insititute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea (ISMAPNG):

Berice Livermore rsm (Community South A), Berenice Kerr rsm (Community South B), Faye Kelly rsm (Community South C), Shirley Garland rsm (Community Central A), Helen Owens rsm (Community Central B), Beverley Strong rsm (Community North). To access their biographies, click here.

A map showing the geographical location of each of these communities can be accessed here.

Messages to Barbara Bolster rsm - Institute Leadership Team

Four secondary schools in New York and Pennsylvania are sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy of New York, Pennsylvania, Pacific West Community ( NyPPaW) : Mt Mercy Academy, Buffalo, NY,  Mercyhurst Preparatory School, Erie, PA,  Notre Dame High School, Elmira, NY and Our Lady of Mercy High School, Rochester, NY.

250 educators, administrators and staff of NyPPaW’s four Mercy high schools met in small groups to share best practices during an education day in Rochester on April 27.

“There was a sense of excitement to share information and energy around hearing ideas from other teachers in the same discipline,” said O’Brien-Kiely, an art teacher and art curriculum coordinator at Our Lady of Mercy High School, which hosted the event.

That, in part, was what organizers wanted for the day, which included prayer, verbal and video presentations from each school and lunch. Participants also heard welcome messages from Sister Nancy Hoff, NyPPaW president; Rochester Bishop Matthew Clark; and Suzanne Johnston, Our Lady of Mercy president.

Messages to Gary Loncki - NyPPaW Communications Director

1839: Death at Baggot St of first non-Irish Sister - M Gertrude Jones from Wales

The Sisters of Mercy arrived in Belfast from Dublin in 1854 at a time when, in the wake of the devastating Famine, the town’s industrial growth was beginning to present the range of social problems that would become all-too-common.

From the outset, the Sisters threw themselves into the educational and social work for which they would soon become renowned. They concerned themselves primarily with the care of females, particularly their education as a means of helping them escape from overpowering poverty.

Thousands of children and young people have looked back in later life with gratitude at the education they received in the ‘Mercy Convent Schools’. The widely-renowned and highly regarded Mater Infirmorum Hospital, Belfast remains a flagship monument to the work of the Mercy Sisters in the field of nursing and medical care.

Available from BooksIreland in both print (special offer) and as an eBook. Details here.

Mercywords 11 is now available at http://www.mercywords.com/, focussing on the spirit and substance of the Second Vatican Council.

Your comments and reflections are invited on the issues raised in the articles.

Mercy Spirituality Centre, with its spacious, well established grounds, mature trees and gardens, is owned by Nga Whaea Atawhai o Aotearoa Sisters of Mercy New Zealand and reflects a commitment to "care of the earth", providing a city oasis for prayer, learning and reflection.

This article describes four different ways for international travellers to stay connected, either for free, or relatively inexpensively: 
1. Skype: Free options
2. Google+ Hangouts
3. FaceTime
4. Skype: Paid options

Source: Tecca