Mercy International Association, while conscious that in our world there are many places where people live in fear for their lives - including places where our own sisters minister - joins the international community today in calling for an end to the hostilities in Gaza and in praying for peace," because the people of southern Israel, like the people of Gaza, deserve to be able to look up at the sky in hope and not in fear" (author Amos Oz, playwright Yehoshua Sobol and others).

Messages to: Mary Reynolds rsm - Executive Director MIA

Editor: The human impact of the rocket attacks by Hamas on Israel and retaliatory strikes by Israeli forces can be seen in the 39 images gathered by The Atlantic in the article "Rockets Over Israel and Gaza". For whom we pray...

Prayer is a plant the seed of which is sown in the heart of every Christian, but its growth entirely depends on the care we take to nourish it. Catherine McAuley - Retreat Instructions, p. 90 

Prayers with the intercession of Venerable Catherine McAuley are asked for:Joe Harper and all those whose names are on the MIA prayer list.

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

Sisters, Associates and Friends are invited to celebrate Foundation Day, December 12, at  Mercy International Centre.

Mass will be celebrated at midday in the Baggot Street chapel followed by lunch in the dining room.
RSVP  Wednesday 5th please – 01 661 8061 or receptionist@mercyinternational.ie

Messages to: Madeleine O'Hanlon - Receptionist

From June 2011 – June 2012 Mercy International Association (MIA) Global Action engaged with preparation for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20.

This engagement involved MIA Global Action co-ordinator at the UN, MIA Global Action office in Dublin, Mercy Global Action Network personnel (MGAN) and members of the MIA working group on Cosmology and Eco Justice from the Mercy Congregations, Institutes and Federation throughout the world. MIA has undertaken a review of Mercy involvement in the Rio process to see what lessons can be learned for our work in the future...

The Review of MIA Global Action Engagement with Rio+20 is available to Mercy sisters who were involved in the Rio process and will be presented to the MIA Board.

Messages to: Catherine Gibbons rsm - MGA Intern

Editor: In the wonderful reflection on her 32 years of ministry in Kenya linked to this item, Margaret O'Brien rsm traces for us her arrival and her growth as she embraced the call of her ministry among the peoples of Kenya. From December 11-22, 2012  the Kenyan Province will be in Chapter. We are invited to accompany the Province in prayer and to pray for the welfare of the Kenyan people as they prepare for the General Elections in 2013.

"...In this year as we prepare for Chapter we ask the Life-Giving Spirit to give us discerning hearts that we may choose what is good and may the charism of Catherine inspire us. This is also an important time; as our country Kenya prepares for General Elections in March 2013, we pray for peace, justice and love that all may live in unity, peace and liberty and that leaders may work together for the good of all. Kenya is a beautiful country. It has been my home for 32 years and I thank the Kenyan people for the many ways I have been blessed and for welcoming me to their Holy Ground."

Messages to: Margaret O'Brien rsm

CENTRAL, U.S. - With the pressure to buy more, do more and eat more during the holiday season, this year Mercy is asking folks to simply take a moment to count blessings. It’s as easy as logging on to www.OurBlessingsCount.com and adding your blessings to the tally.

And by doing so, it’s inevitable you will reduce your stress and find some peace, said Dr. Doug Walker, psychologist, clinical director of Mercy Family Center in New Orleans and an expert in coping with stress...

It’s no wonder, according to a study by the American Psychological Association, that 68 percent of us feel greater fatigue during the holidays, along with 61 percent who feel more stress.

But just by being still, taking some time and listing what we are thankful for, we can change the course...

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

Ever since I entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1981 I have been fascinated by two things: the extent to which Catherine McAuley’s foundations circle the globe; and the similarity I have found among the sisters. Until this Fall I had to be content with reading about this, mostly through the Mercy International Association’s website and the weekly Mercy eNews they publish. A sabbatical this year, however, has enabled me to begin visiting with the sisters around the world—meeting the Global Mercy Community. I have been blogging about this adventure for the past two months...

Messages to: Julia Upton rsm

The weekend of October 20, 2012 was filled with events to celebrate 138 years of presence of the Sisters of Mercy in the communities on the southerly part of the Burin Peninsula – St. Lawrence, Little St. Lawrence, Lawn and surrounding area.

Sisters from St. John’s and other parts of the province left very early in the morning when traffic was light and the moose had not yet ventured out from their night haunts. The sun shone its mightiest, the sky was cloudless, and the environment was ecologically correct. When we drove off the Trans-Canada and travelled down the Peninsula highway. The splendor of the gold, yellows, browns and reds of the autumn leaves was absolutely breathtaking...

Messages to: Gladys Bozec rsm

CENTRAL, U.S. – Celebrity chefs Anthony Bourdain, Rocco DiSpirito and Cat Cora, along with Mercy’s Gerard “Jerry” Campione, are all graduates of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., recognized as one of the best culinary schools in the country.

In what is becoming more common across the country, chefs like Campione are opting for hospital kitchens over gourmet restaurants. The benefactors of this trend: patients, hospital co-workers and visitors...

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

November 20, 2012 - More than a dozen Mercy Sisters, Associates and co-workers joined thousands of others outside the gates of Fort Benning, Ga., Nov. 17 and 18 to call for closing the military training facility formerly known as the School of the Americas.

The Sisters of Mercy have participated for years in the annual rally and vigil at the school -- now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) -- that trains military personnel from countries throughout Latin America. Graduates of the school have been linked to tortures and killings in their own countries; well-known cases include the murders of four U.S. churchwomen in El Salvador 1980 and of six Jesuit priests, their cook and her teenage daughter in El Salvador in 1989...

Messages to: the Institute Justice Team

1853: Foundation to New Ross from Wexford - M Teresa Kelly, M Aloysius Sinnott
1854: Foundation to Dungarvan from Cappoquin - M Vincent Fanning
1863: Foundation to Templemore from Cork - M Joseph Walsh
1865: Foundation to Macroom from Cobh, Co. Cork
1870: Foundation to Janesville, Wisconsin USA - M Francis Jackson

'Guests in their own House - the Women of Vatican II', written by Carmel McEnroy rsm, was the winner of the Catholic Book Award for History/Biography 1997. It has been re-issued in time for the 50 year anniversary of Vatican 11. Order this important work  from the publisher or purchase online.
 

MercyCare is a leading Catholic provider of hospital, health, aged care, family and community services.
Our Mission: To bring compassion and justice to life.

"..."There's only 15 or so copper wires in most headphones, and each one of them is a little thinner than a human hair, so it doesn't take much to break them. That's when you get intermittent cut-outs and, eventually, it cuts out on one side completely..."

How best to protect them? This article has some practical suggestions.

Source: The Age