Sisters, Associates and Friends of Mercy 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

This week we move closer to the Season of expectant waiting and preparation - Advent. As we look forward with anticipation and in hope, we pray for ourselves and for each other that our hearts may remain open to receive the Word of life.

Messages to: Mary Reynolds rsm - Executive Director MIA

Mercy Global Action at the United Nations has prepared a written submission to the Fifty-First U.N. Session of the Commission for Social Development, to be convened in February 2013. The priority theme for 2013 is "Promoting empowerment of people in achieving poverty eradication, social integration and full employment and decent work for all". The Mercy submission illustrates how mining projects too often disempower local communities by devastating their land and livelihoods. The paper -- which draws on the experiences of Mercy in Peru, the Philippines and other parts of the world -- recommends that governments improve processes for community input on mining proposals and ensure that local communities receive benefits.

Messages to: Aine O'Connor rsm - MIA Global Action representative at the UN
 

UN Goodwill Ambassador against Human Trafficking Libran N Cabactulan, Permanent Representative from the Philippines and brother of Carmela Cabactulan rsm, has been extremely active in the fight to combact Trafficking.

Libran presented a report on the Prevention of Human Trafficking and Protection of its Victims to the UN General Assembly Interactive Dialogue in New York.

Recommendations from the report are linked here.

Messages to: Mary Purcell - Assistant Director Mercy Global Action

Editor: The latest issue of the ACRATH newsletter is linked here

...Catherine. Yes, we love her accomplishments and admire her centeredness in God. Yet we also remember her struggles, enjoy her humor, and acknowledge her foibles. We connect with her as real, as human, as feminine, as somehow familiar... Joy Clough rsm. Read the complete article here

Prayers with the intercession of Venerable Catherine McAuley are asked for: Gary Allen 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

Editor: As reported in an earlier edition of Mercy E-news, every two weeks, Camille D’Arienzo rsm interviews members of the Catholic Church about how their faith has affected them with the interview then being published in NCR. The interview highlighted below was published last month.

"A few years ago, the Sisters of Mercy formation ministers invited me to give a talk to the novices in Laredo, Texas.

When I entered the chapel one morning before dawn, I became conscious of another presence. Mary Oladimeji was deep in prayer. This conversation affords me the opportunity to learn more about this amazing woman and to share my findings with a larger audience. Today, Mary, a finally professed Sister of Mercy, lives in California..."

Messages to:
Camille D'Arienzo rsm
Mary Oladimeji rsm

Two lecture theatres at the University College Dublin (UCD) Health Sciences Centre have been named in honour of the founders of religious orders established to care for the sick poor in Dublin during the 1800s -Catherine McAuley and Mary Aikenhead...

“UCD is proud to honour two incredibly inspiring caregivers of the sick poor through the naming of these theatres today,” said Dr Hugh Brady, President of UCD.

The Sisters of Mercy and the Sisters of Charity established new standards of nursing care, hygiene and hospital management, while nursing the sick poor...

“By keeping the names of Catherine McAuley and Mary Aikenhead in clear view, we hope that our students and academic staff will take some inspiration from their remarkable leadership and charity.” ...

Messages to: Eugene Nolan rsm

Waikato taniwha rau, he piko he taniwha,he piko he taniwha
Waikato, home of many chiefs.
Tuatahi ko te wai, Tuarua whanau mai te tamaiti, ka puta ko te whenua.
At birth water comes first, then the child, followed by the placenta known as whenua (land).

Both these Whakatauki (proverbs) reflect the importance of water to Maori - all rivers, streams and significant bodies of water throughout Aotearoa New Zealand play a pivotal role in providing sustenance as well as sacredness to the livelihood of all. When tangata whenua (people of the land (Maori)) introduce themselves they will always name their river; i.e. the significant body of water that sustains them. The first Whakatauki highlights the importance of the Waikato River (Aotearoa New Zealand’s longest river) to the confederated tribes of Tainui (iwi/hapu) that live along its length.

Messages to: Katrina Fabish rsm - Communications Contact Institute Leadership Team

The Institute Justice Team is organizing a religious human rights/solidarity delegation to Honduras Dec. 6-12, with the help of the Friendship Office. Participants hope to learn about the social, economic, religious and political realities in Honduras and lend moral support to faith partners, human rights defenders and civil society organizations. It will include an advocacy meeting at the U.S. Embassy. Mercy participants include Institute Justice Team Director Jean Stokan and Sisters Karen Donahue, Rose Marie Tresp, Diane Clyne and Martha Larsen. This follows a SHARE-led delegation to El Salvador to commemorate the anniversary of the martyrdom of the four U.S. Churchwomen and to honor women religious through a recognition of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR).

Participants ask for your prayerful accompaniment.

Messages to: Institute Justice Team

Editor: In Issue no. 487 | 10 October 2012 we reported that Rosemary Revell rsm was one of 10 finalists for the overall prize of New Zealand's top gardener. This is decided by public vote. We are delighted to now share the outcome:

Congratulations to Rosemary Revell rsm who has won NZ Gardener magazine’s 2012 Gardener of the Year competition. The competition aims to recognise and reward unsung horticultural heroes, who generously share their gardening skills with their local communities.

Rosemary was nominated for the competition by volunteers at Papatuanuku ki Taurangi Earth Promise Centre in Ellerslie, Auckland.

Messages to: Rosemary Revell rsm

A statement in Ruth Harman's address "Where are you?" gives us much to think about. She states:
"A lot of people have realised that climate change is not actually the problem, it is but a symptom of a deep spiritual problem. A problem of not understanding our place in creation, and our purpose of being".

John Feehan: lecturer at 'The School of Biology and Environmental Science University College, Dublin’ puts this issue more bluntly:

"What is different about the Sixth Extinction that is taking place today is that it is occurring at a rate that is 1,000 to 10,000 times greater than the natural rate and is not due to some concatenation of natural events as were all previous mass extinctions. It is caused by a failure of intelligence and virtue on the part of the only rational species of the planet..."

Messages to: Camilla Hunt rsm

No event of particular significance is recorded in the "Mercy Through the Years Calendar" as having taken place on this day. We know, however, that the Works of Mercy continued to be carried out and so we remember Catherine and all our sisters and our co-workers who have given their lives in service to others on this day.

This book dedicated to Malala, the fourteen year old Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban for promoting the education of the Girl Child, is testament to the fact that education is a real tool and change agent in the life of girls.

Cost US$3 or 2 pound

Available from Deirdre Mullan rsm

Download the flyer here

With its tranquil devotional chapel and comfortable amenities, the House of Prayer is a peaceful, hospitable oasis, a calming retreat where you can recharge and connect to God through prayer and solitude, spirituality programs, retreat experiences, spiritual direction and more.

Learn the ins and outs of backing up your iOS device, whether you want to transfer its data to your new phone or just make sure it's safe in the event the unthinkable happens.
Source: Tecca