Sisters, Associates and friends of Mercy gathered at Mercy International Centre, Dublin, on Friday, 11 November to prayerfully commemorate the 175th anniversary of Catherine’s death.

The celebration was marked by Eucharist followed by lunch. People came from all four provinces in Ireland, and included visitors from Great Britain and Australia. Many of the friends in Mercy were people whose relationship to the house and Catherine McAuley is quite new – persons who have been praying regularly in the Baggot St chapel during this Year of Mercy and persons who are part of the Sunday Mass group that since October gathers weekly at Baggot Street. The Mass booklet can be accessed here (7pps; PDF)...

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

Photo: Kathy Higgins rsm (The Congregation)

Applications are invited for the position of Mercy Global Action Coordinator at the UN (Commencing 1 February 2017).The position will be based in New York, with initially a 3 year contract.

Download the Position Description here (2pps; PDF)

Please apply, attaching a Curriculum Vitae and names of 2 Referees, to: Mary Reynolds rsm, Executive Director MIA

Closing Date for applications: 25 November 2016

Messages to: Mary Reynolds rsm - Executive Director MIA

There is now a Lectio Divina Eucharistic Liturgy every Sunday at 10.30 a.m. (including Sundays when MIC is closed for the holidays; only exceptions are when road closures due to marathons include Baggot Street).

The Augustinian retreat centre Orlagh has closed and its property is being sold.  The Sunday Mass Community associated with this retreat centre has chosen to relocate to Mercy International Centre. This liturgy is open to the public.

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

In 2017 we will celebrate 190 years since the opening of Baggot Street, the first House of Mercy, and 25 years since the establishment of Mercy International Association (MIA)

Dates for Meetings, Events and Programs already planned for MIC in 2017 are now online.

We look forward to welcoming many visitors from around the world to MIC during 2017. Should you wish to organise a pilgrimage or special program at MIC in 2017, we will be happy to facilitate you.

Messages to: Mary Reynolds rsm - Executive Director MIA

Image: iStock. Used under licence

Mercy International Association joins with the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas in their 'call on candidates and voters alike to commit to healing the deep rifts within the country that have been exposed over the past few months leading up to yesterday’s U.S. election...

With our faith and secular partners, the Sisters of Mercy will continue to raise up the moral voice to counter divisive public policies and rhetoric. We also will be diligent about surfacing stories of the victims of harmful political, social and economic structures and lifting up hope for alternative, life-giving systems...'

Post your own Prayer or Reflection in our online Chapel

Reflection: After Election Day by Marianne Comfort, Institute Justice Team. Read it here

Messages to: Sisters of Mercy of the Americas c/- Lauren Albright - Institute Communications

Mercy Global Action at the United Nations and the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd are pleased to announce their 2016 global campaign to mark the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence beginning on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25th, and ending on International Human Rights Day on December 10.

The campaign, #16Days16Stories, focuses on the experience of formerly-trafficked women and girls who give testimony to gender discrimination and marginalization from childhood into adulthood. Their stories, told in their own words, highlight the many human rights violations and cumulative disadvantages in their life journeys. Through their stories, survivor advocates provide key insights into preventative measures to end human trafficking...

Download the campaign letter here & find out how to be involved (PDF)

Messages to:
Angela Reed rsm - MGA Interim Coordinator at the UN
Colleen Cloonan - MGA intern

As Sisters of Mercy responding to Pope Francis' call to heed the cry of the Earth, we do not support any importation to or storage of nuclear waste in South Australia.

At a meeting of the Adelaide MIRP group on 29 October, a number of collective actions that we chose to commit ourselves to locally, regionally and internationally were decided upon.

Download our action list here (2pps; PDF)

View the powerpoint linked to this item (please turn on your speakers to hear the accompanying audio track)

Messages to: Adele Howard rsm - MIRP Coordinator ISMAPNG

OLMC Parramatta formed a number of MIRP groups amongst the staff. The group focussing on "Throw Away society' share their new vision and the scope of works to implement their Action stage:

'...the College (specifically the MIRP OLMC group) has been inspired to conduct our own environmental assessment and make changes however small or large to the school environment by creating awareness and knowledge of the impacts of the “throw away society” and most importantly demonstrating our preparedness to take action.'

Download the report here (3 pps; PDF)

Messages to: Valda Dickinson rsm - MIRP Coordinator Parramatta and North Sydney Congregations

Image: L-r: Back row: Kylie Luksic, Danielle Dwyer, Gabrielle Meares, Rorie Brooks Front row: Ven Manchiraju, Anna Marie O’Keeffe

Julia Upton rsm is a distinguished professor of theology and former provost of St John's University, Queens campus, New York. Sr Julia sat down with Anthony Mangano, host of the show City of Churches, to explore the history and the importance of St. Thomas More Church which is the spiritual center of the campus. The church opened its doors in 2004. Sr Julia was one of the original planners of the church, chairing the building and design committee from 1997 - 2004.

Join the conversation and church tour here (25:26)

Messages to: Julia Upton rsm

Editor: Sr Julia was interviewed in April 2016 for the MIRP VOICES project. If you haven't heard her interview, you can watch it here

In January 2016 the Sisters of Mercy, in partnership with the Guyana Women Miners Organization, opened a Safe House for rescued victims of human trafficking. It is the first facility of its kind in Guyana, focusing exclusively on the needs of trafficking victims. The house can accommodate twelve young women.

We started with two young women and a three-month old baby boy. Gradually, over the first six months, the numbers increased to eleven young women and two babies. We have changed TIP from trafficking in persons to together in peace!

Messages to: Judith Schmelz rsm

Editor: Information that could be used to identify the house has been removed from this article

The Sisters of Mercy in Soweto, South Africa, sponsor a Skills and Nutrition Centre that provides monthly food parcels to over 500 households and has serviced well over 600 young adults in their sewing and computer programmes.

On the 7th of October this year, as part of the Opening of the Holy Door during the Jubilee Year of Mercy, the Sisters and Board Members of the Centre opened the doors of the St Matthews Secondary School to nearly 400 of the participants in the nutrition programme.

Messages to: Marla Yeck rsm

Elaine Wainwright rsm points out all the players in the parable of the sower and invites readers to listen and reflect on the ecological message.

Sr Elaine writes: 'Luke 8:4-8 provides a text for a new ethical reading that can shape the consciousness necessary to underpin our care for our common home'.

Download the article here (PDF)

Read the article online here

Messages to: Elaine Wainwright rsm

Editor: On 8 November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, known as Super Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, devastated Tacloban City in Leyte where Mercy Sisters minister and live. Prayers, donations and concern poured in from all over the Mercy world, reported on in Mercy eNews and with regular updates on the mercyworld.org site. Among the other NGOs to support the efforts of the Religious Sisters of Mercy (Philippines) to rebuild was Caritas Germany.

Global Sisters Report interviewed Carmela Cabactulan rsm, who was the leader in 2013, and Marian Ladrera rsm, the current leader, on their experience of the typhoon and on the rebuilding of some of their works.

That article is linked to this item.

Messages to: Marian Ladrera rsm

Mercy Secondary Education Conference (MSEC) XXXV, with its theme, "The Heart of Mercy: Peace", was held in Detroit (Farmington Hills, MI) October 14-15, 2016.

Two hundred thirty-five Mercy educators gathered, representing schools and educational ministries in Argentina, Belize, Guam, Honduras, Jamaica, the Philippines and the United States. Moreover, given the special anniversary year, the founding members of MSEA and over 25 former MSEA or MSEC board members and Mercy educators and leaders attended. Conference materials from presenters and pictures are posted here 

Messages to: Corinne Raven rsm- Director Network for Mercy Education

Image. L-r: Whitney Faires, Mount St. Mary Catholic High School, Oklahoma City; Mariela Pavon, Instituto Maria Regina, Honduras; Holly McCoy, Mercy High School, Omaha, NE; Alison-Kline Kator, Mercy High School, Farmington Hills, MI and more sharing ideas at Mercy Secondary Education Conference XXXV. The center peace poles made by students from host school, Mercy High School, Farmington Hills

Bright Side has put together a list of the most effective methods for searching Google to help you find the precious material you’re looking for in just a couple of clicks.

Source: Bright Side

'Sadly, there have always been those who scoff at others or make fun of them, generally because they themselves feel threatened in some way. Those who suffer such bullying behaviour often feel powerless and demeaned. There may be some comfort for such people in today’s gospel. We find here a serious case of bullying and two dignified responses that undermine the destructive power of the bullies...'

- Veronica Lawson rsm

Each month in this Year of Mercy, Ann Gilroy rsj, Editor of the award-winning Tui Motu Interislands Magazine, has composed a blessing. There are 10 online. Says Sr Ann: 'Whenever you need a moment of inspiration, a pause in the day, a prayer for a group - try a blessing'.

Mercy Hospital is a private not-for-profit organisation with charitable status.

The organisation is owned by Nga Whaea Atawhai o Aotearoa Sisters of Mercy New Zealand. The hospital was established in 1936 and relocated to the current Maori Hill site in 1969. Our main focus is private elective surgery with six theatres, a two bed ICU facility, forty-one inpatient beds, twenty-four day surgery beds, six day surgery chairs along with a fully equipped Cardiac Catheterisation Lab.

1969: Mater Misericordiae Hospital Dunedin shifts from its original site on Royal Terrace to Maori Hill, Dunedin.

Editor: The Mater is this week's featured site

Contribute a fact about the Story of the Sisters of Mercy in your congregation or institute to our online archive

'Blessed are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on them by others and forgive them from their heart.
*Blessed are those who look into the eyes of the abandoned and marginalized and show them their closeness.
*Blessed are those who see God in every person and strive to make others also discover him.
*Blessed are those who protect and care for our common home.
*Blessed are those who renounce their own comfort in order to help others.
*Blessed are those who pray and work for full communion between Christians.'

- Pope Francis, 1 November 2016, Sweden