This week (11 November) we remember Catherine and all our deceased Sisters who have given their lives in service to others.

Let us pray for Sisters of Mercy throughout the world, for our Associates, Partners in Ministry and all members of the global Mercy family, that Catherine's life and death may continue to call us to embrace the spirit of hospitality and service.

Messages to: Mary Reynolds rsm - Executive Director MIA
 

Adapted from 'Intercessions for Special Mercy Feasts' in the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Sisters of Mercy

Sisters, Associates and all friends of Mercy are invited to Mercy International Centre on Monday, 11 November for Mass at 12.00 noon followed by lunch.

Eugene Nolan rsm will make a special presentation to the library of her book – ‘Caring for the Nation’.

RSVP to: Madeleine O'Hanlon - Receptionist by email or phone 01 661 8061 by Friday, 8 November

Rita Parks writes:'Generally, my attitude toward sound bites is unfriendly because they trivialize by reducing complex concepts to simplistic slogans. On the other hand, sound bites can at times offer wisdom in small doses that can be swallowed easily in sips that both satisfy and create a thirst for more substantial fare.

In that spirit, the following menu of sound bites has been culled from the recent Stakeholders’ Forum days at the United Nations, together with further considerations...'

Messages to: Rita Parks rsm
 

The calendar of programmes for 2014 is online (linked to this item) and a PDF of the programmes has been prepared for circulating by email, posting on noticeboards and including in mailouts.

We appreciate your assistance in promoting the 2014 programmes among your community members, associate groups, staff, boards, friends...anyone you think may be interested in spending time at Mercy International Centre in 2014, the twentieth anniversary year .

Download the print programme here (PDF)

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

Prayers with the intercession of Venerable Catherine McAuley are asked for all whose names are in our hearts and on our prayer list; in particular Vianney Hatton SSS whose name has been newly added to the list.

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

We celebrate with the Presentation Sisters the official announcement on 31 October of the declaration of their Order’s founder, Nano Nagle, as Venerable. An Irish woman of vision, faith, justice and service, Nano's life (1718-1784) continues to be a wonderful source of inspiration and challenge.

Messages to: 
Mary Reynolds rsm - Director MIA
Mary Deane pbvm, Congregational Leader Presentation Sisters Union

Congratulations to Mercy Secondary School, Inchicore, Dublin on winning the Repak/An Taisce Recycling Secondary School of the Year Award.

The school made huge reductions in their general waste, reducing output by approximately 73%. Their recycling efforts led to a significant increase of 22% and they went from zero composting to 24L in 15 days. There was also a two thirds reduction in printer ink costs reflecting a move away from paper based communications.

The school exceeded their target of reducing total waste levels by 25%.

Messages to: Treasa Leahy - Principal

The Wanstead Community had an excellent talk from Sr. Lynda Dearlove on the growth and development of the W@W (Women@theWell) Project in King’s Cross.

Lynda began by reminding us of Catherine Mc Auley’s founding vision for the poor street women of Dublin in the 1820’s are translated now into the work of the W@W. Catherine opened the first House of Mercy in Baggot Street in 1827 and believed that it was not enough simply to provide shelter for the women but to offer compassionate advice and education in order to help them to break free from the abuses common in her day. She also believed in offering the women the possibilities of learning new skills, so that they grew in a sense of their own dignity and respect for who they were as women...

Messages to: Lynda Dearlove rsm

Editor: Women at the Well is this week's featured website

From 1892 until 1974 OLMC Parramatta, New South Wales included a boarding school. On 13 October over sixty former boarding students came together for the first Boarders Reunion in seven years.

Read the Media Release here

Messages to: Christine Pace - Communications Officer

'Since 2007, Mary Beth Lennon has helped the Jesuits expose high-schoolers to opportunities beyond inner-city Baltimore...

Mary Beth was back at Mercy High Baltimore the morning of Oct. 29, when she was introduced as its next president. A member of its Class of 1985, Lennon, 46, will become the first alumna to hold the position, effective July 1, 2014.

“Mercy High transformed me, as a learner and as a leader,” Lennon told the Catholic Review beforehand. “It’s where I became an independent learner, learned how to manage my time, how to delve into a subject in great depth.”...'

Meet Mary Beth on YouTube (02:47)

Messages to: Patricia Smith rsm - Chair Presidential Search Committee

A maximum security correctional centre wasn’t necessarily what Sr Loretta Corrigan rsm had in mind nine years ago when, having finished her latest studies in Melbourne, she applied to return to the Archdiocese in a pastoral care job.

She was offered the position of chaplain at the Goulburn Correctional Centre.

“I said I didn’t know anything about jail life but would give it 12 months and see how it went,” Sr Loretta said.

As it turned out, she “quite liked it”...

Source: Catholic Voice, Archdiocese of Canberra Goulburn

Messages to: Loretta Corrigan rsm

On the invitation of a friend, some members of APT (Act to Prevent Trafficking) attended a performance of Diablo – a play on Human Trafficking in Ireland last April. The play staged in Derry City by a small cast of five actors from The Spanner in the Works Theatre Company so impressed the visitors from the South that at our following APT meeting in May we decided to invite the Company to perform in Dublin. Each year on European Trafficking Day which occurs in October, we in APT arrange an event to mark the occasion. This year we hoped it would be Diablo and so it was!

Read the report here

Messages to: Mary Ryan rsm

No event of particular significance is recorded in the "Mercy Through the Years Calendar" as having taken place on 6 November. We know, however, that the Works of Mercy continued to be carried out and so we remember on this day Catherine and all our Sisters, Associates and Co-workers who have given their lives in service to others.

We invite contributions for this date to be be added to the mercyworld.org online calendar.
Submit your dates online here

'The will of God be done in all things': M Ursula Frayne

A women-only drop-in centre in Kings Cross dedicated to supporting women with a complex range of needs relating to:
street based prostitution
offending & anti-social behaviour
problematic drug and alcohol abuse
rough sleeping
trafficking
 

Tip #1: If you want to type special characters with accent marks (like the letters à or è), simply tap and hold the corresponding alphabet key until it pops up a list of related accented characters for you to choose from. Note: Releasing the key before making a selection will cause the choices to disappear.

Tip #2:The numeric keyboard (.?123) on your iOS device shows the dollar ($) symbol by default. However, if you need to type the Pound or the Euro currency symbol, simply hold down the $ key and you’ll see a long list of alternative currency symbols.

Tip #3: If you want to change the style of quotation marks or need to use a longer dash punctuation mark instead of the default hyphen, press and hold the corresponding key. For typing the degree symbol in your email message, switch to the numeric keyboard and hold the ’0′ key for a while.

Source: Amit Agarwal