Thank you to those who have already sent in your greeting. We have three full pages of these online and have started a fourth! Do we have yours?

All members and friends of the Mercy family are invited to send in your greetings for posting on our mercyworld.org website for Mercy Day. Greetings will be posted online as they are received. We look forward to posting yours!

Greetings should be sent in by Friday, 22 September to make sure they are published for Mercy Day.

Messages to: Anne Walsh - Mercy eNews Editor

21 September is the International Day of Peace ("Peace Day") which will be celebrated liturgically on Sunday, 24 September. The theme this year is: 'Together for Peace: Respect, Safety and Dignity for All'.

Let us pray that we might see beyond race, accent, skin colour, gender, language, looks, abilities, income...  to find our common humanity, so that in recognising the humanity of others we may see fully the humanity of all people and work together for peace.

Post your own Prayer or Reflection in our online Chapel

Messages to: Mary Reynolds rsm - Executive Director MIA

In September of 1999, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 53/243 the Declaration and Programme of Action on Culture of Peace. Along with other resolutions, this declaration became the motivation behind the UN-declared International Decade for Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010). Over the decades, through annual resolutions, the General Assembly emphasizes the universal implementation of this agenda.

On September 7th, the UN held its second High-Level Forum on the Culture of Peace with a theme “Sowing the Seeds of the Culture of Peace: Early Childhood Development is the Beginning”...

Messages to: Angela Reed rsm - MIA Coordinator at the UN - Mercy Global Action

The main presenters for the 2018 month-long programme (20 May - 15 June) for Sisters of Mercy have been confirmed as Liz Dowling rsm (ISMAPNG), Mary Sullivan rsm (Americas) and Elizabeth Davis rsm (Newfoundland). 

Sr Liz will be present for the month and will weave a Scripture thread throughout the programme. Sr Mary will expand on her work on the writings and oral instructions of Catherine McAuley and their present-day relevance as Gospel expressions. Sr Elizabeth will help participants to explore further our growing understanding of Mercy Global Presence. The programme will be supported throughout by the staff at Mercy International Centre who will give participants opportunities to engage with the stories of the House, of Catherine and the first women here and our global mercy story today.

Download the flyer: A4 Paper size; US Letter size

Messages to: Anna Nicholls rsm - Team Leader Heritage & Spirituality

Where the Dream Began

During the last week of March this year, the Institute and Congregation MIRP Co-ordinators, the MIRP Guiding Team, Elizabeth Davis rsm, liaison with the MIA Members (Leaders) and Mary Reynolds rsm, MIA Executive Director, gathered at Baggot Street Dublin to reflect on and share experiences, insights and learnings gained during the Mercy International Reflection Process and to formally close the Process.

From that meeting came the report: "Review of the Mercy International Reflection Process: What has been discovered? What has been revealed?" which was released online to the Mercy world on 21 April and through Congregations and Institutes to all Sisters, partners-in-Mercy and all who engaged in the Process.  Co-ordinators from each Congregation and Institute then met with their respective leaders to discuss the report more fully...

Download the 6 month update:
A4 Paper size (3pps; PDF); US Letter size (3pps; PDF)

Messages to:

Elizabeth Davis rsm
Mary Reynolds rsm
Anne Walsh

We are half-way through the Season of Creation (1 September - 4 October). Since 2 September we have seen daily glimpses of creation on our website homepage, facebook page and twitter account from a number of the countries in which Sisters of Mercy minister and live: USA, Aotearoa New Zealand, Timor Leste, PNG, Newfoundland, South Sudan, Australia, Ireland, Peru.

A slideshow of the images that have appeared so far this season is linked to this item. Enjoy these glimpses of aspects of the beauty of creation as seen through the lenses of Mercy photographers.

Messages to: Anne Walsh - Communications Director MIRP

Image: Victoria Incrivaglia rsm (Americas). Water lily

Slavery is slavery. Kathleen Rushton rsm uncovers the evil of human slavery in her reading of Matthew 18:21-35 and points out how often it is obscured or mistranslated then and in our own times.

Download the article (2pps; PDF)

Messages to: Kathleen Rushton rsm

Marilyn Sunderman rsm, Professor of Theology and Chair of the Theology Department at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, has provided this paper on Thomas Merton. 'The simplicity of life that Thomas Merton wrote about and embraced as a Cistercian monk and discovered embedded in Shakerism provides a pathway for securing a sustainable Earth in the 21st century and beyond', writes Sr Marilyn, citing the writings of Thomas Berry, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and Pope Francis as championing the cause of sustainability.

Download the paper here (15pps; PDF)

Messages to: Marilyn Sunderman rsm

Image: Thomas Merton (1915 - 1968) in his studies. Fair use

'From 1973 to 1975, I was a student in East Jerusalem. Early each morning, I crossed the road from my home at the Chaldean Patriarchate to the grounds of the Ecole Biblique. I would see the Palestinian day labourers lined up beside their vehicles, waiting for employment....'

Read the Reflection on the Gospel by Veronica Lawson rsm (ISMAPNG)

Listen to the Gospel read by Fr Eamonn O'Connor (Ireland)

The 36 page, A4 size, full colour booklet is both an informative introduction to the First House of Mercy and an attractive souvenir of a visit here. It can be used in preparation— or follow up —for a personal or group pilgrimage and as a resource in schools teaching the story of Catherine McAuley, the spread of Mercy across the globe and the contemporary Mercy story.

Orders to: Margaret Scroope rsm - Team Leader Administration & Finance

'Apple’s iPhone 7 introduced a much-wanted feature to the iPhone: Stereo speakers.

While it gave us both stereo audio and louder audio it turns out that there is a way to make your iPhone go even louder.

It’s hidden inside the iPhone’s Settings menu and involves tweaking the Equaliser.'

Source: Huffington Post

1841: Catherine left Birmingham on her last journey - back to Baggot St

1869: Foundation to Wilmington, North Carolina originated from Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Charleston, South Carolina- M Augustine Kent

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

The Mid-Atlantic Community Spiritual Life Committee has prepared this Prayer for the Season of Creation and invite readers to use it as part of your observances this month.

For over two decades, Mercy Foundation North has been partnering with the community to raise philanthropic support to enhance the lives of people in the North State area. During this time, Mercy Foundation North  supporters have contributed more than $67 million in charitable gifts. Through the generosity of our donors, the Sisters are able to care for those most in need.