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| Edition No. 742 | 27 September 2017 | |
| | | |  Editor: The Mercy family— near and far— gathered in person and online on Sunday for an inspiring and prayerful experience of Mercy Day Eucharist in the Baggot Street Chapel, marking 190 years to the day since the opening of the first House of Mercy, now Mercy International Centre and home to the Mercy family all over the world. Mass was followed by the launch of the pictorial souvenir booklet 'A Visit to Catherine's House' and a delicious high tea and great craic (conversation) in the dining room and heritage areas for those able to be there in person. During Mercy Week (17-24 September), 39,494 unique visitors, a total of 639,824 hits, had visited our Mercyworld.org website to read the news leading up to this day, enjoy the Mercy Day greetings from near and far and to participate online in the Mercy Day Eucharist. A report of the Baggot Street celebrations including photos and links to the text of Archbishop Martin's homily and Sr Mary's pre-recorded greeting as well as the archived recording of the Mercy Day Mass and greetings, is linked to this item. Messages to: Mary Reynolds rsm - Executive Director MIA Image: The joy of the next generation. 5th Class girls, Our Lady of Mercy National School, Cahir. Co. Tipperary, Ireland, who celebrated Mercy Day live from their classroom on Monday, 25 September on Radio Maria and sent in this photo to accompany their greeting to us all. Photo: Fidelma Nugent, 5th class teacher.
See also the video greeting from Santa Barbara Catholic School Guam.  | |
| | Mercy Pilgrimage: Focussing on the Education Tradition within Mercy Due to high demand for places in the education tradition programme running in January 2018, Mercy International Association will be offering it again from 9-13 July 2018. This five day programme is open to all in the Mercy family. Based in Catherine McAuley’s house and city, the programme will provide an opportunity for all who want to deepen their connection to the Mercy story: past, present and future. Download the flyer here: A4 Paper Size (PDF); US Letter Size (PDF) Messages to: Anna Nicholls rsm - Team Leader Heritage & Spirituality | | On Thursday,14 September, 12 members of the MIA-Global Action Cosmology / Eco-Justice group from Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Newfoundland and the United States, 'met' via conference call. A brief summary of the conference call is linked to this item. It includes links to the reports from the following congregations and institutes: ISMAPNG, Parramatta, Newfoundland, The Congregation, Aotearoa New Zealand, Americas and MIA-MGA at the UN. Messages to: Denise Boyle fmdm - Team Leader Mercy Global Action | | | MIA Prayer Intention: for People and Places Devastated by Hurricanes, Earthquakes & Typhoon; Threatened by Volcano 'Devastation.' We have read, heard and seen that word used over and over again over the last five weeks to describe the impact of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, the successive Earthquakes & powerful aftershocks in Mexico and Typhoon Doksuri in Vietnam. Now Bali is under threat from Mount Agung's volcano. We continue to pray with the people and places that have experienced the damage and destruction caused by these environmental events. While keeping them in our prayers and giving support where we can, let us also resolve during this Season of Creation to take climate change more seriously and each ask ourselves: 'What of my behaviours can I change for the good of Earth and all People?' Post your own Prayer or Reflection in our online Chapel Messages to: Mary Reynolds rsm - Executive Director MIA | | UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Mr Leo Heller, mandated the implementation and necessity of a human rights monitoring framework in a statement at a meeting with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). Mr Heller was asked to address the two organization's Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) for their recent publication titled "Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and SDG baselines". Mr Heller conveyed his deep disappointment that in this latest report on water, sanitation and hygiene, no human rights language was incorporated. Sustainable Development Goal targets relating to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) must be guided by a human rights framework which is currently lacking in language and the agenda. As this was the first report on WASH and the SDGs, he expressed his hope that future editions will support and incorporate a human rights framework within their reporting and monitoring process... Messages to: Angela Reed rsm - MIA-MGA Coordinator at the UN | |
| | Last Monday evening, we attended a most impressive celebration on Bell Island at the invitation of St. Michael’s Parish. Exactly one hundred years ago, on 19 September 1917, four sisters (Sisters Mary Consilio, Mary Cecily O’Reilly, Alphonsus McNamara and Mary Aloysius Rawlins) crossed the Tickle (strait) and founded our community at the Front. The people of St. Michael’s Parish invited any Sisters who could attend to join them for Mass, dinner and music. Twenty-one of us joined them for the special evening... A detailed report of the evening's celebrations, accompanied by photographs, is linked to this item. Messages to: Sisters of Mercy Newfoundland c/- Diane Smyth rsm -Congregation leadership Team Image: Riding the ferry to Bell Island. L-r: Srs Marie Crotty, Charlotte Fitzpatrick, Sheila Grant | | On 9 September the Circle of Mercy celebrated its 20th anniversary. The Circle of Mercy is a Roman Catholic association of men and women who are attracted to the vision, values and mission of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy and desire to live the Gospel in the spirit of Catherine McAuley. Members come from different walks of life; maintain their own homes, families and lifestyles and after a period of orientation, discernment and preparation, they enter into a formal commitment to the Circle of Mercy for a specific, renewable period of time. A full report with a slideshow of images of the day is linked to this item. Messages to: Catherine McEvoy - Co-ordinator Circle of Mercy (Northern Province) Image: Castleblayney Circle commitment | | | The Institute Leadership Team (ILT) and the Northeast Community Leadership Team (CLT) signed onto an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief filed September 5, 2017, with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of 21 youth. The youth, aged 10-21 and from around the country, are suing the U.S. government to protect their fundamental right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life. This is the third time since 2013 that the ILT and Northeast CLT have supported youth in these types of cases. More about the case and why Mercy is engaged in this way is linked to this item. Messages to: Institute Leadership Team c/- Lauren Albright - Communications Office | | This week our Institute members have been gathering in Clusters around the country as we began once again to prepare for our next General Chapter. t is a good time for us to reflect on the Spirit of Catherine, through her example, her words and the reflections of our Sisters around the world, past and present as we prepare for this next Chapter. We propose to put up across the months, some of the galleries we have, which portray her words, example and attitudes. Some, you will be familiar with but in each new moment, we are new people with new and deeper insights. The first gallery is “Catherine’s Cloak of Justice”. Messages to: Camilla Hunt rsm | |
| | Not to be missed! A Grateful Day, a beautiful, 5-minute video meditation by Br. David Steindl-Rast. Released for 21 September, World Gratitude Day. This short video awakens us to the wonders of our world, reminds us about what truly matters, and invites us to notice the everyday gifts of our lives… | | 'What does one do with passive-resistant behaviour? This is a question that many of us have to confront at some time because there are people in every walk of life who make an art form of saying yes and failing to follow through with action....' Read the Reflection on the Gospel by Veronica Lawson rsm (ISMAPNG) Listen to the Gospel read by Fr Eamonn O'Connor (Ireland) | | Worldometers shows estimated current numbers based on statistics and projections from the most reputable official organizations. Sources include the United Nations Population Division, World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), and World Bank. | | | 1873: Mercy Hospital was established in Iowa City, Iowa Editor: Mercy Iowa City is this week's featured Mercy website Contribute a fact about the Story of the Sisters of Mercy in your congregation or institute to our online archive | | 70+ quotations from the Writings of Catherine McAuley in text and PDF for download | | Our Mission
Mercy Iowa City heals and comforts the sick and works to improve the health of the community in the spirit of Jesus Christ and the Catholic tradition of the Sisters of Mercy. | |
| | Worth Playing: 'I Feel the Winds of God Today'. Traditional. Sung by Kathryn Marquis. Listen here (04:45). Purchase on *iTunes Worth Viewing: -Displacement of People The Wall - U.S.-Mexico Border USA Today Network has launched 'The Wall: Unknown Stories, Unintended Consequences'. This landmark multi-media report examines in unprecedented detail President Donald Trump’s signature campaign promise to build 'a great wall' on the U.S.-Mexico border. An immersive experience that provides a comprehensive understanding of the proposed border wall. Experience it here Worth Reading: -Displacement of People Migrants & Refugees 'How forced migration defined Francis' papacy' by David Holdcroft sj. Read the article here Hunger According to the report from FAO: 'State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World', 815 million people didn’t have enough food in 2016. That number represents 11 percent of the global population, many of them children. Read the report here (132 pps; PDF) World's poor bearing the brunt of global crises, stresses UN rights expert. Read the article here Human Trafficking Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher told global leaders at a UN event on 19 September that trafficking is one of the defining priorities of Pope Francis’ papacy and requires a multi-prong approach. Read his speech here New data, released during the UN General Assembly, shows that more than 40 million people around the world were victims of modern slavery in 2016. The ILO have also released a companion estimate of child labour, which confirms that about 152 million children, aged between 5 and 17, were subject to child labour. Read article & digital summary here Worth Reflecting on: Degradation of Earth The hype around the new iphone X ignores the human and environmental impacts of the new models. Read about it here and here The Bottom Line: 'Perhaps Catherine McAuley's ongoing mission is to continue to be for all of us what she tried to be during her earthly pilgrimage: a shining human lamp, a comforting, guiding soul-friend, a servant of that definitive and incomparably Comforting Mercy that Walter Kasper calls "the source and goal of God's ways" on our behalf —until that day when we hope to enter fully into God's heavenly country...' - Mary C Sullivan rsm, Editor, A Shining Lamp: The Oral Instructions of Catherine McAuley, Washington, D.C. : The Catholic University of America Press, [2017] Send suggestions and contributions for the 'Worth...' section 2017 to: the Editor | |
| Mercy World E-News is the Online Newsletter of the Mercy International Association. We hope you value this email. However, should you no longer wish to receive this eNewsletter, please unsubscribe. Mercy International Association LimitedRegistered in Ireland. Certificate Number 194263. Public Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered Office: Mercy International Association, 11 Adelaide Road, Dublin 2. Registered Charity no CHY 10078 Directors: Sister Denise Fox (ANZ), Sister Sheila Carney (US), Ron Ashworth (US), Susan Clarke (GB), Sister Colette Cronin (GB), Mary Moorhead (IRL), Kevin Hoy (IRL), Sister Margaret Casey (IRL), Sister Scholasticah Nganda (IRL) | |
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