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Earth Overshoot Day: 29 July
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Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Elements by NASA
Editor: This year, Earth Overshoot Day falls on 29 July, two days earlier than last year and the earliest date on which it has occurred.
On Earth Overshoot Day we (all of humanity) will have used more of the renewable natural resources —water, soil and clean air —than our planet can renew in the entire year. After next Monday we will be living on credit for the remainder of 2019.
The good news Global Footprint Network (GFN) tells us is we can reverse the trend. How? By moving Earth Overshoot Day by five days every year, we’ll use less than 1 Earth before 2050. Solutions are readily available.
We are all invited by the GFN to take what steps we can to #MoveTheDate from the energy, food, cities, population, and planet levers.
Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Elements by NASA
Vision in Action
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Image: NASAPrayer
MIA Prayer Intention: 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing
Prayer
MIA Prayer Intention: 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing
The Apollo 11 astronauts took with them messages from many Heads of State to be left on the moon, including one from Paul V1 who dedicated Psalm 8 to their undertaking and on their touchdown, proclaimed to the astronauts ‘Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to men of good will!’ as ‘a festive hymn on the part of our whole terrestrial globe’.
Conscious this week as we are of these ‘conquerors of the Moon, pale lamp of our nights and our dreams’ (Paul V1), may our prayers and our lives always give glory to God and witness to peace.
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President Robinson Addressing the Gathering at the OpeningMIA
MIA Special Prayer Intention: Silver Anniversary of Opening of MIC
MIA
MIA Special Prayer Intention: Silver Anniversary of Opening of MIC
On 23 July 1994, the first House of Mercy opened as Mercy International Centre.
We give thanks for the vision and inspiration of Mary Trainer rsm, the courage and generosity of Sebastian Cashen rsm and the dedication and support of the Members of MIA to bring this about. We are grateful for the commitment and energy of the Members, Boards, Staffs, Teams, Volunteers, Sisters and partners-in-Mercy who, over the last 25 years, have worked to make this house home to the Mercy family from all over the world.
The video of the opening event, last screened on the 20th anniversary, is linked to this item.
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Register your attendance at the Jubilee Celebrations in September
Planning to attend? Please fill in the registration form linked to this item.
For those unable to attend, arrangements for live-streaming of some of the key events will be advised well ahead of time in Mercy eNews and on our website, once details have been finalised.
Young Mercy Leaders Pilgrimage
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Events & Programmes
Day Two: 'Mercy Begins with Me' T-shirt Day
T-shirts are significant not only as souvenirs of events, but as promoters of brands, representing and defining a group's or organisations's image and issues. Our 'brand' is Mercy.
By wearing the T-shirt in public, we are sending out a message that our Mercy 'brand' is one we are proud of and worth others checking out…
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Events & Programmes
Day Three: Keynotes, Workshops and Ceili Night
Thursday was another very busy day. Following Morning Prayer, pilgrims attended two of the three keynotes (they experienced one yesterday). Later that morning and in the afternoon they participated in three of the four workshop offerings (having been to one yesterday)…
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Events & Programmes
Day Four: The Last Day
Following opening Prayer in the Chapel, the pilgrims assembled in the school hall to hear the programme for the day. Their first task was to respond in their journals to a number of questions about their experience of the past three days and as a lead in to further activities.
Journalling gave way to time signing each other's pilgrim bags, all of which were then placed into a central circle and around which they formed another 'circle of Mercy'…
Members' News
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ISMAPNG
Parishes Can't Ignore Domestic Violence, says Mercy Sister
‘Families are a vital part of parish life. We want to promote strong and flourishing families and relationships,’ says Sr Nicole Rotaru rsm. ‘Knowing this, we can no longer ignore the critical issue of domestic violence within our local communities, and the Gospel mandate that calls us to do something about this.’
For the past 12 months, Sr Nicole has been offering information and training workshops to parish communities and Catholic organisations in Melbourne and surrounding areas…’
Source: Melbourne Catholic
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Americas
70 Catholic Leaders Arrested While Demanding an End to Detention of Immigrant Children
On 18 July, 70 Catholic leaders, including nine Sisters of Mercy, locked arms in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience to end the detention of immigrant children. The protest took place in the Russell Senate Office Building rotunda, just down the hall from Senators’ offices. Activists are imploring them to end the immoral and inhumane detention practices that only begin with separating children from parents…
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stock imageAmericas
Three Sister Organizations Continue Annual Tradition of Spreading Mercy in the Cedar Rapids Community
Sister organizations Mount Mercy University, the Catherine McAuley Center and Mercy Medical Center are continuing the tradition of spreading mercy in our community. Circle the City with Mercy is a one-day community service project with volunteers from each organization coming together on Friday, July 19, near the anniversary date marking when the Sisters of Mercy arrived in Cedar Rapids in July 1875.
Now in its second year, Circle the City with Mercy partners look for a unique community service project each year to demonstrate their ongoing commitment to the community…
Mercy Matters
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Digital life
Real-time Satellite Imagery on Your Desktop (for Macs)
‘Watch sunlight and weather patterns move across Earth throughout the day, and bask in the glory of our blue marble in real time.’
Every 20 minutes (or every hour, you pick), Downlink updates your desktop background with the newest images of Earth.
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Fact
On This Day
1851: Old Swan Convent opened as a branch house from Mount Vernon Convent, Liverpool.
1858: Foundation to Edinburgh from Limerick - M Gertrude Hynes
1974: Classes begin in a new co-institutional college in Palmerston North. Sister M. Clement Long is appointed Principal of the Girls School
Contribute a fact from the story of your Mercy congregation, institute or federation, to our online archive.
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Gospel
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time C
Luke 12:13-21
‘Our tradition tells us that “the earth and all that is in it belongs to God” (Psalm 24). That does not stop people from arguing over possessions and even killing for them. It never has. The Iraq war should have been a lesson to the world. There were no weapons of mass destruction. There was much coveted oil and that seems to have been the covert justification for an unconscionable invasion that cost countless lives. There seems to be something deep within the human psyche that continually seeks for more…’
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Brigid Johnson rsmResource
Circle of Mercy Album Turns 25!
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the “Circle of Mercy” album, co-produced by Sisters Delores Nieratka and Brigid Johnson. The album features 14 songs chosen from among the 40 contributed by sisters and associates around the world.
Production of the album coincided with the 1994 dedication of the restored Mercy International Center in Dublin…
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Five Ways to Reduce Plastic in the Bathroom
Editor: In each week’s Mercy eNews during July, we are highlighting resources supporting plastic-free July.
From bamboo toothbrushes to using refill options or your own containers, it’s not hard to change your ways.
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Resource
Bracelets
The design of this bracelet was inspired by one of the decorative borders in a Latin Office Book illuminated by Sister Clare Augustine Moore.
Bracelets are presented on a velvet cushion in a specially designed gift box.
Further Resources
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Worth Reading
As recruiting era slows, women religious reflect, then choose new course
‘The questions for women in religious communities facing decline are ceaseless. How do we provide for our elderly members? How do we shut down a mission central to our identity as a congregation — or pass it on to laypeople? How do we grieve the deaths of friends, which often seem to come in waves, and keep hope alive?…’
Read the article here)
Worth Reading
Connect with God and the Earth by praying with the four elements
‘By rooting our prayer in the elements, we begin to forge an awareness of how much we are a part of creation. We experience ourselves as a part of the matrix of the natural world and as creatures just like other creatures…’
Read the article here)
Worth Reading
Bishop McElroy on Laudato Si': An 'urgent summons' to the American people
‘We stand, deeply estranged from one another, seething in divisions and unwilling to reconcile.We are the most powerful nation in the history of the earth, yet have rejected the only realistic pathways that have emerged to heal our broken planet…’
Read the full text hereSend suggestions and contributions for the ‘Worth’ Section 2019 to: The Editor
The Bottom Line
‘Mercy, in confronting a human life in a state of necessity, is the true face of love.’
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Mercy eNews
The online newsletter of Mercy International Association is published fortnightly, 24 weeks each year and distributed to subscribers via email.
For more information on the directors click here
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