MGP 'Incarnate God in Cosmos and in Person of Jesus' Resources are Now Online
Visit the Mercy Global Presence microsite to access the resources for ‘Incarnate God in Cosmos and Person of Jesus’, the fourth and final of our Global themes.
Presenters for December are: Elizabeth Davis rsm (Newfoundland, Introduction), Elizabeth Dowling rsm (ISMAPNG, Theological Imaginings), Corlita Bonnarens rsm (Americas, Artistic Inspiration), Margaret Mary Alamban rsm (Philippines, Grassroots Ministry), Angela Reed rsm (MIA, Mercy Global Action), Mary Pendergast rsm (Americas, Distinct Voice), Elizabeth Marrie rsm (Newfoundland, Reflective Prayer)
This Christmas...
Mary-Louise Petro rsmPresident, MIA Members
Christmas Greetings
Christmas Greetings across our common home to each member of the Mercy Family.
As I came to write this message my mind became filled with images of this past year – images of our Earth home groaning, breaking, burning, desolate, flooding, drought-stricken, sinking, suffering from extreme heat, severe storms and the effects of neglect. Intermingled with these are images of humanity at our best – Mercy Global Presence caring and advocating for our common home and one another…
Ron AshworthBoard Chair MIA
As we Celebrate Christmas
This year we celebrated the Silver Jubilee of Mercy International Centre and reminded ourselves that Jubilee calls us to free the oppressed. As we celebrate Christmas, may we let that call echo in our hearts and commit ourselves anew to an ongoing response to’ the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor’…
Mary Reynolds rsmCEO MIA
Christmas Blessings
“Into this world, this demented inn in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ comes uninvited.” -Thomas Merton
This Christmas, may we recognise and welcome the ‘uninvited’ Christ in the migrant, the refugee, the homeless, and like Mary, who wrapped her new-born child in swaddling clothes and placed him in the manger, may we work to provide a safe and welcoming world.
Christmas Blessings to our Sisters, Associates, Partners in Mercy, Donors and Friends from all at Mercy International Centre…
Greetings
Christmas Greetings from the Mercy World
q7j3!@W8mChristmas Greetings from Mercy Congregations and Institutes and Mercy ministries are linked to this item.
Messages to: the Editor
Do check out the homepage of our website to see MIC with Christmas lights a-blazing and the star of wonder over head. On Christmas Eve we will replace this with a nativity scene.
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Communication
Mercy eNews: Important Information
Thank you to all our contributors for news items, greetings, the longform articles and suggestions of resources, all of which have helped build the global Mercy community online. Thank you to our readers for your support, encouragement and feedback.
All issues of MercyeNews for this year have been archived online and are linked to this item.
The first issue of Mercy E-News for 2020 will be published on Wednesday, 22 January. Please send your contributions for the first issue of Mercy News to the Editor by Friday, 17 January.
Prayer
MIA Prayer Intention: Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All Creation
Extreme weather events, droughts, floods & bushfires, terrorism, accelerating species loss, exploitation, refugee crises, poverty, violence, political unrest, governments in chaos… are among the many desperate situations we have prayed about this year. As we join with the angels in this season of goodwill to proclaim ‘peace on earth’, let us help usher it in through ‘dialogue, reconciliation and ecological conversion’. (Pope Francis, Message for the Celebration of the 53rd World Day of Peace, 1 January 2020).
Post your prayer in our online chapel
Members' News
The Congregation
Sr Consilio Hailed for Belief in ‘Inherent Dignity’ of Each Person
‘Sr Consilio Fitzgerald, founder of Cuan Mhuire [House of Mary], which provides addiction treatment services and residential rehabilitation to 3,000 people a year was presented with the Fifth Oireachtas [Parliamentary] Human Dignity Award at a ceremony in Leinster House on Thursday last, December 5. The Human Life, Human Rights and Human Dignity Award is presented annually by the Oireachtas Human Dignity Group to a person or group whose commitment to the promotion of human dignity has been exemplary…’
Source: Irish Catholic
Americas
Bringing High-Tech Virtual Health Care to Rural America
For the fourth time, the USDA [US Dept. of Agriculture] has awarded Mercy a substantial grant that will provide greater access to health care in some of Mercy’s most rural communities in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma...
“Almost half of the communities Mercy serves are in some of the most remote rural areas,” said Mark Saxon, vice president of clinical operations for Mercy Virtual. “These residents don’t have access to the level of care found in larger cities, and in some of these communities, they have no medical care. This grant will allow us to install video equipment that will provide access to hundreds of Mercy medical specialists and even greater access to primary care.”
ISMAPNG
All in All: Mary Wickham rsm
History waited the long centuries, the present re-enacts annually the truth that plays constantly in every atom:the world longs,
the human heart yearns,
for what it already carries,
the promise that is already kept,
for the presence, the meaning and the blessing
of Emmanuel: God-with-us.
Advent has us waiting,
Christmas leads us to welcome:
to embrace, to invite, to shelter, and recognise
the Christ amongst, around and within…
Download the reflection here.
Sr Deirdre Jordan (l) and Sr Judith Redden (r) at their Prospect home.ISMAPNG
Looking Forward to Looking Back
‘Sr Deirdre Jordan will reconnect with fellow Sisters of Mercy from Argentina when the SA community celebrates its 140th anniversary next year.
At 93 years of age, Sr Deirdre Jordan is old enough to have known some of the first Mercy nuns who arrived in Adelaide from Argentina on May 3 1880….’
Source: The Southern Cross. Image used with permission
Aotearoa New Zealand
'Jesus is Born': Scripture with Kathleen Rushton rsm
Kathleen Rushton rsm explains how our usual image of the birth of Jesus is different from what we find in Luke 2:1–20. Sr Kathleen writes: ‘In Luke’s Gospel there is no mention of the Bethlehem community into which Mary and Joseph arrived. Yet in that culture a woman about to give birth would have been given special care and attention by other women…’
Download the article here
Americas
A trip to the Ireland of Catherine McAuley
This summer a group of 14 Detroit Mercy nursing students, alumni and faculty visited the country and the sites that inspired Catherine McAuley to found the Religious Sisters of Mercy in Dublin in 1831, in part to offer healthcare to the poor.
It was the second trip planned by the College of Health Professions’ McAuley School of Nursing and included stops at healthcare facilities to talk with nurses, nurse educators and students. Most memorable were visits to the home where Catherine McAuley lived and to the first house of Mercy built to respond to the needs of the city’s poor…
The Congregation
Foundation Day at Baggot Street
The celebration of the Eucharist was very touching and reflective … I was emotionally moved. It was the music that did it. It was so uplifting, rising heavenwards. I looked up to the ceiling and said to myself: Catherine’s chapel cannot contain all this, it has to move out. Still touched, I paused, and my eyes rested on the five Mercy World candles lighting near the door. Wow! That’s it, I said. The uplifting music represented the movement of sisters out of Catherine’s house and other Irish convents to the five continents in the early years of Catherine’s first Foundation…And those of you who work now, being a mercy presence, in those territories … were held in special prayer in Catherine’s Chapel on this Foundation Day
Photo: Fiona BasileISMAPNG
Gerard Manly Hopkins Poetry Event at the Mercy Hub
On Sunday 17th November the Mercy Action and Spirituality Hub was the venue for a talk about the 19th century poet and Jesuit priest, Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889).
The talk was given by writer and retired journalist, Martin Flanagan who also happens to be good friends with Ursula Gilbert rsm. It was Sr Ursula who imagined and orchestrated the event being a great admirer of the poetry of G.M. Hopkins and a facilitator for poetry afternoons at the Hub…
Editor: Jo O’Donovan rsm (The Congregation) has written ‘Bright Wings Dappled Things’ a commentary on the poems of Hopkins. Find out more
Americas
SXU's Graham School of Management Offers Introduction to Business Course to Local High School Students
The Saint Xavier University (SXU) Graham School of Management (GSM) has recently started offering an Introduction to Business course to local high school students, affording them one college credit hour. This unique and innovative offering is the first of its kind in the area, and an incredible benefit for college and career preparation for high school students.
Professor and founding dean of GSM Faisal Rahman, Ph.D., conceived the idea for the program in 2018…Rahman's goal was to think outside the box for recruitment and develop relationships with communities and high schools.
Mercy Matters
Digital Life
Year in Search 2019
In 2019, searches for heroes soared…
Gospel
4th Sunday of Advent Year A
Matthew 1:18-24
'One of my friends asked me what I would like for Christmas. “Nothing”, was my immediate response. “I just want to spend time with community and family and friends, especially those who would otherwise be alone”. And that's what I'll be doing, simply “being with”. Being-with others in joy or sorrow or in the humdrum of life is probably the best gift we can offer and the best gift we can receive. ..'
Fact
On This Day
1883: Foundation to Clonmel from Cahir, Co Tipperary - M Bernard Vaughan
Contribute a fact from the story of your Mercy congregation, institute or federation, to our online archive.
Gospel
Christmas Year A
'The readings for the Christmas liturgies vary from celebration to celebration. The prologue to Matthew’s gospel provides the first part of the gospel for the Christmas Vigil Mass. The first two words of the gospel (biblos geneseōs) evoke the first words of the Book of Genesis and thus locate the child to be born within the broad sweep of the birth of the cosmos...'
Stock imageInternational Days
18 December: International Migrants Day
‘More than 70 million people are forcibly displaced - double the level of 20 years ago, and 2.3 million more than just one year ago. It is a shocking and harrowing number. Conflicts have become more complex, and combined with trends such as climate change, population growth, rapid urbanization, and food insecurity, we can unfortunately anticipate that forced displacement and humanitarian needs will continue to increase…we have to fulfil the promises of responsibility-sharing set out in the Global Compact on Refugees.’
-António Guterres, UN Secretary-General
Resource
Have you heard the Programme 'Muffin Talk'?
Beate Matthies, Manager, Mercy Spirituality Centre, Auckland, has received a Certificate of Achievement “for outstanding results in online listenership” of her radio programme ‘Muffin Talk’. The programme can be heard live on Planet FM here. Programmes, many with Mercy themes, are also archived online.
Worth a listen.
Further Resources
Worth Watching
Save the Rivers (Yaama Ngunna Baaka)
There is a water crisis in Australia.
Some rivers once flowing are now dry.
Save the Rivers (Yaama Ngunna Baaka) is an anthem, calling us together.
Written by Marcia Howard, Nadia Sunde, Zardi and John Sutton at a song writing workshop at the Yaama Ngunna Baaka Corroboree Festival in outback New South Wales, it honours the cultural work begun by the late Ruby Hunter, a Ngarrindjeri song writer who was born on the banks of the Murray River in South Australia.
All proceeds from the sale of Save the Rivers (Yaama Ngunna Baaka) song will be donated to the Ruby Hunter Legacy, Mothers Milk Bank Charity and the rivers.
Listen here
Worth Reading
Why is Beauty Important to Us?
‘We [The New York Times] asked writers, scientists, actors, designers and others to explain the indispensability of beauty in our everyday lives’
Reflect with the article here
Worth Knowing
'Slaves Among Us': Monique Villa
‘A brief, clear introduction to the tragedy of human trafficking’
Watch the interview & Find out more about the book
Worth Reading
Older People
New resources from Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN) UK
'Care in Time: Celebrating longer lives in England and Wales'
'"It’s Beautiful to be Old."In search of emergent Catholic Social Teaching on Old Age'
Other resources on Older People Pope Says Elderly Not a Burden But a Resource and a Wealth
Worth Watching
The future of the very young:
Prayer Intention of Pope Francis
Worth Reading
European Green Deal will change economy to solve climate crisis, says EU
‘Everything from travel to air quality has been looked at in order to create ‘a growth that gives back’’
Read the article here
Worth Knowing
“Thomas Berry and ‘The Great Work’”
Held at Georgetown University October 30-31.
Videos and papers are now online
Image: Georgetown conference website
Watch & Read these reources
Worth Reading
UN Secretary General: Pope Francis helps us promote peace
‘The United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, speaks about his upcoming visit to the Holy See, and his appreciation of Pope Francis, in this interview conducted in collaboration with Italy's "La Stampa" newspaper.’
Read the interview here
Worth Knowing
Statement by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres on the Outcome of COP25
‘“I am disappointed with the results of #COP25.
The international community lost an important opportunity to show increased ambition on mitigation, adaptation & finance to tackle the climate crisis.
But we must not give up, and I will not give up.
I am more determined than ever to work for 2020 to be the year in which all countries commit to do what science tells us is necessary to reach carbon neutrality in 2050 and a no more than 1.5 degree temperature rise.”’
Image: UNFCC
Send suggestions and contributions for the ‘Worth’ Section 2020 to: The Editor
The Bottom Line
‘The more we celebrate, the more we realize that we are in communion. To celebrate is to create community. It is the first sign of the Kingdom proclaimed among us. Celebration is the way in which faith in the God of Life is lived out, whether there are smiles or tears. Celebration reveals the deep undercurrent of joy that flows beneath all of our ups and downs.’ Read more
Mercy eNews
The online newsletter of Mercy International Association is published weekly, 48 weeks each year and distributed to subscribers via email.
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