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MGP 'Mercy and the Degradation of Earth' Resources are Now Online
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Aerial view of degraded landscape
Visit the MGP microsite to access the resources for the second ‘Mercy’ theme: ‘Mercy and Degradation of Earth’
Presenters for April are: Elizabeth Davis rsm (Newfoundland, Introduction), Carmody Grey (GB Institute, Theological Imaginings), Mary Bilderback rsm (Americas, Artistic Inspiration), Gabrielle Scanlon (Parramatta, Grassroots Ministry), Bridget Crisp rsm (Aotearoa, Mercy Global Action), Margie Abbott rsm (ISMAPNG, Distinct Voice), Adele Howard rsm (ISMAPNG, Reflective Prayer). Jennifer Grove from College of St Mary, Omaha, Nebraska has contributed a scientific response.
Aerial view of degraded landscape
Vision in Action
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Prayer
MIA Prayer Intention: For the Unemployed
This Friday is the Feast Day of Joseph the Worker.
While we are all wrestling with the challenges of this global pandemic, let us remember especially in our prayers this week those persons now unemployed or underemployed because of COVID-19 restrictions. Despite the anxiety from their daily struggles to support themselves and their families, may they remain hopeful, comforted in the knowledge that there will be a post pandemic future.
Post your prayer in our online chapel
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Events & Programmes
Next YML Pilgrimage: 13-16 July 2021
The 2020 Pilgrimage for young people aged 18+ has been cancelled due to COVID-19.
The 2021 Pilgrimage for ***15-25 year olds ***will take place from 13-16 July 2021.
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Events & Programmes
May Dates for Virtual Tours of MIC
Missed the tours in March and April? Here’s your chance to join one in May.
Tours have been organised for 4, 6, 10, 12, 20 and 21 May. We invite you to book in for yourself, your community or ministry.
Mercy Pandemic Singalongs: Saying Thanks to Essential Workers & Support Staff
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Americas
In Pennsylvania, USA...
Sisters at the Convent of Mercy in Merion, Pennsylvania, singing a heartfelt thank you to support staff...while maintaining social distancing
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Federation
In London, England...
‘Singing sisters from the St. Anthony’s Convent of Mercy in Thornhill have been entertaining their neighbours by leading a hymn singalong for the weekly Clap for Carers.
Now, they’ve proved a national hit after appearing on a video spearheaded by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge…’
Source: Sunderland Echo
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Americas
In New York, USA...
Our Lady of Mercy Academy (OLMA) Syosset, New York, in this video thank all their alumnae essential workers on the frontlines.
Alumnae gather (via Zoom) every Friday (at noon) to pray the Rosary in gratitude for all our essential workers, especially our healthcare providers
Members' News
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ISMAPNG
Fashion Waste Battle
Damascus College Ballarat Year 10 student Bindi Phillips aspires to save the environment one piece of clothing at a time, with her passionate involvement in the City of Ballarat Youth Council’s sustainable fashion project…
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The Congregation
'Coronavirus: The Inside Story' - A Reflection
‘My dear People
I invite you to a heart-to-heart conversation, it is long overdue.
Let me explain what I mean.
I will be honest: all I want is to breathe freely.
I have been in and out of ‘ICU’ over many years now
It is taking a huge toll on my ability to do what I was born to do, what I love to do.
That is, to give and nurture life in all its diversity, beauty and complexity…’
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Mary Ellen Owens rsmAmericas
‘Working feverishly’ to feed Albany’s hungry people during coronavirus
Getting enough food to hungry people during the coronavirus crisis is overwhelming at times for Sister Mary Ellen Owens, who oversees two parish food pantries and a parish soup kitchen in Albany, New York.
At one food pantry and soup kitchen she is seeing more families and more children; at the other, frightened men and women who are homeless.
“My mantra has become, ‘Life has changed, not ended.’ But it’s hard,” says Sister Mary Ellen…
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Americas
Sisters Adapt Migration Ministries in Face of COVID-19, US Stop on Immigration
‘Being home all day, every day is a new phenomenon for Sr. JoAnn Persch.
The Sister of Mercy has spent every Friday morning for the past 14 years at a group prayer service outside an immigration detention facility in Chicago. Other days, she'd organize a court watch program, where volunteers for her Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants show up to immigrants' court appointments to demonstrate solidarity, or pray with the immigrants getting on a bus to be deported to their home countries…’
Source: Global Sisters Report
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Aotearoa New Zealand
New Name and Vision Announced for Mercy’s Future PJP
Our ministerial PJP will be known as Whānau Mercy Ministries. More than 30 names were submitted to the Sponsorship Committee in a broad-based consultation in February, but the final choice became clear to the committee with very little discussion or debate. “Mercy was a given,” Sue France [Congregational Leader] told Karanga Atawhai, “and many had whānau in their choice of name. There was a strong sense that Mercy is what we do, and that everyone engaged in our ministries is doing mercy.”…
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ISMAPNG
Papua New Guinea… Land of the Unexpected
…For the last eight months sisters have been part of a reflection process, personal and communal, focussing on their dreams for community and ministry during the next three years.
The reflections were based on our Constitutions and ‘A Guide for Our Way of Being in Communion’ and was facilitated by Marlene Hixon FMM who used a variety of methods, including psycho drama, to work with the group…
Mercy Matters
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Gospel
Fourth Sunday in Easter, Year A
John 10:1-10
‘Sheep were domesticated in Palestine some eight thousand years ago. In biblical times, shepherds would lead their sheep out to graze by day and bring them by night to a communal enclosure or sheepfold, the entrance to which was guarded by a gatekeeper. Shepherds knew their sheep and their sheep knew them..’
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Resource
Mercy Partners
As previously advised, Mercy Partners are going to highlight The Ten Green Commandments on Laudato Si’ as outlined in the book of the same title by Fr Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam.
They have begun with Green Commandment 1:
Take Care of Our Common Home in Peril.
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Digital Life
A guide to hosting virtual events on YouTube
A downloadable guide you can use for making videos and hosting events on YouTube, complete with links to many more resources and video tutorials.
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Fact
On This Day
1841: Death of Catherine's nephew, James McAuley
1879: Foundation to Gympie, Queensland from Brisbane - M Stanislaus
1945: Opening of Mercy Hospital, Albury, New South Wales - M Hugh Berrell
Contribute a fact from the story of your Mercy congregation, institute or federation, to our online archive.
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Resource
Mercy Day
Editor: Mary Wickham rsm wrote this poem for Mercy Day celebrations some years ago. It takes on a new significance at this time.
‘If we utter aloud the word mercy,
standing, each of us, by an open window
anywhere we are in the world,
then the word mercy will carry on the soundwaves
onwards and unceasing,
through the air of the wounded world….
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Resource
Cosmic Sparks
Editor: Margie Abbott rsm, Presenter of the Distinct Voice presentation for this month's MGP theme 'Mercy and the Degradation of Earth' has recently released ‘Cosmic Sparks’, a book of rituals, her fourth publication.
Further Resources
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Worth Watching
'I will sing for you'
Deirdre Ni Chinnéide, an Irish writer and former broadcast journalist, sings her newest composition, a message of hope in this time of the pandemic.
Watch/listen here)
Worth Knowing
Religious Life Webinars
The Center for the Study of Consecrated Life at CTU is offering two online presentations (using Zoom) on the topic of Interculturality Today:
We Belong to one Another (8 May) and Interculturality: Challenges and Opportunities for Ministry (9 May)
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Worth Reading
Surviving and Thriving in the 21st Century
‘The Commission for The Human Future (CHF) is a body of researchers and concerned citizens dedicated to finding and developing solutions to the greatest challenge in human history - the complex of catastrophic global threats that now confront us all.’
Download the report from the March Round Table)
Worth Playing
The Dawn Chorus
International Dawn Chorus Day, the worldwide celebration of nature's greatest symphony, is held on the first Sunday in May each year.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, it won’t be held this year.
However, take a listen to one of these performers - or just open a window on Sunday morning…
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Worth Watching
Pause. Breathe. Heal.
CHA USA is offering a set of Meditation Practices varying in length in both video and audio formats. These practices are specifically designed to help support your well-being, amidst the chaos of the day.
Access the resources here)
Send suggestions and contributions for the ‘Worth’ Section 2020 to: The Editor
The Bottom Line
‘Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change’
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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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