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MGP 'Mercy and the Displacement of Persons' Resources are Now Online
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Stock image used under licence
Visit the MGP microsite to access the resources for the third ‘Mercy’ theme: ‘Mercy and the Displacement of Persons’.
Presenters for May are: Elizabeth Davis rsm (Newfoundland, Introduction), Margaret Hinchey rsm, (Parramatta Theological Imaginings), Margaret Smith rsm (ISMAPNG, Artistic Inspiration), Malia Fetuli rsm (Aotearoa, Grassroots Ministry), Carmen Rosa Callomamani rsm (Americas, Mercy Global Action), Margie Taylor rsm (Newfoundland, Distinct Voice), Sheila Curran rsm (The Congregation, Reflective Prayer).
Stock image used under licence
Vision in Action
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Prayer
MIA Prayer Intention: 'the cry of Earth & the cry of the Poor'
On Sunday, the 5th anniversary of Laudato Si’ and the launch of its anniversary year, we were reminded to keep responding to ‘the cry of Earth’, and were gifted with a new prayer to help us do so. Sunday was also World Communications Day. We heard anew the ‘cry of the Poor’ when the New York Times in ‘a narrative that regard[s] our world and its happenings with a tender gaze’ (Message for World Communications Day) published the names and one significant, evocative detail of 1, 000 of the almost 100, 000 Lives lost in the United States in the coronavirus outbreak.
May this list help us to pause to remember in our prayers the fullness, uniqueness and richness of all lives lost across the globe in this pandemic. ‘An incalculable loss’.
Post your prayer at Catherine’s tomb
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MIA
Elections of MIA President & Vice-President
Last week, the MIA Members (Leaders) and MIA Board held their May Meetings and AGM.
The meetings were held over a number of days by video conferencing (Zoom), due to the impact of COVID-19.
The global COVID-19 outbreak is continuing to cause great suffering and sorrow in the lives of a great many people. Yet, in all this, responding to the crisis has sharpened our awareness of interconnection and effective communication for the sake of mission. New communication challenges are certainly obvious to us now as we begin our 26th year as an Association. Web-based technologies open the way to new understandings and further possibilities…
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Events & Programmes
Reminder: MIA COVID-19 Archive Collection Webinar
MIA is collating a digital collection of how Mercy has been impacted by and has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A webinar will be held at 8 pm on Thursday, 28 May Dublin time (Your time here) and repeated at 4 am on Tuesday, 2 June Dublin time
(Your time here) to share information about the digital archive where this and other collections will be stored.
We welcome your participation.
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Events & Programmes
Virtual Tour Dates for June
Over 500 members of the Mercy network have participated in a virtual tour of MIC since these commenced in March. Don’t miss out!
Dates for June are: 1, 3 10, 11, 16, 17.
Contact Sr Anna if you are interested in organising a special tour for your school, university, staff or community group.
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Amazon Indians. Image by Hans Schwarzkopf from PixabayMGA
Our Complicity in the Destruction of the Amazon
Catherine said, “God knows I would rather be cold and hungry than that the poor in Kingstown or elsewhere should be deprived of any consolation in our power to afford.” For her this meant sharing her generous inheritance with the poor and working to make the spiritual and corporal works of mercy a reality. Our complicated global reality connects us to the poor and deprived in ways our first sisters would never have known…
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MGA
The Pandemic Sheds Light on Gender Based Violence
Since the beginning of Catherine McAuley’s ministry in Dublin, the Mercy community has maintained a special concern for women. The coronavirus quarantine shows us just how much work is left undone as the rate of gender-based violence (GBV) increases and women and girls are at risk of being left behind without adequate social protections. Now more than ever, Mercy International Association- Mercy Global Action calls for an end to GBV and gender inequality by addressing the lack of access to essential services, stereotypes that lead to violence, and the lack of social protections…
Members' News
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Rebecca Keatinge (image from video clip)The Congregation
With You in Spirit: Mercy Law Resource Centre
RTE (Ireland’s national broadcaster) has published ‘a series of short messages of hope and encouragement from people of many faiths and none’. Among these is a message from Rebecca Keatinge, Managing Solicitor at Mercy Law Resource Centre. In her message Rebecca explains the work of the Centre which provides free legal advice and representation to people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
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Denise Coghlan rsm (centre) with JRS CoworkersBrisbane
JRS Receives Arrupe Human Rights Award
Recently Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) received the Arrupe Human Rights award from the Institute of Migration Studies of the University of Comillas (Madrid).
During the awards ceremony in mid-May, the work of JRS Cambodia was shown through a video created by Sor Not. The video features Denise Coghlan rsm and many JRS co-workers. The opening scene with workers holding or standing by a variety of clay pots echoes words from the prophet Jeremiah and later Corinthians, ‘we (in our humanity) are only the earthenware jars that hold this treasure”…
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Maryanne Kolkia rsmAustralia & PNG
Coronavirus in PNG: Mercy Works’ Response
The people of Papua New Guinea have been hit hard by their Government’s declaration of a State of Emergency to combat the spread of COVID-19. Thankfully these measures appear to be working with the number of reported cases remaining low. The impact, however on the lives of poorer inhabitants has been devastating…
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Americas
A Sacred Reciprocity: A Cross-kindom Collaboration
Editor: Mary Bilderback rsm, author of the Artistic response in the current MGP theme, has just had this lyric essay published in Global Sisters Report.
‘It must have been a dismal night for rock crabs.
On the beach this morning, in an eerie sunless silver light, disarticulated legs and emptied rust-red carapaces of all sizes — broad as the back of your hand, small as your thumbnail — were scattered randomly all along the high tide mark.
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Sr De Chantal cuts her cake helped by Monica SmithThe Congregation
Longford nun celebrates 100th birthday milestone in lockdown
‘Sr Mary De Chantal Gilfillan celebrated her 100th birthday on Monday, May 11 in the Convent of Mercy, Longford.
Here in Longford, where the Sisters of Mercy have been for almost one hundred and sixty years the last remnant finds itself in lockdown, cocooned as a result of the coronavirus. Consequently Sr De Chantal was unable to enjoy the presence of her dearly loved relatives, nursing colleagues and friends at the celebration…’
Source: Longford Leader
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The Congregation
The Choctaw Tribe – The Covid-19 Virus and the Irish Famine
The above painting, “An Arrow Through Time,” is the work of the distinguished Choctaw artist and author, Waylon Gary White Deer, a longstanding friend of our family and of my brother Don Mullan who, in 1989, began to raise the awareness of the Irish public to the story of the Choctaw Indians who raised money for the Irish Famine just 16 years after their own “Trail of Tears”…
Mercy Matters
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Resource
Video: Spirit Wind featuring Kelly Ann Hall
‘Welcome Spirit Wind,
Animator, Sustainer,
You birthed the cosmos, ever expanding,
every system in perpetual motion.
You circulate over earth,
breeze across the surface of eternal waters,
teasing waves to roll;
You twist up the dusty ground,
and give dimension to your beloved,
You inspirit the dead!…’
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Resource
Novena for Pentecost: Dan Schutte
‘While we wait till we can be together again for Sunday worship, this is a way we can join our hearts in prayer, as those first disciples did, and wait in hope to receive the Comforter, the Spirit of Jesus.’
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Gospel
Pentecost Sunday Year A
Acts 2:1-11; John 20:19-23
'Pentecost Sunday is often called the birthday of the Church. The earth itself features powerfully in the imagery associated with this feast: harvest, mountain, earthquake, thunder, fire. For the ancient Israelites, Pentecost (meaning ‘fiftieth’) was a harvest festival celebrated fifty days after the opening of the harvest...'
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Resource
Reminder: LCWR Resources for use during the Pandemic
These are published each Monday and include a song, a prayer and focused questions to use for your reflection during that week.
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Fact
On This Day
1903: Foundation to Aranmore from St Brigid's, Western Australia
1940: Maghull Community, Liverpool founded from Broughton Hall, Liverpool.
Contribute a fact from the story of your Mercy congregation, institute or federation, to our online archive.
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Digital Life
How to Recover Deleted Files
‘If you have ever accidentally deleted a file or deleted the contents of a file, you know that it can be incredibly frustrating, and it’s even more frustrating when it’s something you have been working on for days, weeks, or even months.’
Further Resources
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Worth Knowing
Laudato Si': Special Anniversary Year Plans
‘The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development is happy to announce a Special Laudato Si’ Anniversary Year from 24th May 2020 – 24th May 2021. We hope that the anniversary year and the ensuing decade will indeed be a time of grace, a true Kairos experience and “Jubilee” time for the Earth, and for humanity, and for all God’s creatures.’
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Worth Knowing
UN Secretary-General Releases 2020 SDG Progress Report
‘The yearly report of the UN Secretary-General on progress towards the 17 SDGs has been released ahead of the 2020 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF)…’
Read the report here)
Worth Knowing
Global carbon emissions dropped an unprecedented 17% during the coronavirus lockdown — and it changes nothing
‘It’s a start — now we need to keep them down for the next 30 years…’
Read the article here)
Worth Watching
'Mary, Temple of the Lord'
This song by Marie Dunne chf was composed some time ago for the Presentation Brothers Chapter 2017. The video is a new addition.
A song for May
Watch/listen hereSend suggestions and contributions for the ‘Worth’ Section 2020 to: The Editor
The Bottom Line
‘There are a thousand thousand reasons to live this life, every one of them sufficient.
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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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