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178 Years of Mercy Ministry in Newfoundland
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Editor: 178 years ago today, 3 June, three Sisters of Mercy from the Baggot Street Community —Francis Creedon, Ursula Frayne and Rose Lynch— arrived in St John’s to commence the Works of Mercy there. This date marks both the establishment of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of Newfoundland and of the first community of the Sisters of Mercy in the New World. Read more about those first Mercy Sisters (and the 57 young Irish women who went from Ireland to join the Newfoundland Congregation between 1842 and 1907) in the book 'Standing on their Shoulders (PDF) by Charlotte Fitzpatrick rsm.
Among the ministries the Mercies in Newfoundland are engaged in today is The Gathering Place, established in 1994 as a joint project with the Presentation Sisters. This Centre is frequented by people who are displaced - those struggling with hunger, abuse, mental illness, physical disabilities and addiction, and is for many their only safe place to go. The programs and services are offered through a volunteer-driven operation by more than 2000 people committed to ‘building community, promoting equality and providing nurture and nourishment for those seeking respite from isolation and loneliness’.
Vision in Action
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MGA
Do You Hear the Cry of the Poor? Mercy Global Action’s Participation in Laudato Si' Week
The world joined in prayer on the 24th of May on the fifth anniversary of Laudato Si’. As we prayed, “open our minds and touch our hearts, so we may be attentive to Your gift of creation” we came to the end of a week of prayer, reflection, and education. [1] Since Pope Francis published Laudato Si’, we have been living into the call to care for our common home. By integrating spirituality, science, and social justice we seek to engage in a holistic and integral approach to caring for creation…
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Prayer
MIA Prayer Intention: For Healing of the Racial Divide
MIA joins with the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas in prayer ‘for comfort for the families [of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor] as they face the painful loss of their loved ones…for the African American Community, repeatedly impacted by the trauma these killings produce, that the supportive care is accessible and available..[and] for this Nation's deep racial divide and that true healing will occur.’
Post your prayer in our online chapel
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Events & Programmes
Virtual Tour Dates for June
Remaining dates for June are: 10, 11, 16, 17.
Contact Sr Anna if you are interested in organising a special tour for your school, university, staff or community group.
Members' News
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Americas
Latest Issue of MAST Now Available
The latest issue (Vol. 26, No. 3) of The MAST Journal was recently published. Editor Eloise Rosenblatt, rsm notes that the theme this issue is “Counsels of Women” because each article offers insights and advice to readers on how to live contemplatively, creatively and compassionately. With the exception of Mother Austin Carroll’s inaugural chapter reproduced from her Retreat Instructions of 1885, the papers published in this issue grew out of professional and pastoral events taking place over a six-month period in the latter part of 2019.
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Adderton House & Heart of MercyBrisbane
A Redesign of Adderton, One of Brisbane's Most Historic Buildings, is Shortlisted for an Architecture Award
‘Built on the bones of one of Brisbane’s oldest houses, a recent and imaginative public gallery and community centre adaption embodies a many layered history and has exploited the right to use a blessedly distinctive brand name.
Who wouldn’t want to drop in to Adderton: house & heart of mercy?..’
Source: Commercial Real Estate
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Silver birch treesThe Congregation
When all this is over
‘When all this is over
we’ll follow a path
through silver birch and pine
listen for the shepherd
whistling to her flock of pregnant ewes
look for grasses
herbs trampled under their hooves
catch the scent
of crushed chamomile lavender thyme
from the mossy mountainside
drink the river’s source’
I chose ‘When all this is over’ for your magazine in the hope that it will provide some solace through this crisis…
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Stock imagePhilippines
Philippines hit by Typhoon Vongfong in May
Editor: Typhoon Vongfong, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Ambo, was a strong tropical cyclone that struck the the Philippines last month. Evacuation was complicated by COVID-19 *’with many of the emergency shelters overcrowded with no means of social distancing, and without proper safety gear against the coronavirus… The typhoon hit as the Philippines struggles to deal with coronavirus outbreaks. The Philippines has reported nearly 12,000 infections, including 790 deaths, among the highest in Southeast Asia.*’ (DW News, 15 May)
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Americas
‘Butterflies of Love’: Mercy High School Students Offer Help and Hope During the Pandemic
Kaila Lujambio, a junior at Mercy High School in Middletown, Connecticut, along with a group of friends at the school, started "A Butterfly of Love" service project to provide facemasks, care packages and notes of gratitude to people working on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic in their communities. They also make cards and deliver them to patients and others who cannot receive visitors…
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ISMAPNG
Bread of Life for the World
Elaine Wainwright rsm offers an ecological reading of two extracts from John's Gospel —John 3:16-18 (Trinity Sunday) and John 6:51-58 (Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ).
Download the article here
Mercy Matters
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Resource
The Irish Blessing
All local Irish churches were invited to participate in recording a common blessing ‘over our land, all our key-workers and those they are caring for’ for release on Pentecost Sunday.
A wonderful video production with singing, dancing, music-making, gorgeous scenery and words of blessing.
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International Days
5 June, World Environment Day
The theme of this year’s World Environment Day is ‘Time for Nature’ - a call to action to combat the accelerating species loss and degradation of the natural world.
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Gospel
Trinity Sunday
John 3: 16-18
‘“She has gone to God and God is very near”. Some dear friends of mine chose these words for the cover of their mother’s funeral booklet. Their choice of words demonstrates their faith in God of whom John writes in today’s gospel. For them, as for us, God is not a distant God, but rather a God of communion, and a God in communion with the world: “God so loved the world….”’
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Fact
On This
1842: Foundation to Newfoundland from Baggot St - M Frances Creedon
1861: Skipton Convent, Yorkshire founded from Liverpool, Lancashire
Contribute a fact from the story of your Mercy congregation, institute or federation, to our online archive.
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International Days
8 June, World Oceans Day
With the help of Inuit hunters, geophysicists recently recorded the various calls, buzzes, clicks and whistles of narwhals (toothed whales that possess a large "tusk" from a protruding canine tooth) as they summered in a Greenland fjord.
On this day, listen to the sound of the narwhals.
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Digital Life
*Privacy Not Included
‘A guide to help you think about, shop for, and buy products from companies that show they value privacy and security.’
Further Resources
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Worth Watching
'Shelter Me' a new song by Michael Joncas
‘“Shelter Me” -- is my attempt as a church composer to find God’s presence even in these fraught times. Based on the beloved Psalm 23, my paraphrase adapts the psalmist’s sentiments to respond to our present anxieties’
—Michael Joncas
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Worth Reading
'Update'Newsletter
The June issue of ‘Update’, the monthly newsletter of LCWR, is now available
Read the newsletter here)
Worth Reading
54 Ways Coronavirus Has Changed Our World
‘The coronavirus pandemic has altered the world immeasurably, yet the statistically minded among us persist in trying to measure it. Here are some aspects of our lives that have trended up or down — or both — with the backstory linked to each of them’
Explore the interactive list here)
Worth Knowing
Jubilee for the Earth:New Rhythms, New Hope
A free webinar for preparing for the 2020 Season of Creation, a major event in the Laudato Si’ Anniversary Year.
8 June 2020 at 04:00 pm in Rome (Your time here)
See the list of speakers & enrolment details here Laudato Si’ Anniversary Year Program)
Worth Knowing
New dates agreed for COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference
The COP26 UN climate conference will now take place between 1 and 12 November 2021 in Glasgow.
Read the press release here)
Worth Reading
Instead of a 'return to normal,' let's pursue a profound transformation
‘The Irish use the word "cocooning" to refer to their mandated sheltering in place. In nature, a profound metamorphosis takes place in a cocoon — a meltdown that transforms the caterpillar into a butterfly…
Our species is called to no less profound a transformation at this singular moment in the arc of human history. At its base is a spiritual call to awaken to the sacredness, interdependence and interconnectedness of all life. To the numinous gift of Earth. To the inherent dignity of all her people. To the inherent right of all beings and ecosystems to exist, thrive and evolve. To the reality of our single destiny….’
Read the article hereSend suggestions and contributions for the ‘Worth’ Section 2020 to: The Editor
The Bottom Line
‘It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.’
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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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