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The Mercy Education Project (MEP) Mobility Hub
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In January 2020, right before Michigan’s mandated “shelter-in-place” order, eight Detroit Public high school 11th grade students attending Mercy Education Project’s (MEP’s) College and Career Readiness (CCR) after-school enrichment program, won the Ford Mobility City: One Michigan Central Station Challenge for their Mobility Hub pilot, chosen from 164 proposals.
What started as a fun class project on serving their community regarding mobility issues, evolved into something magnificent that has the potential to serve everyone in Detroit and introduce a new definition of mobility in Detroit. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, finishing a school year remotely, and getting ready for college, these young women stayed committed to designing their Mobility Hub, working with Ford’s Mobility and Michigan Central teams, several local and national corporations, and Detroit-based organizations to make it a reality.
Last Thursday the group got to unveil their idea (video): a central location for various modes of transportation in the shadow of the Michigan Central train station.
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'The Future is in Our Hands' (Syria)-Joel Bergner - Used with permissionPrayer
MIA Prayer Intention: World Refugee Day
Prayer
MIA Prayer Intention: World Refugee Day
Sheila Curran’s reflective prayer for the MGP theme ‘Mercy and the Displacement of Persons’ includes a prayer by Joyce Rupp which concludes with these words:
‘Justice Bringer,
Bother us. Keep after us. Open our eyes. Widen our hearts. Change our judgements. Urge us. Chase us. Badger us, until we act on behalf of the 70 million people whose tears fall on foreign soil.’
Let it be our prayer this World Refugee Day..
Post your prayer in our online chapel.
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MGA
On World Refugee Day, MGA Reflects on Protection, Support & Inclusion of People Forced to Flee
MGA
On World Refugee Day, MGA Reflects on Protection, Support & Inclusion of People Forced to Flee
World Refugee Day honors the strength and courage of over 80 million refugees around the world, and encourages public awareness and support of people who have had to flee their homelands to escape conflict or persecution.
This year, we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, the international treaty that defines the term ‘refugee’ and outlines the rights of refugees, as well as the legal obligations of States to protect them. We recognize that, increasingly, people are forcibly displaced from their homes by the sudden- and slow-onset effects of climate change and environmental degradation…
Members' News
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Brisbane
Sister of Mercy Joins the List of Queensland Greats
‘Pioneering scientist, bioethicist and educator, the late Sr Regis Mary Dunne RSM has joined the list of Queensland Greats, announced by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today, 8 June.
Toowoomba-born Sr Dunne made innumerable contributions to medical research, worked for Mater Pathology for more than 30 years, and was the foundation Director of the Queensland Bioethics Centre…’
Source: The Catholic Leader
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ISMAPNG
Mercy Honoured 'For Service to the Catholic Church and the Community'
Adele Howard rsm has been awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List announced 14 June 2021 ‘for service to the Catholic Church and to the community’. Her citation lists her work in establishing and developing MIA online communications; re-stablishing Health Services in remote Aboriginal Communities of Australia’s Great Sandy Desert; founding Fraynework with its pioneering empowerment of women to use technology for communications; her creative direction of digital productions which helped give voice to vulnerable communities and her ongoing consultancy work and presentations in ecological theology and communications.
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Americas
'Sister Chab' to Begin New Journey After 60 Years with Mercy
After more than 60 years of serving Mercy, its people, patients and ministry, Sister Chabanel Finnegan will be departing Fort Smith to begin a new journey.
Better known as “Sister Chab,” she joined Mercy in 1960 and arrived at Mercy Fort Smith in 1999. She currently serves as ethicist, ministering to co-workers and others in need of kindness, guidance and comfort, but has served Mercy in a variety of ways for over six decades…
Her new role with the Sisters of Mercy takes her to Mobile, Alabama, where she will assist retired sisters at the Convent of Mercy.
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Photo by Jakob Rubner on UnsplashAotearoa New Zealand
Land & People crying for Justice, Solidarity and Action
Kathleen Rushton rsm discusses the polarity of the biblical idea of land and the reality of life in the “Holy and” for Palestinians today. Sr Kathleen writes: ‘We can offer “theologies that prophetically call for an inclusive vision of the land for Israelis and Palestinians, affirming that the creator God is a God of love, mercy and justice; not of discrimination and oppression.”’
Download the article here
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Volunteers preparing the community gardenAmericas
Mercy Sisters, Intentional Community Strive to Help Immigrants in San Diego
‘Mercy Sr. Mary Waskowiak and Adela Garcia knew they would have to be patient to reach the immigrants most in need in Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, located 14 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border in the Barrio Logan district of San Diego…[so they] decided to launch the Community Resource Center in the parish hall, allowing immigrants the opportunity to come in for assistance when they're ready.
The center, which has been open on Thursdays and Fridays since April (video), helps immigrants get food and clothing and works with them on job retraining and placement, stimulus check inquiries, and help with mental health issues…’
Source: Global Sisters Report
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Aotearoa New Zealand
Works of Mercy: Turning Words into Deeds
‘… if we are intent on extending God’s mercy, we will need ‘to respond willingly and walk compassionately’ with those who seek support. Mercy can never be handed down from a position of power or superiority but comes from those who have learned to walk in the shoes of the powerless. We can offer mercy only when we admit that we have first received it – atawhai mai, atawhai atu…’
Mercy Matters
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Gospel
12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Mark 4:35-41
'Today’s gospel story looks back to the parables in the first part of the chapter and to the crowds that heard them. The story also looks forward as it marks the beginning of the second major section of Mark’s gospel (4:35-8:21), a section that seems to be structured around a number of crossings of the lake or Sea of Galilee...'
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Resource
Flourishing Within Times of Crisis
At the UISG webinar ‘Educating for Human Flourishing’ on 9 June, Miriam Altenhofen SSpS shared her insights as a psychologist on what can help us to get through this challenging time and how women religious, as leaders of local communities, can provide the necessary support for people around them to help them flourish and not give up hope. Sr Miriam’s presentation ‘Flourishing in Times of Crisis’ can be watched here (29). A PDF of her presentation can be downloaded here
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Fact
On This day
1874: Boarding/day school opened, East Providence, Rhode Island - M Juliana Purcell
1888: Death in Warrnambool of M Philomena Maguire, Foundress from Baggot St/Belfast
Contribute a fact from the story of your Mercy congregation, institute or federation, to our online archive.
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Stock imageInternational Days
20 June, World Refugee Day
‘On World Refugee Day, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi salutes the fortitude of refugees and the forcibly displaced, many of whom have stepped up to contribute to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic despite their own hardships.’
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Resource
‘Religious Life from Vatican II to Fratelli Tutti’
‘Religious Life from Vatican II to Fratelli Tutti’, the article by Michael Cardinal Czerny sj, published in the first issue of the new Review for Religious, 1, no. 1 (Summer 2021): 87–106, as well as the video that was the foundation for the piece, can be accessed here
Review for Religious offers a monthly summary enews called RfR online. Details are here
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Digital Life
How to Find New PowerPoint Design Ideas
Looking for other PowerPoint ideas, inspirations, or templates? Here’s a place to start.
Further Resources
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Worth Watching
We Seek Your Kingdom
(Official Video) | Noel Robinson, Lou Fellingham, Andy Flannagan, Donna Akodu
Watch/listen here)
Worth Knowing
The Day the World Stops Shopping
How Ending Consumerism Saves the Environment and Ourselves
‘Consuming less is our best strategy for saving the planet—but can we do it? In this thoughtful and surprisingly optimistic book, journalist J. B. MacKinnon investigates how we may achieve a world without shopping’
Find out more)
Worth Knowing
Rescuing Fraternity Together: A Call for Faith and Thought
The Pontifical Academy for Life has published a document titled "Rescuing Fraternity, Together," in which it presents theology as a common good in the midst of the pandemic. The document can be read in English here and in Spanish here
Visit the microsite)
Worth Reading
Contemporary Challenges for Global Catholicism
Article by Thomas P. Rausch sj in La Civiltà Cattolica
‘Today’s Church needs more than ever to draw upon its many wisdom sources, its pastors and ministers, its scholars and theologians, its educational institutions and social ministries, and the faith of its peoples. It must continue to seek greater union with other Churches and Christian communities, and to work for greater interreligious understanding if it is to fulfill Vatican II’s vision of the Church as a sacrament of unity with God and all God’s people.’
Read the article hereSend suggestions and contributions for the ‘Worth’ Section 2021 to: The Editor
The Bottom Line
‘Risk more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible.’
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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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