Thank you and Au Revoir

Friends, we wanted to send a special 'thank you' to the Mercy Family, especially members that we have worked with and been in contact with over the years.  For Betty and Catherine who joined the MIA Global Action Team in 2011, it has been close to nine years, for Denise it's been five with MGC and prior to that one year with the MECPATHS Team in 2013-14.

Across the Mercy World, your tremendous passion and unceasing work for justice continues to inspire and to challenge us!  It’s been a privilege to be part of the Global Action Team and to contribute to our collective work for justice across many important areas. These have ranged from submissions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and subsequent support of the implementation of same; water and sanitation issues plus campaigning against fracking, whilst addressing the critical issue of climate change under ‘Care for Our Common Home’ or Degradation of Earth. In recent years we have networked more broadly in line with our expanded remit of ‘Displacement of Peoples’ i.e. moving from ‘Opposing Human Trafficking’ to include areas such as the homeless, migration and refugees.  Our work has been underpinned by Gospel and Mercy values and since 2015, the core message of Pope Francis’ groundbreaking encyclical ‘Laudato Si’.  

It has been a privilege to work together in coordinating and supporting the extended MIA-Global Action Team from New Zealand through to the mid West of the USA, in our collective work for justice.  As we hand over to Sr. Angela Reed in the NY office and her team of Colleen Cloonan and Marian Gardner, we wish them and you every blessing on your continued journey of seeking justice with and for the most vulnerable, including Earth.

In conclusion, as part of our heartfelt gratitude and au revoir, we share a portion of the thought provoking reflection Sr. Marilyn Browne shared at the beginning of my last conference call meeting with the ‘Care for Our Common Home group on 21 February.

Prayer for the Life of the World

   The ageless mountains are full of your glory

           the vast seas swell with your might

the shining skies expand beyond our imagining

                       so we pause to praise

                         we wait in wonder

                          we listen to learn

           of the mountain glory within us

               of the sea force in our veins

                 of love’s shining infinity.

               Grant us the grace, O God,

to serve this inner universe of soul among us.

                                               “Praying with the Earth”  John Philip Newell

from Denise Boyle fmdm, Ms Betty Lacey and Catherine Gibbons rsm (Congregation)