1

4th January 2016 Text Only Version

Feature

CLT Letter

May you meet mercy each day:

in the light of your own heart,

at the hands of your loved ones,

in the eyes of the stranger and the needy.

And if by chance you do not at first meet it,

then search your heart for it,

listen patiently for word of it

and it will tap you on the shoulder,

a quiet surprise, a small gesture, the tender look

given and received in the encounters of your day.

(Meeting by Mary Wickham rsm)

During this Jubilee Year of Mercy our prayer for you is that you will meet mercy each day,

live it deeply with purpose, justly with compassion and gratefully with generosity. As you do

so may you become ever more deeply your truest self.

Love and Blessings,

By Margaret Casey rsm, Patricia O'Donovan rsm, Scholasticah Nganda rsm Marie Louise

White rsm, Cecilia Cadogan rsm,

Congregational Leadership Team

2

From the Congregational Offices

Editorial

January Edition of Mercy@live

A very warm welcome to all the Congregation and we are delighted to bring you the first edition of

mercy@live for 2016. A beautiful poem about Mercy from Mary Wickham rsm and a heartfelt

message from the Congregational Leadership team begins this January edition.

A wonderful account of the Mercy Links that are being built is recounted by Colleen Wilkinson rsm ,

South African Province. We will hear about the Sisters of Mercy and the Parish of Ennis and how

Mercy Gifts Open Doors in Tuam. New Year tidings expresses thoughts from the CLT offices.

The bigger picture features an inspiring article from author Nellie McLaughlin rsm which looks at

Pope Francis’ “Laudato Si” and our website of the month also brings our focus towards climate

change and how we can be apart of this change.

A Very Happy New Year to all ! Ruth Carson

Communications Co-ordinator

ruthcarson@csm.ie

New Year Tidings

The beginning of the New Year provides a worthwhile window for reflection on what has

past and time to contemplate what is to be. Embracing lessons and experiences from the past

can allow for a wiser present and a more fruitful and peaceful future.

As I reflect on what life taught me in 2015, I am drawn to the multitude of learnings I

experienced in the latter half of the year as I settled into my new role as Communications Co-

ordinator for the Congregation. Ruminating on this special time, I am filled with a sense of

gratitude.

It’s truly a blessing to work in an environment where people come first, where the bigger

picture is one of compassion, kindness, charity and good deeds. I work with an excellent team

of women, helpful, kind, talented and caring. All of my encounters with Mercy Sisters

outside the CLT offices have been lively, inspiring and heart warming experiences. I look

forward to 2016 and meeting more of the Mercy family.

3

I am grateful to work with a group of special women who have devoted their lives working

towards the greater good of all. I also had the honour of being introduced properly to the

foundress of the House of Mercy- Catherine by Aine Barins rsm. Through Aine’s skilled

delivery of two fascinating walking tours, I experienced Dublin’s fair city and Coolock

House from a very different vantage point, one that took place in Catherine’s time.

I was very moved by what an insightful, independent, strong, selfless and committed woman

Catherine was. She was so committed to the needy, to others and to God and her powerful

unyielding faith resulted in the beginning of an incredible legacy that now continues in over

45 countries. It's evident that the Congregation play such a crucial role as the mothership to

where it all began.

Learning about Catherine McAuley, such a formidable leader, an inspirational woman and

about all of the great work that is carried out today by the Sisters of Mercy and Partners in

Ministry, I am deeply grateful to play a small part in this ongoing tale. The legacy Catherine

left and the Congregation continues to express is one of selfless acts of charity, love and

compassion.

This is a timeless message of massive importance and is just as fitting and needed today as it

was when Catherine began this work. The Congregations work may be changing but the

message behind this work which evolved from the House of Mercy remains just as crucial to

the present day society as it was in Catherine’s time.

There is no better time than now! and during 2016 , this special year of Mercy is surely a time

to embrace earnestly Catherine’s ethos and to acknowledge all the incredible work that the

Congregation completes on a daily basis.

As an expression of my gratitude, to all the Sisters of Mercy I have encountered and worked

with thus far and to all members of the Congregation, I offer this poem. I pray that this Year

of Mercy will be a peaceful and joyful one for all….

“May Light always surround you;

Hope kindle and rebound you.

May your Hurts turn to Healing;

Your Heart embrace Feeling.

May Wounds become Wisdom;

Every Kindness a Prism.

May Laughter infect you;

Your Passion resurrect you.

May Goodness inspire

your Deepest Desires.

Through all that you Reach For,

May your arms Never Tire.”

― D. Simone

By Ruth Carson

Communications Co-ordinator

4

Around the Congregation

Mercy Links

In the July 2015 edition of mercy@live, there was an article about the St Teresa’s Mercy

Ambassadors Exchange Programme to Kentucky. The three Grade 11 learners, Jenna

Goosen, Desray Vorster and Karabo Ramathoka, reported on their month-long visit to

Assumption High in Louisville, Kentucky, in May 2015. In June, they hosted the three

students from Assumption High who visited St Teresa’s Mercy School for the month. The

two groups were able to deepen their understanding of Mercy ethos and values as lived out on

the two continents.

In October 2015, the four new St Teresa’s Mercy Ambassadors were selected for the 2016

Exchange Programme. Hannah McLoughlin, Kiara Peter, Sabrina Benvenuti and Claire Viera

are already preparing for their travels and duties next year.

When a group of visitors from Our Lady of Mercy College in Heidelberg, Australia, visited

Johannesburg in the first week of December, the four Ambassadors were on hand to welcome

them and share some experiences with them.

The group of eight students from Our Lady of Mercy College had come to South Africa on an

immersion experience. Three teachers from the College, Kate Garrone, Lauren Angley and

Catherine Burke, accompanied the students and had a very good programme arranged for

them.

They were exposed to the many different cultures of South Africa, visited a variety of

projects among the poor in Johannesburg and Cape Town and gained some understanding of

South Africa’s very complex history.

The four Ambassadors from St Teresa’s accompanied the Australians on their visit to Mercy

House, a shelter for abused women, in Pretoria, and the Mercy projects in the Winterveldt.

The Mercy Sisters and the Mercy colleagues who work on these projects shared their

experiences, joys and challenges with the young “Mercy women”.

In turn, the Australian students told us how they are involved in Mercy work through their

organisation, Young Mercy Links. Six of the young women have just completed their

secondary education and two are attending university. They are all involved in active mercy

work at crisis centres for abused women, homes for recovering drug addicts and centres for

women with mental health issues. They also work with the St Vincent de Paul Society.

Their “Mercy” formation is not neglected. There are many opportunities for them to gain

information about justice, human trafficking and ethical issues through panel discussions and

information evenings.

Both St Teresa’s Mercy School and Our Lady of Mercy College have programmes on social

justice. These programmes give the students a means to involve themselves in practical

ministry.

5

It was inspirational to hear our young Mercy students sharing their ideas, their dreams and

passion for Mercy. May these Mercy links continue to grow and encircle the globe.

By Colleen Wilkinson rsm

South Africa Province

The Sisters of Mercy and The Parish of Ennis

The now blackened-with-age stone cross on the Old Ground side of the Cathedral in Ennis is

of great significance for both the Parish and the Sisters of Mercy. The Cross commemorates

the Parish Mission of November 1853 preached by Jesuits and bears the names of the Bishop

of Killaloe, the priests of Ennis Parish and those of four Jesuit priests. At the end of the

mission there was a special meeting of parishioners at which the Bishop presided. A

momentous decision was taken at that meeting: to invite the Irish Christian Brothers to return

to the town and to invite the Mercy Sisters in Limerick to open a Convent in Ennis for the

purpose of providing Catholic education for the children of ‘this and adjoining parishes’.

By the following May four sisters from Limerick had taken up residence in Arthur’s Row and

teaching had begun with over 400 pupils. By 1860 a secondary boarding-cum-day school was

opened. Over the next decades Convent and schools expanded, an orphanage, a knitting

enterprise, a bakery, a centre for the making of Altar Breads for the Diocese of Killaloe and a

small commercial laundry were established - all on the original campus off O’Connell

Square, but now stretching back to Clonroad through the purchase of land from Edward Gore

in 1881. By 1941 the secondary school, now Coláiste Muire, had moved across town to

College Road, leaving more space for the growing primary schools; by 1965 the primary

schools, too, were on the move to new buildings on Station Road. Visitation of families in

their homes and of the sick in hospitals was a central Mercy ministry from the start – in the

time of the founder, Catherine McAuley, the Sisters became known as the ‘walking nuns’!

Requests to the Ennis Mercy Community for mission foundations were responded to

generously. Between 1872 and 1878 a total of forty five sisters went from Ennis on missions

overseas. They went to Meriden and Middletown in Connecticut, USA; to Christchurch, New

Zealand and to Singleton, Australia. These sisters put down roots in their new homes from

which, in due course, other convents were founded; they did not return to Ireland. Nearer

home, they went in 1878 to Ennistymon, in 1885 to the Ennis Workhouse, as St. Joseph’s

Hospital was then known; in 1899 to St. Cronan’s Workhouse, Roscrea; in 1902 to St.

Patrick’s Workhouse, Corofin. Sisters also responded to invitations to go to Killaloe in 1889;

Spanish Point in 1929; Lemoore, California in 1959; Arroyo Grande, California in 1963; to

Corofin in 1981 (to 2003); to Nuu, Kenya in 1980 and to Nguutani, Kenya in 1990. Sr. Clare

O’Neill ministered in healthcare in Iceland for seven years, 1976 to 1983.

The Ennis Sisters of Mercy were originally an autonomous Mercy group but through

processes of renewal, reconfiguring and re-organisation since 1970, they are now part of the

worldwide Mercy International Association - the global Mercy family. Its headquarters are in

Baggot St., Dublin, in the first Mercy Convent, opened by Catherine McAuley on the feast of

6

Our Lady of Mercy, 24 September 1827. There are approximately 2,000 sisters in the Irish

congregation to-day.

In the 161 years since the Sisters arrived from Limerick more than 350 women have followed

the example of the founder of the Sisters of Mercy, The Venerable Catherine McAuley of

Dublin, and become Sisters of Mercy in Ennis; they dedicated their lives to prayer and to the

compassionate service of others as an expression of Christ’s own service to those in need.

One cannot but marvel at the resource that Ennis Parish, through the Sisters of Mercy, has

been to education, health care, social work, missionary and other services to people. Dean

Kenny and Bishop Vaughan and all who attended that 1853 Parish Mission meeting, could

never have imagined its far-reaching outcomes. What an example of leadership and of being

proactive in meeting the needs of the time!

The needs are different to-day. The once vibrant band of young Sisters is facing

diminishment: ageing, declining numbers, dwindling resources, in a rapidly changing

society. Others are now well equipped to provide the services that they once pioneered. They

are, however, full of hope and continue to pray for the needs of those around them, for the

needs of the global community and for the Church, trusting in God’s Divine Providence.

They rejoice in the words of Pope Francis in his letter last year to all consecrated people

setting out the aims of the Year of Consecrated Life: ‘to look on the past with gratitude … to

live the present with passion and … to embrace the future with hope’. The Mercy Sisters

who are Ennis parishioners can truly look back ‘with gratitude’ as they thank God for that

original invitation in 1853, for the gift of their own vocations and for the unfailing love and

support they experience from the local communities in which they live; each in her own way

tries to live the present ‘with passion’; and with confidence they ‘embrace the future with

hope’. A constant reminder of our roots in the parish is the presence in the Cathedral of five

panels of the ’Corporal Works of Mercy’ stained-glass window, installed in 2004 to mark the

150th anniversary of the coming of the Sisters to Ennis. The window was a gift of the then

Parish Priest, Dean Kenny, in 1869, to the original St. Xavier’s chapel (now the Riches of

Clare Museum). It was transferred to the ‘new’ chapel dedicated in 1895; two panels were

incorporated into the present Convent on Bóthar na Trócaire, when we moved there in 1994

and one panel into the entrance at Coláiste Muire in 2004

One special year closed and another exciting one, with special resonance for us as Sisters of

Mercy, has already begun. On 8th December 2015, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St.

Peter’s Basilica in Rome to mark the official start of The Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Incorporated into the mid-day Mass in the Cathedral of Sts. Peter & Paul here in Ennis, on

December 13th. , was the opening of our own Killaloe Holy Door. It leads to a beautifully

appointed, welcoming ‘sacred space’ which will help to keep us focussed on the purpose of

this Jubilee Year. The Year of Mercy is a reminder to each of us to be aware of the infinite

love and mercy of God towards us; a reminder to show mercy and compassion towards

others; to focus on forgiveness, reconciliation and providing practical help to people who are

in need or suffering hardship. The hallmark of Sisters of Mercy has always been ‘practicality’

– providing education, health care, social work - sometimes perhaps with not as much evident

compassion as we would now wish. In to-day’s changed circumstances we continue to be

practical through advocacy, prison visitation, a myriad of small ‘good turns’ for others that go

unnoticed and the supporting of colleagues and co-workers in mercy ministry in 44 countries

across the globe, and through continuous intercession in prayer.

7

Let us unite with Pope Francis who has described the Holy Door as a ‘Door of Mercy,

through which anyone who enters will experience the love of God who consoles, pardons and

instils hope’

By Canice Hanrahan rsm South Central Province

Mercy Gifts Open Doors

“The old order changeth yielding place to new,

And God fulfils Himself in many ways”

The English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson may not have had Pope Francis in mind proclaiming

the Jubilee Year of Mercy nor Mercy International Association opening local doors of Mercy

when a significant and unique event took place on 10 December in Tuam. A Door opened

under the flagship of HSE - Family Life Resource Centre and Vincent De Paul House on the

site of the former Mercy Junior School on the Dublin Road. The Centre, with its location,

facilities and services is impressive.

The Infant School and site was gifted to the Vincent De Paul when the convent closed.

Thanks to the Maureen O' Connell Trust Fund, the Tuam Conference of SVP was in a

position to redesign, refurbish, redecorate, extend and elevate the building. Mr Pat Kielty,

President of the Western Region of SVP and the local Conference of St Vincent de Paul are

extremely grateful to the Mercy Sisters for gifting the building and site and wished to honour

the memory of the Sisters by having some memento in the Centre. So the new Hall is named

the McAuley Hall and a plaque bearing the following inscription is on the wall. McAuley

Hall is dedicated to the Mercy Sisters Tuam, and their venerable founder Catherine McAuley.

To mark the historic occasion the teachers who taught in the School from its opening in

September 1976 to its closing in June 2000 were invited to a Ceremony to open the Door of

the McAuley Hall and view the new Centre and the facilities. The event was a celebration of

the Jubilee Year of Mercy and a commemoration of the opening of the First House of Mercy

in Dublin and the birth of the Congregation of Mercy in 1831. The ceremony also included

the celebration and recognition of the long established tradition and close association between

the Mercy Sisters and the Society of St Vincent de Paul.

Sr Marcellina was the guest of honour on the day. She was one of the first teachers and the

longest serving teacher in the Infant School - you could say she was the anchor tenant, door

keeper and guardian of the school. The Infant School as it was known catered for 150 pupils

and consisted of four spacious classrooms, a hall, staffroom, kitchenette, store room and

extensive playground and green area.

The first teachers were Sisters Marcellina, Mary Kelly, Margaret Dolan and Teresa Fahy.

Members from the present teaching staff who taught in the Infant School were Maureen

8

Dunleavy-Reilly, Ann Burke-Murphy, and Colette Burke-Lydon along with HSE staff

working in the Centre joined in the ceremony of crossing the threshold and opening doors to

the ministry of mercy.

Sr Marcellina opened the Door to the McAuley Hall assisted by Fr Pat Farragher Adm, who

blessed the Door and the commemorative plaque. Pat Kielty paid warm tribute to the Mercy

Sisters and acknowledged that the life and work of the SVP is quite similar to the spiritual

and corporal works of mercy undertaken by Catherine McAuley and her followers. So the

ministry of mercy reaches out from this Centre in a new way in this Jubilee Year of Mercy.

By Teresina Daly rsm

Western Province

The Bigger Picture

‘Laudato Si’ : An exhortation to live with

‘serene attentiveness’(226).

“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work” (Mary Oliver)

In his landmark encyclical, Laudato Si’, Pope Francis offers an overview of the current state

of our common home and calls us to collective responsibility. This is the first encyclical

exclusively on the environment and human ecology and it is timely to influence the current

crucial United Nations climate negotiations in Paris.

In this advent-time of expectation and hope and as we enter this Jubilee year of Mercy, I’m

acutely aware that we are at a critical time in our history. In this time of planetary crisis we

are approaching the edge, that space of poise and perspective on the ocean of possibilities

amid the devastation and seeming hopelessness of our ill-informed choices and often

compulsive lifestyles.

That edge can be the precipice of doom, the point of no return in our headlong stampede for

more and more, or it can be the catalyst to wonder and awe, the holy ground of real presence

opening us to divine bountifulness and love flaring forth in the universe, our common home.

The choice is ours. At this moment we stand together with billions of our human companions

and countless billions of our kin in the wider community of life embracing the dreams of

present and future generations as we look to the future with hope – hope tinged with fear.

I’m reminded of the words of Jesus shortly before his death, his coming to that edge which

did not lead to eventual doom but new life. He is sensitive to his disciples and wants to

prepare them for the realities ahead. I’m always intrigued by what he says to them: “I still

have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit comes, the

Spirit will guide you into all the truth” (Jn. 16:12-13). What are some of the things we cannot

bear now or are we perhaps ignoring the Spirit of enlightenment alive in our midst?

Pope Francis is forthright about our failure in the social, political, environmental and

9

economic spheres especially the myth of our Western economic model based on unlimited

consumption of limited resources so often wedded to vested interests and profit at any cost.

He highlights pollution, waste, alarming loss of biodiversity, lack of access to vital resources,

modern anthropocentrism, social inequality, and the erosion of the moral and community

fabric of life as sources of the ecological crisis.

He endorses the view of experts that human implication in the current state of devastation in

our common home is real. “We may well be leaving to coming generations debris, desolation

and filth” (161). He states that “Many things have to change course, but it is we human

beings above all who need to change. We lack an awareness of our common origin, of our

mutual belonging, and of a future to be shared with everyone”(202). This shows “a great

cultural, spiritual and educational challenge standing before us” and demands that “we set

out on the long path of renewal”. (202).

In reflecting on the encyclical as a whole I believe that Pope Francis’s exhortation “to

approach life with serene attentiveness”(226) is key to renewal and ecological conversion,

both individual and communal. When we approach life from our essence or heart space we

connect with the breath of God at the heart of the universe breathing us and all beings in

unison. We are, therefore, more likely to contemplate in wonder and awe the gifts and

potential in and among us as the community of creation and develop an abiding sense of

abundance and thankfulness.

In our essence we ponder the deeper questions relationally, searching out patterns, loops and

cycles as we seek systemic causes of and solutions to planetary and human impoverishment

within their wider context. We come to realise that the inner and outer journey are one so that

we can’t change what’s going on around us until we start changing what’s going on within

us.(217).

We begin to understand the consequences for planet and people of our disconnection from

our deepest roots, the very life systems that nourish us: sun, soil, air, water and human

companionship. We grapple with the truth that the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor are

identical. (49) What are some of the wisdom gatherings from an attitude of “serene

attentiveness” in Laudato Si’? Among the most striking are the recognition of life as God’s

gift (220), the innate dignity and worth of every being (69) the profound sense that all of life

is interconnected and interdependent, the centrality of relationships (42, 68, 79, 240) and the

intrinsic value of a balanced lifestyle with “a capacity for wonder which takes us to a deeper

understanding of life” (225).

From a “serene attentiveness” perspective I’m always baffled that gender inequality

consistently evades honest discussion and genuine efforts at resolution. I regard this as part of

the shadow side of an otherwise highly influential and much needed message at this time.

We are realising more and more that all life is interconnected and interdependent; all is holy,

all is one. Pope Francis expresses it thus: “God has joined us so closely together that we can

feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ailment, and the extinction of a species

as a painful disfigurement” (89). This depth of conversion necessitates a shift in

consciousness, a new story of evolutionary continuity in our universe and of planet earth as a

living, breathing organism. In contemplating the gift of life we come face to face with the

complexity of our evolving and expanding universe stretching back in deep time almost 14

10

billion years. The mystery of this unfolding, constantly flaring forth in newness as it weaves

patterns of equilibrium and turbulence – the splendid array of life, energy and creativity – is

both exciting and mind-boggling as it inspires us to ever deeper self-knowledge and

responsibility for the common good.

We, humans, are fairly recent arrivals (67) with a long and profound wisdom-rootedness to

guide us. We are one species among many in the magnificent web of life sharing the same

atoms, chemicals and minerals. All beings are unique but not separate in the community of

creation, each a manifestation of divine beauty and creativity: “God saw everything that he

had made and behold it was very good” (Gen:1-31). In the human the universe becomes self-

consciously aware; this is both a privilege and a responsibility. Core to this responsibility

must be what unites us rather than what separates us as we widen our circle of compassion to

embrace the cry of the earth and the plight of the poor. “We bear the Universe in our being as

the Universe bears us in its being”. (Thomas Berry)

With the heart attitude of serene attentiveness (226) we sense the universe/earth as alive and

evolving – our common home- this jolts us into changes of perception, attitude, values and

lifestyle as we try to live more sustainably in a planet of abundant yet finite resources. The

renewal and reconnection we seek “entails a loving awareness that we are not disconnected

from the rest of creatures but joined in a splendid universal communion”(220). The

awesomeness of this “splendid universal communion”opens up a broader understanding of

spirituality, theology and community: “The universe as a whole, in all its manifold

relationships shows forth the inexhaustible riches of God” (86).

Furthermore, it challenges our classical understanding of these with the knowledge that our

universe is forever in the process of becoming. Drawing on the writings of Teilhard de

Chardin and quantum wisdom Ilia Delio asks “What kind of theology would emerge if we

realized that we are always in the process of becoming, even in eternal life, and that God is

always in the process of becoming God? This is the type of new theology needed for the

universe that is our home” (Laudato Si’ and Vatican 111).

It is intriguing to realise that a mere two hundred years ago our ancestors believed that the

Milky Way Galaxy was the entire universe and even today with our technological advances

we can observe a mere five per cent of the universe – ordinary matter, while the remaining

ninety-five per cent, mainly dark energy and five per cent dark matter, eludes us. We, all

beings, are a microcosm of this reality, each of us an inexhaustible mystery with profound

depths of richness within; we will never know it totally: “everything is, as it were, a caress of

God” (84). How wonderful a time to be alive and searching for meaning! “Rather than a

problem to be solved, the world is a joyful mystery to be contemplated with gladness and

praise” (12).

The openness to serene attentiveness, mindfulness and contemplation is so vital today as we

try to make meaning and come to terms with trends and issues shaping our reality. As we

attempt, for instance, to hold in juxtaposition the terrorist tragedies and displacements

worldwide and the global impact of climate change there is that haunting sense of eerie

resonance with indigenous wisdom which tells us that we are not separate from the earth,

what we do to the earth we do to ourselves. All is connected, we belong together; we are one.

Let us awaken anew to our own innate dignity and potential and that of all beings as we

11

boldly step up to the collective challenge created by having lost our way and settled for the

ultra-comfortable over the common good. “The poor need help today, not next week”

(Catherine McAuley). Together let us build on the positive strands emerging from COP21

Paris Climate Summit as we endeavour to create a better future where all will feel at home in

our common home. “Let us sing as we go” (244), guided by the Spirit, ever present, and

encouraged by the hopes and dreams of the billions of people and all beings with whom we

share life’s delicate balance.

“Woman, I have adorned you,

Woman, I have delighted in you,

Woman, I have made my home within you:

So why not soar?”

(Mechtilde of Magdeburg)

By Nellie McLaughlin rsm

Northern Province

Website of the Month 350.org-Paris -Wrap Up

Following the landmark climate agreement made by world governments on December 12th, 2015 in

Paris, it is now time for all of us to play our part in fulfilling this agreement. 350.org is an informative

website with lots of resources and information on how to get involved and be a part of climate change.

http://350.org/paris/

Just a Thought

"The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for

hope".

PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN

__________________________________________________________________________

Events and Activities

Mercy International Reflection Process

Our Mercy Leaders and the Mercy International Association (MIA) Board took a decision to invite

Sisters of Mercy and our Partners- in- Mercy in the Jubilee Year of Mercy to participate in a

worldwide reflection process. This is so we can discern together globally a shared response to the

human and other than human cry for Mercy in our world today.

http://www.mercyworld.org/mercy_global_action/project-home.cfm?pid=E220247F-BB4D-5777-

D7B326F931C981F9

12

__________________________________________________________________________________

Mercy International Centre

The Mercy International Centre Programme of Events for 2016 can be found here.

http://enews.mercyworld.org/e-news/100-1bf833a1/editions/206-97c4f4d6/user-

assets/files/2016_MIA%20Brochure_Electronic.pdf

_____________________________________________________________________________

Twelve Reflections

The twelve reflections offered in mercy@live by the Congregational Leadership Team which is

usually posted to all communities will be available to you on the congregational website

www.sistersofmercy.ie (Members area – Congregational News section)at the end of January 2016.

If you would like to receive a hard copy please email Maura at mauraokeeffe@csm.ie before January

8th 2016. Include your name, postal address and the number of copies you require. We will be very

pleased to post them to you towards the end of January/ early February 2016. _________________________________________________________________________________

Life's Delicate Balance

Sr.Nellie McLaughlin provides an impassioned companion piece to the Pope's "Laudato Si". Find out

more about this thought provoking book.

Prayer Service & Presentation at Baggot Street

A Presentation on ‘A Future Full of Hope’ by Mary Reynolds rsm and a Prayer Service of

Thanksgiving for the Close of the Year of Consecrated Life will take place in Baggot Street

on Tuesday, 2 February 2016 from 7:30 – 9:00 p.m.

Year of Mercy -Events in Rome and in MIA

You can find out all about the events planned in Rome and in MIA for the Year of Mercy

here.

http://www.sistersofmercy.ie/_uploads/documents/Year%20of%20Mercy%20-%20Planning%20Document.pdf

Our Heartfelt Thanks!

Many thanks to all who sent such beautiful Christmas cards to the CLT offices. We

appreciate the lovely gesture and send blessings to all of you!

Obituaries

Sr. Josepha English

13

St. Catherine's Convent,

19 Sturdee Avenue,

Rosebank,

Johannesburg,

South Africa.

6th December, 2015.

………………………………………………….

Sr. Monica O'Dwyer

McAuley House,

Limerick and Westbourne Convent.

27th December, 2015

May They Rest in Peace

14