Prayers are asked through the intercession of Venerable Catherine for the intentions of all those persons on our prayer list and, in particular, the intentions of Joan Lyons whose name has been newly added.

Messages to:
Anne Hannon rsm - Vice postulator Europe and Africa
Sheila Carney rsm - Vice postulator Americas
Mary Duffy rsm - Vice postulator Australia, New Zealand, Philippines

REMINDER:

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Kiyo Akasaka, and Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, have jointly announced that the sixty-third United Nations Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organization (DPI/NGO) Conference will be held in Melbourne, Australia, from 30 August to 1 September 2010.

For additional information, please contact Deirdre Mullan rsm, Director Mercy Global Concern, representing the Sisters of Mercy at the UN.

Please note: MGC cannot offer any financial assistance to attend this conference but we can help with passes.

Applications to Deirdre by Friday, June 18th.

Editor: In last week's Mercy E-News Sisters, Associates and friends were invited to sign a petition organised by the Working Group on Girls calling on the UN to create a new agency to make the UN more effective on Women's Issues. There was an excellent response.

Thanks to the 111 of you (Sisters, Associates and students) who signed on calling for the UN to establish a more effective women's agency. The deadline was June 10 and names have been forwarded to the Working Group on Girls (WGG) who are coordinating this sign-on.

The mobilization force for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have responded to the progress report (refer Briefing Note 1, June 2010).

Messages to Deirdre Mullan rsm - Director MGC

This week we present the final paper of the Mercy International Research Conference- Women as the Image of God: ‘Fire Cast on the Earth – Kindling’: Being Mercy in the Twenty-first Century by Patricia Fox, rsm. She addresses a question posed in an earlier paper: ‘ What distinctive contribution can we make (to certain social and global trends) precisely as Sisters of Mercy?’.

Pat says that ‘given the capacities for communication and travel that have existed now for decades it could be considered surprising that as a world- wide community of religious women, we have not responded to such a question with practical intent and in a sustained manner before.’ However, she rejoices that largely facilitated by the agency of Mercy International Association, we are finding ways to look at the big picture of our world and our times together,.

Drawing from the insights of the previous papers, Pat suggests that ‘Sisters of Mercy have the capacity to articulate and draw from a rich and deep spirituality of Mercy that is born out of a mature theology of God, of the profound importance of knowing women are created in the image of God and from the accumulated shared wisdom that service of the poor unleashes.’

Messages to Mary Reynolds rsm - Director MIA

In the Queen's Birthday 2010 Honours list announced yesterday, 474 Australian citizens were named to receive awards in the general division of the Order of Australia, in recognition of their diverse contributions and service to fellow citizens in Australia and internationally.

Among the recipients of the Member (AM) of the Order of Australia was Maryanne Loughry rsm awarded 'for her service to the community as an advocate for displaced persons and refugees'. Maryanne is an Associate Director of Jesuit Refugee Service Australia.

Messages to Maryanne Loughry rsm AM

At the end of this week, on Friday 18 June 2010, the Sisters of Mercy will bless and open a new hospital. This 100-bed hospital will open with 50-beds and limited services this week, and construction and equipment acquisition will continue until its completion, which is anticipated to be August or September, 2010.

The new hospital will extend the healing ministry of Mercy to additional people in the Philippines, and the new hospital will also serve as a base for the school of nursing and other health sciences programs of Holy Infant College, Tacloban City. The nursing and health sciences programs at Holy Infant College have approximately 1,000 students.

Messages to Mary Kay Dobrovolny rsm - Assistant Director Heritage & Spirituality

1898: Ministry began in workhouse, Mullingar Co. Westmeath - M Raphael O'Reilly

Prayer Services, composed around various themes, are included in this section. All or part of these services may be used in planning a prayer experience for a group or used individually. They include suggestions for music, opening and closing prayers, readings and rituals.

The Sisters of Mercy established a community in Green Street, Sunderland, in 1843. In 1902 St. Anthony’s Grammar School was established and in 1904 it obtained state recognition.

In 2004 the school celebrated the centenary of the foundation of the school as a secondary school with a sixth form. It continues to go from strength to strength achieving the best ever G.C.S.E. and A level results in 2008 and as a result receiving High Performing Specialist School Status. From September 2009 the school has become a Specialist Language College, an additional second specialism.

Discover how Google Sky, Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope, and dedicated software such as Starry Night or Stellarium allows you to explore the stars and view the planets in stunning detail without even touching a telescope.