Prayers through the intercession of Venerable Catherine are asked for:

Larry Ballard, Christine Whitaker, Jeff Wakelin, Tim Hannon, Johnny Anderson, Cathal Moore, Caroline Dwyer, Fr Peter McGrath CP.

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

The reflection offered this week is on Catherine’s spirituality. While it is commonplace today to speak of an integrated spirituality and reflective living, such insights were radical in the spirituality of the mid C19 when dualistic thinking created a divide between prayer and action. Catherine was one of the first to promote a vision of an integrated or apostolic spirituality.

In a very real sense Catherine’s ‘apostolic spirituality’ was part of her search for personal union with God and it was marked by her ability to create a solitude of heart and maintain inner spiritual space while being everywhere in the world of people. Father Martin Nolan OSA, Former Postulator for the Cause of Catherine, said of her ‘In all the travel and turmoil of her life, she was at home within herself with the indwelling Lord. She radiated the tranquility of inner intimacy'.

Some would say that Catherine’s greatest contribution to the Church is not the congregation itself as much as the spirituality that enlivened it – a fresh and fertile blending of the contemplative spirit and the compassionate heart. It is a spirituality that alerts us to how God is with us in all the most ordinary activities and moments of our lives. Many spiritual writers have since echoed Catherine’s radical understanding of spirituality including Teilhard de Chardin who proclaimed that ‘nothing here below is profane for those who know how to see’ and the Irish poet Paul Murray OP uses the very same image of the ‘centre’ to link the mystical and the world of action 'I am that still centre within you, that needle’s eye through which all the threads of the universe are drawn'.

Messages to Mary Reynolds rsm - Executive Director MIA

Two new Reports have been posted on the MGC section of the MIA site:

Report Number 1, July 2010: UN Nelson Mandela Day

Report Number 2, July 2010: Up Date: – UN General Assembly Human Right to Water Resolution

The work of the NGOS, including MGC, who have been promoting the Water Resolution has been receiving significant media coverage, including in the New York Times where a piece by Mikhail Gorbachev, (leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until its dissolution in 1991 and founding member and Board member of Green Cross International), appeared on July 16th. The article is called 'The Right to Water'.

Messages to Deirdre Mullan rsm - Director MGC

The Archdiocese of Nassau, Bahamas, celebrated its 50th year as a diocese earlier this month on July 5th. Sisters of Mercy have been serving in this diocese for 42 of its 50 years. Four Sisters of Mercy from Portland, Maine (USA) went to serve in Mangrove Cay and North Andros, Bahamas, in 1968, five years before the Bahamas obtained its independence from Britain (1973). These Sisters of Mercy served in education, health, and social and pastoral services.

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

In Mercy E-News last week (19 July 2010) readers were invited by Deirdre Mullan rsm, Director MGC, to participate in an action to urge your UN representative to support the resolution entitled: 'The Human Right to Water and Sanitation'. The vote in the General Assembly will take place during the last week of July, so, we have been urged to act as soon as possible. Further detail is given in this week's 'News from MGC' (above).

In 1840, Catherine McAuley, foundress of the Sisters of Mercy, said: 'Water is free beverage'. Writes Deirdre Mullan in the publication 'Water is Free Beverage': 'If Catherine McAuley lived in the flesh today, she would exert herself and her Sisters to challenge some of the abuses of our world today – including the abuse of using bottled water'.

Today, Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College in Sydney's north has banned the sale of plastic water bottles and installed water bubblers for the students to use instead and gained significant media coverage for doing so.

Messages to Catherine Alcock Principal

On July 13, Mercy leadership sent a letter to every member of congress urging them to enact comprehensive immigration reform legislation as soon as possible.

The letter reads in part 'Our sisters and associates minister in forty-five of the fifty states. For 167 years we have served and continue to serve immigrant communities and to advocate on behalf of immigrants held in detention. We are committed to stand in solidarity with immigrants seeking fullness of life...' The full text is linked to this item.

Readers of Mercy E-News in the United States are invited to join these efforts by sending a letter of support to your senators and representatives.

Messages to Pat Kenny rsm - Institute Communications

1893: Foundation to Sandy Point West Newfoundland from Providence Rhode island - M Antonia Egan

...Right now, people living in developing countries often lack access to water for drinking, growing food and practising basic hygiene and sanitation. Privatization by corporations and the diversion of the world’s water supply for commercial interests are exacerbated by climate change – a combination that leaves the poor thirsty, hungry and ill...

Extract from Water is Free Beverage

Details about how to order the booklet and sample pages are linked to this item.

Founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1947, Salve Regina is a private, coeducational university offering a comprehensive and innovative liberal arts education in the Catholic tradition that fosters the development of each student's distinct and individual talents.

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