Three new Reports are now online:

1. Statement in preparation for Commission on the Status of women :

In 1995, with the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, including Section L, governments committed themselves to eliminating all forms of discrimination against girls and to increasing their access to education, training, science and technology; they also publicly acknowledged that the advancement of women is not sustainable without attention to the rights of girls. It remains the world's most comprehensive framework for achieving gender equality.

2. Statement in preparation for the Commission on Social Development

Poverty has many causes. They on occasion do include natural disasters like drought, as well as the horrendous earthquake in Haiti and floods in Pakistan this year. But for the most part human behaviour is the root cause of most poverty,  from the wasteful use of fertile lands and the seas, global warming and the disasters of war, and most especially policies which have lead to ever increasing inequality within and between societies. Indeed, most societies too willingly tolerate sources of poverty that are in their power to correct, such as the unequal treatment of women in general and indigenous peoples in particular. Social exclusion results from political choices.

3. State of The World Populations 2010
The State of World Population 2010 explores how conflict and protracted humanitarian emergencies affect women and girls - and men and boys - and shows how many women and young people have overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles and have begun rebuilding their lives and laying the foundation for peace and renewal of their societies. 

Messages to Deirdre Mullan rsm - Director MGC
 

Prayers through the intercession of Venerable Catherine are asked for the intentions of all who have asked for prayers and in particular: Allen, Gerard.

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
 

As the rate of HIV infection continues to increase in South Africa despite awareness campaigns and improved access to testing, we are faced with a situation where ART (Anti Retroviral Treatment) is the last resort for survival, let alone an acceptable quality of life, for thousands of people in Orange Farm alone. In Orange Farm, the ART project, deals with some 1200 people on a regular basis. The number on ART is 823 and we are assisting a further 35 people to prepare themselves to go on ART.

Messages to Elaine Pearton rsm
 

Mercy Works Inc. announced this week that it would respond to a request from the people of Fohorem in Timor Leste, to build a tuberculosis (TB) clinic in their community.

Gaye Lennon rsm, Mercy Works Inc. Offshore and Indigenous Projects Co-ordinator, said this decision follows considerable consultation with the local people, the Timor Leste Ministry of Health and other partners.

Messages to Rosemary Carroll rsm - Executive Officer

The Sisters of Mercy first came to Guam in November 1946 when Mary Inez Underwood, Mary Louise Wiensenforth, and Mary Annette McBennett arrived from Belmont, North Carolina (USA). The first group of postulants entered the Sisters of Mercy in December of that year...

Today there are 31 Sisters of Mercy living in Guam, all of whom belong to the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, South Central Community. ..

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

Nga mihi atawhai - greetings to all in mercy!  Perhaps it was because the spectre of death was never far from Catherine McAuley and her contemporaries that the links between the living and the dead in those days were so strong...

None of us is ‘an island, entire of itself’; we carry within us the imprint of those who have lived before us, and our own spirit will help to shape – for good or ill - the lives of those who follow...

Messages to Katrina Fabish rsm

A small group of brave souls from Sacred Heart College, Geelong, Victoria, was blessed to have the opportunity on a recent trip to Papua New Guinea to learn the meaning of desiring mercy. The trip, an immersion experience, had a simple goal – to be in solidarity, through our Mercy family, with some of our brothers and sisters in PNG. The achievement of this goal was confirmed in every tear shed by us and our new friends as we parted.

Messages to Allan Ansell - Head of Religion at Sacred Heart College, Geelong.

Editor: Sacred Heart College is this week's featured Mercy website

On Sunday 31st October, the Feast of All Saints, a Mass of Thanksgiving was celebrated in Maryport for the Sisters of Mercy who have lived and worked there from 1964 until the closure of the convent in 2010.

Messages to Cathy Edge rsm - Website Communications

1822: Death of William Callaghan, Catherine's benefactor
1937: Fort Scott, Kansas joined St Louis province
 

As we prepare for commemorating on November 11th the life of Catherine McAuley, the talk by Brenda Dolphin rsm, Postulator, given at the Mercy Associate Conference (Great Britain) on October 4th 2008, offers riches for reflection, as do the many audio, video and text materials made available in the Spirituality section of the MIA website.

Inspired by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, and sustained by the Mercy tradition,we at Sacred Heart College, Geelong, a Catholic secondary school for girls, commit ourselves to a love of God, of life, of others and of learning.

The content on the Mercyworld.org website can be read in  languages other than English.

On any page of the website, bottom left corner, click on the word 'translate' in the Footer. This will bring up the language options available. Click on the language you wish to read the web page in and the page will be translated for you.