Prayers through the intercession of Venerable Catherine McAuley are requested for the intentions of all those whose names are on our prayer list.

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

Lent is traditionally a time when we focus on the spirituality of the Cross. Some years ago, Janet Ruffing rsm, published an article in MAST, entitled Catherine’s Spirituality of the Cross. In it she examines how Catherine McAuley's experiences led her to develop a profound spirituality of the cross.

She says ‘This focus on the cross of Christ was integral to her experience of God as mercy and integral to her call to embody that same mercy in her world’. She challenges us to reappropriate in a healthy way an energizing and hopeful spirituality of the cross and points out that a modern day assumption that all suffering is to be avoided or overcome could deprive us of a necessary resource in Christian spirituality and in our mercy heritage. Using the lens of Segundo Galilea's liberation theology she provides a new way of understanding Catherine’s spirituality of the cross suggests the questions we need to confront in order to develop a spirituality of the cross for today – a spirituality that sustains the works of mercy in our global world.

Messages to: Mary Reynolds rsm

A big thanks to all those in Mercy Congregations who have been sending letters to their Rio delegations asking them to include ethical considerations when they are negotiating at the Rio Conference. Our office has been receiving many letters confirming that you sent the letters and also that you have been receiving replies from the decision makers.

The next phase of our campaign will be to draft a Mercy statement for Rio outlining the specific positions of Mercy on various issues which concern us, such as the abuses of the extractive industries, the right to water, land grabbing and sustainable development. We will be asking Congregations to arrange to visit their politicians to discuss these positions with them prior to their departure for the Rio Conference.

Messages to: Mary Purcell
 

At the first Soup and Substance, Sheila Crowley of Ruhama presented trafficking for sexual exploitation as a contemporary form of slavery. Human trafficking for sexual exploitation is growing in Ireland. Over the past decade Ireland has become both a transit route and a destination point for sex trafficking.

MIA is focusing on trafficking because:

1. Trafficking is a major issue confronting mainly women and most severely affects women and the poor and vulnerable
2. Sisters of Mercy are already doing substantial work to combat trafficking
3. The European Union the United Nations are focusing on Trafficking as a priority issue and MIA can influence them

You are invited to watch an excerpt of Shelia's presentation on human trafficking, view her power point presentation, and prayerfully reflect on this topic using the handout distributed at the gathering in Dublin.

Messages to: Mary Purcell

Srs Aloysius Herr rsm and Josephine Keohane rsm share reflections on the response of three Sisters of Mercy in Bantry Ireland to a request to establish a mission in Peru in 1965. They describe the perilous boat journey from Ireland to Peru, and speak of the cultural adjustments and Mercy ministry of the early years in Peru.

Messages to: Josephine Keohane rsm

Since Spring 2007, Asante Kenya Eye Care has provided the Wakamba people of Kenya's Eastern Province with the basics of modern eye-care. This partnership of Irish opticians with the Kenyan people emerged through friendships of the Carlow native Goretti Ward rsm who ministers in Kenya. Optician Miriam Kilgarriff of Tuam (Ireland) prepares for her second trip to Kenya, where she will be staying with the Mercy Sisters in Mutomo.

Messages to: Agnes Curley rsm

Sisters of Mercy in Great Britain joined in a prayer service organized by the International Catholic peace organisation, Pax Christi. For the last 30 years on Ash Wednesday, Pax Christi has held a vigil of prayer outside the Ministry of Defence (MoD) building off Whitehall, London. The focus of the vigil is the continued respectful opposition to the MoD’s preparations for the deployment of nuclear weapons through the four Trident Nuclear submarines operational from their base in the deep sea loch of Feline, Scotland.

Messages to: Institute of Our Lady of Mercy, Great Britain

In a ceremony held in her parish in Chicama, Peru, Sister Vilma Alayo Villacorta (CCASA/Peru) professed her final vows in the presence of the Sisters of Mercy and the parishioners who gathered for the occasion on February 1, 2012. A week and a half later, Sister Isabel Jovel Cabrera (CCASA/Honduras) made her final vows on February 11, 2012 in St. Michael the Archangel Church in Tegucigalpita, Cortes, Honduras, the village in which she was born.

Messages to: Vilma Alayo Villacorta rsm and Isabel Jovel Cabrera rsm

Marianne Comfort, a member of the Institute Justice Team for the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas recently visited Mercy ministries in Omaha, Nebraska. She writes of how the Sisters of Mercy and their ministries are addressing some of the United Nations’ Millennial Development Goals such as poverty eradication and gender equity.

Messages to: Marianne Comfort

Mar 02, 1861: Foundation to Commercial Rd, London from Tullamore - M Evangelist Daly, M Angela Gilsenen

Mar 02, 1905: Death of M Ignatius Croke, Foundress of Bathhurst, from Charleville

Mar 02, 1907: Foundation to Terang, Victoria from Warrnambool - M Magdalen McDonnell

Mar 02, 1907: Destruction by fire of Mt St Mary motherhouse, North Plainfield, New Jersey

Mar 04, 1897: Death of M de Sales Meagher, Foundress of Cooktown, Cairns, from Dungarvan, Co Waterford

Mar 06, 1996: Opening of Mercy Family Care Centre, Waterloo, Sydney

Mercywords: an E-Journal, edited by Carol Rittner rsm, is an interdisciplinary forum for religious and laity that explores ideas and questions in theology, religious studies, scripture, spirituality, and social activism. Essays and reviews are intended to raise questions, explore ideas, and encourage those who serve the people of God in our fractured and fragmented world. Its aim is to stimulate fresh thinking, educate inquiring minds, and inspire searching hearts.

In the most recent edition, Carol highlights a project involving women religious in Africa who have been empowered by two Sisters of Mercy from the United States – Margaret Farley rsm and Eileen Hogan rsm. Margaret and Eileen created the All-Africa Conference: Sister to Sister (AACSS), an organization that empowers African women religious to deal with the HIV-AIDS pandemic in their part of the world.

Articles by Eileen and Margaret are also included.

Messages to: Carol Rittner rsm

Mercy Hospice Auckland provides a range of specialist community palliative care and hospice services for people facing life limiting illnesses, caring for them with the utmost professional skill, compassion and quality of service.

Whether you've got a Samsung Galaxy, Amazon's Kindle Fire or another Android device, you'll be looking for some great apps. We've picked some of the best.