Friday, 5 April started counting down the 1000 days left before the stated deadline for the achievement of the Millenium Development Goals is reached.  MIA supports those of the world's most prominent religious leaders who, on Friday, signed an open letter addressed to world governments, but more specifically to members of the G8, encouraging their continued participation and support in the face of global economic strife, while insisting their participation is facilitating true change.

We invite you to join us in prayer, to look again at the MIA interactive resource Mercy and Justice shall Meet which engages with the UN Millenium Development Goals to act with justice and compassion, and to visit: http://www.myworld2015.org/ and tick the six most important areas of future development.

Messages to: Mary Reynolds rsm - Executive Director MIA
 

Saints are not holy because they are virtuous but they are virtuous because they are holy. As Frances Warde said about her good friend Catherine McAuley, “she was a woman of God and God made her a woman of vision”. In a Church rocked by scandal and disillusion it is the saints among us who will surely lead us back to the heart of Christianity to Jesus Christ. Evangelisation in our time will come through the inspiration of the lives of holy people because “a holy person is worth more than a thousand theological concepts” (Von Balthasar).

- Brenda Dolphin rsm - Postulator. On the occasion of the 20th Anniversary (9 April 2010) of Catherine being declared Venerable. Read article here

Prayers with the intercession of Venerable Catherine McAuley are asked for all whose names are in our hearts and on our prayer list.

Anne Hannon rsm - Vice postulator Europe and Africa
Sheila Carney rsm - Vice postulator Americas
Caroline Ryan rsm - Vice postulator Australia & PNG, Aotearoa New Zealand, Philippines

Motorists driving past McAuley House (our Mercy School in Parktown West, Johannesburg) on any Friday this March, would have seen a line of school children – not filing into the classrooms – but standing in absolute silence along the perimeter of the school grounds. Dressed in Kwanele Kwanele T-shirts, they stood facing the road, raising the curiosity of the passers-by.

These children have had enough: enough of the pervasive and persistent violence against women and children in our country; enough of the rape; enough of femicide; enough of abuse of all kinds.

In a recent television interview, Athol Fugard, the well known South African playwright said, “We are not a happy country.” The Rainbow Nation has lost its way...

Messages to: Colleen Wilkinson rsm

Editor: McAuley House is this week's featured Mercy website

Sisters and Associates gathered in Assembly in Chicago, Illinois, from April 3-8, sharing  the fruits of their discernment, their wisdom, hopes, plans and desires for their future.

The 2013-2018 West Midwest (WMW) Community Leadership Team is: President  Laura Reicks rsm and team members Sisters Judith Frikker, Margaret Mary Hinz, Maria Klosowski, Anne Marie Miller and Susan Sanders.

Messages to: Liz Dossa - Communications Manager, Sisters of Mercy West Midwest
 

... Sisters of Mercy New Zealand are a Congregation of around 220 women. As the years pass, fewer of them are directly involved in the more than 20 ministries wh ich belong to Tiaki Manatu, the Sisters of Mercy New Zealand Ministries Trust, though many of them continue to work in a rich diversity of individual and shared ministries. A challenge for those charged with the Trust’s mission is to ensure that lay people who come to work for Mercy, especially in leadership roles, know the story well enough to contribute to its integrity and growth...

Messages to: Katrina Fabish rsm - CLT Communications Contact

Work has commenced on the new Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital Springfield.

The $28 million, 63,000 square foot facility will have 60 beds and provide inpatient rehabilitation for patients who are recovering from strokes, brain or spinal cord injuries, amputations, complex orthopedic injuries and other conditions. Construction is estimated to take about a year...

Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital Springfield is a partnership between Mercy and Centerre Healthcare Corporation, a national leader in the development and operation of rehabilitation hospitals. Centerre has partnered with Mercy for similar projects in St. Louis and Oklahoma City. McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is the construction manager.

Messages to: Sonya Kullman - Media Contact Springfield

Editor: In her the commentary on this month's poem ( the second in the series), Banny by Irish poet Moya Cannon, Mary Wickham rsm writes:

'... An enduring vernacular survives all fleeting fashions, economic rationalism, strife and changes. It cannot be stifled by institutionalisation. The enduring vernacular of mercy, of tender blessing, will quietly assert its grace and potency. We just have to await it, recognise its goodness, affirm it and go on uttering it, insisting on it as the “signature of mercy.”'

Messages to: Mary Wickham rsm

Hospitals can take care of a patient’s medical needs, but Mercy Hospital in Springfield is hosting a conference April 13 to help ensure that every patient’s spiritual care is also met.

The Spiritual Care Conference is a place where physicians, nurses, chaplains, clergy members, or anyone else can learn how spiritual and pastoral care is adapting to technology...

Much of the conference is about providing spiritual care in an age where technology such as TeleMedicine, WebEx, email, American TeleCare, Skype and others allow medical care to be delivered at a distance...

Access the conference flyer here

Messages to: Sonya Kullman - Media Contact Springfield

Committed to working toward a culture of nonviolence, the Sisters of Mercy called on other people of faith to join them in a special interfaith call-in day to U.S. Senators April 9 to urge passage of serious gun violence prevention legislation.

This Interfaith Call-In Day to Prevent Gun Violence was an opportunity to remind senators of the “no more” pledge Americans made just four months ago following the fatal shootings in a Newtown, Connecticut elementary school...

Gun Violence Prevention Talking Points (Mercy focused)
Mercy Educators Statement on Gun Violence (signed by leaders of 58 Mercy colleges and universities)

Messages to: Institute Justice Team

1837: Foundation to Carlow from Baggot St - Catherine McAuley
1850: First orphanage established, St Patrick's, Auckland
1937: Opening of St Anne's Mercy Hospital, Mt Lawley, Western Australia
 

Called to Serve: A History of Nuns in America by Margaret M McGuinness professor of religion and executive director of the Office of Mission Integration at La Salle University (New York University Press, 2013, $35).

Find a review of the book here

Order online from Amazon here. Hard cover $30.55; Kindle $15.40

McAuley House is a Catholic independent day school which offers co-ed grade R - 7 and girls only Grade 8 to 12.

The vision of our school is to produce strong, confident, compassionate women and young boys who will strive to serve the needs of the South African community and the world with dignity, humility and integrity.

Buying a shiny new gadget is the easy part, but how do you smoothly transfer everything from your old computer, smartphone or tablet to the new device?

This article offers some points you might consider and investigate further if contemplating an upgrade.

Source: The Age