The Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN), the leading independent Catholic news source in Asia, has commenced a series of reports on the devastated city of Tacloban. As these are published we will bring them to you in Mercy E-news.

The first of these, a video report, is linked to this item (4:42 seconds). At 1:08 seconds you see a view believed to be of our Mercy school and college, Holy Infant school.

An update of the Mercy situation in Tacloban will be published in a forthcoming issue of Mercy E-news.

Messages to: Mary Reynolds rsm - Executive Director MIA

Sisters, Associates and all friends of Mercy…

You are invited to Mercy International Centre
64A Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2
on
Thursday 12 December
for
Mass at 11.30am followed by lunch.

There will be a Harpsichord Recital from 2.00pm – 2.50pm in the Chapel &
Icon Exhibition in the International Room

Download the invitation here (PDF)

RSVP messages to: Madeleine O'Hanlon- Receptionist by email or phone 01 661 8061 by Tuesday,10 December

'God of wonders, your care for us is manifested in the gift of your Son, Jesus, who came among us long ago as a little child. Help us prepare during this Advent season to celebrate his coming again.We make this prayer through the intercession of Mary, his mother and ours. Amen.'

Morning Prayer, Wednesday, Advent Week 1 from Morning and Evening Prayer of the Sisters of Mercy

Messages to: Mary Reynolds rsm - Executive Director MIA

On Monday, 11 November 2013, over 40 Sisters of Mercy, Mercy Associates, Partners in Ministry and Friends of Mercy gathered in the chapel at Baggot Street to commemorate the life and death of Catherine McAuley...

The occasion offered the opportunity for Eugene Nolan, rsm to present her book ‘Caring for the Nation – A history of the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital’ to the library at Baggot Street....

Messages to: Mary Reynolds rsm - Executive Director MIA

Prayers with the intercession of Venerable Catherine McAuley are asked for all whose names are in our hearts and on our prayer list; in particular those whose names have been newly added to the list: Brian Sullivan

Messages to:
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

Lynda Dearlove rsm, founder of the Charity “Women at the Well” in London, Kings Cross which provides a service for women locked into a pavement culture, and its surrounding issues of prostitution, drugs, alcoholism, violence and homelessness, was recently invited to speak on the BBC's Women's Hour. The topic Why are nuns fair game for drama and comedy? was in part in response to the film 'Philomena' based on a true story about an elderly Irish woman searching for the toddler son she gave up for adoption as an unwed teen, living in a home for pregnant women, run by Catholic Sisters in Ireland in the 1950s. Some of the Sisters and the Home's systems are portrayed in an unfavourable light and film makers admit to using dramatic licence in some scenes and events.

Messages to: Lynda Dearlove rsm

GUYANA, situated between Venezuela and Suriname in the north of South America, and bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, is a source country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Many trafficking victims along the coast are Amerindian teenagers, targeted by traffickers because of poor education and job prospects in their home regions. Guyana Human Rights Association reported that girls as young as 11 years are recruited to work in bars and restaurants as prostitutes. Children are also engaged in prostitution in ports, gold mining areas, and the capital city of Georgetown. Other countries’ trafficking reports point to the trafficking of Guyanese women and girls for sexual exploitation to neighbouring countries. For many years the local Government denied that there was a problem and discounted international reports.

In the following report, Mary Judith Schmelz rsm, from Georgetown, recounts how her local community got interested in Anti-trafficking Action.

Download the report here (PDF)

Messages to: Mary Judith Schmelz rsm

On Wednesday 20th November Srs. Mary Ryan RSM and Denise Boyle fmdm, met with the Executive Council of the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) at the Ardilaun Hotel in Galway. We gave a presentation on our Campaign (Mercy-End child Prostitution and Trafficking in the Hospitality Sector) and then had a good discussion, during which we clarified some important issues about the ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking) Code of Conduct, which we are inviting the IHF members to sign. The hotels which sign the Code, are publicly stating their commitment to safeguarding children on their premises, especially from any form of sexual exploitation...

Messages to: 
Mary Ryan rsm
Denise Boyle fmdm

...The assistance given through the MIA Fracking Group and MGC to the unrelenting work of the different Newfoundland Fracking Awareness Groups and Networks has raised awareness of the influence of the work of justice by the Sisters of Mercy. We have received comments to the effect that many were not aware that Sisters of Mercy are so well connected as an international group with an NGO at the UN and that we are so deeply interested and involved in issues such as this. These local groups were extremely pleased and inspired to learn that the fracking issue in Newfoundland was being presented at the United Nations...

Download the article here (PDF)

Download the Report re Global FrackDown Day to MIA Fracking Working Group (PDF)

Letter to UN re: Human Rights Implications of Fracking in Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada (PDF)

Messages to: Mary Tee rsm -Director, Mercy Centre for Ecology and Justice

Close on 150 people gathered at the Epsom parish church on Saturday 23 November, to join with the staff and board of Te Ngakau Waiora Mercy Spirituality Centre to celebrate its 25th anniversary with a Mass, followed by refreshments in the parish hall...

Rita Vessey rsm, the Centre’s Manager, described the vision of Te Ngakau Waiora as that of “a city oasis to which all may come to be nourished and to find rest; a place apart to renew a relationship with God, perhaps to find oneself anew, and to see the beauty of God that abounds in our environment.”...

Messages to: Mercy Spirituality Centre

Editor:Te Ngakau Waiora Mercy Spirituality Centre is this week's featured website

No event of particular significance is recorded in the "Mercy Through the Years Calendar" as having taken place on 4 December. We know, however, that the Works of Mercy continued to be carried out and so we remember on this day Catherine and all our Sisters, Associates and Co-workers who have given their lives in service to others.

We invite contributions for this date to be be added to the mercyworld.org online calendar.
Submit your dates online here

Founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1861, the Mater was the first hospital to open its doors 24 hours a day, at the time, the only refuge open to those affected by the smallpox and cholera epidemics that raged through the overcrowded tenements. It was the first hospital to care for outpatients, and was at the scene of many of the most dramatic and traumatic incidents to grip the city, such as the attempted rescue of Sean MacStiofain from the hospital while on hunger strike, the Dublin bombings of 1972/73, and the Stardust tragedy in 1981.

Available from all good bookshops and from Eugene Nolan rsm (Author)

Te Ngakau Waiora Mercy Spirituality Centre is a work of the Nga Whaea Atawhai o Aotearoa Sisters of Mercy New Zealand. It provides a city oasis which seeks to create a place for learning and for a deeper relationship with God, fostering the inner search for personal, social and spiritual renewal. With its spacious, well established grounds, mature trees and gardens and organic gardening practices, the Centre also reflects a commitment to care of the Earth.

A selection of images entered in this year's contest. View part 1 and view part 11