Second Day of Young Mercy Leaders Pilgrimage

August 15, 2011

The day began with Morning Prayer which gave all of us here a chance to re-enter the sacred space of the Pilgrimage.

A rousing music session followed and some of the hymns which will be sung at the Pilgrimage Mass on Friday night were practised. There was a fabulous sound as everyone put their hearts and souls into singing and the energy and spirit in the hall soared to great heights.

Today’s keynote session was led by Adele Howard rsm. Adele established Fraynework Multimedia in Melbourne in 1995 to:

• Tell our Mercy Story
• Give voice to the voiceless
• Link Mercy Associates around the world

Adele introduced her session by saying that she would be exploring the broader picture of our connectedness which was a different aspect of our pilgrimage journey. She led the young people in engaging, reflecting and discovering new ways of connecting with each other.

The question we need to ask one another as Mercy people is ‘how can we give a voice to people who don’t have a voice so that they can tell the truth of their story?’ Adele reminded the young people that they have the power, the education and the leadership to do this. She highlighted for them that the unmediated story of the suffering and oppression in the world needs to be told, and that we have the capacity to do that.

Adele then took the young people on a virtual tour of the Mercy International Association website which is available for them to view and use. She illustrated where news can be uploaded and challenged them to visit the site and upload stories of what is important for them. Adele reminded the young people that if enough people use technology for the right reasons and connect together then we can change the world. She invited them to spend some time exploring the site and becoming familiar with the fantastic resources available there.

Group

How will we keep in touch and put these ideas into practice? A Question and Answer session followed where all the young people had an opportunity to discuss with one another in groups and then to put questions directly to Adele and to suggest ways of moving forward with telling the stories. Immediately afterwards, many of the young people came to two locations in the hall where they were able to upload their contributions to the MIA Young Mercy Leaders Pilgrimage Facebook page.

Adele invited the young people to link with one another and to write about the issues which are on the website and draw attention to them. There was great energy in the group and everyone left for their breakout sessions in good spirits and full of new ideas.

During the afternoon each participant in the Pilgrimage got the opportunity to participate in a number of breakout sessions. There was immense variety on offer and every session appealed greatly to those who attended. The titles of the sessions included:

'Are we human or Are we dancer' led by Lloyd Bracken

'The Arts as a Form of Public Influence' led by Aaron Copeland

'Catherine McAuley - Why Canonisation?' led by Brenda Dolphin

'What am I going to do with my one wild and precious life?' led by Dale Jarvis rsm

'Kitty's humour and mime' led by Gloria Heese rsm

'Out of the stars' led by Mary Kate Hagan rsm and Kathleen Glennon rsm

'Mercy Beyond Borders' led by Marilyn Lacey rsm

'Until all is enough - Mercy people working together to achieve the Millennium Development Goals' led by Ailsa MacKinnon rsm

'From Vision to Reality - Re-rooting Mercy in the twenty-first century' led by Lynda Dearlove rsm

'The Music of Mercy' - led by Ailish O'Brien rsm

'H.U.G.S.: A mission fo Mercy in Kenya' led by Sarah McDevitt

After supper we had a wonderful play by Lisa Bansavage who, dressed as a Sister of Mercy in the 19th century, told the story of Frances Warde rsm who founded the Congregation in the United States.

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