Messages Received from the Mercy World #1

Thank you to all who have sent messages for Mercy Day and for the 20th Anniversary Celebrations (23-29 September, 2014). We are hoping to hear from many of our Mercy family and friends over the coming weeks. Send your messages to: mercyenews@mercyinternational.ie

Dear friends
As a great grand son of Willie McAuley (Catherine's nephew) I send you my love and best wishes and every blessing for the coming celebrations.

Earlier in the year I was able to visit Willie's grave at Bogan Gate in the state of New South Wales Australia.
This was a great joy to me and in that quiet place a long way for any local town I was able to pray and sing at the top of my voice Catherine's Suspice.

Love and Peace
Les Stewart (McAuley)

As fortune would have it, I was staying at Goldenbridge convent the night before the dedication of MIC. When help was requested to work at the center for the celebration I gladly volunteered. This gave me the wonderful opportunity to be in the garden for the beautiful ritual of the pouring of the water. The memory will stay with me always. So with that in mind I hope that the anniversary celebration is as memorable.
Congratulations!

Mary Harvey, RSM,
Mid-Atlantic Community, US

Mercy Day greetings and blessings from Catherine to all who are Mercy to our world.
Happy Feast Day, Sisters, Associates, Companions, and Friends.

Colette Baldwin, RSM
Prairie Area Coordinator
Sisters of Mercy Association, WMW
Omaha, NE USA

Nga mihi Atawhai! The learning community at Carmel College in Auckland New Zealand send warm greetings to all our friends in the mercy at the time of the 20 year celebrations.
We rejoice in the ways that God's mercy, expressed in the life of Catherine, extends to the ends of the earth.

Carmel College

Greetings to all our Mercy friends from Mercy Sisters and colleagues in Nigeria.

Marie McGann rsm

Congratulations and thank you for all you have been and are for our world
What a wonderful time for celebration and thanksgiving. Congratulations to all involved.

As I reflected on the gift of this time and the gift of Mercy life, I thought of this reflection from Australian poet, Peter Steele.

'If you watch
as you have not watched before,
you will see the morning
begin to lace the darkness.

For the Lord has come to his people
and the earth trembles with joy.

And the lame shall move with the gait of kings
The broken flourish, the bound step forth,
And God exult among his children.

So name him and find your name in his.
Seek in the needy the light of his face.
Lift up your hearts, today and forever.'
- Peter Steele sj

Much love and prayer

Jan

Jan Barnett rsj
Social Justice Co-ordinator
Sisters of St Joseph
9 Mount Street, North Sydney,
Australia

It is with renewed faith and gratitude to God that we send to you our greetings from the Philippines. Our global inter-connectedness has significantly made a big difference in our lives as Sisters of Mercy. Thank you MIA for the overwhelming prayers and support you have extended to MERCY-Philippines and the Filipino people. As daughters of Catherine may we remain faithful to the legacy she has left us, continue to inspire young people across-cultures and draw them close to God in our respective mercy ministries. Happy Mercy Day!

Raphael, RSM
Philippines

As we celebrate Mercy Day 2014, the Conference for Mercy Higher Education extends our gratitude to all in the work of Mercy higher education.Through the daily efforts of so many, Mercy is present and alive on our 17 campuses across the United States in delightful and energizing ways. For more details about how our 42,000 students at our Mercy colleges and universities are celebrating this week, please visit our website here

Moya K. Dittmeier, EdD
Executive Director
Conference for Mercy Higher Education
8380 Colesville Road, Suite 300
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910
USA
 

Dear Sr. Mary Reynolds and all at Baggot St,
From Guyana I send you and all at Baggot St. my loving congratulations on the 20th anniversary.May you indeed 'preserve the best of the past, foster the best of the present and shape the best of the future' (Prayer for MIA). My thoughts and prayers will be with you on the anniversary with many happy memories of my time spent at Baggot St. in the past years.
May our dear Catherine McAuley be with you in the weeks ahead, always caring for you and guiding you in all your ways.

Love and prayers,
Sr Noel Menezes

I’m writing from Saint Vincent’s Academy, a school for girls that has been in continuous operation at this site since 1845. This classroom (Cyber Island) was once a Sister of Mercy’s cell. The beautiful Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist –with rectory- occupies the remainder of the city block on space that was once our vegetable garden.

May we all celebrate our rich tradition and look forward to a wonderful future,
doing the works of Mercy under Catherine’s benevolent gaze.

Sr. Frances Ann Cook, RSM
207 E. Liberty Street
Savannah, Georgia USA

We will be one in mind and heart as people from all corners of the earth gather to celebrate the 20th Anniversary in Dublin. We are looking forward to sharing in a different but equally important gathering of ISMAPNG Srs and our colleagues/associates in Wewak, PNG. May Catherine bless us all in a special way at this time.

Maureen Sexton
Mercy Works Kiunga, Kiunga
Western Province, PNG

Congratulations to our 20 year-old MIA. Usually twenty year-olds are full of youth, life, optimism, the life ahead of them is full of options, they believe in themselves enough to face the world they know, etc. This is how I see MIA and it's exciting to see it move to the next phase. I'm proud to be part of this big dream come true as and in MIA.

Magdalene from Kenyan province

Until I started working for Mercy Health I had no previous experience of the Mercy Order. In Mercy Place Parkville, Melbourne where I work I have now met many retired Mercy sisters who live here, and have come to admire them so much – their common sense, practicality, no nonsense attitude, prayerfulness without empty piety, and their great care and concern for each other and for all the other residents. This home is certainly a better place for their presence.

Florence Thomson
Pastoral Care Associate
Australia

We, the Sisters of Mercy here in Colón, Panama, send our heartfelt prayers and wishes to you our SISTERS across the miles. Feel us close to you, as we pray with you for PEACE and NEW BEGINNINGS.

Love,
Sisters Barbara and Dina

What a joy it will be to be gathered once again in Catherine's house to celebrate Mercy, Mercy Day, Mercy International - and to meet again Sisters from all over the world!!! I'm looking forward to it!!! Meeting friends who worked with us, visited us, supported us. How lovely!!! (You may have to tell this old lady your name!!)

Blessings,
Ursula Gilbert rsm
Australia

Mercy Day reminds me of the wonder of being a member of this great mercy family.
Congratulations to all especially those people I met from different countries when
I was on the Australian Leadership Team from 1999 to 2005. Enjoy the days at Baggot Street those of you who are able to be present. Happy celebrations.

Paula Smith rsm
Australia