Communicating the Ongoing Story of Mercy

In 1998 Adele Howard rsm (ISMAPNG) was invited by Doris Gottemoeller rsm (Chair) on behalf of the Members of MIA (the leaders of the MIA Congregations, Institutes and Federations) to attend the May AGM. The previous year she had been asked to look at and respond to a communications proposal for the creation of an interactive CD-Rom on the Mercy story across the world which MIA had received from a local company.

Following her presentation, Sr Adele was asked to establish a team responsible for putting in place a web site for MIA and to develop a Communications Policy for MIA.

Complementing the focus on the restoration and support of Mercy International Centre, was an intention by the Leaders, as stated in the Objects of the Association, to link Sisters of Mercy across the world. It was hoped that the new online communication opportunities would facilitate that networking. The Leaders were aware of the challenges, but saw the possibilities for understanding, linking and finding out about each other using these new means.

     Examples of mercyworld.org homepages over the years

The invitation was timely. Fraynework Multimedia which Adele had established 3 years earlier, although a new ministry of the Sisters of Mercy, had the expertise and the confidence to use the newly emerging digital technologies to develop such an online presence for MIA.

A key purpose for Fraynework was a shared commitment to using new technologies to support the connectivity of mission and vision across the Mercy world from Catherine's founding house of Mercy in Dublin to every Sister and place of Mercy across the globe.

The Fraynework team, guided by the content requirements of the Leaders, commenced work, designing,  programming and developing the first mercyworld.org website at the Sisters of Mercy multimedia facility.

Messages to: Adele Howard rsm

Image: Alejandro Escamilla. Used with permission