The Season of Creation commences in two month’s time on 1 September. “Let Justice and Peace Flow” is the theme chosen for Season of Creation 2023.
La Temporada de la Creación comienza dentro de un mes, el 1 de septiembre. “Que fluyan la justicia y la paz” es el tema elegido para la Temporada de la Creación 2023.
July 1 is a national holiday celebrating the beginnings of Canada on July 1, 1867.
On that day three separate colonies – the united Canadas (Upper and Lower),Nova Scotia and New Brunswick – became a single dominion, the Dominion of Canada.
In Newfoundland and Labrador this day is known as Memorial Day, a day to remember the staggering losses of the Newfoundland Regiment at Beaumont-Hamel, France on July 1, 1916. Over 800 Newfoundlanders and Labradorians went into battle that morning, a deadly battle which left more than 700 men killed, wounded or missing. Each year our province commemorates the heroism of our young men who died on this day.
Post your prayer in our sacred space here
El 1 de julio es una fiesta nacional que celebra los inicios de Canadá el 1 de julio de 1867.
Ese día, tres colonias separadas -el Alto y el Bajo Canadá unidos, Nueva Escocia y Nuevo Brunswick- se convirtieron en un único dominio, el Dominio de Canadá.
En Terranova y Labrador este día se conoce como el Día de los Caídos, un día para recordar las asombrosas pérdidas del Regimiento de Terranova en Beaumont-Hamel, Francia, el 1 de julio de 1916. Más de 800 terranoveses y labradores entraron en combate aquella mañana, una batalla mortal que dejó más de 700 hombres muertos, heridos o desaparecidos. Cada año nuestra provincia conmemora el heroísmo de nuestros jóvenes que murieron ese día.
Publica tu oración en nuestro espacio sagrado aquí
Plastic free July is a global movement inviting people around the world to be part of the solution to the critical problem of plastic pollution.
In March 2022 the UN Environment Assembly agreed to establish a global treaty to end plastic pollution and to insure a cleaner and more sustainable future for Earth and all Earth’s inhabitants.
It is hard to avoid knowledge of the impact of plastic waste and its adverse effects on the health of land, oceans, wildlife and ourselves. All of us are being encouraged this month —and hopefully for good — to become part of the solution to beating plastic pollution, rather than a contributor to the problem.
Last month, on World Environment Day, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres released a video to encourage action to beat plastic polltion.
For further information about how we can contribute to this global endeavour, visit the
Plastic free July website.
Julio sin plástico es un movimiento mundial que invita a personas de todo el mundo a formar parte de la solución al grave problema de la contaminación por plásticos.
Plastic Free July texto verde bajo las hojas.
En marzo de 2022, la Asamblea de las Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente acordó establecer un tratado mundial para acabar con la contaminación por plásticos y asegurar un futuro más limpio y sostenible para la Tierra y todos sus habitantes.
Es difícil no conocer el impacto de los residuos plásticos y sus efectos adversos en la salud de la tierra, los océanos, la fauna y nosotros mismos. Este mes se nos anima a todos -y esperemos que para siempre- a formar parte de la solución para vencer la contaminación por plásticos, en lugar de contribuir al problema.
Para más información sobre cómo podemos contribuir a este esfuerzo mundial, visite la web
julio sin plástico.
The Kiwanis Music Festival is an annual event that began with a two-day event in 1952 with 193 entries and two adjudicators; in 2010 it spans 12 days, with well over 6,000 participants and nine adjudicators. It is the largest festival in eastern Canada.
Musicians young and old have come to appreciate the “Festival” and enjoy this competitive opportunity to showcase their musical talent and their love and commitment to voice, instrumental and choral music. Every performer or group has the opportunity hear and learn from the instant evaluation of their performance by the expert and professional adjudicators. The adjudicators speak to them in order to teach and encourage. Marks are given, even though sometimes an adjudicator admits difficulty in giving marks to one group over the other.
Sisters of Mercy and their students in St. John’s and area schools have been part of the Kiwanis Music Festival since its foundation. Thousands of the sisters’ students – solists, duos and trios and combinations of the same, choirs, choral speech groups, instrumentalists, orchestras and bands from St. John’s, Bell Island, Goulds, Bay Bulls, Brigus, Conception Harbour and from as far as Marystown have entered the festival and have excelled.
Much is owed to the music teachers of our Congregation and of the Presentation Congregation for their commitment to music and culture and for nurturing the innate talent of the youth of our province. They are the true and consistent pioneers of our musical heritage. Some of them have rightly been inducted as members of the Hall of Fame of the Music Festival Association. There are no sisters taking groups to the Festival these days but their many students are doing that now. The baton has been passed and is calling forth the best of music in the next generations!
The Family Life Bureau, established in the Archdiocese of St. John’s in 1976, offers counseling in a whole range of areas including individual, marriage, and family counseling. Clients of the staff of the Bureau are either self-referred, referred from the courts, from physicians, various community agencies, and from priests throughout the Archdiocese.
Discovering and using your strengths to deal with personal and family life issues . . . Support to see you through . . .
Pastoral counseling is healing the mind, spirit, and relationships through the wisdom of behavioural sciences and spiritual values.
The goal of the Family Life Bureau is to foster positive changes in the lives of persons. Every person has within him/her the energy for growth. Troubled people seek out help when external circumstances lead to distressing separation from others, internal conflicts that cause pain and inner division, and when the life force within them is blocked from healing and growth.
Sister Loretta Walsh, rsm, Executive Director of the Family Life Bureau, is a facilitator and counselor. She and two other certified counselors provide individual, couple, group and family counseling. They also organize and facilitate workshops and marriage preparation seminars. The workshops deal with issues related to family life, parenting, interpersonal relationships, separation and divorce, personal growth, youth, dealing with drugs, assertiveness and self-esteem.
One interesting program brings married couples together for a candlelight dessert and facilitated conversation about their relationship. This marriage enrichment component is facilitated collaboration with the West End Baptist Church and some Anglican parishes in St. John’s.
SoulWinds is a small piece of land – about three acres – located on the Little Kennisis River in the Algonquin Highlands of Haliburton County in Ontario’s near north in Canada.
SoulWinds is the home of Brenda Peddigrew, RSM, Ph.D. and Joan Weir, N.D., who tend the land in all its seasons and offer consultations, teaching and guidance in their respective fields and in many ways to be in nature’s presence.
Joint courses are offered on the SoulWinds property, though other accomodations are used for personal guided retreats with Brenda, and other consultations.
Visit their website to learn more about this Mercy ministry
In 2007 two Sisters of Mercy from Newfoundland took a bold and courageous step to join Sisters of Mercy from Ireland in their ministries in Africa.
One sister cared for people in Kenya, men, women and children, suffering from HIV and AIDS. She served as a unit coordinator in an AIDS center for the poor. During 2007 a second Sister ministered among others suffering from HIV/AIDS in Zambia. These two Newfoundland sisters were the first to have taken on the adventure and challenge of ministering on the African continent.
Breakfast and lunch programs are a reality in the richer northern hemisphere. Sisters of Mercy support these programs financially and volunteer their time and energy to help feed the poor. We have recently ventured into ministry in Africa. Our sisters have participated with the Irish Sisters of Mercy in providing food to children and families in Kenya and Zambia.
Food Banks have evolved in our society to serve the needs of the poor and those who find themselves in a financial crisis and lacking food. Many of our sisters throughout the province of Newfoundland and Labrador commit themselves on a regular basis to setting up, managing or volunteering their time in food banks.
Kitchens have been set up in the many small pueblos where our sisters minister in the Andes of Peru or on the Pacific coast. With grain, oil and flour that is provided by world relief agencies many children are fed a nutritious breakfast or lunch during their school day. Sisters of Mercy help support this program and offer their time working in them. One such centre in Monsefu has been named after one of the early Mercy missionaries, Sister Mary Dorothy Carroll.
From its foundation the Mercy Congregation has had a special ministry to the poor. Care for the poor and oppressed was especially dear to Catherine McAuley’s heart and the driving force behind her decision to found a religious order. “Service of the poor, the sick and the ignorant” is considered to be a fourth vow of the Sisters of Mercy.
Immediately on their arrival in St. John’s the three founding members of the Newfoundland mission, Sisters Ursula Frayne, Rose Lynch and Francis Creedon, began the visitation of the poor and the sick in their homes.
Over the years even though many of the sisters have been fully occupied in their teaching and nursing ministries they found time to visit individuals and families in need. In addition to the more “informal visitation,” ministry to the poor has taken on a more structured format in facilities like the Gathering Place, Food Banks, Prisons, Women’s Centres, Breakfast or Lunch Programs, Family Care Centres.
Whether formally organized or not, care and attentiveness for the poor has been part of our Mercy culture: a poor child in the school, a poor patient in the hospital or nursing home, poor families in the neighbourhood, or a poor person begging food at the door. Love and care for the poor and a congregational option for the poor is the challenge and the blessing of the Gospel and of our Mercy charism.
Desde su fundación, la Congregación de la Misericordia ha tenido un ministerio especial para con los pobres. El cuidado de los pobres y oprimidos era especialmente querido en el corazón de Catalina McAuley y la fuerza impulsora de su decisión de fundar una orden religiosa. El “servicio a los pobres, los enfermos y los ignorantes” se considera el cuarto voto de las Hermanas de la Misericordia.
Inmediatamente después de su llegada a San Juan, los tres miembros fundadores de la misión de Terranova, las hermanas Úrsula Frayne, Rose Lynch y Francis Creedon, comenzaron a visitar a los pobres y enfermos en sus casas.
A lo largo de los años, aunque muchas de las hermanas han estado plenamente ocupadas en sus ministerios de enseñanza y enfermería, han encontrado tiempo para visitar a personas y familias necesitadas. Además de las “visitas informales”, el ministerio con los pobres ha adoptado un formato más estructurado en lugares como el Gathering Place, los bancos de alimentos, las prisiones, los centros de mujeres, los programas de desayuno o comida y los centros de atención familiar.
Organizado formalmente o no, el cuidado y la atención a los pobres ha formado parte de nuestra cultura de la Misericordia: un niño pobre en la escuela, un paciente pobre en el hospital o en la residencia de ancianos, familias pobres en el barrio, o un pobre pidiendo comida en la puerta. El amor y la atención a los pobres y una opción congregacional por los pobres es el reto y la bendición del Evangelio y de nuestro carisma de la Misericordia.
In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis emphasised the importance of a united, global response to the current ecological crisis. Yet dialogue and learning on integral 
ecology is often hindered by limited access to the academic publications on the subject, which are not affordable for many individuals and institutions in lower-income countries.
The Laudato Si’ Integral Ecology collection, of the Laudato Si’ Research Institute at the University of Oxford, seeks to address this problem by making open access a selection of key texts on integral ecology. The collection will provide a valuable resource for lay readers, students, and those undertaking more advanced academic study. Publications in the collection could also be read as part of a reading group, or an online course.
Access the Collection here