In his prayer intention for September, Pope Francis calls on all people of good will “to mobilize for the abolition of the death penalty throughout the world.”
We pray that the death penalty, which attacks the dignity of the human person, may be legally abolished in every country.
Post your prayer intention here in our online chapel
For the past couple of weeks work has begun in the interior of Mercy Convent to prepare for the construction of the shelter and transition accommodations for the homeless that will be administered by The Gathering Place.
We currently have a 30-bed shelter operating daily out of the auditorium of the former Mercy School. The interior of the convent will be totally re-constructed to a design suited to the program of care of those who have no home that will eventually see them settled in a permanent housing arrangement.
The majority of the funding for this project comes from the Federal and Provincial housing strategies.
We have been fortunate to have a generous donor who has already given two million dollars along with other corporate and individual donors.
The chapel of Mercy will not be renovated and will serve as part of the Gathering Place project and other possible use yet to be defined.
This day honors humanitarian aid workers all over the world.
Established in 2009, World Humanitarian Daycommemorates the bombing of the UN headquarters in Iraq with great loss of life. Humanitarian aid workers provide life-saving assistance to suffering people in conflict zones and areas devastated by natural disasters. Thousands gave their lives and suffered injuries in providing support and protection to people in need. At one point in 2021, 235 million people in 26 countries required humanitarian assistance.
We honour them.
Six Sisters of Mercy of Newfoundland have celebrated 70 years of life and ministry.
On August 15, 2022 the Eucharistic Liturgy was celebrated in the chapel at The Residence at Littledale in St. John’s. In the afternoon a gathering of all the Sisters who could attend was filled with music and song and good food. A special anniversary cake was cut and shared and gifts were presented.
This was the first time that the Congregation celebrated 70 years (platinum jubilee)! Sister Loretta Dower had reached her 70th Jubilee in 2021 and was included with the group of this year.
Over the next 10 years we will have about 45 sisters who will reach the platinum jubilee!
In 2023 year Sister Annette Hawco will reach her 80th anniversary of reception and her 100th birthday!
On Sunday, December 13, 2015 Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of the Cathedral of Rome. In Dublin on that same Day, during Foundation Day celebrations, the red Doors of Mercy International Centre were opened.
The Leadership Team Newfoundland invited every local community or Sister living alone and every place of ministry, on or near December 12, to name their Holy Door of Mercy, to celebrate its opening and to place on it a symbol. The Team made a composite of all our Holy Doors in Newfoundland and Peru as a reminder of the privilege we have in being doorkeepers and guardians of the in-between places of Mercy in our world.
Attached are the components (four panels) of our Collage for the Opening of our Holy Doors of Mercy. Sisters, Associates and Partners in Mercy have received the actual Collage which is in a larger size and which opens to be able to stand up on prayer tables or other special places.
FRONT of Collage
Will we as doorkeepers hold wide the door to invite those who are hungry, thirsty, imprisoned, sick, strange, or naked to come in to find Mercy?
¿Mantendrán ustedes como guardianas, la puerta abierta para invitar a quienes tienen hambre o sed, a las personas prisioneras, a quienes están enfermas, forasteras o desnudas, a entrar y encontrar Misericordia?
¿Vigilarán ustedes como guardianas de la puerta nuestras «salidas y regresos» (Salmo 121, 8) al arriesgarnos a esta nueva forma de ver Misericordia y ser Misericordia en tiempos que pueden ser tan aterradores y desalentadores?
Will we as doorkeepers guard our “going out and our coming in” (Ps 121:8) as we dare this new way of seeing Mercy and being Mercy in times that can be so fearful and discouraging?
SIDE PANELS
Since the making of this composite many other Associates and Partners in Mercy either as groups or as individuals continue to create symbolic doors for not only opening the Holy Doors but even more for living the Mercy that comes into and goes out through these doors.
Messages to: Elizabeth Marrie rsm – Leadership Team
In 1994 the United Nations decided that the International Day of Indigenous Peoples be celebrated each year on August 9.
On this day people around the world are encouraged to spread the UN’s message on the protection and preservation of the rights of indigenous peoples. This year’s theme is The Role of Indigenous Women in the Preservation and Transmission of Traditional Knowledge.
Indigenous women are the backbone of their communities and play a crucial role in preserving and passing on traditional ancestral knowledge. However, they face many major issues in their everyday life, some of which are high levels of poverty, low levels of education, limitations in access to health, basic sanitation and employment, and the prevalence of domestic and sexual violence.
To learn more about this special observance, go to the following link:
https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/international-day-of-the-worlds-indigenous-peoples.html
The launch of the Season of Creation 2022 took place on February 23 of this year.
The theme for this year is Listening to the Voice of Creation and the symbol is the burning bush.
The Season of Creation is an ecumenical time, inviting Christian communities around the world to unite in prayer and action for creation. Patriarch Dimitrios 1 proclaimed September 1 as a special day of prayer for creation for his Orthodox community in 1989. The World Council of Churches was instrumental in expanding this day of prayer to a full season, and in 2015 Pope Francis made the season official for the Catholic Church.
The symbol of the burning bush was chosen:
The Season of Creation opens on September 1 and closes on October 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. This is simply a preview of this upcoming special season.
As in previous years, it is our hope that our congregation will again be involved in celebrating the Season of Creation in union with all our sisters and brothers around the world as we reflect together on our relationship with our Creator and with all of creation.
For further information, please use the following link:
Las “Fiestas Patrias”, celebradas el 28 de julio, conmemoran la declaración de independencia de Perú de España en 1821.
Fiestas Patrias’, celebrated on 28th July marks Peru’s declaration of independence from Spain in 1821.
Congratulations to our sisters and the people of Peru as they celebrate the feast of Peru.
May God bless them all!
Felicidades a nuestras hermanas y al pueblo del Perú en la celebración de la fiesta del Perú.
¡Que Dios los bendiga a todos!
Marking 138 years of the presence of the Sisters of Mercy in the area from 1871 – 2009
The Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy had received word from Mary (Tarrant) Hodge early in August that the people of St. Lawrence, little St. Lawrence, Lawn and surrounding areas wanted to have a celebration to recognize the ministry of the Sisters of Mercy in those areas and to officially thank them. Three Sisters, Sister M. Rose Murphy, M. Xavier Tarahan, and M. Stanislaus Taylor, had arrived in St. Lawrence in 1871 and the last Sister to minister there was Sr. Lucia Walsh who left in 2009. Would the Sisters who had ministered, or who had come from there be able to attend the festivities planned on the weekend of October 20th and 21st, 2012, asked Mary? She insisted that the Congregational Leader HAD to be there! The Planning Committee would not entertain her absence but were willing to change the date of the event to suit her agenda. Elizabeth Davis was free to go on the 20th and 21st.
We heard little tidbits of information in the ensuing weeks: Father Cecil Critch would be doing ALL the cooking, there would be entertainment, and there would be surprises worth waiting for. The official invitation arrived and we began looking forward with great anticipation to this fabulous weekend. We hoped the weather would cooperate for the drive to the Burin peninsula.
Saturday, October 20th was the most beautiful day, weather-wise, that we had had all year! Sisters from St. John’s left very early in the morning when traffic was light and the moose had not yet ventured out from their night’s haunts. The sun shone its mightiest, the sky was cloudless, the environment was ecologically correct and when we drove off the Trans-Canada and travelled down the Peninsula highway the splendor of the gold, yellows, browns and sometimes reds of the autumn leaves was absolutely breathtaking. Those of us with digital cameras were kept busy trying to capture the beauty before us. This was particularly difficult especially if our driver had no intention of letting us out of the car to shoot the scenery!
We had been told to proceed to the Golden Age Club upon our arrival: the majority of us fitted into the category of Golden Age so it was most appropriate that this be our first rendezvous. The rails on either side of the ramp going into the building were festooned with blue and gold balloons and a large Welcome poster was above the entrance. A white-apronned lady was at the door ringing an old school bell to welcome us in! The greetings began inside in profusion as many of the ladies there had been our students…
Pope Francis is scheduled to travel to Edmonton, Quebec City and Iqaluit next week to meet members of Canadian indigenous groups, residential school abuse survivors and Catholics.
In an address at Vatican City on Sunday, July 17, Pope Francis said that he sees this visit as a “penitential pilgrimage” which he hopes will contribute to the journey of healing and reconciliation that has already begun.
This is a very significant moment in our history.
Join us in prayer for Pope Francis and for all the individuals and groups with whom he will be meeting during these days.
Ways to view the papal events include the following:
Salt & Light Catholic Media Foundation has a dedicated site for information and broadcast details for the papal visit –
https://slmedia.org/popeincanada (English) or https://slmedia.org/fr/papeaucanada (French). The network will air all public events.
Livestream links– papalvisit.ca and www.visitepapale.ca will provide links to a number of livestreams for papal events, broadcast in more than 10 languages, including many Indigenous languages, as well as sign languages. Visitors will also be able to access feeds from Vatican TV that include commentary in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and German.
Novalis has produced a digital resource that includes texts for all the liturgies presided by Pope Francis, prayers as well as reflections on the significance of the Papal Visit. To download the resource, visit: ca (English) or prionseneglise.ca (French)