Author: Diane Smyth

Stations of Mercy 3 March – 3 April 2016

Posted on by Diane Smyth

On 3 April 2016 a small but representative group of Mercy pilgrims— both Sisters and partners-in-Mercy— will be present in Rome for Divine Mercy Sunday, one of the events in the Vatican’s Jubilee Year of Mercy Calendar.

In preparation for that pilgrimage, all Mercy International Association (MIA) Member Congregations and Institutes have prepared reflective and inspirational powerpoints and videos on the Face of Mercy in their own congregations today, using as their inspiration the 14 Stations of the Cross and 10 of the Corporal and Spiritual Works. Together these 24 reflections will form the Stations of Mercy.

Sisters of Mercy Newfoundland have taken special responsibility for Works of Mercy 8 (To Shelter the Homeless) and 10 (To visit the Imprisoned).

We invite you to join us on this prayerful and reflective pilgrimage. Reflections for each day, from 3 March to 3 April, can be acccessed on the mercyworld.org website

A calendar of the Stations can be downloaded here: A4 Paper Size (PDF); US Letter Size (PDF)

 

Stations of Mercy logo © Mercy International Association 2016

Opening of Our Holy Doors

Posted on by Diane Smyth

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.

An explanation of the doors on the panels can be found in the accompanying Notes here (PDF) . These Notes appear on the back panel of the collage.

FRONT of Collage

INSIDE 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

Opening the Year of Mercy in St John’s

Posted on by Diane Smyth

The Holy Door of Mercy of the Archdiocese of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador was opened at the Eucharistic Liturgy celebrating Mary, December 8 at 7:00 p.m.

Archbishop Martin Currie knocked on the door with the request that it be opened. Many priests, Archbisbop Emeritus, Alphonsus Penney, men, women, youth and children participated in the celebration. Sister Rosemary Ryan was server and Elizabeth Marrie did the second reading.

The Holy Door faces the Gathering Place, a ministry of the Presentation and Mercy Sisters established for the poor, homeless and others seeking nourishment of body, mind and spirit, and those calling forth a response mandated by the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Holy door also looks out over the entrance to St. John’s Harbour and the hills surrounding the city – the beauty of nature in its majesty and simplicity. It is through this harbour that the first three Sisters of Mercy, Ursula Frayne, Rose Lynch and Francis Creedon, arrived from Baggot Street on June 3, 1842.

Many Sisters of Mercy and their associates, family and friends participated in the historic event – the proclamation of the opening of the Jubilee Year of Mercy and the opening of the Holy Door of Mercy. This will indeed be a special year, rich in mercy.

 

Invitation: Become a ‘Doorkeeper of Mercy’ in the Year of Mercy.

Posted on by Diane Smyth

Sisters of Mercy and partners-in-Mercy are invited ‘to be guardians of the Door of Mercy, keepers of the in-between place of Mercy’ in this coming year of Mercy (8 December 2015 – 20 November 2016).

‘Pope Francis says that, in this coming Year of Mercy, “the Holy Door will become a Door of Mercy through which anyone who enters will experience the love of God.” The logo for our Mercy International Reflection Process, unfolding during this Year, is centered on the red doors of Baggot Street. In a profoundly mystical way, these red doors connect all our doors of Mercy – in our convents and houses, in our places of ministry, in holy places around us, in Earth which nourishes us, in the cosmos which holds us in communion, and in the hearts of all Sisters of Mercy, Associates and Partners-in-Mercy…’

Doorkeepers of Mercy:       A4 Paper Size (PDF)                       US Letter Size (PDF)

‘El Papa Francisco dice que, en este Año de la Misericordia, «la Puerta Santa será una Puerta de la Misericordia, a través de la cual cualquiera que entre podrá experimentar el amor de Dios». El logotipo para nuestro proceso internacional de reflexión de misericordia, que se desarrollará durante este Año, se centra en las puertas rojas de la Calle Baggot. En una forma profundamente mística, estas puertas rojas conectan todas nuestras puertas de Misericordia – en nuestros conventos y casas, en nuestros sitios de ministerio, en lugares santos en derredor nuestro, en la Tierra que nos alimenta, en el cosmos que nos sostiene en comunión y en los corazones de todas las Hermanas de la Misericordia…’

Guardas de la Misericordia:    A4 Paper Size                                   US Letter Size

NB:This video and/or text are suggested for inclusion in the ‘Called to the Ministry of Mercy’ Ritual for Opening Doors of Mercy on (or around) 13 December. The Leader and Participants copy of the ritual in both English & Spanish, full colur & black and white are available for download here

 

A Prayer for the days leading up to Paris Summit (COP21)

Posted on by Diane Smyth

On November 29 we begin the season of Advent, that season of “waiting in joyful hope.”  On November 30, in another of these moments of wondrous connections, the Paris Conference on Climate Change (COP21) begins. We invite you to join with us.

Attached below is a reflection sheet (in English and in Spanish) which you are invited to download and use for the seven days.

*Vigil Prayer Sisters of Mercy (PDF) *Vigilia Hermanas de Misericordia (PDF)

The days echo the themes of the seven days of creation as imaged in Genesis 1.  Each day is framed in the same way — a colour of the rainbow, a text, a prayer, an image of the creation day, and a promise for specific action (personal and communal).  We are invited to find time during each day, possibly integrated into morning or evening prayer or a blessing before meals, to pray this reflection either in community or with friends or each one in her own heart. You may choose to cut the papers into individual strips for each day or keep them as they are.

We also have the privilege as a Congregation to join the other eleven Mercy congregations and institutes to pray Pope Francis’ “Prayer for Our Earth” each day during the Conference.  Our Congregation has been assigned December 9 as the day when we hold the prayer in our special embrace.  That prayer, taken from the end of Laudato Si’, is added to your reflection sheet. Once again, we invite you to join with us.

– Sisters of Mercy

The Pope’s Call to Mobilize: Petition & Global Climate March

Re-membering Catherine McAuley

Posted on by Diane Smyth

St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador

On the eve of the anniversary of the death of Catherine McAuley, 11 November, ten women named Catherine gathered with the community of St. Joseph’s Convent to remember Catherine McAuley.

In order to celebrate the 174th anniversary of the death of Catherine McAuley, the six sisters of St. Joseph’s community on Signal Hill, St. John’s invited women they knew and who had the name Catherine to a reflection and a cup of tea.  After they were welcomed each spoke of her name and its significance.  The stories were varied and some humourous – a great way to get to know each other!

Then we reflected with the help of a slideshow and songs on the life of Catherine McAuley.  We prayed for various needs in our world and ended with the video of the Circle of Mercy.  Following our reflection and prayer, the group went to the dining room for a good cup of tea.

It was a lovely evening that was enjoyed by all present- the guests seemed reluctant to leave and hoped for a similar event next year!

 

Sisters Celebrate Jubilees

Posted on by Diane Smyth

During 2015 seven women celebrated 50 and 60 years as members of the Sisters of Mercy.  Fifty and sixty yeara ago they were welcomed into the novitiate of the Mercy congregation in Newfoundland. Diane Smyth was the Golden Jubilarian and Sisters Carmelita Power, Josette Hutchings, Jane McGrath, Nellie Pomroy, Theresa Boland and Lydia Kelly celebrated sixty years – Diamond!  A grand celebration of the anniversaries was held in the presence of the total membership during a congregational asssembly in August.  Other celebrations were held by individual jubilarians throughout the year.

Congratulations and prayerful good wishes for blessings are extended to these women for their 410 years of life and ministry as Sisters of Mercy!

Recognition: Sister Loretta Walsh

Posted on by Diane Smyth

Loretta Walsh, rsm has been recognized as a member of Worldwide Who’s Who of Executives and Professionals.

The group has recognized Loretta for her leadership and work in her many professional roles. Loretta had recently retired from her role as Director of the Family Life Bureau, a counseling, spirituality and educational arm of the Archdiocese of St. John’s, NL.

Congratulations, Loretta!

Join Us Here for the Launch of the Encyclical

Posted on by Diane Smyth

This is the Day! Join us for the Livestream Feed of the Release of Laudato Si: On the Care of Our Common Home

Awaiting with prayerful and expectant hearts the publication of “Laudato Si’: On the Care of Our Common Home”

Join with Mercy International Association and watch the Livestream of the release of the Encyclical here, the first encyclical to focus specifically on creation and human relationship with it.

 

 

 

Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/koreanet/14758513027/

The Congregation of the Queenship of Mary

Posted on by Diane Smyth

Mercy Convent had a visit from a new religious community, the “Queenship of Mary” from Ottawa.

Their foundress, Mother Mary Bernadette, had been in  St. John’s in 2014 and had stayed at Mercy Convent.  The whole community of seven members is in St. John’s from April 30 to May 7, 2015 to attend a vocations discernment weekend at Mary Queen of the World Parish and also a mission at Corpus Christi Parish.
Four sisters are staying at McAuley Convent and three at St. Bride’s Convent.  They drove from Ottawa in a mini-van staying overnight with the Sisters of Charity in St. John, New Brunswick and also at St. Catherine’s Renewal Centre in Grand Falls.
It was interesting to hear of their call and response to the Spirit.  Pictured above is the whole community with Sisters Maureen O’Keefe and Margie Taylor at Mercy Convent.  To the left is Mother Mary Bernadette, the foundress, with Sister Rosemary Ryan.
May God’s blessings be with them in their founding years.