In May, Mercy Works – in partnership with the Diocese of Kundiawa in Simbu Province, Papua New Guinea – undertook an ambitious project to install water tanks into 14 schools in just 28 days. Now hundreds of students, teachers and staff have much improved access to clean water for drinking, handwashing, cooking and cleaning. Water

In her poem Mercy Is, Mary Wickham writes that “[Mercy’s] feet are calloused from long roads trudged with refugee and beggar.” Recently, Young Mercy Links (YML) have walked along roads alongside people from the community, both figuratively and literally.   In May, we held a walkathon to raise funds for the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS)

Members of Young Mercy Links Victoria and South Australia have recently participated in an immersion in Gariwerd/Grampians in Victoria that focused on integral ecology and the local Indigenous culture and heritage. I had the privilege of attending the Young Mercy Links Terra Leaders Immersion in Gariwerd/Grampians in Victoria recently. It was such an insightful and

One of the special features that has already emerged from Mercy…Our Pilgrimage of Hope is a song written for our pilgrimage by Sister Helen Kearins. At a recent Zoom session with Institute staff, Helen shared her inspiration for the song. After I’ve been asked to write it, the sense of pilgrim is what came to

Sister Margaret Hart is a Sister of Mercy living in Young, a town that she has called home for the past five years. She arrived in south-central New South Wales ‘well and truly at retirement age without a job’ which meant rediscovering ways of living out her vocation, having spent many years of more formal

A couple of months ago, Crafted Culture, a new café located at Melbourne’s Mercy Hub, opened its doors. It is an initiative of SisterWorks, a not-for-profit social enterprise that began in 2013. It not only provides great food and coffee, it empowers the women who work there. Michelle Paterson, Business Manager for Crafted Culture Cafe and

Schola Fakiwi rsm, Ms Bai and Julie, all long time staff members at Mercy Secondary School Yarapos Sister Schola Fakiwi, a Sisters of Mercy in Yarapos Papua New Guinea, says that for her the principal path of Mercy is both action as well as prayer and that it is often through our small actions that

In early May, the Mercy Mission Formation Network (MMFN) held its annual gathering. The venue was the Seville Mercy Centre, Cairns. The MMFN has been meeting since 2009 with this year’s gathering being organised by Sisters Margaret Endicott and Ailsa Mackinnon, along with Micheal O’Sullivan and Caroline Thompson. More than 20 people attended including sisters

Together we mourn one, who over his papacy, invited us always to consider those in need. His invitation to care for our common home united us, challenged us and gifted us with possibility. His final gift to us – this Jubilee Year of Hope – is a reminder that he was a man of prayer,

The Institute’s Refugee Advocacy Network has urged Australians to be ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ by voting for candidates in the upcoming election who support a humane immigration policy. They have produced a flyer and have asked people to consider distributing it to their networks, so that  awareness can be raised about the plight of refugees and people

Three religious sisters have made history by becoming the first three religious women to graduate with an Advanced Diploma in Theology and Pastoral Ministry, from Divine Word University (DWU), a course traditionally taken by priests, brothers and laymen. Sister Cathy Jambet and Sister Janet Andrew, who are Mercy Sisters, along with Sister Marie-Therese Jorumbu, a

A group of eight leaders from Mercy Associates and Mercy Friends groups gathered recently in Sydney to reflect on Mercy leadership. Over a weekend, the group was guided by Caroline Thompson to reflect on their leadership through the lens of the parable of the Sower and the Seed. The group was comprised of leaders from