SCHOOL SUPPORT SCHEME

Mercy Has Many Faces

During 2004 a School Support Scheme was set up through Mercy Works Inc for schools who had an interest in reclaiming their Mercy heritage and also for schools to continue in the Mercy Mission today, through supporting various Mercy Works projects. A Schools Kit was designed to help in this process and further brochures were developed in 2005 to complement this Kit.

There has been a number of Schools from across Australia who have requested copies of the Kit this year and also additional copies for Staff. This Kit has been a very useful resource for them in reclaiming their Mercy Heritage and in learning about some of the ways in which the Sisters of Mercy continue to be involved in Mercy Works programmes - both in Australia and overseas.

I have been delighted to assist some of the Principals, Religious Education Co-ordinators and Mission Effectiveness school personnel, to develop programmes within their schools, which once had a Mercy presence. These requests have come from as far away as the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Adelaide, Kalgoorlie, schools in rural NSW, Western Australia and Northern Queensland. This speaks very much to me of Mercy alive and active and of Catherine McAuley’s charism still being called forth through the school staff and youth of today.

Twice over the past few months I have visited South Australia to work with some of the young secondary school leaders from our present Mercy Schools or where there are no longer Sisters of Mercy working in the Colleges. I spent a week-end at the end of May with 30 young men and women very keen to learn about Mercy from a Social Justice perspective. Various presentations were given from Sisters of Mercy from South Australia who work with Landmines, in Detention Centres with Asylum Seekers, our Aboriginal Sisters and Brothers, and are also involved in working with homeless women. There was also a presentation from a layman from St Aloysius College, who had been to Argentina (from where the Adelaide Sisters of Mercy originated) and who now supports the children in some of the barrios there.

The Mercy Works presentation reminded these young people of what Mercy is about –the Mercy charism and our heritage through Catherine McAuley- her call to us to work with those most marginalised and vulnerable in our present society, to stand against the injustices of our time. They were reminded that her charism is still perpetuated today, through various ministries in Australia as witnessed over the weekend and overseas. Mercy Works support of Sisters working with those vulnerable; in Papua New Guinea – refugees along the Fly River, women in Prison, Pakistan through the slum schools and Teachers College and other learning circles, BurmaThai border, Africa (education programmes), Peru through the women and children’s centres programmes, were presented and discussed.

These young men and women, Mercy School leaders, were truly immersed in what Mercy is about over the very full weekend. Listening to what they had learned and gained, the excitement captured through their words and their body language, of what it meant to them to be connected in and with Mercy. Their eagerness to go back to their schools, to spread what they had experienced over this week-end, again told me that partnering with some of these schools through Mercy Works Inc is the future for Mercy in today’s world.

Mercy indeed has many faces and Mercy presents many challenges for all if we are to follow the Gospel Jesus and be true to the charism of Catherine McAuley. However the challenge for Mercy Works, I believe, is to continue to support Schools who are seeking to reclaim their heritage and looking for ways in which they can partner meaningfully in Mercy through a Mercy Works project which challenges them. This does not happen over night and we must be prepared to journey with them over time.

Sister Lorraine Phelan rsm
School Support Co-ordinator 2005