Roz Parr, Author at Sisters of Mercy

To Walk in Their Footsteps: Honoring the 150th Anniversary of the Sisters of Mercy in Middletown, Connecticut

byRoz Parr

July 25, 2022

By Christina D’Amico, Library Assistant, Mercy High School, Middletown, Connecticut — As the final bell rings at Mercy High School, a committee of faculty, staff and administration gather to pray. They are dubbed the Mercy Circle in collective spirit of keeping the mission of the Sisters of Mercy thriving within their community. Several months later, the Mercy Circle prepares a celebration honoring the arrival of the Sisters of Mercy to Middletown, Connecticut, from their home turf of Ennis, Ireland, 150 years ago.

The Beauty of St. Mary Magdalene’s Love

byRoz Parr

July 21, 2022

By Sister Honora Nicholson — Today we celebrate the feast of Mary Magdalene, the woman whose place in the circle of Jesus’ friends was attested to by all four gospels and whose claim to apostleship is equal in every way to both Peter and Paul. Yet, unlike Peter, Mary never denied Jesus and, unlike Paul, she never persecuted him. She was given the title Apostle to the Apostles by the early church, the first to receive a direct mission from the Risen Lord to go and preach the Gospel.

New Native Peoples

byRoz Parr

July 13, 2022

By Sister Michele Schroeck — When I think of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint from the territory of the United States and Canada and patroness of ecology, I think of the Bhutanese immigrants living in my neighborhood. They were expelled from their native lands and sent to Nepal, where they lived in refugee camps in the 1990s before coming to the United States. These Bhutanese like many other native peoples were forced to leave their ancestral home.

“We can make a difference” + “This is what solidarity looks like”

byRoz Parr

July 12, 2022

More than 50 sisters, associates and colleagues in ministry joined the Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington, D.C., on Saturday, June 18, 2022. Sister Carren Herring and Sister Diane Guerin recently reflected on what it was like to be a part of this momentous event!

Hearing the Cry of Guyana’s Poor: Connecting with Earth and Social Challenges

byRoz Parr

July 7, 2022

By Elsa Cromarty, Coordinator of Mercy Associates in Guyana —
“The human environment and the natural environment deteriorate together….In fact, the deterioration of the environment and of society affects the most vulnerable people on the planet….The impact of present imbalances is also seen in the premature death of many of the poor.” This quote from Laudato Si’ reminds us that we and Earth are one. We are indispensably connected, and human actions, good or bad, decisively affect our relationship with the environment.

Bringing the Border Experience Home

byRoz Parr

July 5, 2022

By Elnora Bassey, Policy Advocate, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) — In early May 2022, I arose from my cozy bed hours before sunrise to catch an early flight to the U.S.-Mexico border. An advocate attorney with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), which works to protect immigrant and humanitarian rights, I was participating in a week-long border immersion experience to El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, to learn more about immigration issues facing migrants during and after their journey to the U.S.-Mexico border. The program was sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy and hosted by the Columban Mission Center.

Joy, Pain and Mercy on the Border

byRoz Parr

July 3, 2022

By Catherine Walsh, Features Writer
— The joy I found on the U.S.-Mexico border in May surprised me. I heard horrific stories of people fleeing violence and poverty in Central America, Haiti and Ukraine, but I also saw countless kindnesses by migrants and those who help them while I was in El Paso, Texas, and Juárez, Mexico, with the Sisters of Mercy to learn why people are coming to the border in ever higher numbers. I heard people say that the Southern Border is the new Ellis Island.

Following are photos capturing our time at the border.

Learning to Advocate Through Mercy

byRoz Parr

July 1, 2022

By Amanda Ricci, student, Georgian Court University, New Jersey —
Making the decision to travel to Washington D.C. and advocate for climate policy was far and beyond my comfort zone but was the leap of faith I needed. Engaging in advocacy trainings and putting those learned skills into action was certainly anxiety-provoking but entirely worth it in the end. Not only did I find my voice to address environmental concerns, but I learned how to do so through a Mercy lens.

The value of interrelationship

byRoz Parr

June 29, 2022

By Sister Estela Gomez — “Centered in God and the Spirit of Catherine McAuley, what critical conversations and collective responses are we invited to explore now?” We Sisters of Mercy are currently reflecting on this question as we prepare to gather in the spring for our next direction-setting meeting. At a similar meeting in 2017, we committed to engagement in education and dialogue around the subject of gender identity and sexual orientation. The question before us now invites us to consider the challenges more deeply, beyond what we’ve already been doing.

Finding community in Mercy as Catholic and LGBTQ+

byRoz Parr

June 28, 2022

By Carolyn Shalhoub, Mercy Associate — In 2017, at a direction-setting international meeting, the Sisters of Mercy committed to education and engaged dialogue on gender identity and sexual orientation. How farsighted it was for the sisters to set out on this particular journey. Catherine McAuley would be proud.

Walking with Saints at the Border

byRoz Parr

June 25, 2022

By Joanne Castner, Mercy Associate — On May 8, 2022, 13 of us from across the United States gathered in the living room of the Columban Mission House in El Paso, Texas, the beginning of an immersion trip to meet with people who find ways to organize their communities and improve living conditions for those in need, and to discover why so many people from other countries are seeking to cross our nation’s borders.

The Work of Brave Women at the El Paso-Juarez Border

byRoz Parr

June 23, 2022

By Gail Presbey, faculty member, University of Detroit Mercy — I was grateful for the opportunity to travel to the U.S.-Mexico border and see for myself the struggles that immigrants have, and to meet the people who are ministering to their needs and organizing for change. I was glad to do so in the company of Sisters of Mercy, Mercy associates and educators at Mercy institutions. I’d like to focus on the women I met there and the important work they do.

Author: Roz Parr