Developments for The Gathering Place

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.

World Humanitarian Day, 19 August

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.

Celebrating 421 Years of Life and Ministry!

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.

Sr Annette Hawco

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!

Opening of Our Holy Doors (Newfoundland)

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

 

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