History

The Merion Regional Community of the Sisters of Mercy began Mercy Volunteer Corps in 1978 and enthusiastically supported MVC through all its initial years. When the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas formed in 1991, the Merion Regional Community Leadership believed that MVC should become a sponsored work of the Institute. How true to Catherine McAuley are her daughters-responding to new needs and opportunities as they emerge.

Vision Statement

Rooted in the spirit of the Scriptures and Catherine McAuley and challenged by the needs of a world in a new millennium, Mercy Volunteer Corps, committed to achieving a more merciful and just world, invites women and men to join with the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas to:

• expand the boundaries of service to poor, sick, and uneducated persons within and beyond the U.S.;
• encourage multicultural diversity within the Mercy Volunteer Corps community and among the people served;
• participate in building community with poor persons and the other ministers of service at the service sites;
• embrace the growth inherent in the conversion process of acting in solidarity with economically poor or marginalised people;
• integrate the learned values of service, community, and prayer into their life experience; and
• develop new relationships with the Mercy community throughout and beyond their service year(s).

Mission Statement

In partnership with the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, lay women and men of Mercy Volunteer Corps (MVC), enter into relationship with people who are economically poor and marginalized. In a spirit of mutuality, volunteers cultivate mercy and justice in the world by embracing compassionate service, social justice, spirituality and a simple lifestyle in community.

Mercy Volunteer Corps Today

We seek to model service that is characterised by accompaniment, mutuality, and respect. We strive to respect the life and dignity of each person with whom we live, serve, and pray, ever conscious of God's presence in all of creation. In our service, community, and prayer, we reach out in love and mercy and learn to receive love and mercy from others. Opening ourselves to God's transforming grace, we hope to be instruments of peace and agents of change in the world.