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Update on opening Doors March 2025
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Opening Doors is part of our response to the challenges facing Mercy today. After wide-ranging consultation, five themes emerged as significant to our Mercy companions: Action for Justice, Communications, Formation, Structures and Youth Engagement.
We share some brief updates on Opening Doors for the month of March:
Action for Justice
It was another busy month at Mercy Global Action in New York. The fellows from MELF Cohort 4 were hosted there for their immersion experience.
We also took the opportunity to announce the details of Cohort 5 of MELF on International Women's Day.
Read more in their latest newsletter.
Formation Advisory Group
To date we have held a number of meetings of the Formation Advisory Group. A full suite of Formation resources have now gone live on our website as a result of these meetings. The Formation Group is now in the process of developing an introductory leaflet on formation as well as a full Formation Programme for new members of PJPs.
Communications
Our Communications Committee met in February to focus on strategy and planning for the year ahead.
We recently launched our Mercy Echoes podcast. Episode Two of the podcast went live in March and featured Sr. Berneice Loch from Australia talking about her life and ministry and the importance she places on kindness and hope in our world.
Our first Mercy Communications Café saw 70 people from across the Mercy World join us on Zoom to reflect on communicating hope. Our next Communications Cafés will take place in April and June. We will be looking at the topics of Social Media and Artificial Intelligence. Dates for both of these gatherings will be available shortly and we have a really exciting speaker engaged on AI!
Youth Engagement
Our Youth Engagement Advisory Group has now had the opportunity to meet twice. Members of the group are getting to know each other and discussions have centered on our shared experiences of working with young people. Our March meeting focused on the Terms of Reference for the Group, increasing membership and looking at some of the pillars or agreed areas of priority in terms of passing the Mercy Charism onto young people and making connections.
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Visitors to Mercy International Centre during March
Our doors at 64a Lower Baggot Street are always open where a warm welcome and a good cup of tea always await those visiting.
During March we were delighted to host the Executive Management Board Members of Mercy University Hospital, Cork.
We also welcomed students and staff from schools here in Ireland and in the UK. You can read the reflections of the staff from St Anthony's Catholic Girls' Academy, Sunderland here.
We also welcomed a group of frontline dedicated Mercy caregivers, Sisters of Mercy, Associates, and friends on a pilgrimage to Ireland from the USA. The St. Louis, Missouri Health Ministry, based in the Central USA have been sponsoring such groups annually for several years. Their 10-day journey included visits to sacred places of the Sisters of Mercy, with the highlight being rituals and visits at the Foundation House here at Baggot Street in Dublin.
We also hosted a number of smaller groups and individual visitors from Ireland, Australia and the USA including John McKeegan, President of Mount Aloysius College in the USA. He is pictured above with his wife Theresa and Sr. Patricia O'Donovan rsm of MIA.
We look forward to welcoming more visitors during the busy Summer season.
Opening Doors Resources
For more on Opening Doors please check out the dedicated section of our website.