The Catholic Leader - 12 November - Issue 5477

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The Catholic Leader, November 12, 2017
Nourishing a communion of charisms Advertising
Feature
82 Cremorne Road, Kedron ph 3357 6000
Watch Her Flourish at Mount Alvernia College
Academic Excellence
Life-long Learners Spiritual Growth Social Justice Teamwork / Participation
Personal Development Creative Opportunities
Mater Health Services
materqld 07 3163 8111
Mater is committed to meeting the healthcare needs of the
community through the integration of health, education and
research which is focused on delivering compassionate care in the
tradition of Mercy for which we are renowned.
Integral to Mater’s Catholic identity and Mission is our
preparedness to respond compassionately to those who are
most vulnerable within our community. Mater Urological Surgeon,
Dr David Winkle, recently performed reconstructive surgery on
Ugandan toddler ‘baby Sam’, with the surgery made possible
by a group of individuals and organisations who are passionate
about donating their services and expertise to be able to help
peo lp e like Sam P. roviding car te o p tia ten s s huc as ‘b ba y Sa ’m
is an expression of our dedicated co mmitment as a health care
ministry, underpinned by our Mission and Values which guide us
in making appropriate decisions for a sustainable socially relevant
health service for the benefit of all those that we care for.
Wisdom to enlighten the future
IN Term Three the Year 7B Religious Education class at
St Patrick’s College, Townsville, was delighted to visit Sr
Regina during their time visiting Loreto Nursing Home.
The excursion was an opportunity for students to recon-
nect with Sr Regina, who they first met in Term One when
Sr Regina visited the girls in class and told them of her
story as a young girl travelling from Ireland to Australia
as a Sister of Mercy.
The girls fell in love with Sr Regina and were fascinat-
ed with her story and were so grateful to her for sharing it
with them.
As a sign of their appreciation the girls wrote and per-
formed a rap song for her about the traditions and values
of the Sisters of Mercy, the founders of our college, which
they performed for her at the nursing home.
The words penned in her honour are:
Sister Regina
They are sisters, sisters of mercy, not misters
Working together for better, chasing a mission, a
vision
Not missing visions of Catherine McAuley
A sister giving ultimate hope to the poorly
All the displaced, misplaced, out spaced teaching
them pride
Taking young ladies aside to work as guides
With a purpose, a future, restoring social order,
Teaching them to open their minds, to think
broader.
Future hopes: Year 7B Religious Education class visiting Sr Regina during their time at
Loreto Nursing Home.
Who is Mercy Partners?
We are a not-for-profit organisation set up
in 2008 to sponsor the Catholic ministries
entrusted to our care by their founding reli-
gious congregations. Our ministries operate
throughout Queensland in the education,
health, aged care, and community services
sector.
Mercy Partners Ministries
Mercy Partners sponsors the following min-
istries in the name of the Catholic Church:
l All Hallows’ School
l Mater Misericordiae Ltd
l Mater Health Services North Queensland
l Mercy Health and Aged Care Central
Queensland
l Mercy Community Services North
Queensland
l Mount Alvernia College, Kedron
l St Patrick’s College, Townsville
l St Rita’s College, Clayfield
l St Ursula’s College, Yeppoon
l Mercy Partners Council
Mercy Partners Council comprises nine
members and reports annually to the Holy
See. Council members are:
l Dr Ray Campbell, chair
l Sr Sandra Lupi, deputy chair
l Dr Daryl Hanly
l Dianne Hearn
l Dr Ricki Jeffery
l Leslie Jones
l Kieran McCarthy
l Lisa Siganto
l Sr Moira Truelson
Mission and Values
Our mission
Our mission is to contribute to the
emergence of a world where the healing,
liberating and life-giving mercy of God is
experienced.
We express our mission by safeguarding
the ministries entrusted to our care, helping
them to function effectively within the overall
mission of the Catholic Church and in ac-
cordance with their founding charism.
We share with our ministries these core
values: compassion, justice, re-
spect and hope.
Our values
Compassion: Those who show compas-
sion, enter into another’s experience and are
moved to respond. They engage with the
poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged people
of our world.
Justice: Those who show justice, live and
promote right relationships with God, self,
neighbour and creation. They uphold human
rights, accept their responsibilities to one
another, and strive to provide fair access to
the world’s resources for all people.
Respect: Those who show respect, honour
the integrity and diversity of creation. They
recognise the unique dignity of every human
being as created in the image and likeness of
God. Empowered by the Spirit, they are called
to be co-creators of the new creation.
Hope: Those who show hope, live the res-
urrection story by trusting in the transforming
power of God. They persevere through dif-
ficulties, act with integrity, and serve with joy.
For more information about Mercy
Partners see
and
Every ending is
a new beginning
By Sr Sandra Lupi
IN 2005, the congregation leaders
of the Sisters of Mercy of Cairns,
Townsville, Rockhampton and
Brisbane met to discuss future
sponsorship options for
their institutional minis-
tries.
We had already made the
transition to lay leadership in
many of our ministries and
we wanted to honour the call
of the Second Vatican Council
to provide a vehicle for true lay
leadership in the Church.
This emphasis on enabling lay
leadership at all levels of Catholic
ministry comes through strongly in the
original Statement of Vision and Intent that we
wrote in 2006.
It was this vision that inspired us as the ongo-
ing meetings and discussions continued over four
years.
As one leader commented, “it was a visionary
step, not just a practical response to a need”.
The hope was “to see our ministries ... flourish
in the name of Jesus and remain true to the vision
of and the Sisters of Mercy
who founded and developed them”.
We did not restrict our vision just to our
own congregations for we envisioned a
structure flexible enough to include
other religious congregations with
similar vision and purpose.
While collaboration was
originally a strategy for ad-
dressing future sponsorship, it
became a source of enthusiasm
and hope, a promise that it
could be done.
In November 2008, Mercy
Partners was approved by the
Holy See as a Public Juridic Person
(PJP), giving it canonical – legal – sta-
tus within the Catholic Church.
Formation of leaders is a critical element in the
role of Mercy Partners and we have gone from
strength to strength with our formation programs.
The publication of the Mercy Partners Theo-
logical Framework in 2017 provides a theologi-
cal basis for a communion of charisms working
together to realise God’s Mercy in the world.
It will guide policy formation and formation
programming at a ministry level, and help with
the articulation of a new way of being Church in
Australia.
Being a founding member of Mercy Partners
has been one of the most significant experiences
of my life as a Sister of Mercy.
I have learned so much from the actual process
of discerning a possible future for our ministries,
the collaboration with other Sisters of Mercy
as well as other congregations, the working in
partnership with council members and ministry
leaders.
After 12 years’ direct involvement with Mercy
Partners it is time for me to move on and allow
others to take us into the future.
Thank you to all of you who have been part of
my journey within Mercy Partners.
My prayer for you is that you may experience
Mercy as expressed in the words of Pope Francis:
“Mercy is the force that re-awakens us to new
life and instils in us the courage to look to the
future with hope”
New direction: Sr Sandra Lupi.