Have Mercy! is an online publication with highlights of the June issue of MercyLette, a publication of the Sisters of Mercy Regional Community of North Carolina.  Just Click on the heading to see the rest of the story.  Four hundred forty-five Between them, these Silver, Golden, Platinum & Platinum Plus Jubilarians have plenty to celebrate  — 445 years of combined service. Fond Farewells, Warmest Welcomes We say goodbye to longtime columnist, Sister Trinie Pangelinan and welcome her successor, Mercy Associate Patrick Riego de Dios. Saying Goodbye Sister Mary Charles Cameron leaves position as Director of Curriculum at the Academy of Our Lady of Guam (AOLG) as she begins a Sabbatical year and returns to the Belmont Motherhouse. AOLG adopts “Sister School” The students at the Academy of Our Lady of Guam have adopted Saramen Chuuk Academy as their sister school and have already delivered over 750 pounds of school supplies to the school.     Surprise for Sister Erencia Upon her return to Chuuk from Guam, Sister Erencia gets a surprise!   House of Mercy marks anniversary The House of Mercy celebrates 15 years of service.   And Justice for All: Torture is ALWAYS wrong! Justice advocate and columnist, Mary Schmuck, RSM, shares her insights on Catholic Social Teaching     Blast from Mercys’ Past: Another Connection. . . Archivist and popular columnist, Mary Andrew Ray, RSM, uses selected writings from Mother Mary Austin Carroll to uncover our past and our connections within the state of Georgia.      Back to top Plenty to celebrate Although we have three more Jubilees to celebrate, eight Jubilarians have been the focus of attention in the last few weeks. On May 27, Golden Jubilarians Sisters Mary Stephen Torres & Mary Jeanette Leon Guerrero, serve as the left flank for Silver Jubilarian, Sister Mary Seville Cabuhat,  while Golden Jubilarians Sisters Mary Cecilia Camacho and Mary Brigid Perez can be seen on her right; on May 30, Sister Margaret Mary Higgins, shown in photo below, on right, celebrated her 80th Jubilee and 101st birthday. Celebrating their Platinum (70) Jubilees on June 3 Sisters Mary Cecilia Lewis and Josephine Maria Thomas were all smiles as they posed with Regional Community president, Sister Paulette Williams just prior to the Liturgy. When Diamond Jubilarians Sisters Maureen Dees and Jeanne Marie Kienast join Golden Jubilarian, Sister Mary Hugh Mauldin, meet for liturgy and a celebration on Saturday, June 17, at St. Matthew Catholic Church, all of our 2006 Jubilarians will have been honored for their service! Look for more on the June 17th Jubilee in the next issue of MercyLette. Back to top View from the Islands: Fond Farewells & Warmest Welcomes Athough Sister Trinie Pangelinan’s column "View from the Pacific," has been an anchor for the MercyLette for many years, this month we say farewell to this faithful contributor. As one of two Guam Sisters who have effectively and efficiently provided news from the Guam Region, Trinie’s contributions have always been informative and timely. As the editor for almost eleven years, I felt compelled to use this opportunity to thank her — as well as her predecessor and editor, Sister Mary Cabrini Taitano — for their always compelling and often educational writing. Over the years their writings have taken us to Chuuk, where we learned much about cultural issues that continue to effect women living there — and how the women of Mercy have begun to empower them through education. We’ve vicariously joined in voyages with those who long ago inhabited the various Pacific Rim islands; we’ve learned some Chamorro words and heard about customs unique to this corner of the world; we’ve mourned with them following the loss of members, Sister Mary Peter Uncangco, Mary Benedict San Nicolas, Mary Roberta Taitano, Sister Mary Veronica Chargualaf, and former member Mary Underwood. The unique perspectives of both Sisters Mary Cabrini and Trinie allowed us a window through which we could rejoice with them as they broke ground for or dedicated new facilities, like the Sister Mary Roberta Taitano Center. They shared their joy as they celebrated the 50th Jubilee of their foundation and gave us insights into the challenges of ministry locations like Saipan and Rota. And all along the way, they shared their hearts. However, despite the tears and difficulties that "goodbyes" bring, without them, the eyes with which we see, the ears with which we hear and the heart with which we feel would remain relatively unchanged. So, as I thank Trinie & Cabrini, for their dedication, I also want to welcome a new face, a new perspective and a new member of our Mercy family — Patrick Riego de Dios. Patrick Riego de Dios, a Filipino teacher at Santa Barbara Catholic School and a new Mercy Associate, will take over as Director of Communication in Guam as of July 1, 2006. According to all reports, he is very technologically-savvy and will be a considerable asset as a resource member of the Emmaus Communications Task Force. Patrick can be seen at right, with Sr. Cabrini, Guam Region president, who is in the process of attaching his Mercy Associate pin. Patrick has agreed to attend necessary meetings, write a monthly column, participate in conference calls and distribute materials as needed. We welcome this new face and new voice of Mercy and look forward to hearing from him as he shares his perspective of Mercy. o To Trinie & Cabrini, during your tenure as an editor, writer and/or Director of Communications for the Guam Region, let me bid you both a fond farewell and acknowledge sincere gratitude for all you have been, are, and will be! o To Patrick, on behalf of myself and a grateful North Carolina and Guam Region Community, let me welcome you to this new dimension of your commitment to Mercy. By Kris Reich, Director of Communications Saying goodbye not an easy task Sister Mary Charles Cameron, shown at right with Sister Doris San Agustin, has been saying "Goodbye" for the past several weeks, in her quiet way, and lest you think otherwise, it hasn't been easy. First, she said goodbye to the school community of the Academy of Our Lady of Guam. Next, she said goodbye to her housemates at Mercy Heights Convent and finally, she said farewell to the members of the Guam Region where she has lived and ministered from the mid-60s. For over 40 years, Mary Charles aka "Aunt Mary," has served as a pillar of community strength and wisdom to her community. She's served the Archdiocese of Agaña as a teacher, principal, director of religious education, councilor, and in recent weeks left her position as Curriculum Director at the Academy of Our Lady of Guam. She's also faithfully served the Guam Community in numerous administrative positions over those forty years.   Sadly for the Guam Region, after she attends the Mercy Charism Retreat at Visitation Monastery in Mobile, Alabama, and arrives in her adopted home of Guam it will be only a few weeks before she returns to Belmont. Traditionally in Guam departures are marked by celebrations known as a "despidida" or farewells where family, friends and community gather to express their gratitude for her presence among them. This is precisely how the Guam sisters had shown their appreciation for "Charlie's" presence and ministry among them.   This special woman — originally rooted in Ballinrobe, Ireland, first replanted in Belmont, North Carolina, and subsequently transplanted in Guam — has shared her Irish brogue with the people of Guam as well as her passion for nurturing the charism of Catherine McAuley. The Guam Region Community will sorely miss her. Si Yu’os Ma’ase, Sister!   That said, what is a loss for the Guam Region, is a blessing to the North Carolina Motherhouse community as Mary Charles returns to Belmont for her Sabbatical year.   Of course, the Guam Region would happily welcome her with open arms anytime she'd like to return. Academy of Our Lady of Guam adopts "Sister School" By Sister Dorothy Lettiere, RSM Like Mother Catherine McAuley in her love for the poor and her belief in quality education, Sister Francis Jerome Cruz, principal of the Academy of Our Lady of Guam (AOLG), had to do something when she heard about young people on a neighboring island who lacked the basic necessities to ensure an environment conducive to learning. It came to her attention that the students of Saramen Chuuk Academy were in desperate need of school supplies for their classes. As a result, Sister Francis Jerome asked that AOLG students adopt Saramen Chuuk Academy as their "sister school." Eager to be of help, the young women of the Academy launched a school-wide SCHOOL SUPPLIES COLLECTION, coordinated by the RSM (Responding to the Spirit of Mercy) Club. The contributions from 17 homerooms, each designated to secure specific items, netted boxes of supplies, such as board erasers, construction/Xerox paper, staplers, notebooks, etc., and even two blackboards! As God would have it, Sisters Grace Joseph and Erencia Saipweirik, Mercy sisters who teach at Saramen Chuuk Academy, were on island for the Guam Community’s Mercy Day celebration, and they were invited to address the students at AOLG’s Mercy Day assembly. The Sisters shared about their school and students, many of whom arrive for classes by boat. After their talks, Sisters Grace and Erencia were presented with the AOLG students’ "generosity"—750 pounds of school supplies! How fitting that these "gifts of love" were given during a gathering celebrating MERCY! St. Thomas Aquinas describes MERCY as "a heart suffering over the suffering of others." This description fits Catherine McAuley perfectly. In all her dealings with the poor, she suffered with and for them. Her compassion flowed out of her love—her love of God and for His afflicted ones. Following Catherine’s example, the AOLG students heard the cries of the poor and responded compassionately as they reached out over an expanse of the Pacific Ocean to their young neighbors in Chuuk—one Academy to another, one MERCY school to another! The legacy of Catherine McAuley lives on! Sr. Dorothy Lettiere is a psychology/theology teacher and the guidance counselor at AOLG in Hagatna, Guam. Surprise greets Sister Erencia! Hello sisters, I didn't know until I recently returned to Chuuk from Guam that I was in for a surprise! There has been a change in our administration here at Saramen Chuuk Academy. Camarino Akapito who was the Vice-Principal has been promoted and is now the current Principal. In addition, I have been named the Vice-Principal for Academic Affairs and another individual will handle Student Affairs. Please pray that all goes well and that I have all the energy to do what is best for our school. I am a bit nervous about this but will do my best to make a difference here at Saram[en]. I need all your prayers... Adios, sisters and God bless,  Erencia Sister Erencia Saipweirik can be seen above on far left in photo. Back to top Sponsored Ministry Minutes . . . from House of Mercy This season marks the 15th anniversary of the House of Mercy. Over 225 men and women living with advanced AIDS have been served since the Sisters of Mercy founded House of Mercy in 1991. Margie Storch, Director of Development, has enjoyed looking through and re-organizing the archives as she prepares an anniversary article for the summer newsletter. In the past month, residents have welcomed the spring weather and various outings including fishing at Bear Lake. It was lots of fun even with no fish! Three residents visited McGill Rose Garden in Charlotte and had a great time. House of Mercy was given two rose bushes that have been planted in the residence backyard. Residents have also gone shopping, ordered ice cream at Dairy Queen, attended a benefit for the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network, a RAIN social/gospel sing, and visited downtown Charlotte’s Speed Street. A resident recently celebrated one year of being clean at an AA meeting and was accompanied by supportive staff and a volunteer. Residents and staff enjoyed lunch at the Golden Corral to celebrate Shirley Stowe’s (our Director of Nursing) birthday on May 17. House of Mercy has received a grant to purchase new recliners for the residence rooms and a new dining room set. Another grant from the Glenn Foundation has been approved for a computer software upgrade to better manage our database of supporters and donors. And Justice for All: Torture is ALWAYS wrong   by Mary Schmuck, RSM Very recently someone cited Booker T Washington’s wise exhortation, "Don't ever let them pull you down so low as to hate them." I would add, "or scare us so much as to torture them." It distresses me deeply that our beloved USA seems to be getting all tangled up in a lot of "the end justifies the means" judgments, supposedly because we believe we are good people and so the means we are using must be morally all right because we are the good people using them. Our use and rationalization of our use of torture surely are among these ends/means mix-ups. Response to the harm we have experienced and our enduring fear do not justify this means – ever. Patrick Henry reminds us that many USA original colonists came here precisely to escape torture. He further declares that if torture is allowed in this "New World," we are "lost and undone." (How are we doing, everyone?) A frustrating irony in all this: experts tell us that torture-gained information is completely unreliable. We are losing our national soul for unreliable information…?? Parsing words with international community institutions to excuse our actions and our ends/means confusion? Sending prisoners to other nations for "interrogation" – to what benefit anyway? A counterpoint: the response of Mount St. Joseph Kentucky Ursuline Sister Dianna Ortiz. Sister was abducted while serving in Guatemala in late 1989. Sister was most brutally tortured before she was released/escaped. In her very courageous recovery she is now working full time with a national organization she helped found that aids survivors of torture and works hard to abolish torture worldwide. This organization, Torture Abolition & Survivors Support Coalition, is joining with much respected Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others to draw attention to the fact of torture and the great need to again ban torture. These organizations are focusing effort on the month of June, 2006 – building around June 26, United Nations International Day in Support of Torture Victims and Survivors. The need for such a campaign is rooted in the reality that the majority of US people (and even more Catholics!) believe that torture is justified, at least under some circumstances. See National Catholic Reporter, 3-25-06, P 5-6. To be clear: Catholic teaching says torturing others is absolutely forbidden – such a fundamental abuse of human dignity that it is. Through our 2005 Sisters of Mercy Institute Chapter Acts we are calling ourselves "to deepen and assimilate more consciously the practice of nonviolence as an integral aspect of the charism of mercy." It is up to you and me and us to get our moral education updated and to demand that our leaders who are allowing torture in our national name, cease and desist immediately and unequivocally! There has to be zero tolerance for torture! Some actions recommended for June 2006: • 24-hour international fast June 1 in support and memory of all who have suffered torture and now endure it. • Call the White House 202-456-1414 June 23 to insist on zero tolerance for any nation engaging in torture. • International bell ringing June 25 at noon ET/11 am CT – a clamor against torture around the world! As Sister Dianna concludes a prayerful reflection, "In the name of all the tortured of the world, give us the strength, give us the courage, give us the will to bring this horror to an end, in the name of love, justice, and the God of us all. Amen." For further information about June 2006: Torture Awareness Month, see www.tassc.org A Blast from Mercys' Past: . . . Another Connection by Mary Andrew Ray, RSM The following selection is taken from Leaves from the Annals of the Sisters of Mercy, Volume IV, 1895, By a Member of the Order of Mercy (whom time and research has proven to be Mother Mary Austin Carroll), Chapter XXXV "From Florida to Georgia" and Chapter XXXVI "Two Congregations of Sisters of Mercy Consolidate." The calamities of the South are matters of history. One small town in Georgia, in its obscurity and distance from probable war centres, seemed to offer the wanderers a safe refuge – Columbus – where their advent had been eagerly desired for years. The Bishops decided, and the Sisters reluctantly agreed, that they should leave the Catholic city of St. Augustine…Ever hopeful of a place they dearly loved, they felt that their exile from St. Augustine would be only temporary. …August 17 [1861], the Sisters left the beautiful old Spanish city, with its forts and convents, and set out on a journey which they never forgot. There were no railroads, and stages were not allowed to leave or enter the city. As all the horses had been seized by the soldiery, mules were brought into requisition. To the Bishop, a young mare, just broken, was given, and the antics of that sportive animal afforded much amusement along the route. Harnessed to her was the body of an old wagon, the prelate’s conveyance. On account of the delicate health of one of the number, some Sisters were placed in an old tent-wagon, covered with a dilapidated carpet, to keep out the rain. The two other vehicles which made up the procession were sand-carts, popularly called dump-carts, drawn by mules harnessed with ropes. The cortége ranged thus: the wagon with the frisky mare contained the Bishop, two trunks, a box of provisions with Rev. Father Dufau for driver. The two dump-carts had each two Sisters, one trunk on which they sat, and a white boy of fourteen to drive…They stopped before an old house which had evidently been deserted in a hurry, as the furniture had not been removed. The Bishop decided to stay there for the night, which pleased his companions, for they were in a sorry plight. One room had a large fireplace; there were two sleeping apartments adjoining. The boys…brought in pine and lit a fire. Refreshing tea was soon made…In one room was a large bedstead with two mattresses. Boards placed on stools, a mattress spread over them, made a comfortable bed for the Bishop. The Sisters took turns keeping up the fire to scare off the mosquitoes and dry the clothing they had washed, resting occasionally on the large bed. About midnight the sleepers were aroused by a crash in the Episcopal chamber. The boards had given way, depositing his lordship on the floor, where he wisely remained for the rest of the night. There was an audible titter at the mishap, in which the discomfited prelate joined good-humoredly… …It was quite dark when they reached the ferry in which they crossed to Jacksonville, having previously dismissed their fleet of carts…and which the boys took back to St. Augustine. …August 20, they took the train for Lake City and began their northward progress on the only bit of railroad left in Florida… …Early September 3rd, they left for Columbus where they arrived on the morning of the 4th. They at once repaired to the church, and the Bishop said Mass. They then went to the house of a widow, Mrs. Adams, which had been rented for them. They opened St. Joseph’s School, October 1, 1862, with a great crowd of pupils…Scarcity of food and clothing were felt even in remote Columbus,; it was very difficult to procure the common necessaries of life… …Columbus held the only Sisters of Mercy in Georgia that claimed, as their Mother-Foundress, the Venerated Catharine [sic] McAuley, and in some years branched out to Macon, a Catholic centre in the same State. But there were other zealous Sisters who worthily bore the same name, established in various parts of Georgia. Originally, they were founded in Charleston, by no less a personage than Bishop England, incomparably the greatest man that has yet appeared in the American Church….