Presentation to Mercy Associates by Sister Mary Tee, October 2014

Good afternoon.

I want to express my sincere thanks to your facilitators and to all of you for offering me this opportunity to speak to you about the Mercy Centre for Ecology and Justice. I am happy to see many familiar faces ….. a number of whom have attended some of the programs we offer at the Centre and many, too, assist us in various ways, especially in volunteering at the Ten Thousand Villages Sale. I do hope you realize how much your assistance is appreciated by all of us. The Associate Program is very much a growing movement and a very much appreciated one in our Congregations. I trust that you have had a stimulating and enjoyable time together during the past couple of days.

As I reflected on what I would say about the Mercy Centre for Ecology and Justice and why we do what we do I thought about our Mercy Foundress, Catherine McAuley, as I so often do, and her view of Mercy and Justice in the world. Without a doubt, I think she experienced deep within her a profound sense of God’s deepest desire expressed in Jesus’ prayer during his agony the night before he died “. . .that all may be one”

I can see her longing for this reality every time she prayed the words of the Our Father “Thy kingdom come on earth as in heaven”. This, I feel, was uppermost in her heart, in her mind and in her will when off she went to the well-to-do people of Baggot Street, reaching out to them, with requests to share some of their wealth with the poor. In fact, we read that it was her desire to connect the rich with the poor that prompted her to build the House of Mercy on Baggot Street, a district known at the time for its fine houses and wealthy people. There, she hoped, the rich and poor would live together, side by side on the same street, in the same community. This was how she saw fairness, love, unity and harmony as an expression of God for humanity in her time in history

According to the theology of the time, humans were seen as being apart from or above nature – I am sure most of all of you have all seen the pyramid-like depiction of that hierarchical reality - with God at the top, followed by the angels, then humans, with animal and plant life at the bottom – yet, despite these prevalent teachings and beliefs of her day, Catherine still held a vision of oneness, of the possibility of one integral relationship of rich and poor, all sparks of the same flame, all carrying their own story of their lived experiences.

So we ask, if Catherine were alive today, how would she address the needs of our time? What would she do (and we can, of course, ask the same questions of all our founders). What would they do? I firmly believethat if Catherine were here today her bridge-building and filling of gaps would be extended, not only to the human but would also include the other-than-human world in an effort to build one community of all life and to restore and protect that one delicate web of life, created by God for the continuation of our very lives. I also firmly believe, and I hope I’m not being over presumptuous, that she would wholeheartedly embrace the Mission and Mandate of the Mercy Centre for Ecology and Justice which is:

The mission and mandate of Mercy Centre for Ecology and Justice:

To embrace the interconnectedness and interrelatedness of all creation; To be in right relationship with God, self, others, Earth; To live a spirituality flowing from the sacredness of all creation; To work in solidarity with others for the restoration of ecology and justice

in our world and in all creation.

She would, I believe, be rejoicing, as she always did whenever she opened a new foundation, for the mission and mandate of the Mercy Centre. She would be inviting us to let go of the belief that God is separate from the world, that we are separate, that we were given dominion over Earth, that we are the pinnacle of creation. She would indeed be happy to renounce these limiting beliefs, and instead expand her thinking to embrace the interconnected and interrelatedness of all creation, to live a spirituality flowing out of the sacredness of all creation and be engaged in what Thomas Berry calls ‘the Great Work’. As she in her day responded to human need, I think she would now, in our day, make a leap of consciousness to a more holistic vision. She would challenge us to promote programs to “widen our circle of compassion to embrace all of life, the whole of nature, in all its beauty”, as Einstein suggests, or as reiterated by Brain Swimme “to

embrace a more comprehensive compassion to include the total community of life of the natural world of the planet”.

This is the new cosmology, the new revelation today of the connectedness and interrelatedness of all life, coming from the best of science and from what our religious traditions from the mystics of the 12th century had already known, which we promote in our programs.

The new worldview depicts life not as a pyramid but in a more circular way with all lfe at the centre and not just human life as the pinnacle of creation

These programs have the capacity to awaken in us the ability to see in new and different ways who we are as participants living in a planet that is alive, where all life, human and non-human is sacred and connected in an integrated and relational way. Grasping the fundamentals of this new cosmology is key to our programs at the Mercy Centre for Ecology and Justice as we challenge the old world view which, is possibly accountable, for the destructive attitude we take toward God’s gift of life we seek to accumulate profit at any cost.

We are losing sight of the fact that we are connected to Earth and that the health of the land, air, and water directly influences the health of us humans and all other life forms. We cannot have healthy humans if we do not have clean drinking water, clean air to breath and healthy food to eat. Already many of the myriad life forms are endangered or becoming extinct and Earth’s ecosystems services are breaking down. If we are to address this problem we as humans must be in touch with our true self, our spirit self, and know our place in this planet.

life

Through our programs at the Centre we seek to explore our place in creation. One of the ways we do this is through the study of “The New Universe Story”, using the film by Brian Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker. This is a science based sacred story of the Genesis story. It is a genesis or a cosmic genesis story that connects us with all beings. It challenges the anthropocentric view point which sees human as the most important being on Earth.

The New Story or the Universe is presented as our story. Through this Story people begin to understand themselves as part of one community of life, inclusive of the non-human and the human, one planetary web of life. It is the story of the human journey which began 13.7 billion years ago when everything needed for human life and in fact for all of life came into existence.

Through discussion, reflection and activities it is our hope that participants will come to realize that all of creation, the rocks, trees, a snail, the ocean, connects in some way as part of themselves. Then they will, we hope, more deeply recognize themselves in a relationship of kinship with all creation, a relationship that is characterized by care and compassion for all life, both human and other-than-human. Once we have this felt-understanding, we begin to realize that there is no such thing as a human community apart from the Earth community, and with this insight, we can no longer live comfortably, or even blindly perhaps, with the pollution and devastation of the soil, water and air on which our very existence depends. Thomas Berry tells us that to think that we can have a viable human economy by destroying the Earth’s economy is absurd. Furthermore, neither can we have healthy people on a sick planet.

Today The story of the Earth and Universe is being told as our Sacred Story

NETWORKING

This new understanding requires a radical shift in thinking and behaviour. At the Mercy Centre for Ecology and Justice we believe this shift is possible and that we have a responsibility to be participants in the direction this change will take. We realize that networking with other organizations and groups involved in similar work is of extreme importance for the furthering of the goals of the Centre. Association with these groups offers us invaluable sources of related research and analysis of current issues. Some of the groups with which we network are Development and Peace, KAIROS Canada, Canadian Religious Conference-Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, the Sandy Pond Alliance and the West Coast of NL Fracking Groups, and our Mercy International Centre in Ireland through the Cosmology Eco Justice Committee. Working with these groups strengthens our endeavours in ways in which it would be impossible to accomplish on our own. Last year, for example, through our connection with the Sisters of Mercy Internationally we were able to bring the issue of the Sandy Pond Alliance to the United Nations through a Letter of Urgent Appeal. Many other organizations, including the United Nations NGO for the Presentation Sisters, signed this letter in support.

The world is changing now and the direction is up to us. We can participate in its direction or we can let it go in any direction the choice is ours. but we must take responsibility and that is the urgency we try to put forth.

Our programs seek to address the reality of today’s world which is characterized in so many ways by fragmentation, separation and materialism, all of which contributes to an individualistic and competitive way of life, making it very challenging for one to remember and live one’s life out of the realization of who we really are as reflections of God on Earth. As we humans overexploit and deplete Earth’s natural resources of soil, water, trees, and atmosphere, researchers tell us that our planet, Earth, is in a state of serious decline. We therefore have to find new and alternate ways to live as citizens on this planet. One of the programs we promotes the idea of Degrowth.

DEGROWTH SESSION

Degrowth, a relatively new but growing movement, calls for a radical break from traditional grow-based models of society to new ways based on sharing and cooperation with moderate consumption so as to insure a more sustainable way of life. It is considered an essential economic strategy in response to the limits-to-growth concern and a direction for a more viable future.

FAIR TRADE

Each year at the Centre we sponsor the Ten Thousand Villages Sale, in which hand-made crafts made by poor artisans in developing countries, often from re-cycled materials, are sold for a fair price. In this way we promote Fair Trade as an alternative to Free Trade in an effort to change a system which puts profit before life. Unlike Free Trade, where all the profits go to large corporations, with Fair Trade the people who produce the goods receive a fair wage for their product. The goal of Ten Thousand Villages is to provide income for marginalized families in developing countries, thereby, enabling them to provide the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter for their families, educate their children and have greater access to health care services. This project has a positive impact, not only on the lives of these people, but also on the environment. It is also a deterrent to Human Trafficking of children since parents through their earnings can provide for their children and educate them in their own home country without having to recourse to false promises of education or jobs from foreigners in the sex trade. Many people who attend the Sale tell us they prefer to purchase their Christmas gifts and other items at this Sale because they know they are thereby helping to provide for the basic needs of people in the developing world.

GARDEN PROJECT

Perhaps the shift in mindset of which I am speaking can best be pictured in a vegetable garden. What could be more miraculous than growing a plant from a tiny seed? There, while working with the soil, we are ministered to by nature and in this space as we slow down and see what is real within us and without, we become part of Holy Mystery.

The students from the Association of New Canadians Language School are engaged in our garden project. These people come to us, often lonely and some owning perhaps little more than the clothes on their backs, but as they have told us, just having the opportunity to be able to put their hands into the soil and grow food by the same sun as in their own countries, physically and psychologically connects and grounds them in a healing and comforting way. Here they have something they grew themselves to share and call their own. I have noticed that for the New Canadians nothing is wasted, and I am so amazed with their delight in saving for food ,plants which we see as weeds. They talk about the recipes in which they will use these so-called weeds and of how nourishing they are.

We always begin our planting season with a garden blessing, and we are hoping to hold our Harvest Celebration on October 14 at 10:30 a.m., weather permitting. You are all invited to attend

CONTAINER GARDENING is another program we offer connected with the garden. Participants learn about soil and organic compost used for container gardening. This program is especially popular with people who wish to garden but have lead in the soil on their property.

SEED SAVINGIn this program participants learn to harvest seeds from vegetables and carefully dry them and store them until they are ready to be planted to grow into new plants. Saving seeds offers the opportunity to watch a plant develop through its whole life cycle and to better understand that cycle.

SUMMER CAMP

Perhaps one of the most energizing, promising and exciting projects is our Summer Environmental Day Camp. The camp, which began in 2007, consists of three one-week sessions with up to twelve children in each week. In the first two weeks we accept children in grades two and three and in the third week children in grades four and five. The purpose of these Day Camps is to increase awareness in young children of their interconnection and interrelatedness with all of creation and of their responsibility to use the gifts of creation respectfully and carefully and with a spirit of gratitude. Through the various activities we thus seek to tacitly encourage in those attending a more spiritual connection with the environment, assisting them in coming to know themselves as part of creation and creation as part of them. Each morning, through a listening exercise, they attune themselves to the sounds of nature. There is a different theme for each day with related activities, and through their experiences the children gradually appear to grow in their awareness of the energy present in creation and also alive in them.

Each year many parents from previous years contact us with requests to have their children attend a second or even a third summer. This year, however, many were disappointed when we had to tell them that we were giving preference to those who had not previously attended the camp. This was upsetting for them, especially so for the parent who pleaded with us asking if we could once more offer her child “that little bit of heaven” which she had experienced the previous year. (pictures of activities etc)

PROGRAMS ENCOURAGING CREATIVITY

Keeping before us that we are co-creators with God, small groups gather at the Centre for a number of creative projects. Participants delight in producing something beautiful out of re-cycled materials, for example making cards and jewelry while reflecting on what it means to re-cycle or turn the old into the new affords the opportunity to remember our call to care for God’s creation

ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATION SESSIONS

The Royal Astronomical Society visits our property and affords us the opportunity to experience telescopic views of planet Jupiter and its moons as well as hidden treasure in a view of open star clusters. Just to glimpse this energy with the realization that the same photons pulsate within us and that the vibration of this energy is beating in our hearts draws us into mystery and gratitude.

In addition to these projects and programs we also sponsor retreat days during advent and lent and have times for visiting the Centre. It is also our hope to establish a meditation walk and a Cosmic Walk on the property in the near future.

In conclusion I will just say again that the goal of all our programs at the Centre is the transformation of mind and spirit that will lead to action. By providing experiences where one can hopefully feel at the very core of one’s being that we belong to the cosmos and the cosmos is part of us then this can change our relationship with all of life.

If I may, before closing I’d like to invite all of you to attend the KAIROS Ecumenical Service being held at the Basilica on October 6, at 7:00 p.m. In its work, KAIROS Canada also focuses strongly on ecological justice, ensuring sustainability of our resources as well as on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and other justice work.