Mercy International Reflection Process - Summary Statement

At their May 2015 meeting, the MIA Members and MIA Board of Directors endorsed the implementation of an International Reflection Process beginning on December 8, 2015 and ending on December 12, 2016.

The process has three goals: 
(i) to draw on rich Mercy resources – theologians, experiences in ministry, collective action to address injustices, connections globally – to make a contribution to the work that is happening at the global and local levels in relation to cosmology and justice; 
(ii) to provide ways for engaging and addressing the challenges and issues that the new cosmology and its 
link to eco-justice are bringing to light in our Mercy communities, congregations and international engagements; and 
(iii) to further develop and deepen the connections which we have been steadily building across the Mercy 
world.

The proposed process allows for maximum participation and enables us to address the many aspects relating to the complex issue: how can cosmological, ecological and justice visions shed new light on basic religious beliefs and understanding; and how can religious sources shed light on or be reconciled with radical new cosmological, ecological and justice visions? From this engagement we will work to articulate a new vision and praxis for the Mercy family internationally. We believe that such an undertaking will make a significant contribution to both the church and society, challenged as they also are by the issues we have identified.

The process has been developed over two years at the initiative of MIA Mercy Global Action’s Theological Advisory Committee. This International Reflection Process is the third step in a rich three-year cycle of global Mercy reflection: the 2014 20th Anniversary celebrations of MIA, the 2015 Year of Consecrated Life, and the 2016 Jubilee Year of Mercy in the universal Church. The process will be the international project for Mercy world for the Jubilee Year.

Mercy International Association invites all our congregations and institutes together with our Partners-in-Mercy to enter into the grace and challenge of contemplative space and to join in this Reflection Process so that we can discern globally a shared response to the cry of the Earth, thus flaming the fire of Mercy in us and in our Universe.

Berneice Loch rsm - President MIA Members 
Pat McDermott rsm - Chair MIA Board