Courtney McGrailFour Cork students describe their experiences as Young Mercy Leaders
We senior students Pia Barrett, Sarah Howarth, Derbhla Maguire and Megan O’Neill along with Sr Angela Fleming and our religion teacher Edel McGovern, recently attended the Young Mercy Leaders’ Pilgrimage during the summer in the Mercy International Centre and St Conleth’s College in Dublin.
This enlightening journey brought together students, sisters and teachers from across the Mercy world including Ireland, England, Belize, America and Australia. We undertook this journey in the light of the story of Catherine McAuley, emerging with a deeper appreciation and understanding of our Mercy tradition – past, present and future.
Being in the Mercy International Centre was a beneficial, unforgettable and unique experience for us. We participated in many thought-provoking discussions regarding mercy, mercy works globally and mercy action.
Walking on the same floor boards that Catherine did was significant for us in exploring a deep understanding of mercy, furthermore challenging our view on the world.
The spirit of mercy was undoubtedly present during the pilgrimage from the offset and throughout. This was an extremely positive experience, seeing such a diverse group of young leaders with the same mindset as us from around the world giving up their own time to embrace the teachings of the Gospel and nourish the spirit of Catherine. This is something we’ll carry with us throughout the remainder of our lives.
Keynote presentations were given daily on worthwhile and interesting aspects of Catherine McAuley and her life’s work.
These included her life story and teaching, charity work carried out by the 7,500 Sisters of Mercy in 55 countries around the world, how kindness can go a long way and the global connection of mercy through social media. Jeremy Dickey, a former Young Mercy Leader (YML), who now works with the Mercy Sisters gave us the presentation ‘Globally Connected through Mercy’.
We also took part in many workshops such as meditation, 101 ways of mercy, mindfulness, a tour of the Mercy International Centre, body prayer and a sex trafficking talk. As we all found the sex trafficking talk to be most evocative and topical we hope to invite APT (Act to Prevent Trafficking) to give the students a talk in the school in the near future.
For us, the Young Mercy Leaders Pilgrimage opened our eyes to the more light-hearted side of Mercy, while also teaching us its true meaning. It inspired us to want to do better and better ourselves as people.
Kindness
We learned that the smallest act of kindness can truly go a long way, even if it’s as simple as giving a person a smile. We have taken much more from this enriching experience than we ever thought we could have by taking part in this pilgrimage. Overall, the YML Pilgrimage was undoubtedly an enlightening, evocative and worthwhile experience.
As teenagers learning something new about the world and its people every day, we had the ability to embark on this pilgrimage with an open mind and welcoming heart. Through meeting new people and embracing new cultures, ideas and Catherine’s comforting words we desire to become more aware of ourselves and those around us and to carry mercy with us throughout our life’s journey- wherever that will take us.
It was a worthwhile experience, one we will forever remember. We were inspired by the people we met and the new experiences we embraced with an open mind. Mercy is about being kind, helping those who are in need and showing compassion. It’s about bettering yourself as a person and keeping those around you in mind. If 123 students from five different countries can gather in the name of mercy in a place as small as Dublin, Ireland, one can rest assured that mercy is well and truly alive in our world today.
Catherine McAuley said “The simplest and most practical lesson I know is to be good today, but better tomorrow. Let us take one day only in hand, at a time, merely making a resolve for tomorrow, thus we may hope to get on taking short, careful steps, not great strides.”
As sixth year students, this quote resonated deeply with each of us as we’re preparing for the Leaving Cert among other things in our lives demanding our attention.
Although this is a challenging time for us, we’ve found comfort in Catherine’s words as they reminded us to take everything as it comes and that results take time. We plan on strengthening mercy in our school through our school Mass, displaying inspiring quotes from Catherine around the school, giving presentations to the local secondary school and national school students and encouraging acts of kindness.
The overall theme of the pilgrimage ‘It starts with you’ deeply inspired us and we left Dublin with a burning desire to do better, to be better and to start now.
The authors of this article are sixth year students in Mount Saint Michael, Rosscarberry, Co. Cork, one of 110 voluntary Catholic secondary schools managed by CEIST (Catholic Education An Irish Schools’ Trust).