Ten years ago, at the end of April 2007, I received a telephone call at the office of Mercy Global Concern at the United Nations, in New York, from Sister Maureen Christi, a Mercy Sister living and working in Philadelphia. She asked me if I would be willing to address the Mercy Leadership Assembly of secondary students who meet annually in Gwynedd Mercy University outside Philadelphia. “We want to expand the students’ horizons and in particular focus on the plight of other girls worldwide.” As a passionate promoter of girls’ education and an active member of the United Nations working group on girls, I immediately agreed. The following week, I drove to Philadelphia and met with Sister Christi and Mrs. Eileen Killeen at Merion Mercy Academy, and a short time later the concept of the Mercy Girl Effect was born!
School Girls
During the annual 4-day gathering, which is open to 4-6 student leaders from Mercy Secondary Schools, the participants are invited to understand what being a Mercy person means in today’s world. They undertake some assessment of their Leadership skills and styles and learn how to work as a group when they return to their respective schools. In addition, the students are given factual exposure to what is happening globally to girls their age or younger. Finally, students make a commitment to a project recognizing that as Mercy people, it is not enough to be compassionate: we must ACT!
You might well be wondering, “What is the Mercy Girl Effect and what does it do? We borrowed our title from the YouTube video called the “Girl Effect” which is well worth watching. It records what happens to a 12 year old girl in the developing world when she is given the chance of an education. We have drawn wisdom and encouragement from our Foundress, Catherine McAuley, who very early in our Congregation’s life knew the importance of education.
The United Nations Children’s Organization (UNICEF) where I currently work has been a great source of help to our work as they have been documenting the plight and situation of girls across the globe for the past 40 years. In recent years, they have also been documenting terrorist attacks on girl’s schools.
Each year for the past 10 years, our meeting in Philadelphia has focused on a specific education project, working with a Mercy Sister on the ground in different parts of the globe. The people in the local scene determine what they need and how we can collaborate to make a difference.
• Our very first project was in collaboration with Denise Coughlan, an Australian Sister of Mercy in Cambodia, building the first of many small schools in rural Cambodia.
• For a number of years, we helped Sister Cathy Solano and the Nuba Mountain people of Sudan. When the school in Nuba was bombed, we helped by replacing the roof.
• Last year, responding to a request from our Sisters in Zambia, who told us that students had no chance of school beyond the age of 12, we raised significant monies to enable the construction of a small secondary school in Kaleya, Zambia.
• During the current year, our focus is working with our Mercy Sisters on the ground in Nigeria. The sudden death of Sister Marie McGann, who supplied us with many photos and information about the situation on the ground, helped the students grasp and comprehend just how fragile life is in many parts of our globe.
Cambodian School
The Mercy Girl Effect is OUR story and it is special because it is OUR story. It is a story about actual people. Each one of us who belongs to Mercy is, in some way or another, part of this great enterprise. Mercy is more than a noun; it is a gerund. It implies action… Mercying is an ongoing thing and that is why since the days of Catherine McAuley, who was the first Sister of Mercy and inspired by Christ, we do what we do.
We will be meeting again in Philadelphia this year, in the last week of June, and I am happy to report that students from Thornhill College in Derry will be attending! If you would like further information about the Mercy Girl Effect, contact me, Sister Deirdre Mullan: Deirdremullanun@aol.com, ekilleen@merion-mercy.com or Sister Christi: SCHRISTI@gmahs.org
Deirdre Mullan rsm
Northern Province
