AMSSA CONFERENCE 2015 Adelaide South Australia Thursday, August 13 – Sunday, August 16

More than 135 people: staff from across Australia and New Zealand, representatives from Mercy Education, ISMAPNG and Mercy Works gathered in Adelaide for the AMSSA Conference with its theme of Making Mercy a Verb. Two very special guests were Sr Anne O’Farrell rsm and Sr Maureen McGurk rsm. These two Sisters of Mercy together with Sr Frances Baker rsm organised the first AMSSA Conference 25 years ago.

The first evening was spent at Mercedes College where registration took place, followed by a tour of the school, the official opening by Julie Ryan, the President of AMSSA and to end with a very enjoyable cocktail party enabling delegates to meet new friends and to catch up with old ones.

The following day was spent at the Adelaide Convention Centre with delegates and the staffs from Mercedes College and St Aloysius College, our hosts for the conference. There were two keynote addresses and a Mercy in Action Panel. The PowerPoints for all the key note speakers will be available on the website.

The first keynote address was given by Sr Mary Reynolds rsm who is the Executive Director of Mercy International Centre. Her address was entitled Catherine McAuley A Woman who Made Mercy a Verb. I overheard a comment made by one of the delegates saying that every time she has had heard Mary speak, she learnt something more about Catherine. Her address was stimulating and engaging and a wonderful way for the conference to start in earnest.

The second keynote address was given by Dr Maryanne Loughery AM who is a Sister of Mercy and the Associate Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service. Her keynote was entitled - What are the core elements of a merciful response? She used a striking photo of the people in a bombed out street and told the story of Yammouk, a Palestinian settlement near Damascus as the starting point of her address.

In the afternoon, there was a panel discussion chaired by Maryanne. The members of the panel were 5 current and ex-students from St Aloysius who had been refugees and asylum seekers. Their stories were heart wrenching as Maryanne deftly drew them out to talk about their journeys to Australia from Afghanistan, Iran, Kenya and West Africa. They were great stories of hope as each girl was welcomed and supported by the St Aloysius community.

The second day which was hosted by St Aloysius saw Sr Mary Reynolds again address the delegates. Her topic was Realising the Potential Making Mercy a Verb in our Schools. Drawing on the image of a tree, Mary made the argument that the stronger the roots – Catholic faith tradition, values, Mercy Charism, Mission of the Church, History and Tradition of the school – the more likely the foliage would be strong.

This was followed by a series of workshops run by staff in Mercy schools and organisations that gave the delegates the opportunity to interact in small groups and discuss topics relevant to their work as teachers and leaders as well as increasing awareness of broader Mercy outreach. The afternoon was spent on a walking tour to two outreach centres with Mercy links, Catherine House and Carrington Cottages, touring the Chapel at St Aloysius and listening to the St Aloysius students talk about their involvement in a range of social justice activities.

The final day of our conference saw the delegates gather in the beautiful St Aloysius Chapel to celebrate mass together and to give thanks for all we had experienced. Our celebrant was the Rev Dr Philip Marshall, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia of the Adelaide Archdiocese. He later addressed the delegates for the final session of the conference. His topic was Mercy in Evangelli Gaudium Making Mercy a Verb.

There was a strong feeling among the delegates as they left Adelaide to return home to their schools and families that the conference had been a great success. The keynote speakers had engaged, stimulated and challenged us, the workshops provided opportunities for engagement and discussion on a range of topics that were school based or related to broader Mercy involvement. The organising committee comprised of staff from St Aloysius College and Mercedes College are to be congratulated on providing us with a rich and valuable experience.

The Conference Dinner was held in the beautiful and stately Adelaide Town Hall. The guest of honour on the night was the Governor of South Australia His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le AO. Other special guests were Anne O’ Farrell rsm and Maureen McGurk rsm, two of the Sisters who organised the first Mercy Conference twenty five years ago and Annette Schneider rsm, the Representative of the Mercy Congregations in Australia and New Zealand and Mercy Partners. At the dinner the contribution of Sr Anne and Sr Maureen was acknowledged.

In his address on the night, Hi Excellency told his story of fleeing Vietnam with his wife with 40 people on board a boat built for 15 in 1977 after the end of the Vietnam War. He spoke of the horrors of the journey and the fears he had about not surviving such a dangerous journey. After several weeks, the boat arrived in Darwin Harbour, his first contact being with a couple of fishermen who greeted the boat with “G’day mate – welcome to Australia”.

Their first home in Australia was in a migrant hostel. His Excellency returned to study at the University of Adelaide. Following ongoing study he had a very successful career in finance. His Excellency has also served on many community boards and committees. In 2007 he was Chairman of the SA Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission, the first person of an Asian background to Chair the Commission.

In 2007, His Excellency was sworn in as the Lieutenant Governor of South Australia and in 2014; His Excellency was sworn in as the Governor of South Australia. It is understood that he is the first Vietnamese – born person who has ever been appointed to a Vice-Regal position in the world.

His Excellency’s story which he told in a simple and humble fashion is indeed one of great success and achievement. One can only wonder if His Excellency were to arrive today, what would be the outcome. It was an honour to have had such a distinguished guest attend the Conference Dinner. Thank you to the organisers for inviting him.

Over 30 delegates attend the Biennial General Meeting which was held at St Aloysius College.

There were three items of General Business that were put to the meeting. The first was to adopt the AMSSA Constitution as amended and approved by the Congregational Leaders and Chair of Mercy Partners. Annette Schneider rsm as the Leaders’ Representative for AMSSA spoke to the motion and passed on good wishes from the Leaders and Frances Fitzpatrick rsm, the former Executive Officer of AMSSA.

The motion was passed unanimously.

The second item was to adopt the Proposal to change the AMSSA Fee Structure. Kitty Guerin, AMSSA Executive Officer, spoke to the motion and explained the rationale for proposing the change whereby schools would be charged according to the size of the school. She also noted that the current amount raised by the levy barely covered expenses and therefore if AMSSA were to continue to support the Student Conference and undertake other activities as determined by the Executive, it would continue to eat into its reserves. The reserves had been accumulated over a number of years to allow AMSSA to pay a lay Executive Officer and to fund activities as determined by the Executive.

A question was raised as to whether the Executive in determining the Proposal had considered the position of co-sponsored schools that were required to pay levies to two or more congregations. Kitty Guerin responded that it had not been considered and said that the matter would be referred to the Executive for consideration.

The motion was passed unanimously.

The last item was to invite the views of member schools concerning possible directions and involvements for AMSSA. Julie Ryan outlined the discussion that had taken place at the recent Executive meeting in relation to the future directions for AMSSA. This included a survey of schools to determine what services they would like AMSSA to offer.

Other suggestions from the floor were:

1. Ways of making the content of the conference available to people who can’t attend such as filming keynote addresses. It was noted that the keynote addresses would be available on the website.

2. Information on induction, immersion experiences and a service charter.

Rosa Speranza and Kitty Guerin introduced the new website to the meeting noting the new domain name amssa.net.au.

Rosa showed the Resources section with the material that had been recently uploaded. Kitty asked everyone to check their details on the website and let her know of any changes to be made. She also asked that each school provide a short paragraph about themselves to be added to the site and to send any resources that they may have to share with others.

Julie Ryan was nominated for the position of President. The meeting accepted the nomination unanimously.

The meeting endorsed the following state/area representatives for the Executive:

Gilda Pussich, OLMC BurraneerNSW
Paulina Skerman, St Patrick’s College, Townsville Queensland
Paddy McEvoy, St Aloysius’ College Adelaide South Australia
Rosa Speranza, Mercedes College Perth Western Australia
Julie Ryan, OLMC Heidelberg Victoria/Tasmania
Deborah Brosnahan, Villa Maria College Christchurch New Zealand.

New AMSSA Website

AMSSA new website is now on line www.mercy.net.au.

I encourage you to have a look at our new website, check your school’s details and please send a paragraph about your school to be added to the website. The AMSSA email address remains the same: amssa@mercy.org.au

There have been additional resources added to the Resources section. Thank you to Rosa Speranza from Mercedes College, Perth for doing that. Rosa has also agreed to manage the Resources section. If you have resources you would like to share with others, please email her at rsperanza@mercedes.wa.edu.au or amssa@mercy.org.au.

Mercy Day 2015

All schools are invited to send through their Mercy Day Greeting and their Plans for Mercy Day 2015 for inclusion on the mercyworld.org site.

In a recent Mercy E-news, there was a feature article on Sr Angela Reed who in early September took up her nine month appointment at the Mercy Global Action Office in the role of Sister of Mercy in Residence, working with Aine O’Connor rsm, MGA Co-ordinator at the UN.

It was during her seven years of working at Mercy Care (now McAuley Care), a safe house for women and children who are victims of family violence, that Sr Angela first encountered victims of sex trafficking. Listening to these women tell their stories and responding to them personally led her to explore the issue in depth, firstly through being awarded a fellowship in ethics in 2008 and most recently her doctoral study. 

Now 22 of those stories, in the women's own words and at their request, are available in a book 'I HAVE A VOICE: Trafficked Women in Their Own Words', edited by Sr Angela and Marietta, which was launched by Faye Kelly rsm in August in Melbourne. Master of Ceremonies for the evening was Denis Moriarty, Group Managing Director of Our Community, the organisation where Sr Angela has been completing her post doctoral residency focussing on social change and advocacy. Staff at Our Community designed, produced and published 'I HAVE A VOICE...' The Australian launch was very well attended by Sisters of Mercy, members of ACRATH, the organisation through which religious orders in Australia address the issue of human trafficking, colleagues from Our Community, Sr Angela's family, friends and members of her broader network.  'I HAVE A VOICE...' was first launched on 18 August in Cebu, Philippines, with many of the trafficked women in attendance.

The 88 page book is a rich and moving testament because of its real and raw life stories. As such, it is an important resource for learning and teaching about the issue of human trafficking and its impact on its victims. Remarkably and so courageously, 22 women chose to honestly share their stories in the hopes that other vulnerable women may learn from those experiences and be prevented from being trafficked. They truly are the authors of the text and their stories deserve to be received by readers with respect for the story-teller and compassion and sensitivity for the story being told. 'Trafficking, like family violence, is not a generic experience. There are so many different expressions, so many different experiences of it that the human story needs to be told'.

If you wish to order a copy of the book, an order form is included in the newsletter.

Extracts from the story from Mercy E-news have been reproduced with the permission of Anne Walsh