Nga mihi atawhai - greetings to all in mercy! ‘Hurrah for foundations!’ wrote Catherine McAuley. ‘They make the old young and the young merry.’ A mix of old and young gathered in the summer sun last month for a ceremony at Papatuanuku ki Taurangi, Earth Promise Centre, a Mercy house and permaculture garden developed over recent years in Ellerslie.

Nga mihi atawhai – greetings to all in Mercy! It was a privilege last month to offer the mihi of welcome to US Sister of Mercy Marilyn Lacey, founder and director of Mercy Beyond Borders, visiting these shores for the first time to deliver the 2013 Catherine McAuley Lecture.

Diversity can be seen as an obstacle or an opportunity, depending on whether our preference is for order or variety. Creator God seems certainly to favour the second, in making a world that is richly diverse, a creation that unfolds and continues to grow increasingly complex as it does so.

Nga mihi atawhai - greetings to all in Mercy! At their Chapter in 2009 sisters reflected on the question How are we to be in mission?' and responded 'In prophetic response to emerging needs.' Helping to unpack what this might mean are three Mercy ministries on adjoining sites in Ellerslie.

Nga mihi atawhai - greetings to all in mercy! 'How are we to be in mission?' is one of the questions Sisters of Mercy asked themselves at their Chapter in 2009. Their response was 'in the context of our Mercy story today.' A challenge is to ensure that lay people who come to work for Mercy, especially in leadership roles, know the story well enough to contribute to its integrity and growth.

Nga mihi atawhai ‘How are we to be in mission?’ the Sisters of Mercy asked themselves at their 2009 Chapter. ‘In energising, collaborative leadership’ was part of the answer they gave. A glimpse of what such leadership may look like came last month as more than 100 of our own sisters, gathered for a three-day hui, invited some of their lay leaders to join them for a day.