The Young Mercy Justice Network -
Mercedes and Santa Maria Colleges Perth
In January 2005 ten students from Mercy schools in the Southern Seas Region of Australia [covering the West Perth, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne Congregations of the Sisters of Mercy] were invited to attend a gathering in Adelaide. The aim was to encourage student leadership in the area of social justice and establish a Young Mercy Justice Network. The weekend was run and funded by the Sisters of Mercy.
The Perth Mercy schools which were represented were: Mercedes College, Mercy College, Santa Maria College and St Brigid’s College [these schools sent five out of the ten representatives].
This is part of an article written by the Service Captain from Santa Maria College:
The ten of us on this weekend formed the “Young Mercies Justice Tree” (or YMJT) and our motto is “Making Justice Flourish”. Together we have planned to hold a number of events throughout the year as a way of promoting social justice within our schools. Our key areas that we want to concentrate on for the year (based on the Mercy Sisters 2005 Mission Statement) are:
- Violence against women and children
- The International Campaign to Ban Landmines
- Refugees
- Racism
- Homelessness/Poverty
- Promotion of Project Compassion
We would also like to extend our thanks to the organizers of the weekend: Sister Helen, Sue, Ali and Meredith in Adelaide and to our school for giving us the opportunity to go to Adelaide.
Judging from the enthusiasm of the representatives from Mercedes and Santa Maria Colleges, the Adelaide gathering was a great success. The students agreed to concentrate on two social justice issues each term with the focus for Term 1 being the promotion of Project Compassion and raising awareness of trafficking of people/slavery. With regard to the latter the YMJ student leaders at Santa Maria College and Mercedes College have done so by:
- presenting a power point at year level assemblies on the forms of slavery which exist today
- writing articles for the newsletter to inform the wider College community.
- establishing a Library display board
A further gathering in Adelaide is planned for May with both the original participants and further representatives from each school.
Rowena Lambert |
