The divisions between housing, healthcare, education and pastoral work can become blurry since social assistance and counseling are usually a component of each of these. Sisters from the U.S. to South America now provide social services through women's centers, prison ministry and more.

Just as the first House of Mercy in Ireland was established to provide shelter and training for women who were poor, today Mercys have established a number of women's centers that offer opportunities for women to gather and support one another. Some offer counseling to improve self-esteem. Many offer G.E.D. training, skills training or have set up micro-enterprises to help women become self-supporting.

In Central America, South America and the Caribbean, we accompany people through a broad range of programs that include trade training; nutrition classes; craft and marketing skills; and care for victims of domestic violence, abuse and neglect. Sisters often initiate and develop programs that people take to remote areas beyond the reach of social service centers, empowering people to care for themselves and their own families and communities.

Sisters in the counseling profession include licensed social workers, psychologists and pastoral counselors working in hospitals, community agencies and in private practice. Many have addressed the problems of alcoholism and drug dependency by starting treatment centers and facilities for recovering addicts.

Mercys in prison ministry help inmates develop good decision-making skills and alternatives to violence through literacy and education programs, spiritual and legal counseling, job training, and recovery programs.