Sisters and associates who form the Caribbean, Central America, South America (CCASA) Community have been carrying out the mission of Mercy in the following eight countries: Argentina (1856), Belize (1883), Chile (1965), Guatemala (1971), Guyana (1894), Honduras (1959), Panama (1959), and Peru (1962). Today about eighty percent of the sisters and associates in the CCASA Community are native-born in these eight countries.  

Ministries

Ministries in the eight countries range from formal education and healthcare to empowerment of women, care of children, aid to those suffering from poverty, literacy education, and pastoral responses to spiritual and temporal  hungers.  Sisters who work in these ministries are not always compensated for their service. For this reason the ministries rely heavily on donations.

Ministries in the CCASA Community include 

Educational Ministries:  The Mercy tradition of formal education continues at Colegio Santa Ethnea in Argentina, Muffles Junior College and St. Catherine Academy in Belize as well as Instituto Maria Regina in Honduras.  Literacy and alternative educational programs abound in Argentina, Guyana, Panama and Peru.  In the spirit of our foundress, Catherine McAuley, all the educational endeavors give particular attention to women and children suffering from poverty.

Health-related Ministries:  The Sisters of Mercy are the primary leaders at St. Joseph Hospital in Guyana.  St. Joseph Mercy Clinic in Belize focuses on palliative care.  In addition to these small but essential institutions to the people served, the Sisters of Mercy creatively respond to healthcare needs of children with HIV/AIDS in Honduras and to healthcare needs of adults with HIV/AIDS in Chile.  We also employ alternative medicinal practices in Argentina, Honduras and Peru. 

Pastoral and Spiritual Ministries:  The cries of those who suffer from poverty and its effects demand a variety of pastoral and spiritual responses.  Ministries include empowering women in all eight countries that make up the CCASA Community, working with street children in Argentina, accompanying those in need of psychological assistance in Argentina and Peru and providing residential care to teenage girls in Chile.  Many sisters in the eight countries meet the personal, pastoral and spiritual needs of persons.  These responses include visiting the sick, providing spiritual direction, praying for and with others and working in parishes.

For ministry listings by category, click here.