Laudato Si Action Plan
Mercy’s Third Year Action Plan
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Social Justice Tag: Immigration

A monthly series of in-depth, curated articles exploring Mercy's Critical Concerns and their intersection with current events and the work of justice.

May 2025

Articles from Mercy:

Local Justice News & Upcoming Mercy Events:

Justice Resources & Links

A letter to Pope Francis

Ana Siufi, RSM; Institute Justice Team

A friend of mine, who is not very sympathetic to the Church, wrote to me this Easter Monday, “Today we are a little more alone in our search for justice.”

Francis you have departed, but as a simple and humble Latin American man who will be remembered by many with affection and gratitude. But for others, you were undesirable as pope for being an ecclesiastic reformer and for being critical of the market system and the business of war.

I don’t have much to add to all that has been said about your life, and in any case your encyclicals will continue to proclaim the Gospel with your voice. But I want to thank you for doing your best to thaw Vatican II so that the Church can be more transparent, poor, inclusive, defender of the impoverished, indigenous, migrants…, respectful of diversity, caring for Mother Earth, less clerical, and more synodal.

Thank you for seeking a more just world and for warning us about the dehumanization and desensitization that prevent us from feeling the pain of others and acting to restore their rights to the many who have been discarded by a system that kills.

Thank you for denouncing the business of wars, the extractivism that is devastating to ecosystems, and the enduring colonialism. Thank you for building channels of dialogue and peace, and for sowing hope, although you did not see much of a harvest.

Thank you for being so Argentine: a lover of soccer, mate, tango, literature, humor, coffee chats, for walking the streets as one of us, for the devotion to Mary.

Francis, rest in love and pray for us, who are called to continue this long journey of transformation of the Church and the world with courage and compassion. I embrace you from your land of Argentina.

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Critical Considerations

Is this really an emergency?

Karen Donahue, RSM

Since taking office in January 2025, Donald Trump has issued eight emergency declarations, bringing the total for his entire presidency (including his first term) to twenty-one. By comparison, George W. Bush issued only sixteen during his eight years in office. These declarations have been issued to justify a number of policies including militarizing our southern border, expanding drilling for fossil fuels and logging on public lands, and imposing tariffs.

In 1976, Congress enacted the National Emergencies Act, legislation that gives the president power to act in sudden, unforeseen crises where the normal legislative process does not provide the speed and/or flexibility circumstances demand. As a protection against presidential overreach, the bill also gave Congress the power to rescind an emergency declaration by a simple majority vote, also known as a legislative vote.

However, in 1983 the Supreme Court ruled that a legislative vote was unconstitutional, thus making it harder for Congress to challenge a presidential emergency declaration. Now, if Congress wants to end a state of emergency it must pass legislation with enough votes to overcome a presidential veto.

There is the real danger that a president could use an emergency declaration to circumvent Congress in an effort to achieve her/his policy goals. For example, during his first term, Donald Trump declared an emergency at the US/Mexico border after Congress failed to appropriate funding for his border wall. Similarly, he is using an emergency declaration (International Emergency Economic Powers Act) to impose his tariff scheme. This act can be invoked when the US faces an unusual and extraordinary threat to its national security, foreign policy or economy. US trade relationships, many of long duration or with small countries, hardly meet this standard.

Fearing a presidential power grab, the Founders constructed a complex system of checks and balances. These checks and balances are under severe strain today as the executive branch usurps greater power and Congress seems to be incapable of exercising its constitutional prerogatives.

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Trump’s attacks on women

Br Ryan W Roberts, OLF; Institute Justice Team

Among the many alarming attacks the Trump administration is making against a wide variety of identity categories, one that isn’t receiving as much focus is the coordinated assault on women. One attack is the systematic removal of support for survivors of sexual assault, a group not exclusively but primarily composed of women.

By placing abusers and harassers in positions of power, President Trump creates an environment hostile to women and amenable to control through gender-based violence. Grants and studies are being canceled, data is being removed from publicly accessible spaces, and programs to educate about and reduce sexual violence are being abandoned. Canceling DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs, of which women are significant beneficiaries, reduce the resources that empower women’s independence and makes them more vulnerable to all kinds of injustice. False claims that immigrants drive sexual violence perpetuate unnecessary fear and distract from the truth that most survivors knew their attackers.

In many ways, the U.S. government has become an abuser who revictimizes survivors and emboldens those who would choose to harm women. The National Women’s Law Center has summarized some of the ways the Trump administration has jeopardized resources that protect women and support survivors. The article contains links to a number of supporting materials. Women deserve better, and awareness is an important tool in Mercy’s work on the Critical Concern for Women.

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Article Archive

2025

May

A letter to Pope Francis

Critical Considerations:

Is this really an emergency?

Trump’s attacks on women

April

The cultural battle advances

Critical Considerations:

What’s going on with tariffs?

Water extractivism in Palestine

March

Hope for Panama in truth

Deportation stigma in Jamaica

Critical Considerations:

Who benefits from tax cuts? Who pays?

April is SWANA Heritage Month

NETWORK webinar on U.S. federal policy

February

National declaration of emergency in Bajo Aguán

Critical Considerations:

Has the United States declared war on immigrants?

What energy emergency?

January

If you make a mess, clean it up! (Advocacy success in NY)

Youth claim climate victory in Montana court

Critical Considerations:

Was January 1, 2025 a wake-up call?

(click years to expand)

2024

December

Gender and climate justice

Critical Considerations:

Is the United States becoming a plutocracy?

Making nuclear weapons taboo

November

Critical Considerations:

What happened on November 5, 2024?

The Ecological Debt

October

Overturning the Chevron deference

Critical Considerations:

Who are the Israeli settlers and what motivates them?

Assassination of Honduran water protector deeply grieves Sisters of Mercy

September

God walks with his people: National Migration Week September 23–29

Critical Considerations:

What does CEO compensation say about corporate priorities?

Anxiety – election season can heighten it!

August

Critical Considerations:

What is Project 2025 all about?

Working to stop weapon exports to Haiti

Beyond Voting:

Participating in Elections, part 2

July

Critical Considerations:

Is there a better way to spend $91 billion?

Education, Agriculture, & Emigration in the Philippines

Beyond Voting:

Participating in Elections, part 1

June

Critical Considerations:

Are we creating a prison-industrial complex?

Conscience

Mercy student videos address the Critical Concerns

May

Critical Considerations:

Degrowth is the only sane survival plan

Argentina and the government of hate

Listening to a chorus of voices

April

Critical Considerations:

An Israeli Jesuit reflects on war in the Holy Land

Advocacy Success! Expanded Background Checks for Gun Sales

March

Military spending and national (in)security

February

The challenge Gaza war presents for American Jews

January

Gaza war threatens credibility of West’s commitment to human rights and the rule of law

2023

December

Climate Summit fails to adequately respond to gravity of climate crisis

November

Critical Considerations:

The dangers of conflating Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism

Red flag laws in jeopardy: faith voices speak to save them

October

Jewish and Palestinian perspectives on Gaza crisis

September

U.S. China tensions impact efforts to address climate change

August

When Good Economic Policy Isn’t Enough

July

States Move to Weaken Protections for Child Workers

June

Corporate Lobbyists at Climate Talks

May

Electric Vehicle Transition Challenges

April

Repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery

March

Misrepresenting War

February

The Rise of Christian Nationalism

January

How the News is Reported Affects What We Know

2022

December

How Corporations Took Over the Government

November

The Independent State Legislature Theory Explained

October

The Next Phase in the Voting Wars

Local Justice News & Upcoming Events

Check back soon!

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Mercy Justice Resource Pages

Peace & Justice Calendars

View the current month’s Mercy Peace & Justice Calendar on our website.

Download Past Calendars
2025

January

February

March

April

May

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These are some of the ways in which the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas will more fully live Laudato Si’ in 2025. To see the third year action plan click here.

Responding to the Cry of the Earth

The climate sustainability director will:

  • Estimate initial annual carbon emissions from utilities (e.g., electricity, gas, and water) and vehicle usage throughout the Institute;
  • Work with the solar installation company to implement agreed-upon solar and battery design for the Belmont, NC, solar array project; and 
  • Work with a contractor to stabilize the shoreline at Mercy by the Sea Spiritual Retreat and Conference Center to prevent future erosion from coastal storms and sea-level rise.

Responding to the Cry of the Poor

The Justice Team will deepen education and advocacy about the harms of extractivism to communities and the environment through: 

  • Engaging communities beyond the Sisters of Mercy in small groups using our Awakening to a New Consciousness on Extractivism resources;
  • Accompanying communities most harmed by extractivism, including through local extractivism immersion experiences; and 
  • Giving special attention to water injustices experienced by communities on the front lines of extractive industries, in partnership with Mercy Global Action’s water justice initiative. 
  • The Justice Team will organize immersion experiences at the U.S.-Mexico border to expand the number of sisters, associates, companions and co-workers who are educated about immigration policy and the reality at the border and connections between immigration and environmental and climate justice.  
  • Mercy Investment Services will expand and deepen the integration of environmental, social and governance investment strategies by:
    • Actively allocating capital to address diversity gaps amongst decision-makers and financial access within the Inclusive Opportunities Fund;  
    • Continuing expanding the emerging managers program supporting firms owned or products managed by people with diverse or underrepresented backgrounds; and  
    • Deepening Mercy Partnership Fund’s continued dedication to racial and gender equity as well as those that emphasize international opportunities.

Ecological Economics

Mercy Investment Services will:

  • Continue to ground our investment actions in seeking prophetic change in climate action and solutions;
  • Partner with other investors to engage corporations on water stewardship, greenhouse gas emissions, plastics use, biodiversity and other important issues; and  
  • Use our position as a faith-based investor to defend the rights of investors to choose investments that care for the Earth.

Sustainable Lifestyles

  • The Director of Climate and Sustainability will develop and update flyers to create awareness of and provide practical sustainable lifestyle tips related to meetings and events, office supplies and electronics, health and wellness, emergency management and sustainability on a tight budget. 
  • The Justice Team and Climate and Sustainability Director will continue the monthly Mercy Tips to Care for Earth. 

Ecological Education

  • Mercy Education System of the Americas plans to:
    • Revamp the environmental science course in its Mercy Learning Online program, specifically the water lesson, to incorporate resources from Mercy Global Action; 
    • Launch a monthly column in its weekly newsletter highlighting sustainability initiatives across Mercy schools;
    • Enhance sustainability efforts at meetings and events by being mindful of supplies ordered and encouraging participants to bring reusable water bottles; and 
    • Promote active participation in Laudato Si pilgrimages across the schools.
  • A Mercy associate in Guyana will socialize her guidebook and set of advocacy tools for communities to understand the risks of the growing oil and gas industry in her country, and that will become a template for similar education elsewhere.
  • The Climate and Sustainability Director will visit the sisters and staff to discuss concerns related to climate and sustainability as well as ongoing projects, and also serve as a resource for Mercy ministries and other religious congregations.
  • The Justice Team will invite Mercy high school, college and university students to submit short videos on reducing consumption to better care for earth and on the positive impact that women have in the world. The winning videos will be showcased on our website.
  •  The Justice Team will plan a blog series to highlight the ways in which sisters, associates, companions and co-workers are hearing the cry of Earth and the cry of people who are poor.

Ecological Spirituality

  • The Justice Team, along with partner Catholic organizations in the U.S., will promote and provide support to sisters, associates, companions and ministries organizing Laudato Si pilgrimages to celebrate the encyclical’s 10th anniversary. 
  • The Justice Team will promote Laudato Si Animator trainings to equip sisters, associates and co-workers to shift consciousness of their communities around environmental and climate justice. 

Community Participation and Empowerment

  • The Justice Team will engage in advocacy and education leading up to COP 30 in Brazil with partners from ecclesial networks (REPAM, REMAM and REGCHAG) and the Churches and Mining Network. 
  • The Justice Team will lead U.S. advocacy among congregations of women religious and interfaith partners to stem deforestation, address the harms of mining in the energy transition, and support environmental protections and climate policies.  

These resources are for use by immigrants and those assisting immigrants, particularly those who are undocumented and from mixed status families.

Know Your Rights

All immigrants have rights, regardless of legal status.  These are helpful resources from the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC):

Find Legal Assistance

Applying for legal status requires special attention to each individual’s situation. These directories can assist with finding a trusted, local immigration lawyer:

Family Preparedness and Emergency Response

Immigration Legal Resource Center offers this Family Preparedness Plan.

Make the Road New York has a Deportation Defense Manual.

CLINIC provides two action plans for emergency situations (English only):

Guides for Schools

The American Federation of Teachers offers these resources:

Additional Resources

Our January 15th, 2025 webinar, Understanding the Threat of Mass Deportation and Taking Action, is opportunity to deepen your understanding of immigration, discover ways to work in solidarity with the immigrant community and make a difference. Viewers will explore the threat of mass deportation and discover resources to take action.

Additional Resources

Background Information

Download What is mass deportation?

Download

What is mass deportation?
Download How to prepare and respond

Download

How to prepare and respond
View last year’s grand prize winning video. (*Note: the contest themes have changed for 2025.)

The Mercy Justice Team needs you, a Mercy student, to create a short, social media style PSA (public service announcement) video – think Reels or TikTok – that reflects the Sisters of Mercy’s Critical Concerns. Put those creative ideas and video skills to work and you could win $500!

How do women impact the world for good?

How can individuals reduce their consumption to better care for the Earth?

What is a policy or campaign that could help people reduce their consumption?

Who are the heroines of the Mercy Critical Concerns?

To receive information, updates and reminders about this year’s contest, complete this form and we’ll be in touch. Click here to learn rules for entry and how to upload your video.

View the grand prize winning videos from 2023. (*Note: the contest themes have changed for 2025.)

Purpose

For this year’s contest we are seeking short, PSA style videos (30 to 90 seconds) that are suitable for sharing on social media platforms such as TikTok or Reels. Video entries must focus on one of these topics:

The Power of Women
  • Videos should reflect the charism of Mercy and highlight the gifts and contributions that women, either individually or collectively, bring to society.
  • Videos could promote the contributions of women, tell the story, past or present, of a woman or women engaged in Mercy or justice, or dream about the future for women in society.
Reducing Consumption
  • Videos should reflect the Mercy Critical Concerns, especially the Critical Concern for Earth, but do not need to identify the Critical Concerns specifically.
  • Videos should encourage actions toward reducing consumption either on the personal or societal level.
  • Videos could be inspirational or motivational, provide a ‘how-to’ process for reducing consumption or provide information about the consequences of conspicuous consumption.

Contest Webinar

Watch our 17 minute webinar to learn more about this year’s contest.

Who Can Enter

Any student or group of students, high school age or older, enrolled in Mercy high schools, colleges/universities, or involved in a Mercy-affiliated ministry.

Use this tip-sheet to help you as you begin the process of creating your video.

Format

Read the complete rules

Length: 30 to 90 seconds

Language: English or Spanish

Other Requirements

1. Title. Each video must have a title. The title must be indicated on the submission form. The title does not need to be included in the video itself.

2. Credits. Credits must include the name of those involved in the creation of the video. The credits must also include citations for any images, audio, or text used in the video that is not original. The credits do not need to be included in the video itself, but must be included in the submission form.

The Sisters of Mercy may delete title and credit screens before posting videos on social media.

Entrants are strongly encouraged to use original footage and graphics as much as possible.

Important Note on Rules: In order to honor copyright protections, rules regarding use of images and music were updated for the 2022 contest and remain in effect for 2025. See the complete rules for details.

Deadline

All entries must be received by April 1, 2025.

Prizes

A panel of judges will use these criteria to select the winning video. Individual winners will receive financial awards. The Grand Prize Winner receives $500.

Winning entries may be featured on the Sisters of Mercy Institute web site and social media channels. Winners and their winning institution will be formally announced.

Interested?

If you think you might be interested in entering this contest, fill out this form to receive contest information and updates.

Past Winners

Click here to view all of our past winners.

These are some of the ways in which the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas will more fully live Laudato Si’ in 2024. To see the second year action plan click here.

Responding to the Cry of the Earth

  • The climate sustainability director will:
    • Collect utility usage data for smaller residences (i.e., apartments and houses) located throughout the United States. 
    • Expand community solar subscriptions to many of our houses and apartments for which such programs are available. 
    • Continue the electric vehicle (EV) pilot project at Merion, PA, with the purchase of an additional vehicle and the installation of additional EV chargers.  One other location will be selected to house an EV. Official guidance regarding the use, maintenance, and charging of EVs, along with concerns regarding metal mining, will be developed and implemented. 
    • Finalize guidance regarding the use of various sustainable and compostable alternatives to single-use plastic products.  A pilot location will be selected to test the overall process for implementing various parts of the guidance and determining what is needed (in addition to the installation of water-filling stations) in order to make the elimination of certain plastic products practical.  Complete the pilot solar project on the Belmont, NC, campus by the end of 2024.
  • Mercy Focus on Haiti aims to support the construction of 10 cisterns per month in the Gros Marne region, for the collection of rain water, using locally available materials. Cistern beneficiaries will receive training in the fundamentals of vegetable gardening, tree planting and reforestation, supporting both food production and the opportunity to sell surplus at market.

Responding to the Cry of the Poor

  • The Justice Team will deepen education and advocacy about the harms of extractivism to communities and the environment through: 
    • Mapping of extractivism near locations where the Institute has a significant presence; 
    • Educating the wider Mercy community about the experiences of communities most harmed by extractivism; 
    • Sharing more widely the statement on extractivism distributed among Chapter participants; 
    • Expanding our knowledge of extractivism to include practices such as agribusiness extracting nutrients from the land and the tourism industry dredging ports for cruise ships; and  
    • Solidarity and accompaniment of communities most harmed by extractivism
  • Sisters will continue participating in ecclesial networks (ie, in Meso-America and the regions of El Gran Chaco y el Acuífero Guaraní in South America) and will educate the rest of the congregation about how the Church is accompanying communities in these critical eco-systems.   
  • The Justice Team will participate in the “we are going to change the history of the climate and the planet!” campaign with the peoples of the Amazon in advance of international climate talks (COP30) in Belem, Brazil, in 2025.
  • Mercy Volunteer Corps has placed a volunteer yet again at Sanctuary Farm in Philadelphia and will offer short-term volunteer experiences at Mercy Ecological Center in Vermont.
  • Mercy Investment Services will expand and deepen the integration of environmental, social and governance investment strategies by:
    • Actively allocating capital to address diversity gaps amongst decision-makers and financial access within the Inclusive Opportunities Fund;  
    • Expanding the emerging managers program supporting firms owned or products managed by people with diverse or underrepresented backgrounds;  
    • Deepening Mercy Partnership Fund’s continued dedication to racial and gender equity as well as those that emphasize international opportunities; and  
    • Using our shareholder voice to explicitly call on companies to mitigate their impacts on people of color and to increase equity for disadvantaged communities.
  • Mercy Focus on Haiti will complete the fourth cohort of its poverty eradication program for women, and raise funds and set the stage for the fifth cohort. Participants from the first cohort will be able to create Village Savings and Loan Associations, which was offered to later cohorts as safe places to save money and access small loans. The first cohort participants also will be offered a tablet-based training program to develop the basics of finance and business skills.   Mercy Focus on Haiti will arrange for a physician member from the U.S. to make virtual visits with residents and walk-throughs of Bon Maison Samaritain, a house for persons who are elderly and infirm or mentally ill. Deteriorating conditions in Haiti have prevented in-person visits from the U.S.

Ecological Economics

  • Mercy Investment Services will:
    • Participate in learning opportunities to deepen our understanding of Catholic investing through documents such as Mensuram Bonam and Laudate Deum; 
    • Increase funding of mission-based environmental, social and governance investment managers and thematic managers in the equity fund;  
    • Originate additional commitments to impact managers in the Environmental Solutions Fund, which invests in renewable energy, energy and water efficiency, materials recycling, green buildings and sustainable agriculture;  
    • Commit additional investments to projects whose primary thematic area is environmental sustainability, impacts from the extractive sector or migration, or that address a just transition to a low‐carbon future in the Mercy Partnership Fund;  
    • Partner with other investors to engage corporations on water stewardship, greenhouse gas emissions, plastics use, biodiversity and other important issues; and  engage with other like-minded impact investors through the Catholic Impact Investing Collaborative, which is led by Francesco Collaborative, and through continued leadership within the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. 

Sustainable Lifestyles

  • The Justice Team and Climate and Sustainability Director will start exploring possibilities for working with other congregations of women religious to influence practices of dining service companies who serve our convents, retirement centers and other facilities. 
  • The Justice Team and Climate and Sustainability Director will continue the  Mercy Tips to Care for Earth as a monthly feature on the website. 

Ecological Education

  • Mercy Education has planned several activities for 2024:
    • “Generation Mercy,” an online meeting for students who are involved in Earth initiatives/clubs at their school, in the first half of the year; 
    • A commitment to highlight Earth in their newsletter at least 1 issue per month; 
    • Promote Mercy Meatless Mondays for the Lenten season; and 
    • Share some suggestions for Earth challenges for schools (i.e. zero waste meetings) to try to implement before Earth Day in April, then share about these in the newsletter/social media.
  • The Justice Team will organize an immersion trip to a region of western Pennsylvania experiencing an expansion of fracking and petrochemical facilities. 
  • The Justice Team will organize three immersion experiences at the U.S.-Mexico border to expand the number of sisters, associates, companions and co-workers who are educated about immigration policy and the reality at the border. One of these experiences will be solely for staff and board members of Mercy Investment Services.  
  • A Mercy associate in Guyana will develop a guidebook and set of advocacy tools for communities to understand the risks of the growing oil and gas industry in her country, and that will become a template for similar education elsewhere.  

Ecological Spirituality

  • The Justice Team will promote Laudato Si animators’ trainings and create a network of Mercy animators to work together and support one another. 
  • The Institute will participate in the Leadership Conference of Women Religious’ exploration and implementation of transformative justice work. 

Community Participation and Empowerment

  • The Justice Team will educate our network on the issues and the importance of voting our values in advance of the 2024 elections in the United States. 
  • The Justice Team will participate in a newly forming collaborative of Catholic organizations engaged in environmental and climate justice education, advocacy and practices.