1. Mercy, The Principal Path
Mission Officers and Boards:
Development for Mission
October 3, 2016
Catherine McMahon, RSM – Special Assistant to the President for Mission and Planning Gwynedd Mercy University

2. Elements of Mission Formation for Trustees at one Mercy University
Mission introduced as priority during initial conversations with potential trustees, president and current Board members
Orientation program incorporates a segment on sponsorship, heritage, mission and core values
Ongoing formation includes a yearly half day mission retreat and specially created meeting prayers which incorporate mission/mercy themes
Mission Officer participates with Board Committee on Governance and Trustees to keep Board apprised of Mission activity and concerns on campus.

3. Orientation
The Sisters of Mercy invite and encourage their ministries to respond to the call of the gospel and to address the critical concerns of our day as part of the mission of each sponsored institution. This may be in direct service or it may be to promote systemic change through influence and through prayer.
Make explicit the relationship and accountablity to the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas and the agenda and Critical Concerns of the order.

4. Orientation Stewarding the Vision(GMercyU)
preserving spiritual meaning in the face of opposing paradigms – once spiritual dimension is lost, it would be hard to make a case for Catholic education
maintaining an ethic of service in the midst of market forces
developing new structures to ensure continuity of founding vision and accountability for ministry in the name of the Church
fostering personal and corporate commitment to the institutional mission and values
promoting Catholic/Mercy identity in a pluralistic environment
Stewardship of Mission and Identity is a primary fiduciary responsibility of trustees

5. Annual Retreat Outcomes
Trustees will be conversant with the basic concepts of Ex Corde and principles of Catholic Intellectual and Social Teaching as they relate to the fundamental stewardship of the Catholic identity of the University. Trustees will be able to articulate the basic story of the foundation of Mercy in Catherine McAuley and to understand the current governance, concerns and direction of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.
Trustees will experience firsthand interaction with faculty, staff and students to ascertain mission integration in various aspects of the teaching leaning environment.

6. Annual Retreat Design
Each year will have a content portion on one or more topics alternating between the Catholic Foundation and the Mercy Charism.
Each year will include an application/process piece including conversations with faculty, staff and students aligned with content presentations.

7. Content Examples Catholic (Stewarding the Foundation)
Ex Corde, CST, CIT, Issues in CHEducation
Resources: ACCU, Sister of Mercy, Theologians
Mercy (Stewarding the Charism)
Catherine/Legacy, Critical Concerns
Resources: CMHE, ILT, Justice Teams, Sisters of Mercy, MIA website

8. Application/Process Examples
Curricular
General Education, Service Learning, FYE, Assessment
Resources: Internal faculty/staff, External experts
Co-curricular activities
Community Service (ASB, Intercollegiate immersion experiences (Dublin, UN, DC, Ireland, Peru, etc.)
Resources: Internal staff, students, CMHE
Faculty/staff
Mission Leadership Academy Members
Carlow Roundtable Participants
ASB/Immersion experiences with students
Resources: Internal faculty/staff/ External experts

9. Sample Plan Year Content Application/process Presenters 2014
The Story or Mercy then and Now including Circle of Mercy video and presentations by Young Mercy Pilgrims
Engage faculty, staff and students in conversation around preparing Distinctive Mercy Graduates
Pilgrims, Gen Ed Task Force Members
2015
Issues in Catholic Higher Education
Conversation with Deans and VP’s about area specific challenges related to CHE
ACCU, Deans, DoS, VP’s
2016
CMHE/ Sponsorship
Conversations about sponsorship
CMHE Director, Tina, RSM’s
2017
CST and Critical Concerns of Mercy
Engage with MLA scholars about application of program in their work
Marie Michele, John Collins, Raph/Heather or CST Scholar
2018
Ex Corde
Engage Campus Ministry and CM students in conversation about Catholic identity challenges
Barbara McCrabb, Campus Ministers, Students
2019
CIT
Conversations about assessment of new Gen ED
CIT Scholar TBD,
Assessment Director, Faculty

10. Prayer
Prayer for the opening of all meetings is designed to incorporate themes of Mercy, heritage, social justice, Critical Concerns, etc.

11. Structure
In order to provide ongoing attention to mission related activity and issues for the full Board, the mission officer who is a member of the President’s Executive Council sits on the Board Committee on Governance and Trustees, makes a quarterly report on current activity and designs processes to engage trustees in mission critical conversations and activities (currently those related to the CMHE Peer Review and the MSCHE self- study).

12. Thank you
Table Conversations Q&A