May was a time to meet and be with some of our Sisters and members of the Extended Family in the Northern European Area and Northern France. It was an opportunity to get to know our Sisters better, to enable the Sisters to get to know us – the Institute Leadership Council (ILC) better and to experience how our life-giving mission is lived in the Northern European Area and France. We learned what is life-giving for them, how they are living our charism and were able to talk and reflect together about where we are as an Institute today.
The ILC – Sisters Margaret Fielding, Paré Moreira, Ana Luísa Pinto and Sipiwe Phiri spent over two weeks visiting with our Sisters in Dublin, Northern Ireland, Ferrybank, Castlemilk, Liverpool, Carlisle, Noddfa, London, Paris, Somain and Marchiennes.
In their own words, “It was uplifting and life-giving. We experienced a sense of belonging and received a warm welcome in every community we visited. We experienced joy, hope and a positive attitude everywhere we went. And the hospitality was equal to none.”
They saw how the Sisters were blessed with opportunities for gardening, ecology, JPIC actions, walks, reading, and involvement in different ministries, such as parish, hospital, prison, working with immigrants, among others. They also met our lay collaborators in ministry, along with the SHM Extended Family at Noddfa, our spirituality centre in North Wales. They enjoyed spending time with our Sisters in the Care Centres and seeing how well they are taken care of.
In September, the Institute Leadership Council will be visiting the Western American Area, and in November, the Area of Portugal. The following year, their visits will include the Areas of Mozambique and Zambezi.
The ILC would like to express “our appreciation and gratitude to the Northern European Area’s Leadership Team and the Sisters in Paris and northern France for organising our visits so well…. We also express our joy and gratitude to all the Sisters we visited for warmly welcoming us, for the beautiful moments we had in each community, for the rich sharing, inspiring prayers, storytelling and laughter, and the delicious meals that we shared together.”
