Exchange Jan 2009
BI-CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS EALING: Jan 18th The Provincial NODFFA: Jan 31 – 1 Feb. Several RSHM and extended family have already booked in for the special celebration. There are still a few residential places available as well as an open house on the Saturday. RESOURCES: You will be receiving in the post a booklet “M. St Jean” by Mary Milligan which was prepared by the Motherhouse. There is one copy per community. We suggest you duplicate more as the need arises rather than contact the Motherhouse for additional copies. You will also be receiving a prayer card with a litany to M. St Jean. This was kindly prepared by Mary Jo McElroy and André. We suggest that we all unite in using this prayer on 2nd February as well as throughout the year. We have sent enough copies for sisters with additional copies to share with friends. The Generalate Web site has a special section. To access this click A 2008. There will be a short inspirational quotation from M. St Jean in Exchange throughout the Year. LET US KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING IN YOUR PART OF THE PROVINCE SO THAT WE CAN SHARE THIS THROUGHOUT THE COMING YEAR. WE HAVE UNTIL FEBRUARY 2010! The following is an extract from a letter sent by the Mother House community
The The Novitiate community will post a report on the WEB soon after the celebration in Murviel. You are invited to share with the Province how you have been celebrating this event through Exchange/Echange “My God . . . . . . . I have a strong confidence that you will help me in the mission for which you chose me!” M. St Jean September 1849
REFLECTIONS IN TURBULENT TIMES! It does not matter which paper we read or which version of the news we see and listen to for us to be struck by the current financial crisis hitting our various countries and the world. When I listen to/read about bankers and politicians talking about millions and trillions of pounds and how we have to support the banks in order to safeguard the economy, my eyes glace over as I find it hard to think beyond a couple of hundred of pounds at a time! However, it is when I see and hear of local businesses closing – people I know in my own area, and perhaps even family – and of individuals being made redundant and not being able to pay their mortgages that the reality of what is happening hits home. And this is happening more and more, and if we are to believe the various governments, the recession will hit even harder yet before it begins to build up again. In all of this I wonder about the impact on us. In many ways we can be untouched by all this going on around us. We can certainly sympathise, empathise with people and individuals, but in terms of the recession actually impacting on our daily lives, then I wonder, has it yet? We will always have enough to eat; will always feel warm and safe in our houses; we will always know that if in real need, the Province will help us. All of this makes me feel uncomfortable – perhaps you too? We have so much, and we do not have the anxiety and struggle that is increasingly affecting so many people, here and all across the globe. So, I am left struggling with what it actually means to me and to us, to live carefully and simply especially at this time of real local and world financial crisis. It is not a question of saying we will turn off the heating or we will eat less. It is more a question of living with the reality and the tension that we have so much and yet we are called to be in solidarity with those who have so little. Perhaps this is the real experience of receiving ‘the hundredfold in this life’ that the Gospel speaks of. We are financially in a satisfactory position – no more and no less. Shortly, when you receive our Province Financial Report, you will see in more detail the impact of the world financial crisis on us. We have lost about 10% of our investment value through the turbulence of the markets. We are watching the market closely, as are our advisers on our behalf. I am sure you are struggling with the same kind of thoughts. This note is just to share with you what is concerning me as the current situation deepens – to think aloud about the difficulties we are all so aware of, through the media and personal experience of friends and family. If sharing like this helps our reflection, if it enables us as a community – at local and provincial level - to think together about how we live and what we do, then that seems valuable. It is always very hard talking about these things because it is not to suggest that we spend less money – it is not to suggest that we turn the heating down or eat less, it is simply a desire to share the concern and the struggle about how to be in solidarity with so many people who are experiencing hardship at this time, and with whom we work and associate. If you have any thoughts on all of this please share them with everyone, through exchange or letter or e mail. It might be a way of starting a kind of dialogue about the current world financial situation and its impact on us, and if you have read anything that helps you, please let us all know so we can share it. Perhaps we can make this dialogue an opportunity “where we will see differences, not as lines of separation but as meeting places for grace to unfold”. (General Chapter Document 2007. page 1). Thank you. With every good wish, Provincial January 2009 GREETINGS FROM CATHERINE GOUGH Greetings from the Novitiate in We had a lovely Christmas - our first with novices - getting used to the Brazilian way. There was loneliness around too but a learning of how much we need each other in a foreign land. The Every blessing to all for the New Year and do please keep us in your prayers. It is less than a month until the official opening of the bicentenary year, celebrating the birth of Appolonie Pelissier-M St Jean. We, the community at the Mother House, offer you and your Province/Region our best wishes for your celebration of this historic event in our Institute. As you already know, our opening celebration will take place on January 31 in Murviel, the village where Appolonie was born. We anticipate a big crowd not only from Murviel but also from Béziers and surrounding areas. You can’t imagine the joy which the preparation of this event has brought to the people of Murviel. The parish priest, who from the beginning was open to our suggestions and to the planning and the carrying out of the celebrations, sees this event as a wonderful occasion for evangelization. The mayor of the village feels honoured to participate in the celebration of “a very important woman of Murviel”, and the people of Murviel are eager to learn more about their native daughter Appolonie/M St Jean. Thanks to the collaboration and inspiration of a team of RSHM and lay people the villagers have already begun to get involved in one way or another; children and adults, rich and poor, believers as well as non believers. The day of celebration will have 4 parts: 1. in groups organized according to age, visiting the house where Appolonie was born, the Town Hall and the Church. 2. 4:30 Bernadette Mc Namara will give a talk on “Appolonie Pellissier who became M 3. 6:00 Eucharistic Celebration 4. A festive meal will be offered to all by the people of Murviel 
Our Chapter document calls us to be “in right relationship with each other, our world…” We are called to a “new understanding of the interconnectedness of all creation” (General Chapter Document) What this means for us in today’s very difficult and financially turbulent world is both a personal and community challenge.
However, in the present climate, it seems to me, that we have to somehow find ways of being in solidarity with people who are struggling at this time. I find myself reflecting and questioning how I live and how I manage my own finances, as well as the Provinces. 
A VISIT TO
FOR THE INTERNATIONAL FORMATION COMMISSION
Hello from the Mother House where we spent a peaceful and happy Christmas. You will have hopefully read our wishes on the Web as well as some news of our life here: on certain days it is bubbling with this project of the year - M St Jean.
You may also have read on the Web the brief report of the International Formation Meeting. It was an opportunity for me to see familiar faces in
My host community in Lisboa was San Bento where I had the opportunity to meet Srs Margeurite Marie and Mary Peter whom some people may know. There were other encounters, and although it is
always a danger to mention names I am going to do so: Marie de Lourdes Rito Santos, Marie Alice Guimaraes and M Alice Morgadinho who lived with me here in the Mother House.
Costa Nova, the
Our work was intense, with time to share and to study all the feed back from the provinces about the guidelines for Formation in this new context of an International Congregation. Our moments of celebration were often with the local RSHM Community and once with the parish where we could appreciate the insertion of our sisters in the local community.