Sri Lanka Catholics to take concrete actions during the last month of the Jubilee
by Melani Manel Perera

 
About a thousand Holy Family members discussed love and mercy, setting up various groups, each suggesting initiatives like not marginalising classmates, organising Masses for the sick, and making decisions in the family together.
Colombo (AsiaNews) – About a thousand members of the Holy Family association have decided to carry out concrete acts of mercy during the last month of the Jubilee of Mercy in order to spread the love and mercy of Jesus in Sri Lanka.
The group met in Wennappuwa, diocese of Chilaw on the country’s west-central coast, to celebrate the Feast of the family. The theme of the gathering was ‘let us make alive the face of Mercy in our family’’. Many branches of the Holy Family – apostolic, contemplative nuns, lay people, priests and consecrated secular group – attended the event.
Superior General Sister Anna Maria said that Holy Family members “have a responsibility to apply each day God’s mercy in our lives. Mercy is closely connected to our association, so we must always put it into practice.”
These present were divided into various groups, and each selecting distinct initiatives.
Children decided to love the environment, not ignore classmates in difficulty, use good words to each other, and utilise their skills to serve others.
Young people chose to provide textbooks, backpacks, material and uniforms to rural schools that have problems. They also decided to organise special Masses for the sick who cannot go to church, hand out meals to beggars, plant trees to follow the pope’s instructions on the environment, and, finally, donate the proceeds of the youth talent show to the National Cancer Hospital.
The group of priests plans to encourage the faithful to go to confession and establish a closer relationship with God. They also said that they will listen with greater sensitivity to people’s sufferings, push the faithful to seek salvation in God rather than seek revenge, and listen to the needs of others, respecting and accepting them.
In order to set a good example for their children, parents decided to promote love in the family, with mothers and fathers making decisions together, developing trust among family members and meditating constantly on the Word of God.

My participation in the WYD
For the first time in my life I participated in the World Youth Day. It was a very special event that will be forever etched in my memory. I’m glad that it took place in Poland because, in this way, many young Poles could participate. Otherwise, the costs for many of them would have been too high to consider a trip abroad.
Preparations for this event lasted three years in all the Polish dioceses. There were catechesis and other meetings in the parishes. Finally, the big day arrived. Young people from all over world first spent a week in various Polish cities. There were concerts, prayer meetings, entertainment evenings, excursions etc. Each sister participated in meetings with young people and we also hosted some pilgrims.
On July 25th, most pilgrims headed to Cracow to take part in the main WYD celebrations. Young people from all over the world came to meet the Pope and their peers from different countries. The diversity of languages, cultures and nations was not at all an obstacle in relating to each other and becoming one big Family of God. Everywhere in the streets, young people were cheering and glorifying the Lord. The atmosphere was very cordial; everyone was smiling despite the hardships of the pilgrimage. 
When the Holy Father arrived, the joy reached its peak. Everyone applauded. When the Pope started his speech there was complete silence though; the pilgrims listened to his words with great concentration. Then there were prayers, singing, dancing. I think that for many people it was a great opportunity to deepen their faith, hope and love. The testimony of these young people from around the world is the best example of the New Evangelization.
Sister Aneta
 

Saint Paul, in his letter to the Romans, wrote “… in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Yes, it is true, God never stops loving and once he has chosen, he chooses forever; he renews his choice with his grace, mercy and fidelity. And though my love and fidelity are so often clumsy and weak, he gave me the grace to celebrate with such a great joy my jubilee of 25 years of consecrated life. My joy was really great, also because the anniversary coincided with the end of my annual retreat on the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. And it was the same in the parish of Gorzyce; on September 8, feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, during the evening Mass, I could thank God with priests, sisters of the community, teachers, youth, children and parishioners for his presence in my life as sister of the Holy Family. After warm words spoken by Fr Dean and sincere wishes of all the present, I thanked everyone asking to continue to pray for me. I distributed commemorative holy cards, for which I thank our Provincial, and sweets. I take this opportunity to thank all the communities who remembered my jubilee and accompanied me with their prayers, words, gestures and gifts. May God Alone be always your joy and your blessing.
Sister Iwona Debska HFB

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE CARE OF CREATION
1 SEPTEMBER 2016
 
Show Mercy to our Common Home
 
United with our Orthodox brothers and sisters, and with the support of other Churches and Christian communities, the Catholic Church today marks the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation”. This Day offers “individual believers and communities a fitting opportunity to reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live.” 
It is most encouraging that concern for the future of our planet is shared by the Churches and Christian communities, together with other religions. Indeed, in past decades numerous efforts have been made by religious leaders and organizations to call public attention to the dangers of an irresponsible exploitation of our planet. Here I would mention Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople who, like his predecessor Patriarch Dimitrios, has long spoken out against the sin of harming creation and has drawn attention to the moral and spiritual crisis at the root of environmental problems. In response to a growing concern for the integrity of creation, the Third European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu in 2007 proposed celebrating a “Time for Creation” during the five weeks between 1 September (the Orthodox commemoration of God’s creation) and 4 October (the commemoration of Francis of Assisi in the Catholic Church and some other Western traditions). This initiative, supported by the World Council of Churches, has since inspired many ecumenical activities in different parts of the world. It is also encouraging that throughout the world similar initiatives promoting environmental justice, concern for the poor and responsible social commitment have been bringing together people, especially young people, from diverse religious backgrounds. Christians or not, as people of faith and goodwill, we should be united in showing mercy to the earth as our common home and cherishing the world in which we live as a place for sharing and communion.
1. The earth cries out …
With this Message, I renew my dialogue with “every person living on this planet” (Laudato Si’, 3) about the sufferings of the poor and the devastation of the environment. God gave us a bountiful garden, but we have turned it into a polluted wasteland of “debris, desolation and filth” (ibid., 161). We must not be indifferent or resigned to the loss of biodiversity and the destruction of ecosystems, often caused by our irresponsible and selfish behaviour. “Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence, nor convey their message to us. We have no such right” (ibid., 33).
Global warming continues, due in part to human activity: 2015 was the warmest year on record, and 2016 will likely be warmer still. This is leading to ever more severe droughts, floods, fires and extreme weather events. Climate change is also contributing to the heart-rending refugee crisis. The world’s poor, though least responsible for climate change, are most vulnerable and already suffering its impact.
As an integral ecology emphasizes, human beings are deeply connected with all of creation. When we mistreat nature, we also mistreat human beings. At the same time, each creature has its own intrinsic value that must be respected. Let us hear “both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” (Laudato Si’, 49), and do our best to ensure an appropriate and timely response.
2. … for we have sinned
God gave us the earth “to till and to keep” (Gen 2:15) in a balanced and respectful way. To till too much, to keep too little, is to sin.
My brother, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has courageously and prophetically continued to point out our sins against creation. “For human beings… to destroy the biological diversity of God’s creation; for human beings to degrade the integrity of the earth by causing changes in its climate, by stripping the earth of its natural forests or destroying its wetlands; for human beings to contaminate the earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life – these are sins.” Further, “to commit a crime against the natural world is a sin against ourselves and a sin against God.” 
In the light of what is happening to our common home, may the present Jubilee of Mercy summon the Christian faithful “to profound interior conversion” (Laudato Si’, 217), sustained particularly by the sacrament of Penance. During this Jubilee Year, let us learn to implore God’s mercy for those sins against creation that we have not hitherto acknowledged and confessed. Let us likewise commit ourselves to taking concrete steps towards ecological conversion, which requires a clear recognition of our responsibility to ourselves, our neighbours, creation and the Creator (ibid., 10 and 229).
3. An examination of conscience and repentance
The first step in this process is always an examination of conscience, which involves “gratitude and gratuitousness, a recognition that the world is God’s loving gift, and that we are called quietly to imitate his generosity in self-sacrifice and good works… It also entails a loving awareness that we are not disconnected from the rest of creatures, but joined in a splendid universal communion. As believers, we do not look at the world from without but from within, conscious of the bonds with which the Father has linked us to all beings” (Laudato Si’, 220).
Turning to this bountiful and merciful Father who awaits the return of each of his children, we can acknowledge our sins against creation, the poor and future generations. “Inasmuch as we all generate small ecological damage,” we are called to acknowledge “our contribution, smaller or greater, to the disfigurement and destruction of creation.” This is the first step on the path of conversion.
In 2000, also a Jubilee Year, my predecessor Saint John Paul II asked Catholics to make amends for past and present religious intolerance, as well as for injustice towards Jews, women, indigenous peoples, immigrants, the poor and the unborn. In this Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, I invite everyone to do likewise. As individuals, we have grown comfortable with certain lifestyles shaped by a distorted culture of prosperity and a “disordered desire to consume more than what is really necessary” (Laudato Si’, 123), and we are participants in a system that “has imposed the mentality of profit at any price, with no concern for social exclusion or the destruction of nature.” Let us repent of the harm we are doing to our common home.
After a serious examination of conscience and moved by sincere repentance, we can confess our sins against the Creator, against creation, and against our brothers and sisters. “The Catechism of the Catholic Church presents the confessional as the place where the truth makes us free.” We know that “God is greater than our sin,” than all our sins, including those against the environment. We confess them because we are penitent and desire to change. The merciful grace of God received in the sacrament will help us to do so.
4. Changing course
Examining our consciences, repentance and confession to our Father who is rich in mercy lead to a firm purpose of amendment. This in turn must translate into concrete ways of thinking and acting that are more respectful of creation. For example: “avoiding the use of plastic and paper, reducing water consumption, separating refuse, cooking only what can reasonably be consumed, showing care for other living beings, using public transport or car-pooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights, or any number of other practices” (Laudato Si’, 211). We must not think that these efforts are too small to improve our world. They “call forth a goodness which, albeit unseen, inevitably tends to spread” and encourage “a prophetic and contemplative lifestyle, one capable of deep enjoyment free of the obsession with consumption” (ibid., 212, 222).
In the same way, the resolve to live differently should affect our various contributions to shaping the culture and society in which we live. Indeed, “care for nature is part of a lifestyle which includes the capacity for living together and communion” (Laudato Si’, 228). Economics and politics, society and culture cannot be dominated by thinking only of the short-term and immediate financial or electoral gains. Instead, they urgently need to be redirected to the common good, which includes sustainability and care for creation.
One concrete case is the “ecological debt” between the global north and south (cf. Laudato Si’, 51-2). Repaying it would require treating the environments of poorer nations with care and providing the financial resources and technical assistance needed to help them deal with climate change and promote sustainable development.
The protection of our common home requires a growing global political consensus. Along these lines, I am gratified that in September 2015 the nations of the world adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, and that, in December 2015, they approved the Paris Agreement on climate change, which set the demanding yet fundamental goal of halting the rise of the global temperature. Now governments are obliged to honour the commitments they made, while businesses must also responsibly do their part. It is up to citizens to insist that this happen, and indeed to advocate for even more ambitious goals.
Changing course thus means “keeping the original commandment to preserve creation from all harm, both for our sake and for the sake of our fellow human beings.”A single question can keep our eyes fixed on the goal: “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?” (Laudato Si’, 160).
5. A new work of mercy
“Nothing unites us to God more than an act of mercy, for it is by mercy that the Lord forgives our sins and gives us the grace to practise acts of mercy in his name.”
To paraphrase Saint James, “we can say that mercy without works is dead … In our rapidly changing and increasingly globalized world, many new forms of poverty are appearing. In response to them, we need to be creative in developing new and practical forms of charitable outreach as concrete expressions of the way of mercy.”
The Christian life involves the practice of the traditional seven corporal and seven spiritual works of mercy. “We usually think of the works of mercy individually and in relation to a specific initiative: hospitals for the sick, soup kitchens for the hungry, shelters for the homeless, schools for those to be educated, the confessional and spiritual direction for those needing counsel and forgiveness… But if we look at the works of mercy as a whole, we see that the object of mercy is human life itself and everything it embraces.”
Obviously “human life itself and everything it embraces” includes care for our common home. So let me propose a complement to the two traditional sets of seven: may the works of mercy also include care for our common home.
As a spiritual work of mercy, care for our common home calls for a “grateful contemplation of God’s world” (Laudato Si’, 214) which “allows us to discover in each thing a teaching which God wishes to hand on to us” (ibid., 85). As a corporal work of mercy, care for our common home requires “simple daily gestures which break with the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness” and “makes itself felt in every action that seeks to build a better world” (ibid., 230-31).
6. In conclusion, let us pray
Despite our sins and the daunting challenges before us, we never lose heart. “The Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us… for he has united himself definitively to our earth, and his love constantly impels us to find new ways forward” (Laudato Si’, 13; 245). In a particular way, let us pray on 1 September, and indeed throughout the year:
“O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned 
and forgotten of this earth,
who are so precious in your eyes…
God of love, show us our place in this world
as channels of your love 
for all the creatures of this earth” (ibid., 246),
God of mercy, may we receive your forgiveness 
and convey your mercy throughout our common home.
Praise be to you!
Amen.
 

REFUGEE WEEK IN BRADFORD                                                                   
20 – 26 June
Bradford, city of sanctuary, has a very special and proud tradition of welcoming refugees and people who have to leave their countries due to political, religious or other reasons. There are almost 340 families currently seeking asylum in Bradford.
The theme of Refugee Week this year is Welcome. The aim is “to create better understanding between different communities and to encourage successful integration enabling refugees to live in safety and continue making a valuable contribution”.
The plight of the refugees and asylum seekers was highlighted by various events such as arts, cultural and educational activities that were organized to mark refugee week and to celebrate the contribution of refugees in the UK and to promote better understanding of why people seek asylum. It was also to celebrate the welcome shown to the refugees and asylum seekers and to encourage and inspire communities to continue to welcome new arrivals whose lives are threatened.
On 20 June, at 5 p.m., Refugee Week was launched in Bradford. The opening address was made by Bradford City Council’s chief Executive, Kersten England, who expressed appreciation of the valuable contribution made by the refugees and, on the other hand, of how the lives of the refugees are being enriched. Different schools took part in this event presenting personal testimonies, music and new dramas depicting the lives, struggles and suffering of the refugees and asylum seekers.
On 22 June, Bradford Ecumenical Asylum Concern (BEACON) organised a walk for justice to support, to be in solidarity with, and to highlight the difficulties faced by the people who are going through the asylum system.
They have to walk 12 miles to go to the Home office centre to sign because they cannot afford transport. So this walk was to raise awareness of the issues. Twenty five people who took part in this walk, completing a journey that the asylum seekers dispersed in Bradford are required to make independently every week. The walk started around 9:50 from the Centenary Square, Bradford with the blessing of the Bishop of Bradford and ended up around 4:30 in Waterside Court on Kirkstall in Leeds.
We were all welcomed by the people of Leeds with cheers and refreshments.
Nasreen Nazir – Bradford

Living (out of sight) under Plastic
The Community of Campohermoso
Last December, REVISTA 21 published an article about migrants in the Níjar district where we live.   Since we would find it difficult to improve on the description of the situation given there, we decided to copy some parts of the article written by Silvia Melero Abascal. In the article she touches on problems such as substandard living conditions, the exploitation of workers, the situation of the migrant woman, racism, schooling problems, non-integration etc…
 
In Spain, slave labour is allowed. There are workers living in substandard housing without water or electricity.  They are almost invisible.  They spend their lives under plastic.  They work in plastic greenhouses and live in plastic huts.  They provide the cheap labour which underpins the agricultural economy of the area.
 
These are migrant workers – both men and women – who live in various settlements in  Almería (El Ejido, Roquetas, Níjar). It is difficult to know how many of them there are.  In Níjar alone, there are over 60 settlements housing between 3,000 and 4,000 people.
 
A settlement is a substandard housing estate consisting of plastic huts or small buildings. These settlements are constructed on farmland and the migrant population who work in the plastic greenhouses live there. It is thought that a new settlement appears every two or three months but nobody knows the exact number. 
 
The people risk their lives trying to get such basic things as water and electricity.  They sometimes travel three or four kilometres by bicycle to fill their water containers from a public tap. Sometimes they get the water from the greenhouse owner’s supply.  Last year a boy was electrocuted trying to get a connection from an electrical cable.  
Some people work eight hours a day for a daily wage of 30 Euro and sometimes they have to work for fourteen hours a day.  At other times there is no work at all.  In the Summer they have to work under plastic in temperatures of over 50ºC;   that is those who manage to get work because obviously there is not enough work for so many people.
When the settlements were begun, they were occupied by men but this situation has changed. Now families with young children are living there in unsafe conditions. The people are mainly sub-Saharan or Moroccan with some Roma people from Eastern Europe.
The first women came to the Almerian settlements to work in the strawberry beds.  Without a work permit they are condemned to be dependent on their husbands and are very vulnerable.  “Without documents, we cannot work and without work we cannot get documents. So, how are we supposed to live?”  
A 2014 report from the Simetrías Foundation said that “the young people who live there are exposed to dangerous social and sanitary conditions as a result of living in  precarious situations”.   They have problems with health, education, language and integration and could end up being another “lost generation” The children have to walk up to 40 minutes to school and if it rains or is windy they cannot go.
In the 90s there was a great demand for labour in Almerían agriculture and the sector benefitted and still benefits from this cheap labour.  This model based on a high return from intensive farming has a high production level for both domestic consumption and for export.  Everyone has always known that this work depends on migrants, the majority of whom have no work contracts.
Eva Moreno is the co-ordinator of the Cepaim Centre in Níjar. “After the Paris attack, the Moslem migrants are picked on and are victims of xenophobia. The bit of progress that was made in the past few years is lost in a second when something like that happens and all the people are tarred with the same brush.  The future is interculturality and we have that here in our society.  Our society is mixed and that is an enrichment.  There is nothing better than to be open to others and get to know them. They are not enemies and they have not come to deprive us of anything.  They are fleeing from very serious problems in their countries of origin and are doing very important work here. They are not in any way aggressive people. They work hard.  For years they have been the ones who have kept agriculture going in Almería.”
 
Organisations like Cepaim, The Red Cross, Doctors of the  World, Caritas  and the Mercy Sisters of Charity try to help them but the situation of many families is very complex.
Those are some extracts from the article.  If you have the opportunity, we invite you to read the whole article by  Silvia Melero Abascal in REVISTA 21
We know that everything in the article is true but we also know that there is another side to the story.  There are many greenhouse owners who treat their employees as members of their own family; thousands of migrants – the majority – live in houses or apartments even though sometimes eight or ten people live in one apartment.  It is also true that many of the migrants prefer to live in the settlements where they do not have to pay for rent, water or electricity and can save the money to send to their families.  Many, mostly Moroccans, have a car, a house and their own business.
As you can imagine, the community can do very little in the face of such great need. We help Caritas in giving out food.  We give Spanish classes and we collaborate in the Occupational Workshops which the Mercy Sisters of Charity run in San Isidro.  Above all, we try to listen to the people, welcome them and be with them.  It is often said – but it is really true – that they give us much more than we give them. Their joy in spite of their difficulties, their hope, their desire to improve their family’s situation back home, the way they support one another help us to believe that, in spite of everything, “The reign of God is among us.” 

Solemn Requiem Mass for Sr. Veronika
Dear Fathers, Brothers, Sisters and Friends,
We thank you for sharing in our grief, in the past days, at the painful and tragic loss of Sr. Veronika, Theresia Racková, SSpS.
Sr. Veronika was born in Slovakia on 08 January 1958. She made her first vows in the Mission Congregation of the Servants of the Holy Spirit in 1987 and final vows in 1994. She was a medical doctor with specialization in tropical diseases. She has worked as a missionary in Ghana. She served as Provincial Leader of the Province of Slovakia from 2004-2010. Upon completing her term as Provincial Leader, she was assigned to Yei, South Sudan in 2010, thereby pioneering the SSpS mission in that place. From 2010 to 2016, until her death, she has served in various capacities as SSpS community leader, medical doctor and Director of St. Bakhita Health Center, Yei. Sr. Veronika was a committed, generous and joyful missionary.
Around midnight of 15 May 2016, Sr. Veronika was returning, after taking a patient on an emergency call to Harvest Hospital, Yei, when she was attacked by suspected group of soldiers. The St. Bakhita Health Center Ambulance that she was driving, was shot several times and Sr. Veronika was gravely wounded on the hip and in the abdomen. After two surgeries in the Hospital for Women and Children in Yei, she was airlifted to Nairobi Hospital in Kenya on Monday 16th May for further treatment and surgeries. Despite the best efforts of the doctors, she passed away on Friday, 20th May 2016. Her death is an irreparable loss for us, for her family and for the people she served especially in Yei.
A Solemn Requiem Mass will be celebrated on Monday, 23 May, 2 pm in Nairobi. Due to the complexity and legal implications of the situation, we cannot, at the moment, confirm the place and date of the funeral.
We sincerely thank all of you who have expressed your solidarity and support through your condolence messages. It is our hope and prayer that the self-giving of Sr. Veronika will herald a new beginning for peace and reconciliation in South Sudan.
SSpS Communication Office
Sr. Marides SSpS – Communication Coordinator     Sr. Mary John SSpS – Assistant General

On this feast of the Trinity when our God of Relationship, invites us to loving appreciation of the Oneness, the connectedness, we give thanks to that Love and for the many ways we have encountered the same Love in our personal and Holy Family journey.
Recalling the memory of our beginnings with love, today we celebrate the Feast of God’s Love – God our Creator, who’s Love, took flesh in Jesus and the Spirit who continues to live with us transforming all life.
Trinity Sunday is for us Holy Family, a day of joy, of gratitude to God and to our Founder for the gift he left for us – the inception of the Holy Family!
“It was on May 27th 1820, the eve of Trinity Sunday that the group of three young women came together in the accommodation chosen for them, a three-room apartment.   They began a retreat of Trinity Sunday and during this retreat they received a special grace, a call from God who never fails those who listen to God…. They desired, sought only God Alone and God’s Love… The heroism of these three women, completely unaware of the future, their destiny and the simplicity of their faith in following the star which had shone in their hours of darkness and uncertainty, led them – under the impulsion of one of the Lord’s ministers who was himself seeking only the glory of God – to plant in the field of the Church, the tree of the Holy Family which would, one day, bear numerous branches.”
(Marie-Bernard Flanagan: ‘A Good Man has passed this way’, pg. 54)

UISGPLENARY: Supporting Global Sisterhood
Sr. Rosemary Nassif, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
The global sisterhood is created by partnerships—not only in what we do, in our works, but also in our relationships – how we think, plan, organize, learn, believe and hope.  Collaboration is a true sign of vitality of religious life today!  How can we do more together than the sum of our individual parts?  How can we believe more together than the sum of our individual beliefs?  How can those of us in the global north learn from the youth and vitality in the global south; and those in the global south learn from the maturity of those in the global north?
The second essential quality that drives our global sisterhood is COMMUNICATION!
Our tools for communication today are so broad and expansive than ever before.  When I first entered, religious life international conversations were rare, much less audio and video together.  Today, Skype, social media, and online information are so powerful and effective in assuring that our message, our influence, our wisdom and insight have impact across the globe.  I am not just referring to communicating with each other, but, also, communication with all those who can magnify the work we do and the love we have for others.  Who is the voice for the disadvantaged and vulnerable, if not us?  We are often so engrossed in doing the work that we do not think about communicating what we are doing and experiencing.  Media is powerful.  Our true example is in Pope Francis, called the tweetable Pope.  His message, his following and his impact are so much more universal through his ability and willingness to capture a broader audience.  This is not boasting or pride.  We have a spiritual call – even a moral obligation—to tell our stories in ways that capture the hearts and spirits of others who can multiply our efforts.  Let’s COMMUNICATE!!!
The third essential quality of our global sisterhood is COMMUNION!  Inter-cultural communion!
Today, more than ever, we need to model love of differences and permit those differences to change us, empower us and make our hearts bigger and wiser!!!   Throughout our world today, in so many instances, our cultural and religious differences divide us.  Many of your sisters live and minister across cultures and across religions.  We cannot be a global sisterhood without being united in spirit and love across our diverse realities—within our own congregations and also across congregations and our world – becoming a global community of sisters who are informed and empowered and mutually supportive!!
It is collaboration, communication and communion that builds our global sisterhood!

UISG Plenary: A big Family
Sr. Carmen Sammut, UISG President, states: “It is every three years that we have the occasion to meet many of us, members of the UISG, together. Our theme is ‘Weaving global solidarity for life’. Our first aim is our getting to know each other, getting to know from the inside the contexts and situations we are living in all the corners of the world. That is why meeting each other is so important. That is why we have time to share in language groups. Our speakers will help us reflect on what we live and especially to see how together we can be more effective in our actions. We will reflect on what it means to be a religious living today, living and acting in the manner of Jesus.”
Women Religious is a meaningful presence globally: we represent the 80% of consecrated life…
“We have a great potential, because of our numbers and of our being immersed in all situations of our world today. We hope to be able to  recognize where the Holy Spirit is leading us and to decide on some orientations and actions to be taken TOGETHER in favor of the life of our planet, of the marginalized, of a more concerted and intercongregational commitment as religious. We will also celebrate the 50 years of life of the UISG and remember with gratitude all those who have brought it to its mature existence today.

We hope to come out of the assembly full of enthusiasm for our vocation, knowing that we are never alone for wherever we are we form part of one big family with the same objectives, that of weaving a better life for all. Indeed ‘that they may have life, and have it to the full.’ (John 10,10)”
Read more about the Assembly