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Paving the way in India my experience as the first Capuchin Tertiary of my country

I discovered that a fresh start is a process. A fresh start is a journey, a journey that requires a plan. And it’s this discernment of our congregation had extended its missionary presence to incredible India. India is a land of Lords and a nursery of temples and mosques; where in religious diversity has been a defining characteristic of India’s population for centuries. It’s a country where the people are of different castes, creed, religion and culture live together and speak different languages. That’s why India is said to be a country of “Unity in Diversity”.

Passion is what consumes your heart and your mind. Purpose is how you use that passion in a concrete way. With sparkles of passion in their hearts our sisters landed in India with an authentic missionary spirit of making our presence and our charisma in this land on 2008. No constructed rooms, no furniture, no compound walls, no comforts, no atmosphere of a convent but all that was there was an unconditional trust in the Divine Providence and a warm welcome with a brotherly hospitality of our Capuchin Fathers. As it’s said “venture outside your comfort zones, the rewards are worth it. Yes, with few months of our stay in the Friary, we slowly put up our own building and from there we had been collaborating with the Capuchin Fathers.

Great things never come from comfort zones. Indeed my experience as first TC, challenged me a lot not just to adopt to the culture of the congregation but to adopt myself to the culture of my own people and to twin them with the  gospel culture. To break my own cultural traits, caste boundaries, attachments to regionalism costs me a lot. I said “Princy, be open, let God do the rest in you. It was a long process for me to sculpt myself in the hands of many sculptors through formation or various experiences that molded me to have a conviction that I am called to be an authentic TC, to embrace reciprocity, to bloom into relationships of circularity.

In the beginnings the community existed with the three sisters who come and go out due visa issues. There was always a problem of consistency of the sisters which also demanded a lot of adjustments to climate, food, culture and language. We begin to work in the college of the capuchin Fathers which helped us economically. Our presence in Rameshwaram has become more vivid in the due time as we venture to collaborate with the parish activities like taking care of the substation, visiting the families, giving catechesis, preparing for first Holy Communion and distributing communion to the sick brought us more closely to the people. People, priests and other religious in the island began to appreciate our presence as it challenged them to live a simple life, to make oneself approachable, to roam around the streets with smile and to talk to the people whom we encounter on our way as it broke their the image of priests and religious are people who live in pedestal. This community also functioned as a formation house for the aspirants.

When years rolled by we were also offered to take care of the children’s home which is under the administration of the Capuchins. So now we had two communities with three sisters in each working as missionaries. Due to the government policies the avail of visa became harder and continuous discernment brought to a newer presence in a different community by closing down these two communities that already existed.

And now we stay in Anugraha Institute of counseling and psychotherapy administered by the capuchins as they offer easy student visa to the foreign sisters. Our community Montiel Illam- Anugraha (means house of Mercy) consists of three of us where in we study as well as we work here. We realized that as we lose ourselves in the services of others we discover our own lives and our own happiness.

 

God’s work done in God’s ways will never lack God’s supplies. This had been my enormous experience during these years of our presence here. Many are the blessings that I encountered through various persons, have met many crossroads; have to unlearn many things to learn anew. The gift of this life has not simply been the myriad of opportunities offered to me as a sister, but also the relationships that I have developed in and out of the community and the aspects of myself that have emerged as a result of these experiences has broadened my perspective rather than narrowing it.  In all this I could always say my sisters had been there beside me and I am proud to be a TC in out our charismatic Identity here in this land of mine. I would say that there is no true gospel-centeredness that does not lead to mission, because the gospel is the story of a God with a missionary heart. And I am as His follower called to live so of living out this God with a missionary heart in daily living. Let each of us Stop, look around and ask ourselves “WHO NEEDS ME TODAY”?

 

SR. PRINCY JOSEPH, TC

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The chapters in Latin America

In the month of August 2021 the three Provinces of Latin America celebrated their Provincial Chapters whose aim, in accordance with the n. 139 of the Constitutions, is to evaluate the progress of the Province, to draw the way to undertake for the new triennium and to elect the Provincial Government, the team of Sisters that  will accompany the life of the Province in the years 2021 – 2024.

Each Chapter was celebrated in three phases and the first two ones, once granted the necessary authorizations of the Holy See through the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, were carried out virtually: in the first one, all the sisters of the Province were involved and in the second  one, only the Capitulars. Instead, in the third phase, participated face to face, the Sisters that are carrying on a special role within the Province or were elected as representatives of all the Sisters.

In the context of each Chapter, the election of the new Provincial Superior and her Council that will animate the life of the Province has a great importance.

Here below we give a short information about each Chapter of Latin America.

Province «Mother of the Good Shepherd»

-Bogotá (Colombia) from 12th to 16th August 2021; it was chaired by Sr. Ana Tulia López Bedoya, General Superior

-New Government Team:

  • Provincial Superior: Herlinda Inés Maestre Gámez
  • Provincial Vicar: Sonia de Fatima Marani Lunardelli
  • 2nd Provincial Councilor: Rosa Alix Fajardo Gómez
  • 3rd Provincial Councilor: Marta Cecilia Ibáñez Valdebenito
  • 4th Provincial Councilor: Ana Dolores Mora Gantiva

 

Province «Our Lady of the Divine Providence»

-Medellín (Colombia) from 12th to 16th August 2021; it was chaired by Sr. María Luisa García Casamián, General Vicar

-New Government Team:

  • Provincial Superior: Aleyda del Socorro Garcés Fernández
  • Provincial Vicar: María Carmenza Ríos López
  • 2nd Provincial Councilor: Rosalba Gómez Duque
  • 3rd Provincial Councilor: Janeth Adriana Cadavid Meneses
  • 4th Provincial Councilor: Sylvia Yolanda Muñoz Muñoz

 

Province «Our Lady of Guadalupe»

-La Ribera de Belén (Costa Rica) from 19th to 23rd August 2021; it was chaired by Sr. Ana Tulia López Bedoya, General Superior

-New Government Team:

  • Provincial Superior: Yolanda de María Arriaga Ruballos
  • Provincial Vicar: María Eugenia Rodríguez Murillo
  • 2nd Provincial Councilor: María Dolores de Sousa Carneiro
  • 3rd Provincial Councilor: Isabel María Meléndez Pineda
  • 4th Provincial Councilor: Maribelle María Umaña Machado

 

************************************************************************************************************************************************

 

 

II Capítulo provincial 2021 / Provincia “Nuestra Señora de la Divina Providencia”

 

II Capítulo provincial 2021 / Provincia “Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe”

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The Pope’s visit to the heart of Europe

In September, Hungary and Slovakia welcomed the visit of Pope Francis. In Budapest, on September 12th, the Holy Father concluded the International Eucharistic Congress, concelebrating the Eucharist in Heroes’ Square, an emblematic place in the history of Hungary and, in the afternoon of the same day, he travelled to Slovakia that has been the scenario of important and significant events, through which the Pope came into contact with various realities of this country and, in each of them, he left a trail of light.

Among the messages that Pope Francis left in every meeting of his visit in the heart of Europe, we like to highlight two: the ecumenism and the reaffirmation of the Christian ethical values that he made ​​in front of so many young people.

It has been unforgettable, for those who participated in it, the Divine Liturgy of St. Chrysostom, celebrated in the city of Prešov and characterized by a deep devotional feeling aroused by the beauty of the Byzantine and Eastern rites, and it was a beautiful expression of the universality of the Church. For the first time in the young history of Slovakia, bishops and archbishops, metropolitans and Latin confreres celebrated the Eucharist together chaired by the Pastor of the universal Church and that was a beautiful testimony that the church, Christ’s community, breathes with two lungs.

In his meeting with young people in Koŝice Pope Francis touched delicate topics especially for young people: preparation for marriage, premarital chastity and the difficulties of living the sacrament of Reconciliation. Addressing the young people and creating a dialogue with the crowd, he reminded everyone that it is possible to front difficulties only with courage, putting all trust in God’s Providence, not being afraid in taking decisions, not living provisionally and following a true ideal and leaving aside the dreams and illusions offered by the worldly way of living one’s life.

The trip ended with the Mass in the shrine of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows in Šastin, on the day of the liturgical feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, Patroness of Slovakia. This is a very important sanctuary for Slovaks, where every year,  on September 15th, takes place a great national pilgrimage, a tradition that Slovak Christians have courageously carried out even during communism, despite the totalitarian regime was doing all that it could to prevent it. Here, during the years of the communist regime, catholic people were born at a new life joining and rooting themselves in prayer and faith, with the intention to free the country from communism and to encourage the younger generation to create the community unified through the Word of God.

As well as every visit of the Pope, also his journey to Hungary and Slovakia has left a deep mark in the hearts of those who have been involved, but his messages have their echo even in other contexts and it will be useful to profit God’s grace poured into the universal Christian and human community through Pope Francis’ gestures and words.

 

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Olympiad: a sign of hope and universal brotherhood In the name of a honest competition

Shortly after the opening of the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Pope expressed his hope that, in this time of pandemic, the Olympiad would be «a sign of hope and universal brotherhood in the name of a honest competition».

And indeed, this event has provoked strong emotions and has told many stories of men and women of distant countries making gestures whose value goes far beyond the sporting performance and, as well, of countries witnessing the hope and universal brotherhood desired by the Pope. We like to mention some of them.

The athletes from South Sudan (a poor country with serious internal conflicts), due to the health emergency, have remained in Japan for another year, thanks to a money collected by the citizens of Maebashi. The South African Dallas Oberholzer, competing in skateboarding, began training during the apartheid years and, in his country, he still uses the skate to gather and train children in difficult neighborhoods and keep them away from drugs and gangs. Several athletes won medals in the name of countries that welcomed them as refugees or immigrants showing their great integration and identification with the country and a great willpower; among them, we remember the Italian sprinter Fausto Desalu, son of a Nigerian woman who raised him alone working as a caregiver in Italy; the family where she works, shared the joy of her son’s victory.

In the Tokyo Olympics, even small states such as Bermuda, Puerto Rico and San Marino, showed their value winning medals for the first time and therefore, in a certain sense, the Games, redesigned the geography of the world sport competition

And for the first time, as a sign of hope, in the Games participated a national team that does not represent a country but the over 82 million people, forced to leave their homes because of the discrimination or wars: the national team of the refugees that, in the real life, often ‘had to run an obstacle marathon’ persecuted by wars and dictatorships and they brought a living sign of hope for the world.

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50 years of simple presence accompanying the Congolese people

Our Congregation, founded in Spain in 1885 and spread in some European countries, but especially in Latin America, since the year 1905 when we arrived in Colombia, was not yet present in Africa until 1971 when, the former «Immaculate» Province, received two insistent requests to go to the black continent. One of them was from Mons. Eugenio Kabanga, Archbishop of Lubumbashi in Congo and the other from a White Father (Missionary of Africa) inviting the sisters to Rwanda. The Provincial Superior at that time, Sr. María Pilar Burillo, accompanied by Sr. Margarita Ros, travelled to visit both places and finally they opted to go to Congo (whose name, from 1971 to 1997 was Zaire).

On August 20th, 1971, just 50 years ago, the first five Capuchin Tertiary Sisters who were going to settle in the Democratic Republic of Congo, arrived in Lubumbashi (capital town of the province of Katanga). Their final destination was the Mission of Kansenia, where the Benedictine Monks of Saint André (Belgians), were present since 1912; the Benedictine Sisters withdrew from the place because of lack of sisters and remained there only Sr. Marie Gregoire and another religious, a Saint Augustine’s Canoness, that were carrying on pastoral work in the small villages.  

Five days before our departure from Spain to the African continent, during the missionary sending ceremony in our chapel in Burlada (Navarra – Spain), full of people to overflowing, we told our sisters, family members and the Christian community accompanying us, that we were happy with their presence because, like us, they were eager to communicate to the others the joy of knowing Jesus and they were feeling encouraged by the Spirit of God. In a community, each one has his mission and our mission was to express the Church universality, being a sign of communion, friendship and collaboration with the still young Church of the Congo. On August 21st we arrived at our mission, Kansenia, about 300 km far from Lubumbashi that was attending 35 villages spread over an area of ​​about 2,700 km2 where we would deal with the Hospital (which was in an indescribable situation) and the boarding for the Secondary school girls, we would open a home for girls who had given up the school and we would give classes of religion in Primary and Secondary schools.

When in our community we became six sisters, two sisters, from Monday to Friday, were going to the villages of the Mission to live and share with the people, especially at night, around the bonfire.

In 1981 another community was opened in the provincial capital, Lubumbashi, since the Archbishop asked the collaboration of one sister in the diocesan store that was providing services to the poor and missionaries At the beginning the Diocese accommodated us in a part of the building of the Diocesan Offices and later in a house near the Cathedral. The other three sisters were performing different tasks: one in a clinic, another in a suburban neighborhood and another coordinating the religion classes in the Primary schools.

When our work in the diocesan store ended, we the sisters preferred to live in a suburban neighborhood and the Salesians offered us to go to Kasungami, a parish they were pastorally attending but where they were not living. And we settled there on January 20th, 1989, taking care of education, health, abandoned elderly, street children, mentally ill people wandering aimlessly, students without means to continue their studies and undernourished people, especially children … And it was there the where we began to receive the first postulants and novices.

It was the moment to think about the formation of the young women who were starting their journey with us and we considered convenient to open a new house, a formation house, in the city, where it was easier to attend courses and seminars organized by the Union of Major Superiors, at an intercongregational level.

The opportunity was provided us by a Belgian priest, parish priest in the Ruashi neighborhood. The formation community settled there on August 19th 1993. They were the last days of President Mobutu and the political situation was complex, reining everywhere a great disorder and insecurity. On three occasions our house was looted and robbed and, due to the seriousness of the situation, we discerned about the convenience of leaving that place. The novices and their Mistress traveled to Benin and joined the Novitiate in that country, at that time belonging to a General Delegation, to complete the canonical year. Meanwhile, we began the construction of a new formation house located near the Lubumbashi university campus and it was inaugurated in October 1998. And on the 30th of that same month, when our first Congolese sister made her Perpetual Profession, the four novices who had already come back from Benin, made their First Profession.

Open to the arising needs and welcoming the signs that God’s Providence placed on our way, we opened a new community to attend, at first, street children. Later, in 2009, the mission of this community expanded and we inaugurated a dormitory for young girls studying in the university: subsequently, due to various circumstances, the girls at risk that were living in this house, were transferred to Kasungami, and welcomed in the home operating there for this mission and managed by the sisters of that community. And in Lubumbashi, instead of the girls’ home, we opened a nursery school whose educational service we are at present completing with Primary School.

Since 2014, as a result of the process of congregational restructuring, the four existing communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo became part of the General Delegation «Our Lady of Africa»: Kansenia, in the heart of the savannah; Kasungami, in the suburbs of Lubumbashi; the formation house and the school complex with the student Dormitory in the city of Lubumbashi.

Personally, my life in Congo has been a great gift. I was feeling in my place. The people were simple and very welcoming; young people eager to learn… it was a joy! I was also happy to see that many people without means could be welcomed and cared with interest and affection in the Hospital …, in fact, nobody had health insurance, except those who, were working in the mining centers for a company. Our life was a life of full insertion in the mission.

I never cease to be grateful for everything I have experienced and for all the love received and offered by all the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters who had the grace to work and serve in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Hna. María Carmen Sanz Lorente, Tc

 

(Sr. María Carmen, author of this article, was a member of the founding group of the Congo in 1971; she remained in this country during 46 years and she returned to Spain in 2017).

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The amigonian in my life

It is impossible to imagine that, after my retirement, I would also get the opportunity to expand my «Life Project».

First contact

I received the invitation to collaborate in the School «Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados», in San José (Costa Rica), from the Academic Coordination and the Subdirection. That seemed interesting to me and, from the beginning, I could not see any difficulty: I could count on a sufficient academic support and experience for such work and so I accepted. But, oh my God, I did not know what the Lord had prepared for me: to accompany the teachers and administrators in the noble task of education, but “with a surname”… Amigonians.

About Father Luis Amigó y Ferrer I knew that he was a Capuchin Brother and the Founder of the Congregation to which belongs my sister Damaris and I had got some material that she had given to me but that was “standing in line” to be read. I like collecting holy cards and medals (I have always liked the holy objects).

Self-learning

Something that began out of necessity, professional pride and responsibility, became a passion, an enjoyment and a fundamental part of my life project.

My work in an Amigonian Educational Center was for me a constant challenge and learning experience. The “Amigonian Chair” and the civic and religious events were getting a different nuance for me and it was amazing the opportunity to evangelize since the teaching subject, as well as the environment closeness, fraternity and solidarity that were always accompanying my daily life.

Amigonian Lay Movement (MLA)

By the hand of Sr. Ana Jessie Castillo, Capuchin Tertiary Sister, I started my «Amigonian itinerary” in the MLA group gathering in the Provincial House in Córdoba neighborhood (San José – Costa Rica). Its behavior was excellent, and it was a group responsible in the formation in the human, christian and charismatic dimensions, according to what is contemplated in the Form of Life. I made my own the objective that the MLA – Adults agenda proposes: «To value the following of Jesus from Father Luis Amigó’s proposal and his preferential love for the needy, with an attitudes of mercy, in one’s own family and in the environment«. I am far from the fulfilment of this goal, but as long as I live …

Four years after beginning my MLA itinerary, I made my commitment no less than in the Holy Family Chapel of the Sisters in Massamagrell (Valencia – Spain), next to the altar of God and very close to Father Luis’ sepulcher…

Gratitude

Several experiences allowed me to deepen in the Amigonian mission: the Amigonian way, in Assisi, in Colombia, Guatemala… just to mention some few experiences that I consider gifts of pure mercy, as well as the visit to reeducation institutions, listening to young people and knowing their life process, the appreciation for the fraternity and the value of living together in the family homes for girls at risk and the health and nutrition centers were for me a real teaching of Amigonian Pedagogy in action.

It has no price the experience of sharing, for example, the Liturgy of the Hours, in the community of the aged sisters and brothers, and I appreciate how their voices, ordinarily almost muffled, become joy and life when singing hymns and thanking the Lord. … How wonderful is this charisma and to see that even in sickness or, at the life sunset, it builds brotherhood!

My experience as a member of the Luis Amigó Intercongregational Commission, was another great teaching, and I like mention especially three of the tasks assigned to me, that, although simple, contributed to enrich me a lot. The first one was to inquire, in the different “Hoja informativa” of the life and work of Father Luis”, how people where feeling and were expressing their gratitude for his intercession: it was wonderful to see the devotion and gratitude for the received favors. The second one was to review the material about the Founding Father’s life and work existing on the social networks. The third one consisted in reading the prolific production of MLA material sent by the different communities of the world where our Congregation of Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family is present and it is stored, with a special zeal, in the Secretary of the Sisters General House, in Rome.

Our Congregation? Yes, my dear lay colleagues you read well… We, as MLA, are one of the deeds of the Congregation, of our Congregation. Therefore, as members of the MLA we must know, love and share the life and work of Father Luis, since we share with the Sisters their mission and spirituality.

At present my health is not the same … but the Amigonian “eaves” are very wide … I participate in the MLA Adults group Saint Isabel of Hungary gathering in the House of Postulancy and of the aged sisters in La Ribera (Heredia – Costa Rica), led by Sr. Flora Virginia Garbanzo. The pandemic connected me also to the virtual Mother of the Rosary prayer group, where every day at five in the afternoon, we join MLA members, Amigonian Cooperators, Brothers and Sisters. During the pandemic, “it was born” also the “Amigonian Way” at the provincial level. All is grace!

What I have learned

God does not allow himself to be won in generosity and Father Luis is «the man who trusted in God.» Therefore: let everything be «for God’s glory and the good of the minor», whatever be the circumstances. I am almost always, that «minor» … Thank you, Father Luis! Thank you Lord for calling me!

María Teresa Araya Chavarría, Mla

(La Ribera de Belén, Heredia. Costa Rica)

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Clare’s light beaconed inside and out!

«How powerful was the illumination of this light and how strong the brightness of this source of light. Truly this light was kept hidden in the cloistered life; and outside them shone with gleaming rays; Clare in fact lay hidden, but her life was revealed to all. Clare was silent, but her fame was shouted out» (FF, 3284).

As St. Clare of Assisi’s (1194-1253) feast day approaches on August 11, I’ve been reflecting on the relevance of her spirituality in this present time.

Clare of Assisi is one of the great women of the Christian and Franciscan tradition. Within the context of the medieval world of the 13th century, Clare lived and struggled with many of the issues that are present in our day. In the life, spirituality and work of Clare of Assisi we can still find an answer to many questions and challenges in today’s world.

In our day of so much fear, uncertainty, violence, sickness and death caused by the pandemic, selfish distinctions and hostility between rich and poor, political conflicts, war, and environmental crisis – Clare has much to teach us about living together on our planet earth as sisters and brothers, all children of the one God. As the first Franciscan woman, she led the way in giving us a shining example of the feminine response to the challenge of Gospel values. Placing all her unique gifts at the service of others, she modeled a stance of complementary – leadership.  While St. Francis moved the world with his extroverted charismatic leadership, St. Clare quietly built “stronger structures” behind the walls of the cloister.

“On Palm Sunday, 1212, Clare took a bold step on her spiritual journey. She renounced her privileged position in the nobility and received the garb of the followers of Francis. Eventually, she made her home at San Damiano in a small church repaired by Francis, just below the city of Assisi. Under God’s guidance, Clare created a new path for women, embracing poverty, humility, and charity as companions on their journey”.

Clare’s life of absolute poverty cuts through all the lures of our consumerist culture. She knew the One in Whom she believed and that One was all-sufficient for her. “Clare’s sole desire was to ground herself as a branch to the Divine vine; to be the Mirror of Eternity in the way she lived her life with her sisters and in the depths of her prayer and contemplation of the Crucified Christ and the Risen Lord. In this way, she allowed herself to be transformed into the image — the mirror — of the Godhead Itself”.

She is also teaching us how it is to build a true community based on the obedience of love.  Her example of servant-leadership was remarkably evident. In the Testament she wrote, the grace of sisterhood is being highlighted.  She said: “careful attention must be given to the establishing of relationships, it is precisely because she envisioned a cloistered life that the dynamic of human relationships is of such importance.  We create relationships by doing things together.   Our relationships with other sisters must be one of support”.  For Clare the “sister in office” (she did not use Abbess) must be a good listener, seeing in each person the one whom Jesus has looked at and called.  She desired that her sisters will be nurtured, spiritually, emotionally and physically. For it is in the nature of motherhood to give life. 

 “The mirror image was a favourite image in Clare’s writings.  The mirror is a vision and a symbol.  She was talking about the depths of reality in Christ reflected in the human person.  In her letter to Agnes she advised her to look into that mirror meaning Christ and behold therein the poverty, humility and, centrally, the sacrificial love of our Lord.  This mirror is not only there to reflect  the redeeming love of our Lord; but for her in the community there is no place for class distinctions or any other form of discrimination: everybody was accepted who felt called to her way of life.  For according to her, acceptance of others is the first poverty. She admonished her sisters to show the love they bear for each other by their deeds so that the sisters are able to love God and each other with greater intensity”.

Today, we face such terrible consequences because of our lack of reverence for creation. The environmental crisis results from a lack of appreciation for the good things that our God has given us for our benefit. The very existence of the life of our planet needs new vision. We, human beings so often fail to realize our interconnectedness with our mother earth.  We lose sight of our great responsibility to care for our common home.  Clare saw the reflection of a loving Creator of all these created wonders. In the words of Clare herself: “Always and in all things God must be praised.” 

Clare was a woman of prayer, strength and courage, of wisdom and insight.  She is teaching us the primacy of God and the great importance of prayer. Her light beacons to the outside because her inner life was deeply anchored in God, her loving Father.  As St. John Paul II said: “Her whole was a Eucharist because from her cloister she raised up a continual “thanksgiving” to God…”

Clare’s passionate spirituality continues to inspire us today: “We become what we love, and who we love shapes what we become”.

 “Look into that mirror daily… and ever study your face therein”.  (Clare, 4th Letter to Blessed Agnes of Prague, 1245)

Clare had a deep gratitude for the abundant kindness of God, she considered herself privileged to have been called to such a life.  Profound gratitude that made her exclaim as her last words, “ Blessed be You, O God, for having created me. ”Francis himself called her ‘Cristiana’, the Christian woman. She is indeed true to her baptismal name.  Clare –  which means light, clear and Illustrious light-.  A true Christian who gave a strong witness to the Light of Christ even from her cloister. Her shining light emanating from Christ Himself beacons and continues to shed rays of peace and hope to all corners of the world.

 SR. Mapin M. Pineda, Tc

 

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Celebration of the Provincial Chapters in Latin America

Our Congregation, as an organic body, holds several internal structures that facilitate the organization of the sisters in the different countries of the world where they are present. We use the general term “demarcation” when we refer to Provinces, Viceprovince and Delegation, into whom the Congregation is divided.  “The Provincial Chapter is a collegial organism expressing the participation of all the sisters of the Province, responsible for taking appropriate measures and assuming commitments for their spiritual and apostolic growth, in communion with the Church and the Congregation” (cf. Const. 139) and it is celebrated every three years (cf. Const. 141).

The Coronavirus pandemic has affected the life of the whole humanity with very serious consequences for all people, that let and are still letting us to experience uncertainty, illness and death. In the same way, it has upset the agendas and programs of each institution or group, from the smallest to the biggest one and we have to think again about everything in order to give valid answers to the occurring reality.

In our Congregation, the Provinces to which belong the 19 Latin American countries where we are present, were supposed to celebrate their Provincial Chapters in the months of November / December 2020, but, due to the above mentioned situation, it has been necessary to postpone these ecclesial and congregational and very important events. Finally, it has been possible to summon them adapting their celebration to the present circumstances and adopting a methodology different from the one used on other occasions.

The Chapters will be held in three phases:

  • 1st phase: it has already started and all the sisters of the Province participate in it.
  • 2nd phase: it will be celebrated with the virtual participation of the elected capitulary sisters.
  • 3rd phase: it will be held with the physical presence of the elected capitulary sisters and it will take place in the coming month of August.

The Provincial Chapter is responsible, among other things, to analyze the situation, problems and aspirations of the Province, with a projection for the future, to seek the appropriate means to promote the religious and apostolic life, the formation in its different stages, etc., to study and to orient the administrative and economic questions, to redact appropriate agreements according to the reality and the needs of the moment… and to elect the Provincial Superior and her Councilors for a new triennium (cf. Const. 140).

It is up to the capitulary sisters who will attend the Provincial Chapter in its 3rd phase, the election of the new Government Team and also to deal with some of the above mentioned aspects. It is a time to redouble prayer and trust in the Lord, a time to search, to discern and to make important decisions for the life of the Province, sisters, communities, apostolic deeds, the members of the Amigonian Lay Movement and  persons sharing the mission with us or that we are serving in different places.

We like to inform about the dates of the celebration of each Provincial Chapter with the physical presence of the capitulary sisters, the place where it will take place and its theme, so that we the sisters may join together in a cenacle of prayer asking God for the light of the Spirit.

  • Province «Mother of the Good Shepherd». From August 12th to 16th in Bogotá – Colombia. Theme: «The nowadays history challenges our charismatic identity as Capuchin Tertiary … It is urgent to give an evangelical response generating life and hope».
  • Province «Our Lady of Divine Providence». From August 12th to 16th in Medellín – Colombia. Theme: «The Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family in a changing and different world: we are called to recreate our consecrated life in fraternity and mission in the light of the charism».
  • Province «Our Lady of Guadalupe». From August 19th to 23rd in San José – Costa Rica. Theme: «The Tertiary Capuchin adhering to Christ, compassionate and merciful, promptly responding to a wounded world».
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G7 leaders look to post pandemic recovery promising to learn from past mistakes

The G7 is an international organization formed by the seven countries economically most advanced and was founded in 1975, primarily  to facilitate shared macroeconomic initiatives in response to contemporary economic problems. The representatives of the countries meet every year and this year the summit took place in Cornwall (England – UK).

The main topic of conversation for the 2021 meeting, the first face-to-face summit since the pandemic began in early 2020, was Covid recovery, including «a stronger global health system that can protect us all from future pandemics».

It is significant that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the G7 summit is a chance to learn lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic and wished do not repeat the errors made during it.

In his opening remarks to the G-7 leaders, Johnson said as the world recovered from the pandemic it was important to “level up across our societies” and build back better. He remarked that the G7 nations are expected to commit to sharing at least one billion coronavirus vaccines; Britain pledged to donate more than 100 million Covid vaccines to poorer countries and U.S. promised 500 million doses of vaccines to low and middle income countries and the African Union.

On its part, Caritas International appealed to the Group of Seven rich nations of the world, declaring that it is impossible to “build back better” without cancelling the debt of poor countries and reinvesting these funds in Covid-19 response and recovery and to combat the climate crisis. 

As we can see, international organizations are striving to search out the solution for the most serious problems and challenges of the present moment, sharing creative ideas and initiatives that we hope will bear fruit of goodness for the whole humanity.

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Últimas Noticias

Iran expels italian nun who has spent her life for the poor of the country

Seventy-five-year-old Sister Giuseppina Berti, who has worked for 26 years in the leprosarium of Tabriz and now lives in Isfahan in the house of the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, will have to leave Iran in the coming days because  her visa has not been renewed and she has received a travel order. Her departure will make it difficult for her fellow nun, Sister Fabiola Weiss, who has dedicated 38 years to the poor and the sick in the leprosy hospital, and whose residence permit has been renewed for another year.

She and her fellow sister Fabiola, a 77-year years old Austrian, they have dedicated their lives to the country’s sick without distinction of religious or ethnic affiliation, to the education and training of young people, children, refugees and war orphans but in recent years, the two sisters did not carry out any outside activities, to avoid being accused of proselytizing. Their house is currently the only reality of the Latin Catholic Church in Isfahan and their chapel, built in 1939, serves as the parish of the «Powerful Virgin», which is occasionally made available to visitors for the celebration of Mass.

In Iran the Catholic Church is integrated by two Assyrian-Chaldean archdioceses (Tehran-Ahwaz and Urmia-Salmas) which have one bishop and four priests (in 2019, the patriarchal administrator of Tehran of the Chaldeans, was also denied a visa renewal and could no longer return to the country), an Armenian diocese in which there is only a bishop and the Latin archdiocese which currently has no priest and is awaiting the arrival of its newly appointed pastor, Archbishop Dominique Mathieu.  As for the religious presence, the Daughters of Charity operate in the country, with three sisters in Tehran and two sisters in Isfahan. There are also two consecrated laywomen. The faithful number about 3,000. With the departure of the nuns, the presence of the Latin Catholic Church in Isfahan would be permanently lost.

This news puts us in contacts with a quite unknown reality of several countries where Christianism is a very little presence and religious intolerance continues limiting and sometimes suffocating the life and mission of the Church. On the other side we know that the humble and often unseen presence of the Christians, is always a seed of God’s kingdom that sprouts up its fruit of compassion and mercy for the poorest and weakest ones and their silenced voice continues announcing to the people, messages of peace and hope.

By VATICAN NEWS

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