A PLACE WHERE GRACE UNFOLDED

Editor's Note: The members of the General Council were asked to share what experience from the EGC had stayed with them since the meeting in Noddfa. Any similarities in reflections are purely coincidental!

Terezinha:
The Meeting of the Enlarged General Council was a moment of grace, providing us an opportunity to broaden our vision and understanding of the Institute as a whole. For me this was the greatest grace.

We traveled many roads, each one bringing with her the same focus of “maximizing our human and financial resources for the sake of mission”.


The faithful presence of the Spirit experienced in times of personal prayer, in simple and in more complex moments, enabled us to work effectively, recognizing our diversity, yet at the same time motivated by a profound sense of unity and concern for the common good. From the very beginning in our interaction with the treasurers to the conclusion, an atmosphere of transparency and trust permeated each session. Together we dreamed of an Institute moving forward with courage, embracing the future with enthusiasm and creative fidelity.

I can only say "thank you" for the support and collaboration of all: provincials/regionals, treasurers, the NEP provincial council and the general council. The efficient support of the staff and the warm welcome of the Noddfa community were essential to the good work done during the EGC.

Our God, you continue to complete the work which you began in Gailhac, in Mère St. Jean, and today, in each one of us.

Terezinha, Mary Jo McElroy, Christine Partisano, CSJ, EGC facilitator

Catherine, Terezinha

Catherine:
I experienced at the EGC, in a new way, our profound unity in mission as an Institute. The preparations each one had done for the planning and the recommendations that the treasurers brought from their meeting helped us to grasp the challenges and the possibilities that lie before us. We had energy and life in abundance, despite the flu and colds that made the rounds! I feel awed and deeply grateful for this experience of God alive in our midst.

Marie France:
I valued the way we approached the issue of our human and financial resources. It is clear that we must realistically address the diminishment of these resources and that this awareness will lead us to a re-examination of our dreams, our choices, our present and future projects, our structures, our life style and our way of thinking. At the same time, with courage and serenity, the EGC reflected on this experience of “limitation” by affirming what is possible, what can be acted upon. The sharing of the life of each Province/Region emphasized the energy, the creativity, the zeal experienced in releasing new gifts and abilities.

The statue of a “young pregnant woman” who “companioned” us in our Noddfa work space reminded me of paragraph 3 of our Constitutions. In a world which does not have room for the unexpected, the YES of Mary “in the face of the unpredictable, even the impossible” continues to call us forth. I believe that we searched together for concrete ways to confront our limitations so that they do not crush us. At the same time, we accepted being “disarmed”, having to let go of our control and having to trust in the “resilient movements of the Spirit” (Teilhard de Chardin) hovering creatively over the world and over us, gathered together at the EGC.

I experienced and appreciated the freedom, simplicity and truth reflected in our sharing that enabled each one to recognize her personal limitations and her dependence upon others.

Cathy:
The experience of the 2010 Enlarged General Council meeting for me was truly a holy space of welcome where we engaged our differences as “meeting places for grace to unfold". Surrounded by the rugged, awesome beauty of Northern Wales in Noddfa, I found myself moved by the insight, creativity and depth of reflection that characterized our twelve days together. In the opening ritual, Terezinha invited us to ponder the Gospel story of the woman who anointed Jesus' head, she who risked conventional behaviors, crossed cultural and gender boundaries in a gesture of prodigal love - a nameless women who named Jesus as the Anointed One who came to bring good news to poor people and to announce a year of God’s favor. During our ritual gesture, we "remembered" this aromatic anointing by blessing one another with perfumed oils as a symbolic of recognition of our prophetic mission in collaborating with Jesus the Christ in the transformation of a broken, suffering world.

At the same time, I was reminded of a haiku by the Japanese poet, Basho:

The scent of flowers remains on the hands of the one who gives them away.

Like the woman who anointed Jesus' head, we, too, enter into a relationship of intimacy with Jesus, of pouring out our love in an act of generous self-giving: the one who anoints and the Anointed become one in a gesture of courage, compassion and solidarity.

My prayer is that our reflection, discernment and decision-making at the 2010 EGC will move us forward in our common journey of faith as women anointed and anointing, so that all may have life, life to the full.

Kathleen O'Keeffe, Kathleen Fagan (EAP), Catherine

M. Teresa Nogueira (P), Margaret Treacy (Z), André Dullaghan (NEP)

Celine Mescall, Mary Jo (NEP) , translators

Bernadette Madden (NEP)

Maria Pizzoni (Justice and Peace, Wrexham Diocese) , Gwen Barry speaker from CAFOD, Katya Jewell (CAFOD - Wales)	Patsy Butler (NEP) celebrating St. Patrick's Day in Wales!

Barbara Bailey (NEP)	André (NEP)	Philippa O'Sullivan (NEP)

Noddfa Community: Patricia McGrath, Mary Jo, Pauline Stott, Patrice Power, Bernadette Madden

Other Noddfa companions during the EGC!

EGC Picasa Album - click here

Paré, Cathy, de Lourdes, Kathleen, Marion, Mary Bernadette

Institute Stewardship Meeting, 28 February – 6 March 2010

This group, first suggested at the 2006 Treasurers’ Meeting and affirmed at the 2007 General Chapter, is a concrete response to the chapter vision of “Treasuring the Whole”. We stated in the 2007 General Chapter document that “listening to the many voices that challenge us to a new consciousness of solidarity and interdependence in our world, we, as an international Institute, are called in today’s reality to expand our horizons…”

On February 28 we met for the first time in Béziers at the Motherhouse: Kathleen O'Keeffe, Cathy Minhoto, de Lourdes Mechow, generalate assistant treasurer, Aparecida (Paré) da Rocha Moreira (B), Marion Shanahan (EAP) and Mary Bernadette McNulty, CSJ, WAP director of finance. We spent the first day in prayer and reflection using Scripture, our Constitutions, chapter documents, letters of Père Gailhac and our first sisters. We situated ourselves within the global context, relying on inspiration from our Sources and from the place of foundation, where our charism took root. We were helped to broaden our vision and deepen our awareness of responsible stewardship, placing our resources in service of mission and for the promotion of justice. We worked together to refine an initial draft of the role and responsibilities of our committee and familiarized ourselves with the present status of funds held on general level.


Mr. Anthony Behrens of Barclays Wealth Group provided us with many valuable insights into current market trends. He also helped to analyze Institute level investments and offered us some suggestions for future financial planning.

We hope that we have made a good beginning "in living the Mission Statement more authentically" by articulating financial strategies for "sharing our resources, financial and personnel, beyond boundaries..." (2007 Gen Chap).

Treasurers' Meeting: Treasuring the Whole
Living the Mission Statement more authentically by sharing financial resources
beyond boundaries of Provinces/Regions (2007 Gen Chap)

This was the theme we chose to deepen at our meeting in Penmaenmawr, Wales from March 6 – 10, 2010. It had first been the focus of the 2006 Treasurers’ Meeting in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and was affirmed as a mandate of the 2007 General Chapter. In the course of our reflection and sharing, we recognized the many treasures of our lives: being a member of an international, apostolic Institute, the resources that God has given us in continuing the work of Jesus Christ, the wisdom which comes with age and experience and the gift of new life that is being nurtured in our SHM Novitiate. We took as our welcome logo the inspirational design used for the recent first profession, which, in wordless eloquence, visualizes the gift of our charism in our contemporary world. The words of our Founder continued to give us new insight into the use of our material goods: I shall pray only that you may have what is necessary to accomplish the works to which God will call you.

Our agenda included the following:

• Prayer and reflection on RSHM documents and history, letters of Jean Gailhac, RSHM Constitutions and our 2007 General Chapter text;
• A 10-minute financial “snapshot” of the financial picture of each province/region with 5-year projections of human and financial resources;
• A financial presentation by Kathleen O’Keeffe of general level expenses and the current status of the Institute Global Fund and investments;
• A presentation on development with an emphasis on our Institute priority of Africa given by a representative of INTRAC, Janice Giffen;
• Continued work on the issues of healthcare and retirement for Africa;
• Discussion of the Institute Solidarity Fund, simplification of the Provincial/Regional Financial Reports to general level; preparation of a report to be given to the 2010 Enlarged General Council.

With the effective facilitation of Mr. Brett Nicholls, who always kept us focused on our agenda and within our time allotments, we prepared eight recommendations for review and approval by the members of the Enlarged General Council. After reflection and discussion all eight were formally approved by that body.

Apart from money, other meaningful symbols were placed in our worship space. In our prayer, we placed a treasure chest, a puzzle, a pair of sandals, soil, an image of Mary with a water jar in one hand and holding Jesus’ hand in the other, bread broken, water poured out – these were images which inspired us to generous and responsible stewardship of the diverse resources entrusted to us in being companions with Jesus in shaping an alternative form of globalization, one of compassion, solidarity and concern.

Snapshots of the participants in the 2010 Treasurers' Meeting:

Mary Jo Martin (NEP)	Mrs. Sharon Daly - NEP Finance Manager	Virginia Dorgan (EAP)
de Lourdes Mechow	Lisby Bissane (Moz)	Pare Moreira (B)
Veronica Brand (Zam)	Brett Nicholls, facilitator	Janice Giffen International NGO Training and Research (INTRAC)speaker
Eileen Tuohy (WAP)	Lúcia Rezende (B) Motherhouse	Kathleen

Archived Generalate Bulletins

February 2010
November 2009
October 2009
July 2009