Good Shepherd News

No. 183 January 2006

Good Shepherd Sisters joined the March for Peace in Rome, on January 1, Solemnity of Mary Mother of God. January 1st is also observed as World Peace Day. The annual March for Peace was spearheaded by the Sant’Egidio community, a lay movement founded in Rome. The march participated in by lay and religious, young and old, began at the Piazza della-Chiesa Nuova and culminated at St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican where thousands were waiting for the Angelus. Pope Benedict XVI gave his mes-sage to those present for the 38th World Peace Day. The Sisters of the Generalate and members of the Extended Committee for Planning of the Congregational Chapter joined the march.

Following is the Pope’s Mes-sage: Dear Brothers and Sisters, On this first day of the year, the Church fixes her gaze on the heavenly Mother of God, who embraces the Child Jesus, source of every blessing. "Hail, Holy Mother", the liturgy sings, "the Child to whom you gave

birth is the King of Heaven and E a r t h f o r e v e r " . The Angels' proclamation at Bethlehem resounds in Mary's motherly heart, filling it with wonder: "Glory to God in high

March for Peace

Extended Committee for the Planning of the Congregational Chapter (see page 3)

(Continued on page 2)

Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd

January 1, 2006: Mary, Mother of God

In Sri Lanka

War-Widows Bonding for Peace! War-widows from all parts of Sri Lanka—North, South, East, West—met at Wahacotte for a Convention on October 15-17, 2005. Each was asked to reflect on the inner resources that helped her to overcome her situation, and which helped one to turn per-sonal tragedy into opportunity. It was symbolic that the conven-

(Continued on page 5)

heaven, peace on earth to those on whom his favour rests" (Lk 2: 14). And the Gospel adds that Mary "treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart" (Lk 2: 19).

Like Mary, the Church also treasures and reflects upon the Word of God, comparing it to the various changing situations she encounters on her way.

Looking at Christ, who came to earth to give us his peace, we celebrate on New Year's Day the "World Day of Peace", be-gun by Pope Paul VI 38 years ago.

In my first Message for this oc-casion, I wanted to take up once more this year a recurring theme in the Magisterium of my venerable Predecessors, be-ginning with the memorable En-cyclical Pacem in Terris of Bl. John XXIII: the theme of truth

as the foundation of authentic peace. "In truth, peace": this is the motto that I propose for the reflection of every person of good will.

When man allows himself to be enlightened by the splendour of truth, he inwardly becomes a courageous peacemaker. We learn a great lesson from this liturgical season that we are living: to welcome the gift of

peace, we must open ourselves to the truth that is revealed in the person of Jesus, who taught us the "content" and

"method" of peace, that is, love.

Indeed, God, who is perfect and subsisting Love, has re-vealed himself in Jesus, em-bracing our human condition. In this way he has also pointed out to us the way of peace: dialogue, forgiveness, solidarity. This is the only path that leads to true peace.

Let us turn our gaze to Mary Most Holy, who today blesses the entire world, pointing out her divine Son, the "Prince of Peace" (Is 9: 5). Let us trust-fully invoke her powerful inter-cession so that the human fam-ily, opening itself to the evan-gelical message, may frater-nally and peacefully pass the year which begins today.

With these sentiments, I ad-dress my most heartfelt best wishes of peace and goodness to everyone present here in St Peter's Square, and to those who are joined by way of radio and television.

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MARCH FOR PEACE... (Continued from page 1)

Our Congregation

The Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd,, founded by St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier (1796-1868), was approved by Pope Gregory XVI on January 16, 1835. The Congregation has its roots in the Order of Our Lady of Charity, known as the Refuge, which was founded by St. John Eudes (1601-1680). - Prologue, Constitutions and Statutes

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From December 30, 2005 to January 9, 2006, the members of the General Chapter Plan-ning Committee, the Congrega-tional Leadership Team, the Constitutions Committee, the Intercontinental Committee and the COR Commission met in Rome. Following is the Opening Message of Sr. Brigid Lawlor, congregational leader. Good morning! Let me begin by thanking you for agreeing to serve on the various commit-tees gathered here today and for spending your Christmas holiday time with us in Roma! Who are we? And why are we here? You have a list in your packet of who we are at this meeting. We have introduced ourselves and shared our initial thoughts and feelings. For today and tomorrow, we are calling ourselves the Ex-tended Congregational Chapter

Extended Congregational Chapter Planning Committee. Standing, from left to right: Elaine Basinger, Ma. Antonia Garcia, Celeste Engutan, Jude Ellen Golumbieski, Guadalupe Bustista, Evelyn Fergus, Adriana Barone, Marta Ceballos, Brigid Lawlor, Anne Dalton, Noreen O’ Shea, Sabina Pathrose, Cecilia Patiño, Dolores Pennekamp; Seated, from left to right: Yvette Arnold, Paulina Diez, Eliene Barros, Flora Nyawira, Armelle Dehennault, Sandra Suarez, Anita Fernando.

Congregational Chapter Planning Committee Standing, from left to right: Srs. Adriana Barone, Argentina; Yvette Arnold, New York; Guadalupe Bautista, Philippines, Flora Nyawira, Kenya. Seated, left to right: Srs. Celeste Engutan, Philippines; Ma. Antonia Garcia, Central America; Dolorosa Pennekamp, North Germany.

Planning Committee! We are a group coming together from several perspectives. Included among us are: •The Congregational Chapter Planning Committee com-posed of apostolic and contem-plative members from the Americas, Europe/Africa and Asia/Pacific, and •Intercontinental Planning As-

sembly Committee Chairper-sons for the Intercontinental Assembly Committees (whose members wait back on the con-tinents for word of this meet-ing!).

You are here to begin the re-flection and preparation for the Congregational Chapter 2009 and all that needs to be accom-plished prior to that event which

General Chapter Planning

(Continued on page 4)

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Intercontinental Planning Assembly Committee. Left to right, Noreen O’Shea (Ireland), Europe/Africa; Marta Ceballos (Mid North America) Ameri-cas, Anne Dalton, (Australia/Aotearoa/New Zea-land) Asia-Pacific.

COR Commission. Left to right: Paulina Diez , Kenya; Elaine Basinger, New York, Congregational Leadership Team CLT; Evelyn Fergus, Ireland, CLT; Sandra Suarez, Bolivia; Anita Fernando, Sri Lanka/Pakistan.

continue the study and revision of our structures of gov-ernment and initiate experimentation in consultation with the congregation.”

There has been consultation about the Interim Plan so that with this meeting today, we can say that the experi-mentation has officially begun!

Thus, we are not here only for a beautiful Christmas holiday season in Rome! We are here to begin our work together on planning the Intercontinental Assemblies and Congregational Chap-ter along with providing direction for the Provincial Chapters.

How are we going to do this? At the chapter we said with regard to all of our dreams and plans “to achieve this we need the courage, the boldness and the zeal of St. Mary Euphrasia so that we may be transformed and in turn transform our structures to be irrevocably at the service of mission.”

Courage, boldness and zeal of St. Mary Euphrasia ! We are in this room because we love the congregation and thus firmly I firmly believe that her courage, bold-ness and zeal are her Christmas gifts to us!

…So that we may be transformed It is clearly the process of transformation that we are emphasizing at this time. We live in a world that cries out for global compassion and solidarity. Our mission of reconciliation is needed more now than ever. What must we do today to respond to that cry? What inner transformation must each of us undergo? What communal transformation must we challenge our respective units, continents, circles of continents, the entire congregation to experience? How will we use the opportunity of chapters to enable personal and corporate transformation in order to achieve global compassion and solidarity?

…and in turn to transform our structures So that we may be transformed and in turn transform our structures. We are also here to respond to a call to transform our structures. Tomorrow I will address this issue more completely when we review the Interim Plan for Chapters. However, today we can recall the theme of the 2003General Assembly/Chapter - Lifebearers with and for the poor of our world. Do we understand what it means to be “for” the poor? Do we connect that

includes the Intercontinental Assemblies and Provincial/District/Sector Chapters.

You are not alone with this mandate! As Clare Nolan so aptly states in her paper Call to Gen-eral Government, general level work is a call to all of the sisters across the world.

Some of us from around the world have joined this meeting to participate with the Planning Committees in the beginning processes.

• The COR Commission is here. One of their tasks is to “ensure continuity, collaboration and integration with the work of the other commissions, continental groupings etc. in the development of an overall plan for the congregation.”

• Representatives of the Constitutions Com-mission are here as they have the task of re-vising the constitutions in light of Article One and putting together all the work of the past collaboration with the congregation.

•The Congregational Leadership Team is here. In addition to our general overall responsibility, the Gen-eral Chapter directed that :the General Council to

Constitutions Committee. From Left to right: Brigid Lawlor, Jude Ellen Golumbieski, Evelyn Fergus, Guadalupe Bautista.

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2005 has been another very challenging year here in Su-dan.

The 9th. January was the date of the final historic peace settle-ment, signed between the Northern Government and the Southern faction. We were, as usual, especially impressed by the warm and charismatic per-sonality of the Southern leader, Dr. John Garang. Later in the year, (in July), his first visit to Khartoum as Vice-President, after 22 years of ex-ile, was another great success.

Six million people assembled in the "Green Square" to welcome him---mostly displaced South-erners, but also Muslims and Northerners, who appreciated the breath of fresh air he had brought to the Government.

A month later, he was dead---killed in a helicopter "accident”, on his way back from Khar-toum, via Kampala, Uganda, to his quarters-to-be in Juba, South Sudan Investigations by an interna-

tional team and U.N. experts have revealed that the Doctor's body bore several bullet wounds, and several anomalies regarding aspects of the flight were discovered. The heading in one of the National newspa-pers read, "Who killed John Garang??"' Rioting ensued in the capital and, after three days of near-chaos, hundreds of the rioters were also dead..In the meantime, the investigations continue…

At the funeral,in Juba, attended by the President Omar El Bashir,Dr. John's wife, fighting back her tears, made an impassioned appeal to the Southerners tp pursue the peace process in spite of the death of their leader. Her first words, as

she pointed to the coffin, rang out clearly---"I am very proud of that man". The media were loud in her praise. Now, we have another 1st. Vice-President, Salva Keer, ex-colleague of John Garang; a very different person, dignified and of few words; a pers on the Northern Government can perhaps accept more easily.

The new Constitution has been signed by both parties, and we hope to see, during the coming year the first signs of development in the South of Sudan. So far, there is very little, but many prom-ises have been made by the devel-oped countries. In Europe, the three main donors will be Holland, Sweden and the U.K., in that order. The funds will be managed by the World Bank.

In spite of the peace develop-ments, some areas of Darfur con-tinue to be the scene of wide-spread killing, rape and pillaging. Peace talks are scheduled to begin on the 29th. November in Abuja, Nigeria, and the U.N.'s envoy to Darfur, Jon Pronk, has visited the leaders of the main rebel factions there to persuade them to attend the talks. (We now know-2nd Dec- that the two leaders are actually at the peace talks, Thank God).

SUDAN

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SRI LANKA... (Continued from page 1)

tion took place in Waca-hotte, since this is only 10 kilometers from the geo-graphical center of Sri Lanka. The aim of the convention was to bring together more than 100 war widows, but due to reasons beyond us the total number was closer to sixty.

Another drawback was our inability to have widows from all religions present. Since it was the time of the Ramadan the 10 Muslim wid-ows withdrew their participation at the last moment.

The largest representation came from Jaffna and Mannar. Simulta-neous translation was available for the general sessions and that made communications easy. Small groups discussions were formed according to language.

The ‘story telling’ brought out some heart-rending experiences. There

were teary eyes as they narrated tragedies of shooting, cutting to death, rape, killing the innocent children, suicide blasts and other horrible tales of pain that only war brings upon a people, and espe-cially to women and children. Other stories were also shared where some women had gone beyond their grief and turned their trage-dies into opportunities to make something of their lives while en-hancing the lives of others facing similar situations.

The participants were given time to ‘dream’ alone, and then in groups their dream of a peaceful Sri Lanka. The dreams were then de-picted in large papers and ex-plained to the entire group—no more wars, no more widows, no more fatherless children, no more missing, maimed, or disabled per-sons. Then each one went up and dipped her fingers in the bowl of water, brought from their home and

now mixed with water from all parts of the country… this was a sign of cleansing and reconciliation.

The high light of the convention was the grand pageant to choose the Woman Peace Maker. Each small group had been asked to present their candidate, and three independent judges made the final selection. The candidate pre-sented to be one with inner beauty and the ability to transform tragedy into opportunity. A young woman of 32 won the first place as she had lost her lover of nine years, just two weeks after their marriage. Bright eyed and happy she is now devoting her time and energy to working for and supporting groups of war widows in all parts of the country. She promised to give all her support in our plans to expand this work.

Sr. Immaculate de Alwis From the Newsletter of Sri Lanka/Pakistan Province, December 2005

(Continued on page 12)

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In Mid 2005, the Good Shep-herd congregation was invited to submit a "shadow" report on the CEDAW - Convention on the Elimination of Discrimina-tion Against Women - and this evolved into a project taken up by the Inter-Congregational group. Currently the group in-cludes Sr Tania de Jong, RGS, Christine Carolan, the Coordi-nator of the Province Social Justice Office, and Caroline Price, RGS along with sisters from the Brigidine, Good Sa-maritan and Josephite congre-gations! Below is an article on the said report. A group of religious congrega-tions from around Australia who have prepared a report that calls for a human rights-based, victim-centred approach to hu-man trafficking. The Report, which is being sent to the United Nations, focuses on victims of human trafficking who have been enslaved and sexually exploited in Australia. The group, which includes 15 orders of nuns, worked with a pre-eminent expert on human trafficking, Sydney academic, Jennifer Burn of the University of Technology Sydney's Anti-Slavery Project to prepare the report. The sisters have also raised funds to send Ms Burn and Melbourne barrister Geor-gina Costello to New York City to present the report to the United Nations Committee on the Convention on the Elimina-tion of all forms of Discrimina-tion against Women (CEDAW) next Monday. The Australian Government is also sending a delegation to New York City to present the Government's official report to

CEDAW. Sr Tania De Jong of the Good Shepherd Sisters described human trafficking as a modern day form of slavery. "To beat this insidious interna-tional crime we must find new ways for Government and com-munity groups to work together to understand and respond to the needs of victims and sup-port law enforcement efforts," she said. The report commends the Austra-lian Government's recent efforts to combat trafficking and calls for fur-ther progress to be made. Sr Louise Cleary, International Congregational Leader of the Bri-gidine Sisters said: "I hope the

Australian Government takes on board the content of our report, which was thoroughly researched and prepared and is informed by our many years of experience pro-viding support and services to vul-nerable members of society." The report urges the UN commit-tee to recommend to the Australian Government: to take a human rights based, victim-centred ap-proach to human trafficking; to pro-vide human trafficking victims with visas based on the victim's need for protection and assistance. (Currently the grant of visas to hu-man trafficking victims depends almost entirely on the person's usefulness to criminal investiga-tions and prosecutions); to estab-lish anti-trafficking working groups made up of government, non-government organisations, lawyers and law enforcement groups to share information and research and develop counter-trafficking initiatives and optimal victim sup-port programs as exist in the USA. Ms Burn and Ms Costello will ad-dress the UN CEDAW committee on Monday and will also attend round table meetings and deliver seminars on human trafficking top-ics while in New York City. Visit: Australia/Aotearoa/NewZealand website for the Complete Report http://www.goodshepherd.com.au/justice/pdfs/cedaw_trafficking.pdf...

The Congregational Leadership Team painted the little house in the Generalate compound to save money which otherwise would be spent to pay the house painters. The money will be turned over to the Centralized

Fund.

Sr. Caroline Price

SAVING for Centralized Fund

Province of Australia/Aotearoa/New Zealand New approaches to counter human trafficking

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In November 2005, a historic meeting of RIMOA was held at the Dimesse Sisters’ ‘Spiritual Centre’ in Nairobi, Kenya. Thirty-seven sisters attended in all, including the Congrega-tional Leadership Team, the Secretary General, the perma-nent secretary of RIMOA, twelve of the RIMOA Unit Lead-ers as well as sixteen sisters representing twelve of the countries of Africa, the Middle East and the Isles. We were also joined by Sr. Honorine Yamba, SND (facilitator) and Sr. Priscilla Celi (interpreter). The meeting opened with a prayer service in which a sister from each unit presented a s y m b o l r e p r e s e n t i n g ‘leadership’ in her own culture. Then Sr. Brigid presented her opening address to RIMOA, calling us to discern with global awareness and challenging us to deep personal transforma-tion so as to be able to better respond to world realities which call for a radical transformation in religious life. For the following three days, Sr. Honorine facilitated a work-shop on ‘Leadership’. We re-flected together on the past and its influences on our pre-sent reality, our experience of transition in the present and our hopes and concerns for the fu-ture. We were happy with Sr. Honorine’s input and methodol-ogy which were enriching. These sessions prepared us for

the following few days on ‘restructuring’ which were led by Sr. Brigid and the Congrega-tional Leadership Team. We very much appreciated their presence and felt assured of their interest and commitment to supporting RIMOA. On the final day, 21st Novem-ber, we discussed RIMOA busi-ness. Sr. Agnès Schüler, our ‘spider’, began the meeting with a report on the activities of Ri-moa since its inception. Then Sr. Nirmala Abeyasinha, per-manent secretary of RIMOA, shared an evaluation of the programme for preparation for Final Vows, held in Mauritius in 2005. It was also helpful to hear from Sr. Nancy (Kenyan) who was one of the participants at the preparation. Sr. Paulina gave an account of the joint no-vitiate programme for sisters from Kenya, Sudan and Sene-gal. It was a positive and en-riching experience for both for-mators and novices. Finally, the good news from Sr. Brigid and the Congregational Leadership Team about the es-tablishment of contemplative sisters in Kenya, Africa, in the near future, was welcomed with great joy and gratitude.

Group discussions were held on various topics, such as for-mation, and justice and peace. Finally, Sr. Souhaila Bou Samra, from Syria-Lebanon, was chosen as the new spider, and will take over from Sr. Agnès in August 2006. The feedback for the ten days from the group is positive. It was the first time young sisters were present and it was an historical event. “This was my first RIMOA experience and it was a very good one,” commented one young sister. The whole session was marked with active participation. Group sharing was beneficial; it helped us to get to know each other and gave each sister the opportunity to share her con-cerns and hopes and dreams. Our liturgies showed creativity a n d r e f l e c t e d o u r internationality. Recreational nights, outings to the city and to the Kenya Cultural Centre (Bomas of Kenya) were full of fun and refreshing. The feelings of the group were: happiness, hope, gratitude, inspiration, challenge and joy. On 21st November we renewed our vows together in a colourful Mass. The meeting ended suc-cessfully having finished all the agendas. The thanksgiving Eu-charistic celebration marked the closing of the sessions on November 22nd with the call for us to go and be Life-bearers for and with the poor of our world.

Sr. Ethna McDermott

RIMOA Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya

November 14-22, 2005

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I am Danuta Zavadilova, born in Poland and baptised soon after in the Catholic Church. I am a practis-ing Christian and ex-perience how close God is in my life. I lived in Poland for 21years, after which I travelled to Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) for a work offer. Though I intended to stay only for a short time, I haven’t left CR since! I met a Czech man and we got married when I was 25 years of age. We have two children who are now both get-ting ready to get married. I felt God leading me every mo-ment of my life. I always dreamt of having our own house to live in! We moved from flat to flat . I

was continually trying to get better jobs and better money to achieve this. I trained as a so-cial worker at a time when I was on a sick pension and was feeling quite weak physically. I graduated and then I started to look for a job as a social worker. “St. Euphrasia House” a home for mothers and children in dis-tress was being reconstructed. By that time by God’s provi-dence we bought a house and were living somewhere near

that House. Coming out of Mass one day a lady half drunk selling newspa-pers told me that I would be the ideal person to work in the new Home. Until then I didn’t know anything about the home or the Good Shepherd Sisters! I spoke to the parish priest who

Czech Republic

“God is very near to me!”

“I admire them in their love for one another which overcomes all differences through great tolerance,

forgiveness and compassion. ”

directed me to the Good Shep-herd Sisters to ask about it. From then on the ball started rolling towards the Good Shep-herd Mission! There was an interview and I was accepted together with two others who until today are still working as care workers.

The first thing that impressed me was the sense of welcome I had. Though a foreigner I felt accepted as I am. Since child-hood I have felt that God loves me as I am, and this welcome confirmed this in me. The sis-ters gave me to read the life of St.Euphrasia, their foundress, and I was very much struck by her words ”One person is worth more than the whole world”. These words have deepened my respect for every person whom I meet in my work, be it a mother, a child or a member of

“One person is worth more than the whole world”. These words have deepened my respect for every person whom I meet in my work, be it a mother, a

child or a member of the Staff .

the Staff . I was also impressed by the tender love she had for each sister in every commu-nity , and by her deep trust in God’s providence ”Nothing is impossible for God!” These words resound in my heart and I see daily wonders done by God every moment of my life both at home as well as at work! Coming from a Catholic country just freed from the communist regime, I felt a high respect to-

wards priests and religious, a sense of awe as if they are some kind of angelic beings not human! I must say having lived with the sisters for the past 10 years I have realised that they are as human as any other person, facing daily many diffi-culties in community living owing to the cultural, and per-sonality differences. I admire them in their love for one an-other which overcomes all dif-ferences through great toler-ance, forgiveness and compas-sion. I look forward to the regular meetings for the Lay Associ-ates of which I have been a member from the beginning. I am very grateful for these gath-erings as they give me strength and I feel renewed in the Spirit. Through these meetings I have become more conscious of dif-ferent persons in distress and to pray for them. I have a dream that more sis-ters be added to the commu-nity. Then there is more power in their prayer and more per-sons can be helped in their dif-ficulties and experience God’s Compassionate Love for them!

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Madagascar

Anniversary

January 16, 1985 to January 16, 2006

The 21st year of the Good Shepherd presence in Am-paribe, Madagascar was celebrated in the heart of the capital on January 23, 2006. It was marked by a mass celebrated by Fr. John, vicar of the parish. All the chil-dren, the women embroider-ers and the mothers from CRENA participated enthusi-astically in the celebration. Spontaneously, the children acted out the Gloria which Fr. John had asked to be sung. It was very touching! The liturgy was animated by the teachers and some of the embroiderers together with two young ladies from the Promotion Feminine. The priest patiently ex-

plained the Gospel, conclud-ing with an invitation to be, in our turn, another Good Shepherd by our way of life and by our approach to the “excluded” in our family or society. During the ceremony we prayed and gave thanks to God for the missionaries who had opened this house. We are especially grateful to the Provinces of Ireland, of

France, Belgium and Sri Lanka for the seeds that our missionary sisters have shown here. We keep in our prayers all the sisters who have worked and stayed in this house and the 11 sisters who are presently here. Our celebration ended with a little party. Hurray for 21 years! Sr. Florentine Raharinirina

Preparation for Perpetual vows in RIMOA, from left to right: Srs. Teresia of Kenya, Nancy of Kenya; Amani of Sudan; Florentine, Madagascar; Zelna of South Africa ; Alice of Madagascar.

Formators’ Course Sr. Gilma Maria Muñoz, missionary to Hungary, finishes this January a five-month formators’ course for the Spanish speaking group in Rome. The course is organized by the Union of International Superiors General (UISG).

Topics discussed during formators’ course include: Women in the Bible, Vocation, Mary: Woman, Edu-cator, Formator, Theology of Consecrated Life, Charism, Community and Communication, Justice and Peace, Bioethics and Governance and Formation.

In the past, the Formators’ course were held at the Regina Mundi Institute. This last session, however, was held at the Augustinianum.

Sr. Gilma Maria is from Guatemala, one of the seven countries belonging to the Province of Central America. She has been a missionary to Hungary since 2002.

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When the year 2005 was nearing its end and almost time to greet the New Year 2006, we felt it would be good to make a review and evalu-ate our projects, the things we pro-posed at the beginning of 2005, what we had accomplished and what remained to be done. We have to admit that many things are sti ll to be done but these were also much that turned out even better than we expected. Among the many programs reviewed were the human and spiritual renewal ses-sions planned for the various age groups by the ongoing formation committee. We wish to share this marvelous experience as it has been a light and a gift from God for our province.

The first sessions were for the old-est sisters (aged 70 to 97). They were divided into three groups. The fourth group were sisters from 50 to 69 years old, and the last was for sisters between 30 to 49 years of age.

The organizers spared no detail; they were extravagant in the crea-tivity of the décor in the houses where the sessions were held. The decorations were in consonance with the theme for each group. The house of the elderly sisters in which the first renewal was held, resembled a garden, with many beautiful messages.

The resource persons were excel-lent and included psychologists, nutritionists, gerontologists, gyne-cologists, priests and sisters from other Congregations, doctors and other lay professionals. They ran workshops on forgiveness and rec-onciliation; questioned us on our identity as consecrated women, urged us to be women of prayer, transparent and obedient to God’s will, simple and joyful, constant and totally given in service to the poor.

The themes for the different age groups are as follows: Bearers of joy in the evening of our life – for the 70-97 age group: A way of life following the footsteps of the good shepherd – for those 50 to 69 years old: Keep the lamp brightly burning for the 30 – 49 years old.

The was time for us to relive the day when we responded to the call of the Good Shepherd with joy, enthusiasm and generosity, a time to see where we had advanced, where we had stagnated, and how He had remained with us in all those moments, fulfilling His prom-ise, “ I will always be with you.”

In the last two sessions, there was the “presence” of the sisters’ fami-lies through a video prepared by the organizing committee. They had interviewed, on camera, some families of certain sisters, as they described what a Good Shepherd Sister signifies in their family. They also shared their own perceptions of the community in general. The video, carrying the same title as the theme for the 50-69 age group, was a great surprise to the sisters, especially the part where their

names and childhood pictures ap-peared! The families were perfect accomplices of the organizers and made sure the sisters involved did not become aware of the project until the video showed their im-ages, a lovely gift so unexpected.

The renewal session was opened by the following sisters: SR. MATILDE ALVAREZ, first provin-cial superior of Medellin, SR. MARIA LUISA TAFURT, first Nov-ice Directress of the province and SR. NOEMI AMYA, first animator of the contemplatives. The “first fruits: of the province are present in this renewal, as Sr. Matilde noted in her speech, an emotional moment when she tearfully re-called her entrance to the convent. After this the group went to view the video film.

Province of Medellin

THE LORD HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR US AND WE REJOICE

From left to right: Srs. Noemí Amaya, Matilde Álvarez and Maria Luisa

In the last session, the organizers asked the families of the sisters to write letters which were presented in beautiful and creative ways. On another day, there were letters from the sister’s local communities thanking them for their gifts placed in the service of and for the enrich-ment of the community.

These sessions strengthened our spiritual life and sisterly relation-ships and evoked ideas not to give in to routine again. One idea liked by all is to have the annual retreat for 2006 with the same groupings to continue living out the theme of each age group.

Good Shepherd Sisters

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Bolivia 16 days of activism against violence to women For the last few years, our Good Shepherd Congregation, from its office at the UN, has supported the present cam-paign of the Women’s Center for Global Leadership. In Bolivia, from our recently or-ganized national secretariat for Justice and Peace and in col-laboration with Levantate Mu-jer! (SAYARIY, SARTASIM, WARMI – EPUA, KUÑATAI) we wanted to unite ourselves and link up our local activities, es-pecially those that have been planned for November 25th. 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an interna-tional campaign which arose from the first Institute on Women’s Global Leadership (WGLI) sponsored by the Cen-ter for the Global Leadership on Women (CWGL) in 1991. The participants chose the dates, 25th of November, International Day for the Elimination of Vio-lence Against Women and the 10th of December, Human Rights Day, to relate symboli-cally, violence against women and human rights and to em-phasize that such violence is a violation of human rights. Dur-ing this period of 16 days, an-other significant date was high-lighted: the 1st of December which is World AIDS Day. This gave us an opportunity to re-mind our governing authorities that to be able to fulfill their promises regarding HIV -AIDS, it is also necessary to fulfill their commitments regarding vio-lence against women. Last year, thousands of activ-ists around the world com-memorated the 14th campaign of the “16 Days”. The interna-tional calendar of 2004 demon-

s t r a t e d the depth a n d scope of the work n e e d e d to point out that the vi o-l e n c e a g a i n s t w o m e n is an

ever-present vi olation of human rights, a crisis of public health and a great obstacle to equal-ity, development, security and peace. Violence against women is traumatic to body, mind and spirit and can impede women from being active and full par-ticipants in their own homes and in the world. This year, the

theme of the campaign is a continuation of that of 2004, to emphasize the connections be-tween the human rights of women, the violence against them and their health as nega-tive consequences which affect the well-being of the world. This year, the campaign has scored new victories. Last month, the Beijing Platform of Action (an activity of Beijing +10) was clearly reaffirmed by UN Secretary General Kofi An-nan, who emphasized the criti-cal importance of combating violence against women and

“Violence against women is traumatic to body, mind and spirit and can impede women from being active and full participants in their own homes and in the world.”

children in order to achieve the development goals of the UN for this millennium. The vio-lence against women is per-haps the most shameful viola-tion of human rights, and the most invasive. While it contin-ues we cannot assert that we have achieved any real pro-gress towards equality, devel-opment and peace. This campaign is also an op-portunity to issue a call for an increase in conscientization and information, efforts, for in continuous watchfulness and more comprehensive services for the victims of violence. We should have a stronger political will on the national level and require an accounting from our government regarding the struggle against violence to women and the fight to control

HIV-AIDS. “For the welfare of women and girls: physical, psychological, emotional and social, at home, in school, at work, in religious centers, in our communities, and in our countries. For the welfare of the world, its peoples and their cultures, their environ-ment, for the protection of hu-man rights, for the promotion of sustainable development and to create peace: NO MORE VIOLENCE” (Center for Global Leadership) Good Shepherd Sisters

Hna. Sandra Suarez

Good Shepherd News

Special thanks to the following Sisters for the translation:

Karla Bernabé, Marie Establier, Magdalena Franciscus, Charlotte Gill, Odile Laugier,Gilma María Muñoz, Digna María Rivas, Mary James

Wilson, Evelina Coronel

12

2006

Good Shepherd News

While each unit is encouraged to send articles anytime during the year, we have planned that there

are specific issues when each unit is asked to submit an article so

that at the end of the year all the units have been part of the Good

Shepherd News. Please send arti-cles by the 5th of each month.

Here is the suggested schedule:

January COR Commission, Committee for the Planning of the General Chapter,

RIMOA meeting, other News

February Japan, Portugal/Angola, Malta,

Recife, Chile

March Argentina/Uruguay, Sri Lanka/

Pakistan, France/Belgium, Bolivia

April Egypt/Sudan, Netherlands, Bo-

gota, Mid North America

May Australia/Aotearoa/NZ, Mozambique,

Medellin, Great Britain, Kenya, Belo Horizonte

June

East Asia, South Africa, Paraguay, Central America

July

India, Senegal, Germany, Lebanon/Syria

August

Indonesia, Ireland/Ethiopia, Peru

September Philippines, Les Isles, Italy, New York

October

China District, Spain, Ecuador

November Singapore/Malaysia, Hungary,

Venezuela

December Canada, Austria/Switzerland/

Republique Tcheque, CLT

Invitation

Please send articles, photos with cap-tions

for Good Shepherd News to:

REGINA KUIZON Casa Generalizia,

Suore del Buon Pastore Via Raffaello Sardiello 20

00165 Roma, Italia Email: ginargs@buonpastoreint.org

SUDAN... (Continued from page 5)

GENERAL CHAPTER... (Continued from page 3)

an implication of this is to trans-form structures?

…at the service of mission. “Lifebearers with and for the poor of our world” being transformed and in turn transforming our struc-tures. In 2003, we proclaimed that: Passionate about our mission, we commited ourselves to re-envision our religious life, revitalize commu-nity life, holisitic formation, promot-ing a service of leadership, restruc-turing, vocation ministry, reciprocity with the laity, promotion of justice initiatives and a culture of peace and nonviolence, developing and strengthening networks. The con-templative sisters affirmed the es-sential elements of Good Shep-herd contemplative life today. Together as apostolic and contem-plative sisters we affirmed our be-lief that the Spirit of God calls us to CREATIVE FIDELITY in order to

open new paths and thus to pene-trate the heart of the mystery of God.

Processes on all of these aspects of our being at the service of mis-sion are happening in all parts of the congregation today and are constantly being challenged and evaluated. Our task now is to go deeper and maybe even far be-yond the vision of 2003. Thus we will spend time today asking our-selves:

IN WHAT DIRECTION DO I FEEL THE CONGREGATION NEEDS TO GO?

Brigid Lawlor Congregational Leader Listen to the Presentation in Eng-lish in the website’s (Library/Audio) http://www.buonpastoreint.org

We, ourselves, Good Shepherd Sisters, have been asked by the Don Bosco priests, who have opened a house in El Obeid for the orphaned boys of Darfur, to estab-lish a "pied a terre" near the North-ern camps there, to help the trau-matized girls and women. Our general team are considering the request

Our women and children's pro-grammes in El Obeid town itself are developing. The women, who have attended a three month course at our home- centre, on dressmaking and home-economics, now produce and sell their own products.

The classes for unschooled street boys, 120 of them, are doing well. After four years of basic studies, they go on to train for a year at the Don Bosco Training Centre, or continue their studies at Govern-ment schools, where they do well. Six of them have currently passed their end of Secondary studies, and three boys are studying engi-neering at Khartoum University.

Our clinic has been participating, for two years now, in the National vaccination programmes. At the beginning of the year, 4000 infants and small children were innocu-lated during the anti-measles cam-paign, and the anti-polio pro-gramme is now a regular part of the services. Recently,prevention

treatment of hepatitis B has been introduced for children. Though very modest, the clinic has received commendation from the local health authorities for offering the best preventive services in Western El Obeid.

One of our two kindergardens has been re-juvenated and now boasts of three new buildings. Both the K.G's continue to produce a happy lot of young children, in spite of the poverty of most of the families. During the rainy season, they delight in modelling a rich va-riety of buildings with the damp sand of the school compound. I am always amazed at their creativ-ity and capacity for joy.

This year, we had the joy of seeing two young Sudanese women make their first vows with us in El Obeid, and another sister make her defini-tive commitment in Khartoum. Other young women are consider-ing joining us. We ask you to pray for them that they may join us so as to further our mission in Sudan, especially now that the South is open to us.

It remains for me to thank you all most sincerely, on behalf of Sr. Maria Costa (superior) and our little community of four for all your concern and support during the past year. You are part of our mission, and without you, we would not be able to continue it. May God reward you all abundantly. Good Shepherd Sisters, Sudan