General Conference – Communication 2 – June 18, 2022

We began the General Conference with a beautiful word of welcome from Sister Ona Bessette who reminded us that we are made, created for goodness, that we are gathered together to raise up and carry forward a commitment to promote unity, diversity, internationality, etc.

Then Sister Sophie introduced Sister Pierrette Daviau, facilitator of this Conference. Pierrette invited us to share about the meaning of our names, or what we do not like about our names. It was an important time to look at who we are as persons, to reveal ourselves from an essential aspect of our identity.

Blessed Sacrament Province immersed us in an invocation to the Spirit and invited us to think about the places or people who need our acts of love and healing.

We prepared ourselves to welcome attentively the sharing of the provinces and regions, with their hopes and challenges. On this day we listened to the reports from Visitation Province, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe Region, Marguerite-Bourgeoys Province and Notre-Dame-des-Apôtres Region.

Among the challenges that caught my attention were the invitation to care for the mental and emotional health of the sisters, as well as that of other people; the formation in relation to the indigenous reality of Canada; the deep dialogues that have been carried out regarding the change of residences of the older sisters; the committees for spiritual accompaniment of different people; the online vocational promotion that arouses interest in people from different countries, and the need to expand some places to receive these people who wish to know the Congregation closely.

Among the hopes, I mention the search at the level of governance to preserve our identity as sisters and daughters of Marguerite Bourgeoys; the importance of a ritual when we leave places connected to our CND identity, to name the vulnerabilities and what we bring to a new space; the spaces of formation for the coexistence of peace.

We ended this day with words that evoke what we lived: creativity, hope, movement, leadership that we need, a heart that creates unity, the wind blows where it wishes, openness to new life… and to you, dear reader: what word or phrases remain with you?