06.21.2017
Last day of the meeting of European Leaders
June 20, 2017
The meeting began with a presentation of the theme of cultural diversity and conflict management in the light of the charism of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, as developed in our spirituality center in Le Puy, France. Sisters Mariaelena and Annette shared the experience of having participated in the program in May of this year. After sharing, they presented a proposal to the group to provide this experience to a group of sisters the European continent. Sisters Marianne, Cristina and Jona expressed the need to try to involve all the sisters in this new journey to build "One Europe", working together as one body. Before the break, we drew up some communications on congregational and inter-congregational projects such as solidarity with South Sudan.
Sister Marianne presented the decisions made by the European leaders in this meeting. A letter will be sent to all the sisters of the four Provinces, the Region of Ireland and the missions in Sweden and the Czech Republic. In August, 2018, the group will meet in Denmark to give continuity to the process started here. Sisters Rosalba of Italy and Joan Margaret of Ireland are the contact persons for the International Communication Commission. To communicate with each other, sisters will use the media. The General Council will designate one of its members as liaison between the sisters of the European continent and the General Council.
In the evaluation of the meeting, the sisters expressed what was helpful and what needed improvement. Among the helpful aspects were the flexibility in the conduct of the meeting, the topics treated in depth, the knowledge of the two European missions and information shared mutually. The meeting was finalized with a moment of prayer, led by the sisters of the Italian province.
The participants also shared moments of conviviality and a visit to historic Ostia Antica.