Tag Archives: White Sisters

    From our sister Vickness N. Muleya, community of St. Julien, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Social exclusion due to allegations of witchcraft is violence against women, and the phenomenon is still rife, especially on the Mossi plateau. More than five hundred women are dispersed across the Mossi Plateau in shelters or precarious homes in insecure areas, because they are accused of being “soul eaters”. The women arrive stripped of all their possessions and dignity, beaten, wounded, their homes burnt down, and forbidden to see their children and families. Many die on the road, while others attempt suicide. These are common occurrences, and many victims die tragically without any help. In general, it’s the elderly, and particularly women, who are the first to take the blame when death or other dramatic events occur in a family. At present at the Centre Delwende, we have 178 residents, including 7 men; 70%…

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  The experience of our sister Béatrix Dagras   The door of room 506 of the “Résidence de Bon Secours” in Paris is accustomed to discreet and unexpected knocks: questions, services requested or rendered, information… are all occasions for friendly encounters, bringing the pleasure of their balms. Even at night, a joker or a person suffering from insomnia may knock on the door a couple of times. No need to open the door: by the time you get up to see who’s there, they’ve gone!   In our residence a parish-initiated reflection group was set up, for the reading of the New Testament. I took part along with other residents. When this parish activity came to an end, the comment was made: “We don’t know the Old Testament!” The group then became an in-house group, called “Biblical”, and they entrusted me with the task of leading it… Since last year,…

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   From Sr. Marie Sakina, Lilongwe Community, Malawi   How good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together in unity. Psalm 133:1   I would paraphrase this passage of psalm 133:1 “How good and pleasant it is when sisters pray together in unity! That is what I would say of our common retreat which we had in Uganda from 15th to 24th October2023. Those who lived this retreat would bear witness with me. At least that is what I felt. Our congregation in its constitutions (No 48 paragraph 3) states the following: To keep our lives centered on Christ in faithfulness to his call, we take time for a daily examen, a monthly day of recollection and an annual retreat.   This shows that making an annual retreat is one of the “perks” of consecrated religious life for us consecrated religious. Moreover, doing the retreat together as…

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 Go and invite everyone to the banquet (cf. Mt 22:9)   MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS FOR WORLD MISSION DAY 2024 20 October 2024 Dear brothers and sisters! The theme I have chosen for this year’s World Mission Day is taken from the Gospel parable of the wedding banquet (cf. Mt 22:1-14). After the guests refused his invitation, the king, the main character in the story, tells his servants: “Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find” (v. 9). Reflecting on this key passage in the context of the parable and of Jesus’ own life, we can discern several important aspects of evangelization. These appear particularly timely for all of us, as missionary disciples of Christ, during this final stage of the synodal journey that, in the words of its motto, “Communion, Participation, Mission”, seeks to refocus the Church on her primary task, which is…

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  This weekend we will speak Polish! THEME: “TO BE A MISSIONARY SISTER OF OUR LADY OF AFRICA… WHY NOT ME?” A vocation weekend for women between the ages of 18 and 35 wishing to discern their vocation and get to know our congregation a little better. DATES:  From 16 to 18 February 2024 in Lublin. For those who are willing, there is the possibility to arrive earlier or to extend the stay. PROGRAMME: – Meetings with other young people who are discerning their vocation; – Meetings with the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa from the Lublin community; – Presentation of the charism of the Congregation and learning about the missionary work of the Sisters; – Time for personal and community prayer with the Word of God; All this in an international and intercultural atmosphere.   USEFUL INFORMATION: This is a proposal for women who want to get to…

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INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER AND AWARENESS AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING   INTERFAITH PRAYER VIGIL FEBRUARY 8, 2024 – ST. BAKHITA DAY THEME FOR THE YEAR 2024: JOURNEYING IN DIGNITY: LISTEN, DREAM, ACT This interfaith prayer of this year’s International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking is an invitation to integrate the journeying for dignity centered on the four elements of nature. We can offer prayers, reflections, and rituals that honor and connect with the elements of earth, air, fire, water, and metal in listening, dreaming, and taking action in combating human trafficking. For this year’s Vigil of Prayer, we are invited to listen, dream, and act to journey with each person with dignity. We know everything is interrelated and exploitation of people cannot be tackled without a respectful relationship with all creation. Hence, we invite you to reflect on the realities of human trafficking and the five elements of…

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Sr. Abby Avelino, MM, International Coordinator of Talitha Kum     On January 30th, 2024, in the presence of about 300 people, including ambassadors, people from institutions, religious and young people, Talitha Kum International launched the “Walking in Dignity” application. DOWNLOAD THE APP Sr. Abby Avelino, MM, International Coordinator of Talitha Kum, opened the online and onsite event by presenting the goal and features of the app, a project that Talitha Kum members, embassies to the Holy See, and many volunteers have been working on for over a year and a half. The idea is to walk together, especially for and with young people, and engage against human trafficking by feeling involved in prevention, care of persons and empowerment of survivors. The Irish Ambassador to the Holy See, H.E. Frances Collins, emphasized the importance of synergy between the networks and different organizations: Working through networking, with different departments and states, is crucial because this…

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    From Sr. Hélène Mbuyamba, Arusha Community, Tanzania   A brief history In 2014, five congregations came together to set up an inter-congregational ongoing formation program (ICOF). This initiative came from the collaboration of the General Councils of the following 5 congregations: Spiritan Fathers, Missionaries of Africa, the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, the Comboni Missionaries and the Society of African Missions (SMA). The Comboni Missionaries subsequently withdrew and the OLA (Our Lady of Apostles) joined the group. Today, these five congregations are considered the founding members. The vision and mission the founding members had for the ICOF program are: Vision: Integrated priests and religious in Africa who joyfully bear witness to the Gospel in their personal, spiritual and pastoral lives. Mission: To provide Catholic priests and religious in Africa with the opportunity, space and time for personal renewal to better serve the Gospel in the concrete…

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      “YOU LEFT YOUR HOME AND YOU ARRIVE AT YOUR HOME” “E bora e kaso, e nana e kaso” Bambara Proverb from Mali On October 30 and 31, 2023, the community of Sceaux had the great joy of welcoming 7 delegates from 6 sister congregations that we had helped with formation from their origin. Responding to the call of the bishops of France, they live the mission in 19 communities.   We let them speak. “Our presence here, today, at your home and with you, is a very important moment. We want to show our gratitude to you for everything you have done, and continue to do, for our different congregations. Allow me now to introduce our “Fraternity of Our Lady of Africa”. It has just been born. It was April 27, 2023. Its objective is to create a space for fraternal and spiritual meetings of our different…

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   “The harvest is rich but the laborers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to do his harvesting” (Luke 10: 2). Aware of this call from Jesus, we ask the Master of the harvest to send us workers for His mission in the Church and especially in our Congregation. For that to happen, we believe that MVA is part of our mission and we are only intermediaries. Therefore, we visit churches, schools and families to make our Congregation and it’s mission known and to share our charism through our presence and our words.  We also collaborate with our sisters in Goma to follow up and do MVA in Aru, for Adjumani is nearer to that part of D R Congo than Goma. We network with the Missionaries of Africa, the friends and relatives of the Missionaries of Africa (FROMA) of West-Nile and other people…

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