PICTURES FROM THE GENERAL CHAPTER 2017

GENERAL CHAPTER 2017

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Dear Sisters,

We greet you from Rome and hope that you are all doing well. It has been a year since we met in Ouagadougou. Guided by our Sisters of the General Council, you chose us to make our contribution as sisters of temporary vows to the General Chapter, which took place from July 1 to 22, 2017. Thank you very much for having this trust in us. This has been a positive and rewarding experience. We felt integrated into the assembly. We learned a lot and admired our elder sisters who put all their hearts and love into this noble task.

By this word, we simply want to tell you: what our eyes have seen, what our ears have heard, and what our hands have touched; You will receive it in your turn in your respective communities. We leave you the thirst to discover it and to live it.

While waiting to receive the Capitular Acts, let us tell you from the theme of the chapter that hope is a seed, a door that opens towards the future. We have witnessed not only our desire to engage in the peripheries, but also to open doors to fully live our purpose statement.

This chapter has challenged us to leave our comfort zones and to be leaven in the dough. Carrying hope, let us have the courage to keep alive the dream and the hope of Cardinal Lavigérie, M. Marie Salomé and our predecessors.

The Congregation counts on each one of us, regardless of our stage and age to be bearers of hope, to listen to the voice of the Spirit, to move together towards the peripheries of our time.

Sisters Marie Ange Ndayishimiye and Franceline Hien

CHAPITRE GÉNÉRAL 2017

Chères sœurs, 

Nous vous saluons de Rome et espérons que vous allez toutes bien. Cela fait déjà une année depuis notre rencontre à Ouagadougou. Guidées par nos sœurs du Conseil général, vous nous avez choisies pour porter notre contribution en tant que sœurs de vœux temporaires au Chapitre général, qui a eu lieu du 1^er au 22 Juillet 2017. Merci beaucoup d’avoir eu cette confiance en nous. Cela a été une expérience positive et enrichissante. Nous nous sommes senties intégrées dans l’assemblée. Nous avons beaucoup  appris et  admiré nos sœurs aînées qui mettaient tous leurs cœurs et amour dans cette noble tâche. 

Par ce mot, nous voulons simplement vous dire ce que nos yeux ont vu, ce que nos oreilles ont entendu, et ce que nos mains ont touché. Vous le recevrez à votre tour dans vos communautés respectives. Nous vous laissons la soif de le découvrir. 

En attendant de recevoir les actes capitulaires, laissez nous vous dire à partir du thème du chapitre  que l’espérance est une graine, une porte qui s’ouvre vers l’avenir. Nous avons été témoin non seulement de notre désir de nous engager aux périphéries, mais aussi d’ouvrir des portes pour vivre pleinement notre raison d’être. 

Ce chapitre nous a lancé un défi. Celui de quitter nos zones de confort et d’être levain dans la pâte. Porteuses d’espérance, ayons le courage de garder vivant le rêve et l’espérance de Cardinal Lavigerie, de M. Marie Salomé et de nos prédécesseurs. 

La congrégation compte sur chacune de nous, quel que soit notre étape et notre âge à être Porteuses d’espérance, à écouter la voix de l’Esprit, pour avancer ensemble vers les périphéries de notre temps.

Soeurs Marie Ange Ndayishimiye et Franceline Hien

CONTRIBUTION OF TEMPORARY PROFESSED SISTERS TO THE GENERAL CHAPTER 2017

Marie-Ange and Franceline

During our meeting in July 2016, we, the young sisters,chose the Baobab, a strong tree, filled with energy, as a symbol of our daily lives. The Baobab is something sacred, as we, MSOLA, also are.

1. Rooted in Christ, we are ready to offer ourselves in:

• Building communion for Mission,
• Making our community life a powerful witness for all,
• Working on ourselves in order to build a better collaboration among us, pooling our qualities and working hand in hand,
• Takingto heartour co-responsibility in the transmission of the charism of the Congregation and participating actively in the networks AMV and JPIC/ID.
• We have trust in our elderly sisters, we measure the value of their lives given as MSOLA. They are for us "a Baobab".

We are ready to give our contribution in achieving the desire of God in ourMSOLA call. Our message to the General Chapter is the following: 

• We must find the way ofletting go" so as to open our eyes and our hearts to the new calls of today's world, calls that are at the heart of our MSOLA apostolic choices. 
• We would like also to keep a few concrete projects of our own, whichcan serve for MVA at the same time.
• We would like there to be continuity in the responsibilities entrusted to the young sisters, in order to help us grow in our sense of belonging to the Congregation and its mission.

2. The theme of the Chapter is: “Bearers of hope...”

We draw our hope:

• From the love of Christ and from the presence of his Spirit, who helps us to discern the attitudes that we need to adopt in the mission that he has entrusted to us.
• FromJesus, present in every event of our existence, and in the history of humanity.
• From the efforts made by the General Council, in collaboration with our leaders of the entities, to give us formation through the various meetings.
• From the emphasis on missionary and vocational animation so far: we hope to continue to move forward.

By making links between 'being bearers of hope' and the Baobab, we are called:

• to adapt to changes in our environment and to reach out to others;
• to be like the baobab, which is a place of encounter and dialogue.

What makes the richness of the Baobab, is the whole set of its qualities and its defects. 

We are well aware of its evolution: slow in growth, but also rooted in depth, which allows it to be solid and resistant to bad weather. Like it, we are rooting ourselves in Christ, and this helps us to grow and to overcome difficulties. 

Each part of the Baobab is useful: roots, branches, leaves, fruits etc. In the same way, each member of the Congregation is worthwhile and useful. We want to strengthen unity and sisterly love among us.

The baobab can cope with drought for long periods of time: following its example, we are called not to give up the mission received, but to draw strength in Christ andto give life to the people to whom we are sent.

Following the example of the Baobab as the tree that unites everyone, without distinction, for peace, life,reconciliation and hope, our Congregation is the place where we all are united by our vocation.

3. From the theme of the Chapter: "Listen to the voice of the Spirit":

We have experienced the voice of the Spirit in our sharing with our elder sisters through "interviews to know each other and appreciate one another" (appreciative interviews)

• Listening to our sisters, we realized that the same Holy Spirit leads us and urges us on as MSOLA.
• We have experienced that the desire to give our lives also brings us more fullness of life. We feel that we have a lot in common and would like to fulfill our mission in our different contexts.
• The sharing of our elder sisters has joined us in what we live.
• We have experienced that they were drawing their strength and their courage in prayer and community life. It is a call for us to let ourselves be led by the Holy Spirit, in order to grow in our commitment to Christ and in the quality of our community life.

How is the voice of the Spirit speaking to us as MSOLA through the symbol of the Baobab?

• The image of the Baobab invites us to make our communities places of gathering, of dialogue, of mutual acceptance, of rest, and of transmission of life for ourselves and for the people to whom we are sent.
• The Baobab gives itself away entirely. We, MSOLA, give our lives totally to God and to others.
• Like our Baobab, with its roots deep in the ground, we MSOLA want to remain rooted in Christ.
• By taking its deep roots as our example, we feel that we are invited to adopt the virtue of the Baobab, by not letting us be uprooted from our “raison d’être”.
• The Baobab’s adaptation to thechanges of weather and its flexibility area call for us tobe open and to adapt the living out of our mission to the needs of a changing world.
• The Spirit invites us through this symbol, not to be afraid of our weaknesses and our diminishment, but to rely on our strengths that give life, heal and comfort the sisters and brothers who live around us.

We are therefore invited

• To let ourselves beled by the Spirit who teaches us, individually and communally, to become similar to Baobab trees.
• To deepen our attachment to Christ so as to grow in compassion and thus be able to go to the peripheries with discernment.

4. The theme of the Chapter concludes in this way: "... move forward together to the peripheries”:

The peripheries in our ministries are:

• All the situations in which people live different kinds of exclusion in society;
• Everything which is contrary to the dignity of the human person and which does not consider the whole creation;
• Those who are marginalized in our ministries;
• Situations of injustice in which nobody wants to commit themselves or to denounce (for example students from poor families, widows, orphans, the displaced and migrants, exploitation of women and girls, human trafficking, the voiceless, etc.);
• The manipulation of the poor in our places of apostolate.

Within the MSOLA, the peripheries are these:

• Our difficulties to accept change (fear of novelty, fear of the other, etc.)
• The labels we give to each other amongst ourselves, which block our growth and affect the quality of fraternal life in community.
• The rejection/denial of our weaknesses and the wounds of some of us that affect our "living together".
• Projections of what we live onto others.
• Activism: that attitude which sometimes pushes us to be zealous women outside in our apostolate, at the expense of community life.
• Individualism and pride...
• Areas that we hesitate to enter, such as:

The sisterin my communitywho needs my attention, my encouragement, my love;

The things we don't want to see inourselves (our wounds, our hatred, our jealousy, etc.) and some issues of community life we ignore (eg: taking care of what is held in common good; remembering our values, particularly in the use of new technologies...) 

The symbol of the Baobab invites us to move towards the peripheries of our ministries and within the MSOLA:

Following the example of the Baobab, we move forward together to the peripheries in order to welcome and comfort those in need. 

• Christ must remain our reference in everyday life, because he knew times of joy and sorrow, and he managed to remain attached to the will of the Father.
• Our attachment to Christ helps us to: 

Be more successful, productive, and compassionate and loving in helping the weak to get up and to recognize their rights and their dignity.

Be flexible, able to give a taste for life not only in times of joy but also in difficult times.

In doing so, we can bring healing to ourselves and to those whom we are serving and between us as MSOLA.The values that we feel called to live are: unity, communion, hope, discernment, collaboration, openness, listening, dialogue, flexibility and reconciliation, while keeping our uniqueness in the Church and in the world.

Our fears / our questions:

• We younger sisters, are full of life and hope for the future. At the same time, weare worried when we see how some of those who had joined us have left the Congregation. As 'bearers of hope', we feel concerned about them. .. .and we ask this question to the chapter: how can we prepare the sisters who leave us, and prepare their families, in the best possible way, so that all can live this situation in faith and hope?
• In our message to the Chapter, you will have noticed that we appreciate our communities and we see them as our place of human, spiritual growth... but unfortunately, not all of our communities are willing to welcome young professed or young people in initial training. For the transmission and continuity of our charism and of our mission, we recommend that the Chapter reflects on how to ensure that all of our communities are places where each member of the Congregation feels at home andplaces which help us, in confidence, to grow and to engage fully, freely, in the footsteps of Christ.

Our desires 

• We would like there to be a balance between the generations. This would allow us to realize better that young and senior sisters have complementary gifts that can be shared.
• We would like to have trained accompanists at all levels of formation.
• The meeting in Dar-Es-Salaam and in Burkina Faso were beneficial and have awakened in us the love of our religious family. We wish that to continue.
• The charism of the MSOLA is still necessary and relevant; we wish to continue to have concrete projects that allow us to be identified as MSOLA and which become places that attract young people who want to join us.
• The community is the basic place for formation for us all. It is the instrument of choice to develop a strong sense of belonging to the Congregation. Something must be done to improve the quality of community life, to allow better distribution of community tasks and to fight against the tendencies to individualism and relativism. 
• We wish that we continue, as a Congregation, to take care of our mother earth.

Conclusion

We are grateful for what has been done in recent years: the good collaboration, discernmentandthesearchfor new ways of living our Mission and our MSOLA charism. 

Thank you for the professional and spiritual training we have received, which help us to grow.

Thank you for the various meetings that you have organized for us and for giving us the opportunity to interview our elder sisters. 

Thanks for the creation of our blog, which is a means of sharing, of communion and communication.

We appreciate the creation of networks (JPIC/RD and MVA) and collaboration with their coordinators.

Finally, thank you for having invited us to participate in this event of the General Chapter and to make our contribution as sisters of temporary vows.

Thank you for your attention! Have a blessed and fruitful Chapter!