Dominicas de la Presentación - Capítulo General 2019

How did our Province come about?

For the Sacred Scriptures, history has sense to the extent that it generates life for each new beginning, bringing within it a generation that becomes witness to the action of God. In parallel, the history of our Congregation can be read from the birth of each one of the structures and the particular context that gave origin to our Province, is not an exception.

The province of Bogotá, Mother Province of America, since the 60´s of the XX century, had entered in discernment about how to answer in an effective way to the demands of the mission and regular observance, in Post-Council. The personalized accompaniment to the sisters, an exercise of authority that required participation and community discernment and the new missionary calls that appeared on the scene, where demands that exceeded the strengths and available time of those who were was in charge of the provincial government.

From 1969 to 1979, various experiences and studies were carried out to face such a great challenge, such as the division of the province into regions, which finally led to the option of creating a new structure. Thus, in the year 1979, the province of Bogotá in its pre-chapter assembly drafted a motion for the creation of a new province, which was presented and approved at the 47th General Chapter, with the unanimous vote of the 68 capitulars Sisters.

Therefore, the kairos, in which this new beginning occurred was signed by a profound desire to offer the sisters an integral attention more personalized, strengthen the pastoral animation of the mission, create a personal and communitary process of renovation and make more agile and effective the work of the government with a more reasonable number of sisters and communities to made the accompaniment truly possible. This is how on May 24, 1980, on the eve of the Feast of Pentecost and under the Generalate of H. Inés Mercedes Mejía Toro, was born for the Congregation and the Church, the Santafé Province of Bogotá, "with the strength of faith , the certainty of hope and the dynamism of charity ".

The Province began to write its history with a total of 47 communities and 445 sisters, with missionary services in diverse regions of Colombia. The General Government named Sr. Mary Plata Cordero, as Provincial Superior. She was reelected in the provincial chapter and during her eight years as Provincial, she strengthened the missionary presence of the new province.

In the following years, the Lord rewarded the Province with Sisters that assumed the noble and demanding labor of orienting the spiritual, apostolic and administrative growth of the structure, allowing the charisma to continue in places of dire need.

• Sr. Ginette Arenas Perdomo (R.I.P.) (1989-1998; 2004-2008).
• Sr. María Magdalena Herrera Palacios (R.I.P.) (1999-2003).
• Sr. Berta Graciela Acero Gutiérrez (2014-2018).
• Sr. Nidia Beatriz Mesa Navarrete (2009-2013; 2019-).

 

 

Where are we? How many?

From its birth our Province strengthened the legacy of Marie Poussepin in the departments of Cundinamarca, Boyaca, Santader and Meta, with educational works , health care in rural areas and presence in places of armed conflict, being a sign of peace, development, counsel and hope for the villagers.

Its development was so solid that it handed the best of its capacities to provide not only the missionary bases for the actual Vice Province of Aconcagua, but the successful sow of the Charism In the beautiful Dominican Republic in August 1993. Three sisters arrived to this beautiful island of the Caribbean, to the vicinity of “Comedero Arriba de Fantino”, located at the northern region, also known as “El Cibao”.

This region primarily dedicated to agriculture, saw God´s hand in these sisters that took upon the direction of the School “Fe y Alegría”, that had hardly the what it needed for its basic functioning. According to the history, "The School will function in an arbor and in a room near the chapel." As we will see later, the seed planted in Comedero germinated vigorously and accommodated the arrival of more sisters to the Dominican Republic and the emergence of native vocations.

We are currently announcing Jesus Christ through 149 sisters who make up 18 local communities located in Colombia and the Dominican Republic, places that through Education, Health care and the Social Pastoral, make God present "there, where life cries".

In Colombia, the Province has 137 sisters who day after day dedicate themselves to the service of children, youth and their elderly and sick sisters, service of charity as an evangelization task.

Proposals News

We highlight:

• “Promotion of women as head of household through the "Marie Poussepin Women Entrepreneurs Foundation”.

• Through home gardens, women learn to sow their future in a friendly way with the environment, get the sustenance for their families and recognize in the pedagogy of Marie Poussepin's work, the richness of the Gospel.

• First aid kits in San Vicente del Caguán. Using the healing power of the elements present in nature and the advancement of science, the sisters and leaders of the villages of the town of San Vicente have community health kits, providing health care and training for everyone who needs it.

• Training of nurses as auxiliaries and health promoters in the "Formasalud" Tunja and Fusagasugá schools. Following the charismatic inspiration, the Province has made an option for the training and job promotion of young people in the health area, printing on them the love for life and passion for care for humanity, in the style of Marie Poussepin.

Challenges

Our Province also faces a series of challenges at the community and missionary level, which become the perfect opportunity to project ourselves with greater audacity for the announcement of Jesus Christ:

• Continue deepening the study, reflection and discernment in the light of the Word, on our being as consecrated women, the reality of the Province, the Charism, the Church and the mission.
• Strengthen the formation and systematic accompaniment for the Sisters in all stages of life.
• To consolidate the Province's interest in the formation of Sisters in the areas of Theology, Sacred Scripture, Modern Languages, Administration and others, to offer an evangelical missionary service adapted to the circumstances demanded by today's life.
• Design a plan of sports and artistic training for youth in schools and universities, that from the Gospel, be an alternative of human growth and neutralize the offers that from drug addiction, pleasure for pleasure or anxiety for a successful career, attack the heart of the young today
• Consider and unify criteria for the formation and well- being of the elderly sisters through a common project between the five provinces of Colombia.
• Search for strategies among the five Provinces of Colombia for a unified Project in post conflict zones.

 

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