"We need to create, to build a culture of encounter..." (Pope Francis, 2013)
Our Congregation has journeyed throughout these 318 years of history. The calls of the Church to respond to the cries of our suffering brothers and sisters have been opening us to the internationality of mission. Today is “the favorable time” to read and interpret the signs of the times and identify with boldness and creativity the moments and the places where the Word can be present and be effective. We live in a pluralistic, globalized, intercultural and inter- religious world, which facilitates interchange through the constant movement of peoples and of information, lead by the impact of Social Means of Communication and new technologies. It is time to have a much clearer awareness of one’s cultural identity and the rights of the people to preserve it. “All of this reality has an effect on the understanding of internationality at the core of religious Congregations.” (Sr. Evelyne Franc, Reflections on Internationality, p. 1, General Chapter 2014).
No society can escape this phenomenon, which forms our world, a multicutural world without borders, where we are challenged to understand its reality and to proclaim the Gospel of Christ. From this conception of an interrelated world - "the communities of consecrated life, where persons of different ages, languages and cultures meet as brothers and sisters, are signs that dialogue is always possible and that communion can bring differences into harmony..... International Institutes can achieve this effectively, inasmuch as they have to face in a creative way the challenge of inculturation, while at the same time preserving their identity.” (Vita Consecrata, nº 51). It is a priority to be available for mission and to adapt to this pluralistic world, with responses that express the commitment of our consecrated life.
Source: Document of the 54º General Chapter - 2014
Today is the Favorable Time the Lord gives us, let us go forward