We are infinitely loved by God
Vice-Province of AfricaMission is a response which is born of our knowledge that we are infinitely loved by God, who in Jesus calls us to follow him as our only point of reference. Every day, we seek to fulfill our commitment, proclaim his wonders, announce his Word, serve unreservedly for the cause of his Kingdom, wherever he sends us through the Congregation.
This is how Marie Poussepin, our Foundress, understands and lives it. Moved by this fire, she leaves Dourdan, her prosperous hometown, and goes to Sainville, a forgotten village in the French countryside where wars and natural disasters have caused death, ignorance and helplessness to the weakest. She knows that this is the place where God wants her, where her wounded neighbors wait for her, the needy who beg for bread and healing for their injuries, the girls and young women in ignorance and lack of opportunities with no future ahead.
She took the ultimate step, leaving behind everything that could bring her security and an easy life, because she understood that it was time to respond with her commitment to the love that God had given her from eternity. She put all her energies, abilities and her feminine qualities at the service of a project that she called “Work of Providence”. It is a Dominican project as broad as the responses that charity inspires in her, in which all works of mercy, spiritual and corporal, have their place.
In Sainville, she sets up a workspace of organized charity where there are no gates or doors that shut the way, no rules that set limits to service or obstacles to giving. There is always availability to listen and words to heal, gratuitousness to give freely that which is received from Heaven generously. There, the care for the elderly is given as much priority as the education of the young, teaching to read and write is as essential as curing the sick. To proclaim the Gospel is to announce it through catechesis at the parish, in the school or at the spontaneous and friendly encounters with the neighbors. To make salvation present is to proclaim God’s mercy, but it is also to open new paths of hope to young people by empowering them by teaching to knit stockings.
Marie Poussepin made Sainville, the cradle of her Congregation and the point of departure and reference for our mission as Dominican Sisters of Charity of the Presentation. After 325 years, we continue to find there, the missionary inspiration and stimulus for our work; it is beyond Sainville and surpasses it because it is born of love and seeks to be an motivation to the building of the Kingdom “where God will be all in all”.
Sent to revitalize mission with the power of the Spirit
Vice-Province of Aconcagua“The Charism of Marie Poussepin has been a source of dynamism and creativity that has enabled the Congregation to fulfill its mission of proclaiming the Word and offer a service of Charity throughout its history, in diverse contexts and situations. Today we live the drama of entire towns forced to move from their places of origin due to violence, marginalization and poverty of the most vulnerable groups in society: women, children and the elderly, and the destruction and hoarding of natural resources for the economic benefit of a few. All these are cries of humanity that affect us and demand our response.
The orientations of the Church, through Pope Francis and the Sacred Congregation for Religious Life, place us repeatedly before this reality of the world, where the preaching of the Gospel leads to persecution and faith seems to be diluted. These are calls to our conscience that urge us to restore the dignity of the human person, the integrity of creation, hope and peace, in the light of the Gospel and our Charism. It is essential to have the courage to go beyond borders, to face risks, to reorient missions and to change whatever is necessary to rekindle the fire of the Spirit and the passion for one's vocation, with the same generosity and abnegation that Marie Poussepin had to go beyond borders and move from Dourdan to Sainville.
This is the way…
Vice-Province of Aconcagua
- Rootedness of heart and life in the Lord - in Him we find the strength to break down walls - and the flexibility and unconditional availability to respond freely.
- Living interculturally as a sign of the Kingdom begins by being rooted in one's own culture. It is lived in the local community through knowledge and appreciation of the personal and cultural differences of those who are integrated in it. This generates a new culture that is expressed in the mission.”
Source: Document of the 55th General Chapter – 2019
A Mission Inspired by Charity
Charity and mission in Marie Poussepin are inseparable! Her charity passionate and diligent, in resemblance of Jesus Christ was a true compass for the path in the mission. Marie Poussepin, Founder of the Sisters of Charity Dominicans of the Presentation, serving Jesus Christ in the poor, the sick and the needy, discovers the grace of giving her live to the announcement of the Gospel. Attentively listening to the signs of times , read and interpreted under the guidance of a life of prayer and with the Word of God, prepare her for a service of charity within her family, in Dourdan, her city of birth and then in Sainville, where her mission begins.
In her home accompanying and responding to the necessities of her family and at the same time, she opens herself to the needs of others who suffer. Later as a businesswoman in Dourdan, she promotes the dignity of the workers, the just recognition of their rights and duties, develops the culture of work and helps the integral promotion of the person and the family. We can ask, How can a woman of the 17th century can become a business woman, promoter of the social change, fight for the dignity of the human being up to the point of leaving behind her comfort and the prosperous city of Dourdan where she lived, to go to Sainville, a city devastated by war, famine, misery, where poor, sick, and orphaned children were in dire need?
The testimony of charity mainly of her mother, the service to the sick, the aid to the poor and the service in the Parish, from her youth, made her sensible towards charity and mercy. Thus she understood that the Gospel of charity, can only be lived doing charity. The Holy Spirit breathes where he wills and her disposition and openness to the grace, inflamed in her a fine social perception, a profound ecclesial sense and allowed her to discover Christ in the person who suffers. Later she recommends: “to serve Christ in the sick” and the education of youth as Works of Mercy.
Vice-Province of Africa
Colombia
Province of India
Province El Caribe (Maracaibo)
Province of India (Yokkok-Seoul-Korea)
Province of Spain (Reus)This is the favorable time! The time of hope to broaden horizons and give new motivations to work in the Church, with the laity and other communities, who have a heart and mind open to the needs and demands of our people. Dreamers who struggle with faith and hope so that each person will be recognized for his dignity and freedom as a child of God, in recognition of his rights and respect for his history and culture as "brothers in Christ" (Col 1,2 ). Pluralism and interculturality, Holiness of life, prophetic witness and pastoral creativity, are the driving forces and vitality of the mission.
Source: General Government - 2017
Open to the world: Mission questions us
As Dominican Sisters of Charity of the Presentation, we are called to “announce Jesus Christ” (C. 82). This proclamation gives meaning to our mission: “to preach”, that is to talk to the world about the God that we carry within, who fulfils us, fills us with joy and leads us to the service of Charity. It is urgent to go to the places that have the greatest need for the proclamation of the Word of God. “Each one is called to discover the Face of the Lord Jesus in the face of those whom she meets.” (The Report on the Life of the Congregation 2014, p. 26) “All of us are called to take part in this new missionary “going forth”. Each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out, but all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the “peripheries” in need of the light of the Gospel.” (Evangelii Gaudium #20)
Source: 54th General Chapter - 2014
Province of Bogotá
Vice-Province of Africa
Haiti (Province of Medellin)
Province of Bucaramanga (San Gil)