U.S. Provincial Chapter

As the new year began, all the Sisters of the U.S. Province came together for their Provincial Chapter. What is a Provincial Chapter? The Rule of Life describes it this way:

The Provincial Chapter renews and strengthens the unity of the province as well as its spiritual and apostolic vitality, both in fidelity to the Congregation and to the Local Church, whose needs it tries to discern. It studies the decisions of the General Chapter and their concrete application in the province. It elaborates and revises the Provincial Project. (RL #108)

From January 4th - 6th, the Sisters worked on formulating their Provincial Project for 2008-2012. Their work had actually begun months earlier as they re-read the life of the Province since the General Chapter of July 2006 and studied each communitys local project. Guiding them throughout the process were the General Chapter orientations which provide direction for the whole congregation until 2012.

In a spirit of communal discernment, peace and JOY, the Sisters came to the end of the weekend with a project to guide them for the next four years, inspired by the grace of the canonization of St. Marie Eugenie and infused with the Spirit. Now to live it!

Here below are the priorities of the province as drawn from the project:

"With Saint Marie Eugenie we are deeply convinced that the Incarnation is the foundation of our life and joy. By our life of prayer, of communion with each other, and of commitment to our beautiful and suffering world, we seek to proclaim that the earth is a place of glory for God.

We desire to make of our communities dwelling places of God -- where our relationships are marked by trust and kindness, truth and charity. They are privileged places of education for ourselves and others where we come to know and love Jesus Christ and experience the Kingdom.

We desire to make our life of prayer an encounter with the God who is constantly fashioning and re-fashioning us into the image of His Son, transforming daily our way of being and doing.

We desire to see the suffering of the world with the compassionate gaze of Christ and to commit ourselves to work with and on behalf of the migrant and oppressed, the poor and marginalized.

We desire to recognize the beauty and gratuitous gift of Gods creation, to be better stewards of our planet and to live more gently on the earth.

We desire to live our Assumption life with the laity, discovering with them the treasures of our charism and the joy of being Church.

We desire to accompany the young in their search for God and, by sharing our Assumption spirituality, to open for them a way to LIFE."