Jubilee Encounter 2022

Jubilees are cause for special celebration and provide opportunity for renewal and recommitment.

You Are Sent, General Directory 123 b

This year the Jubilee program, which is offered by the General Council to sisters who celebrate 25 years of religious profession between 2017 and 2022, is being held virtually July 6-9. Due to the uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jubilee program that was scheduled for 2021 was postponed. This year, given the continuing uncertainties of the pandemic, the General Council decided to offer the renewal program virtually. The theme for this Jubilee Encounter is “Impelled into the heart of the world with a new fidelity.”

This Jubilee Encounter will be a time of renewal, a time for sisters to reflect on their vowed commitment – made out of love for God and God’s creation – and its impact on their lives and the world in which they minister. Sisters from six provinces representing 12 countries (Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Poland, Belarus, Hungary, Brazil, Peru, USA, Japan, Italy) will receive input, pray, and share faith. Languages being interpreted include Polish, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology and simultaneous interpreters, sisters from these language groups will be able to interact with one another in large-group and small-group settings.

Each day has a focus:

day one – Because God first loved us (YAS, C 10; 1 Jn 4:16.19)
day two – Embracing with gratitude the gift of who we are: Our Charism and our reality
day three – Sent into the heart of the world living mission prophetically (YAS, C 25 and C 9)
day four – Transformed for mission with a new fidelity (YAS, C 4)

Let us keep these sisters in prayer. May these days be a source of renewal and recommitment for each of them.

Impelled into the heart of the world with a new fidelity
Megújuló hűséggel lépjünk a világ szívébe
Impelidas ao coração do mundo com uma nova fidelidade
Pociągnięte do serca świata, z nową wiernością
新たな忠実さで、世界の心へと駆り立てられて
Impulsadas al corazón del mundo con una nueva fidelidad

Glimpses

“Like for all who responded “yes” to God, our lives, our loves are no longer our own. They belong now to God and to God’s future. “Love urges us to unite our will with God’s” (YAS, C 19) and impels us into the heart of the world with a new fidelity for God’s future. …God’s reign of love is the only future worth working for, living for; the only future that will last.”

Sister Roxanne Schares, General Superior,
in her opening reflection to the sister Jubilarians at the Jubilee Encounter 2022.

“Only together can we give prophetic witness to unity in diversity, to the possibility of overcoming national divisions and cultural barriers so that all may be one in God. This was the desire and prayer of Jesus—that all be one. It is fundamental to who we are and to our work as School Sisters of Notre Dame. Therefore, it is vital that we grow our identity and that we live, discern, and act together as one, one congregation in communion.” ~ from the General Council presentation to the Jubilarians, July 7

“Since you made your first profession, you have experienced many changes in our congregation, in religious life, in the church and in the world and, of course, in yourself. The charism – a gift of the Spirit given to Mother Theresa – continues to evolve through our loving service to others and by the choices we make today. Are the choices for life, for a new vitality for God’s mission? If so, they inevitably will engage us in the inner work of transformation, individually and communally.” ~ from the General Council presentation to the Jubilarians, July 7

“The prophecy of religious life is to witness the contradiction of our way of being and doing which is different from the mentality of the world. If we live and think like the world we lose our prophetic call.” ~ from one of the presentations by Sr. Nadia Coppa, Congregation of Adorers of the Blood of Christ, to the Jubilarians, July 8. Sister Nadia was elected president of the UISG (International Union of General Superiors) May 10, 2022.