An international meeting between members of general leadership, province leaders and superiors from regions and communities under general leadership came together from October 30 to November 9 in Donaldson, Indiana, USA. Known as GPR, the gathering drew 24 leaders together in-person with a nearly equal number of American Sister observers and at times upwards of 55 Sisters virtually present by zoom. Countries represented included Germany, USA, Netherlands, England, India, Mexico, Brazil, Kenya and Nigeria. The gathering was hosted by the American province with translations provided for the four key languages of English, German, Spanish and Portuguese.
GPRs occur approximately every two years and are advisory to general leadership. The topics on the agenda this time included reports from all units, explanations of use of funds from the Mission Foundation and the Global Assistance Fund, an overview of health insurance available (or not) to Sisters in the units, and archive guidelines. Extensive discussions also included preparation for General Chapter 2025 and the Vision Process that has been ongoing for nearly three years. This restructuring process is calling us to both exterior transformation in our structure and interior transformation in living and understanding religious life. The possibility of an international formation experience at some point in initial formation also was introduced.
Group work occurred via phone and zoom and participants from all over the world shared ideas, prayed and learned from one another.
The focus of an education day Saturday November 4 was interculturality. The presenter was Sr Rosalia Meza VDMF from Long Beach CA. She helped us appreciate the ways our different cultures shape us and bring diverse gifts among us.
The next in-person intercultural gatherings will be the International Juniorate Program slated for May 2024 and General Chapter which is set to occur in May 2025.
