General Level

General Level in Meudon

Generalate House
24 rue Ernest Renan
92190 MEUDON
Tel : 01 55 64 06 85
email

The Generalate House is in Meudon, in the Bellevue district.

Left to right : Winnie, Thérèse, Marie-Hélène, Mercedes and Colette in their sitting room.

At our General Chapter 2005, which was held in Chavagnes-en-Paillers in the Mother-House, we re-elected Sister Marie-Helene MARTIN as Superior General. Sisters Mercedes LOPEZ, Spanish, who has been on mission in La Bota, an area of Quito in Equator, Winifred LUSK, Irish, who has been working with the Jesuits in their parish of St. Ignatius in London, Therese JOURDAIN, French, who has been on mission in Ouzal in North Cameroon, were all elected as General Councillors. Sister Colette NAUD, the general accountant, is also a member of this community.

A small community of Sisters from the French Province also lives in the same house. It is a large and beautiful house which can welcome and accommodate the many Sisters who come from all over the Congregation to meet with the General Council and take part in workshops. It is also a stop-over for Chavagnes. Our links with other Congregations and lay-friends ensure that the doors are often wide open.

Mission of the General Council

During the council of Congregation in Cameroon on the track at Adamaoua… Returning from the youth festival on the 11Th Febuary.

Temporary Profession in Ancud. Marie Hélène and Pilar.

A s the Congregation is established on 3 continents the new team have set themselves the task of visiting each community, each sister in her place of mission: a huge task!

Fortunately, Marie-Helene will be able to be accompanied each time by one of the councillors. This will facilitate communication as four languages will have to be spoken.

Live the Orientations of the Chapter

"What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have contemplated and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life….. we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you are in communion with us, in communion with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.small>I John 1: 1-3

The opening celebration of the General Chapter with the theme of the Samaritan woman.

We come to tell the story.

The story of what we have lived at chapter and how it set us on the path towards new horizons. We lived this in a family spirit, the Family of the Incarnation.

Today, we are aware of new stirrings of hope. Like the fire at Pentecost, we move beyond our personal and cultural diversity as well as our traditions. We experience unity among us once we discover that we share and speak the same language, the "language of the heart." The challenge to embrace life is a flame that is enkindled within us.

We are always missioned to go Galilee…but it is necessary to cross Samaria…to enter into areas that are foreign to us. There, at the well with the Samaritan Woman, Jesus invites us to recall the journey we have made over the last five years: immigration, ecology, sharing the charism, interculturality, internationality, review of our missionary insertions. We see that we have taken several important steps forward and there is still much we wish to continue. Along this path the respect and compassion of the Good Samaritan challenges us by his audacious actions and attitudes.

The icon of the Samaritan which a friend from Loreto, Italy, designed for us. It united our reflection and prayer with the Samaritan woman throughout the Chapter.

We come to tell the story.

Journeying along the roads of Samaria, we hear the call to move beyond familiar paths. We feel the urgency to run, to draw close to others; a call to risk encountering the other, to witness, to invite, to gather. We hear the call to collaborate with others.

Journeying along the roads of Samaria, we hear the call to act with love, tenderness and compassion, moving beyond a legalistic interpretation among ourselves, as well as in our missionary life. We hear the call to live in solidarity and justice with the wounded, the poor, the immigrants, the women and children of the world.

Groups at work, sitting on the sunburned earth in the garden at the Mother House.

Journeying along the roads of Samaria, we recognise a call to renew our consecration and to search for a new way of living religious life. We recognise diverse ways of living community and more fluid and flexible structures. We welcome circular models, seeing this relationship of equality as an expression of the Trinitarian dynamism among the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Journeying along the roads of Samaria, we quench our thirst .

with the living water" of the Charism It is our treasure! It is the heart of our life….risked, offered, given so that a "new heaven and a new earth"…all creation be in harmony with the heart of God. We hear the call to share the Charism!

Dream… Dream the impossible…

… It is the moment of an "Annunciation"

How can all of us, and each one of us, undertake the journey of sharing our projects, questions, convictions, our steps forward, so that together we can discern new paths?

What deep calls, what conversions, can help us to be attentive to the evolution of apostolic religious life in the world today?

The source continues. It was not just a decoration during the Chapter but a symbol of the invitation to go and drink at the source.

We are called to accept all persons as they are, with both their gifts and their limitations. Each person is unique in the plan of God. This invites us to:
 live relationships of respect, of non-violence
 to return to the simplicity of the Gospel because each person, and every part of creation proclaims the God of life.
 recognise as women, our close relationship with Mother Earth and care for all life, especially that which is threatened.

Dare to move out in mission.

Inspired by the renewed life of the Samaritan Woman, and touched by the deliberate acts of the Good Samaritan for life, we choose to make a priority of living a Samaritan way of religious life.

Dream… Dream the impossible…

… It is the moment of an "Annunciation"

How can we, together, and each one of us, become involved in the "culture of vocation"? What means will we take in each Province/Region? What means will we take as Congregation?

What experiences, process, means of formation will help us to discern the personal and community choices we need to make so that our life is a call in itself?

How can we act with conviction, daring, to awaken the call to accompany women and men who are searching their vocational response?

"Renew yourself in the spirit of your vocation" L.M.Baudouin 28-12-1809

We are invited to renew the call of God in ourselves and in others.

Motivated by the courage of the Samaritan Woman who ran to announce what Jesus had done for her, and challenged by the boldness of the risk the Good Samaritan took to ask others for help, we take a stand to develop a culture of vocation and choose to make it a priority.

Each sister, each community, Province and Region, as well as the Body-Congregation is responsible for entering into a formative journey.

Running like the Samaritan woman.

«See, I have set before you today, life and prosperity, death and adversity…. Choose life, so that you and your descendants may live, loving God, listening to him, holding fast to him, for that means life to you and length of days."
Deut. 30:15, 19

So live!