New General Councillors

On Wednesday 9th October the new members of the General Council were anounced. Sr Ann-Marie Gardiner who is the Provincial for the English Province has been elected as a General Councillor, see below far right.  We send our prayers to her and all the new Councillors that they will be guided by the Holy Spirit and charism of our patron St Angela Merici.

Sisters Marie Thérèse Le Goc, Verena Moekti Gondosasmito,
Neusimar Marques da Silva, Maria Jaworska, Mother Cecilia Wang,
and Sister Ann-Marie Gardiner 

On Friday, during the prayer service the outgoing and incoming General Councillors were each given a small wooden bowl with the following inspiring words: 

life, communion, courage, solidarity, charism, act,
boldly, risk, transformed, confidence,
go out and insieme. 

Each word held meaning for us as we worked together towards the call. Each councilor came up bringing her wooden bowl with the specific word and joined the others singing “Insieme”.  Insieme is an Italian word for together - unity.

General Councillors bringing up their bowl during celebration of Insieme

Displays from the Chapter

Each of the provinces have been asked to give a presentation and invited to bring items which represent their country and provide a visual representation of the context they are living and serving in union with Christ.

English Province 

Display of English Province

May they rest in peace ...

Sisters carrying scrolls with the names of deceased Ursuline sisters

During the mass on 18th September a scroll with the name of each sister who has died since the last Chapter was brought up and laid at the altar.  This mass was offered for all deceased Ursulines.  This moving ceremony gives us time to remember and thank God for lives of those who have lived out their vocation under the charism of St Angela.

Sr Maureen Coyne RIP

In the English province we remember Sr Maureen Coyne who died earlier this year.  To read more about her life and to hear her talking about her vocation see below.

WWW.Wednesday Woman of Witness: Sr Maureen Coyne including short video of her talking about her vocation

Little Acts of kindness 

Many hands make light work

A copy of her tribute Memories of Sr Maureen by Sister Anne Benyon

Visit from Rome

 

St Angela tinvites us:-

 

"Please go often, as you have time and opportunity, especially on feast days,

and visit your dear daughters and sisters." 

 

 

During these past two weeks we have had the joy, in the English Province, of a visit from our Mother General Cecilia Wang and one of our General Councillors, Sr Brigitte Brunet. It was interesting to hear about the lives and activities of Ursuline sisters round the world and to share with our visitors something of our mission in this country.

 



Sr Brigitte and Mother Cecilia in the garden at Wimbledon

Golden Jubilee Celebration at Wimbledon

 

In her writings Angela encourages us to "rejoice together" and we did just that yesterday  afternoon when the Wimbledon Community hosted a  celebration for the two Golden Jubilarians, Sisters Frances Oakley and Zela Procter.All the Province were invited.

 

The afternoon started with a buffet lunch and concluded with Evening Prayer I for the feast of the Holy Trinity. Angela's spirituality is very Trinitarian, she begins and ends her writings with invoking the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The mutual love within the Trinity was to be the model of the love lived by the members of the Company of St Ursula.

 

This love we experienced in our celebration together and as we sang with joy as our opening hymn some of her words:-

 

"I am here in your midst with Jesus,

my love and yours,

lending aid to your prayers.

 

I am more alive than when I was on earth;

I can help you more and hold you dearer.

 

Act, bestir yourselves,

make efforts, cry to him;

you will certainly see wonders.

 

Raise your hearts on high;

don't rest in things of earth.

Jesus is your only treasure.

 

Live in harmony,

be bound by bonds of love;

Sign of Jesus'favour; lead a new life.

 

 

Sr Zela and Sr Frances

 

 







 

 

Preparing for the Provincial Chapter

On Saturday, we held at our convent in Forestgate a day in preparation for our forthcoming Provincial Chapter. We looked at issues that we need to address in order to live our lives more authentically in the service of God's people. Angela promised:

 "I shall always be in your midst, helping your prayers."  

We did indeed experience the support of her prayer during the day.

Angela with the Company

Ursulines of the English Province

The launch of this blog coincided significantly, not only with the feast of the Cumbrian martyrs, but also with the advent of a new provincial for the Ursulines of the English Province: Sr Ann-Marie Gardiner. Our prayers and good wishes are with her.We remember too with gratitude the six years of generous service given by our out-going provincial, Sr Maureen Moloney, now recharging her batteries in St Angela's homeland on the shores of Lake Garda.

Recently there was a joint meeting in France of our out-going and in-coming leadership teams during which we visited Lisieux. It happened to be the feast day of Blessed Zelie and Louis Martin so there was a splendid concelebrated Mass in the basilica with crowds of pilgrims from far and wide including England - the Union Jack featured among the flags carried in at the beginning of Mass. At the time of their beatification in 2008, Lancaster Cathedral blog featured an entry about this couple, if you are interested in reading more click here. 

After mass, we continued our celebration at a local tavern!

Leadership team at Lisieux