Extended Council Meeting
Generalate, Brussels, Belgium
April 4th to 12th, 2011
The following were present for the meeting:
Srs Margaret O’Brien, Bimla Minj, Bernadette Uytterhoeven and Gemma Rose Minj of General Government. Sr. Ann Cuppens, Provincial of Belgium; Sr. Agatha Minj, Provincial of Ambikapur; Sr. Catherine Talia, Provincial of US; Sr. Roshni Baxla, Provincial of Ranchi; Sr. Jacinta Baxla, Provincial of Gumla; Sr. Lucienne Kakkanatt, District Superior of North East; Sr. Esperance Hamuli, Vice-Provincial of DR Congo; Sr. Leela Muthu, Secretary; Sr. Martine, SCJM, Interpreter.
The Extended Council Meeting began with the Eucharistic Celebration inviting the presence of God during the whole meeting. In the opening ritual, led by Sr. Bimla, we were invited to reflect on God’s call where there is a lot of suffering due to natural and manmade calamities. We need leaders with vision. Today women religious are a great power in some parts of the world while they are a threat in some other parts. Working together with other people, we can change the world.
After the opening reflection by Sr. Margaret, our General Superior, the sisters reviewed the Action Plan from the last Extended Council as well as how we have been responding to the call of the 2008 General Chapter Direction Statement.
On April 5th, we were joined by Brother Philip Pinto, CFC, Congregation Leader of the Irish Christian Brothers. His reflections were enriching and thought provoking. Brother Philip suggested that we are in a time of chaos, so if we do not feel the pain of chaos, we cannot bring about any change.
He called us to be loyal to the vision and mission of Jesus. We are here not to build the Congregation but the Kingdom of God.
He said that salvation is impossible without the poor. If we ignore the poor and the vulnerable we will lose the essence of being truly human.
We all need to spend some time alone with the Lord. This calls for personal prayer.
Brother Philip stressed the importance of teaching the new members to develop their personal prayer.
We discussed together the proposal to make a change in our Constitutions regarding the frequency of Provincial Chapters. After much discussion and reflection, we decided not to request a change in our Constitutions. Instead, each Province will decide how to conduct the Chapter every three years, considering the age of the membership, existing vision statements, etc.
On April 8th, we were joined by Sisters Margaret Quirke and Joan McGeough, from the Faithful Companions of Jesus. Their reflections on different models of leadership were challenging and enlightening. We felt called to keep alive the charism, mission and vision of our Congregation as it is expressed throughout the world.
and BernadetteThe General Government presented the financial report from 2010 and the budget for 2011. All spoke of their financial situations at present. We expressed appreciation to our sisters in Canada for their financial and prayerful support.
On April 9th, we attended the funeral of Sister Elizabeth Babina in Melsbroek.
We made plans for future meetings together and discussed the existing structure of the General Government. We evaluated this meeting.
On April 10th, we invited some of our benefactors to join us for lunch, as a way to express our deep appreciation to them for all they do for the people of India and Congo. All enjoyed the opportunity to meet others who are furthering the mission of the Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk and some suggested we have such a gathering again in the future.
We all enjoyed an outing together, traveling south to the area around the city of Dinant in the Ardennes. The weather was beautiful and we all appreciated the relaxing day out.
Finally, we concluded our time together with some small group meetings.
We thank you all for your prayers during our meeting. We thank you for your support. We pray that together we might continue to further the mission of Jesus as we live in this, our time.
Together we make a difference on climate change!!!