The International Union of Superiors General was an immediate outcome of the Second Vatican Council. On December 8, 1965, the final day of the Council, the Council Fathers approved the establishment of the group. Its first General Assembly was held in March 1967 and was attended by about 200 Superiors General. Our Mother Mary Anselm was among them, along with the members of the general council. We can read about the event in our annals and in the Chimes of March 1967 (PDF Download)(Of course we need to take into account that this was written at a time when people used a different kind of language – none of it was said in a disrespectful way!)
How very fitting was it that we were able to be among the more than 400 sisters who were present for this first big celebration to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the UISG, which has grown to include 1857 Superiors General of congregations present in more than 100 Nations and representing more than 350 000 women religious. On December 12, 2015, Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the CICLSAL, presided over a solemn Eucharist that (just as in 1967) included a variety of languages and cultural representation and was attended by women religious from countries around the world. Our sisters had been asked to sing in the international choir and to offer a petition.
A very significant part included at the end of the celebration was the missioning of the ten sisters from eight congregations who went to Sicily to form two local communities whose apostolate it is to assist migrants and refugees who come to Italy in search of a new home. This is a very concrete expression of what is stated as the mission of the UISG “To invite congregational leaders to respond collaboratively and in increasingly creative ways to new challenges”.
For more information please refer to Vidimus Dominum at http://vd.pcn.net/en/ or the facebook page of the UISG at https://www.facebook.com/UISGInternationalUnionSuperiorsGeneral The photos in this article were generously made available to us by the UISG communication office.
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