Good Shepherd Sisters and lay mission partners from the National Capital Region (NCR) will gather September 17 at the Rosary Hall in Quezon City for an echo of “Discovering Our Shared History.”
The 8:30 a.m. -5:00 p.m. echo is part of the regional celebration in preparation for the 2012 Centennial. It will be facilitated by Sr. Lourdes Fabia RGS and Sr. Celeste Engutan CGS.
The two sisters, who represented the apostolic and contemplative sisters in the country, participated in the 2010 session on “Discovering Our Shared History” as part of the series of activities for RGS-OLC Journey of Enrichment recommended by the Process Planning Committee. More than 100 members of the Religious of the Good Shepherd (RGS) and the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity (OLC) gathered in Angers, France for the 2010 session.
Sr. Lourdes and Sr. Celeste also gave a retreat recently to several sisters using the rich materials shared during the 2010 session.
The September 17 session is a response to a need for a common formation for Sisters in the Philippine Province, and is part of a series of spiritual preparations for our 2012 Centennial. This echo, coordinated by the National Capital Region-NCR, takes the place of Centennial Lecture earlier planned for 2011 by the Spirituality Committee of the 2012 Centennial. Sisters from the other regions have also coordinated with the facilitators for the other schedule.
Expected to attend the September 17 echo are sisters and lay mission partners representatives from Euphrasian Community, Good Shepherd Community, St. Bridget School –QC Community, Heart of Mary Villa, Provincialate, Novitiate, Juniorate, Welcome House/Malate Community and Tahanan Community in San Andres.
The RGS-OLC Journey of Enrichment began when the Congregational Leadership Team (CLT) of the Good Shepherd Sisters and the Central Team of the OLC wrote a letter on January 1, 2007 to the members of the two congregation consulting them about the reestablishment of the members as one congregation.
During the OLC meeting in February 2007, the two leadership teams shared about the e responses from the sisters to the invitation issued: “the tremendous joy and sense of the Spirit working strongly in this invitation, as well as the fears and wonderings as to how this might come about.” A Process Planning Committee was formed composed of an RGS provincial where there is OLC in the country, RGS provincial where there is no OLC in the unit , OLC representative, a member of the CLT for each congregation, a contemplative and a lay mission partner.
The Journey of Enrichment and the work of the PPC were presented to the sisters during the 2008 intercontinental assemblies and the 2009 Congregational Chapter.
In the recent communication from the PPC, they said that they reviewed the action plan and developed recommendations for the coming years. The team emphasized that we are engaged in this Journey of Enrichment for the sake of mission. To intensify our focus on mission, the PPC identified themes for each year as follows: 2010 - Shared History; 2011 - Shared Spirituality and 2012 - Deepening our understanding of Charism and Mission in light of the Constitutions of both Congregations.