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| The Oblate Sisters of Providence of Baltimore, Maryland
and the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
of Monroe, Michigan, Immaculata and Scranton, Pennsylvania,
have come together to celebrate their common consecration,
to remember their common roots, and to reaffirm the unanimity
of the shared threads of their charism expressed in the uniqueness
and diversity of the four Congregations.
From their founding in 1829 (Oblate Sisters of Providence)
and in 1845 (Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of
Mary), the sisters have committed themselves to the transformation
of society in the spirit of St. Alphonsus as transmitted
by their founders, Father Jacques Joubert, SS, Father Louis
Florent Gillet, CssR, Elizabeth Lange, OSP, Theresa Maxis
Duchemin, IHM, and all the Oblate and IHM women who have
followed them down the years.
The sisters live a shared, simple life, grounded in contemplative
reflection and apostolic activity. Enlivened by the inspiration
of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, and in fidelity to their
Redemptorist heritage, the sisters stand with Mary of the
Magnificat in solidarity with the poor and in compassionate
action on behalf of justice and peace. They teach, they
minister, and they serve wherever the Church and People
of God call for their generous response.
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| The Oblate/IHM Logo shows a heart,
central to the image, joining the congregations represented
by four stars and the abbreviations of the congregation names.
The “many stories” woven around “one heart”
result in a “deep encounter to which we have been called
resulting from the providential moment in Monroe in 1995”
(Annette Beecham, OSP) that brought the congregations together
after 150 years. |
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This year, in July 2005, “we gather to celebrate a moment
of renewed courage, of risk acknowledged and accepted, of
hope unchecked, of faith unfolding in our lives, and in witness
to the healing that can take place in both our corporate and
personal lives” (Virginia Pfau, IHM). “Each congregation
operates out of a huge reservoir of grace. The opportunity
to drink from someone else’s font at the same time that
they drink from ours is so enriching and life-giving”
(Jane Snyder, IHM). The spirit of this gathering sends a “message
of creative hope, born in the crucible of shared foundational
sufferings, and kept alive in the desire and the willingness
to identify the tensions, to break down the barriers and stereotypes,
to restore right relationships, and to maintain the dialogue
of charity. Although our congregations represent a wide spectrum
of diversity, they also represent and teach the possibility
of peace and reconciliation - not only for and among themselves
- but also for the purpose of making the redeeming love of
Jesus Christ more visible in the Church and in the world”
(Patricia Dailey, IHM). |
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