News & Views

    World Youth Day - 15th-20th July,  2008

                                  Sydney

        For further information relating to the WYD08

             please visit the official     WYD08 website

Thoughts from Jerusalem  by Bridget Tighe fmdm (edited)

   After 11 years as Principal of the Margaret Beaufort Institute my religious congregation offered me a study break  which I spent in Tantur Ecumenical Institute, Jerusalem. Tantur’s location - fifteen minutes by bus from the Old City of Jerusalem and five minutes walk from the wall that surrounds Bethlehem - makes it an ideal place in which to observe and experience the contrasts and contradictions, the religious and political diversity, and the hopes and fears of Israelis and Palestinians.

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OUR CHAPTER, 2007 – THE FMDM DREAM FOR TODAY

    All Religious Congregations hold what is called a ‘Chapter’ which is a gathering of the members, or delegates representing the members, to look to the future direction and vision of the Order. These are generally held every 6 years and we, the FMDMs, held ours in May/June, 2007.

     In May, forty two of us gathered together at Ladywell, our Motherhouse in England, representing all FMDMs from our communities around the world. Much reflection, prayer and discussion had already happened throughout the congregation before the Chapter so that what was born out of our gathering would be the shared hopes and desires of all the sisters. For three and a half weeks we reflected on the hopes that had come from around the congregation and prayed that we would be open to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit revealing to us God’s dream for the FMDMs as we move into the future.

     From this time of gathering and reflection arose the vision and dream we felt that God was calling us to embrace for the next six years. Following are some excerpts from our final Chapter Document called: Bringing Forth Christ In Our Beautiful But Broken World:

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COMBINING VOICES TO SPEAK FOR THE VOICELESS

In 2001 the tragic death of a young Thai woman in an immigration detention centre in Sydney was the catalyst which moved the government to admit that trafficking was happening here in Australia. This young woman was found to have been trafficked into the sex industry, had developed a drug addiction and had died alone and unsupported.

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CALLED TO BE FULLY ALIVE - A CALL TO RELIGIOUS LIFE

One of the reasons I became a Franciscan sister was that St Francis of Assisi was, for me, a breath of fresh air into my understanding of God. Francis showed me you could be passionate, joyful and totally human in your relationship with God and that a radical giving of oneself in following Christ could lead to being fully alive in ways I would have never imagined. The other aspect of Francis that captured my heart was his deep compassion and reverence that reached out to all his brothers and sisters including the non human ones!  All of creation was related to him because all life flowed from the same loving Source. Therefore, in his beautiful Canticle of the Creatures he could give praise for Brother Sun and Sister Moon or for Sister Water and Brother Fire.

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Nun Honoured For Her Work With Criminals

BY MICHELLE CARNOVALE  (Star Local Newspaper, 6th Feb, 2007)

Not many people would consider devoting their lives to helping convicted sex offenders, but for Sister Clare Agnes McShee, it was God’s calling. The 74-year-old Dallas nun was acknowledged for her hard work with Victoria’s prisoners by receiving a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) on Australia Day.

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