EUROPEAN INTERPROVINCIAL MEETING JUNE 2008

From 21-28 June members of the European Province have welcomed ten members of the African Province and ten members of the American Province to meetings being held here. The visitors are travelling round the province, attending meetings in England and Ireland, so many Euorpean SHCJ have the opportunity to meet them. They are attending three day meetings addressing the topics of concern to the whole Society. In London they will attend a meeting on Concern for the Planet, in Preston Inter-cultural Living and in Dublin Human Trafficking. These meetings are an initiative of the Society Leadership Team, enabling us to get a sense of thinking and ideas in the whole Society as we move towards provincial and general chapters in 2009 and 2010. Similar meetings are taking place in the African and American provinces over the summer months.

HOLY CHILD EUROPEAN NETWORK OF SCHOOLS

The annual conference of the Holy Child European Network of Schools took place on 13-14 March in Créteil, France. Read more ...

SHCJ PARTICIPATE IN ANDANTE STUDY CONFERENCE

STRANGERS OR FRIENDS? ANDANTE CONFERENCE, 25-28 OCTOBER 2007 in the NETHERLANDS

From 25 - 28 October seventy five representatives of Andante's nineteen member organizations met in Vught, the Netherlands for Andante's first study conference. Under the heading Strangers or Friends? participants focused on intercultural dialogue between Catholic women in Europe. The aim of this study conference was to make participants aware of the ‘strangeness’ of ‘the other’ and to perceive it not as an obstacle but as a chance for co-operation. Maria Dinnendahl,SHCJ, Victoria Ekubia, SHCJ Associate, Mary Lalor, SHCJ,and Carmel Murtagh, SHCJ, attended the conference.

Andante is a network of 19 Catholic women's organizations in 13 European countries, representing a membership of approximately 1.2 million women. It aims "to be a Catholic women's voice and to be an actor in building a living Europe that works for the common good and gives a more human face to Europe and the world.

The European Commission has proposed that 2008 be "European Year of Intercultural Dialogue". This will also be a year in which sisters of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus will meet as members of three provinces (Africa, America and Europe) to look at our SHCJ mission in a global context. As a microcosm of the wider society we want to live and act with greater awareness of the impact and interconnection of our various issues.

COMMISSIONING AND BLESSING OF THE NEW INTER-PROVINCIAL COMMUNITY IN MAYFIELD

During a beautiful liturgy, in which St Leonards-Mayfield School celebrated the foundation of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, the Society Leadership Team commissioned Justina Chikezie, Maria Dinnendahl and Rosemarie Tedesco as the first members of the new interprovinical community. Their presence in Mayfield will be a reminder of the bonds of faith and service between the members of the Society and the network of schools around the world.

(Justina Chikezie, SHCJ, Maria Dinnendahl, SHCJ, and Rosemarie Tedesco, SHCJ.