Italy

Rome, Italy is the Mother House for the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions. The Generalate was moved there from Hastings, England in 1968.

All of the central Administration for the congregation takes place from here.

Congregational Leader - Sr. Maureen McBride ( New Zealand)
Marie Bernard Pham Kim Phung- Team Member (Vietnam)
Probha Mary Karmokar- Team Member (Bangladesh)
Maureen Dwan - Team Member (New Zealand)
Elizabeth Hartigan - Team Member (British Isles)

Congregational Leadership Team [2002 -2008]
(left to right)
Prohba Karmokar, Elizabeth Hartigan, Maureen Dwan, Maureen McBride, M. Bernard Pham (Kim)

The members of the Congregational Leadership Team visit all Provinces and Regions of the Congregation - to meet the Sisters and to assist their Leadership Teams. They also gathered the Leaders for an international Enlarged General Council meeting in 2004 in France.

A group at the EGC meeting in France 2004 : M. Stephanie - S.India, Liz -CLT, Ita - Rome, Maureen D. - CLT, Anita - C. India

Sr. Maureen McBride was able to visit the tomb of our first Sister in Samoa, Mother de la Misericorde, who arrived there in 1865 and died there in 1904

Two or three times a year a renewal programme, organized by the CLT for a different group of Sisters, is held in a different part of the world.

Photo: RNDM Leaders gathered with the CLT for the
EGC meeting at St. Rambert, France 2004

Photo: Group at the Missiology Renewal session in Thailand

Meetings : 2005 - Mini-Tertianship, Vietnam
Missiology Renewal, Thailand
RNDM Bursars, Rome

                    2006 - RNDM Asian Educators in Shillong, India North East
                               Formators in Dhaka, Bangladesh
                               EGC for Leaders in Kenya

Each year the CLT holds 3 or 4 regular council meetings in Rome. Sometimes they invite financial or other specialists to work with or advise their Council.

Photo: Jo Kennedy and Bruce Irvine of the Craighead Institute hold a working session with the CLT evaluating the ministries of the Congregation.

Brady Scanlon and Antonio Panizza, the Financial Advisors, come to finance meetings twice a year to offer their wisdom and expertise.

Liz Murphy RSM works with the CLT to prepare the 2006 Enlarged General Council meeting and the 2008 General Gathering

At the EGC meeting in France in October 2004, the Leaders of the 16 Provinces/Regions of the Congregation agreed to proceed with a completely new initiative for Formation in the Congregation. With most of the young women desiring to enter the Congregation coming from our Asian provinces, the need to provide a common formation for the year of preparation for Final Vows [normally after 9 years of initial formation] was becoming increasingly obvious. Every province would try to contribute funding for the land and building, and agreed to send their Sisters preparing for Final Vows in 2007 to the first course to be held starting November 2006.
Progress in this venture has been courageous and inspiring!

Photo: A suitable property was located by November 2004 and the purchase was finalized by January 2005.

Photo: By August 2005 the main fencing and paths were complete and the first building was well on the way - thanks to considerable initial funding support from a European agency.

The challenge ahead - is to complete the building programme in good time for the first intake in November 2006.

By May 2006 with the new Davao Team resident in the main building, the rest of the buildings are already looking as if they will be ready for participants in late October.

YOUR DONATION - LARGE OR SMALL -
CAN BE GIVEN TO ANY SISTER OF OUR LADY OF THE MISSIONS

Patricia Corcoran - Archivist (British Isles)
Margaret Scott - Assistant Secretary (New Zealand)
Maria Toju - Homemaker (Bangladesh)
Mary Rose Holderness - General Secretary (New Zealand)
Truong thi Huyen - Assistant Homemaker/Hospitality (Vietnam)
Ita Thattalithara - General Bursar (India South)

As our Rome convent is the home of the General Council, the community members' role is one of support for the Leaders and hospitality for the many members of the Congregation, guests and visitors who come week by week to the convent.

The Secretariate of the General Council, the Accounts of the Congregation, and the Archives of the Congregation are all maintained in this house.

ITALY