2016-06-22
The 2016 General Chapter of the Pallottine Missionary Sisters officially convened during the Jubilee: Year of Mercy on Wednesday, June 22 with 23 Sisters representing 12 countries joining the Superior General and her Councilors in Rome.
General Superior: Sr. Izabela Świerad
Vice General: Sr. Maria Landsberger
Councilors: Sr. Stella Holisz
Sr. Anna Josephina D’Souza
Sr. Bożena Olszewska
General Secretary: Sr. Beata Matuszewska
Germany: Sr. Helga Weidemann
Sr. Gertrud Meiser
Sr. Adelheid Scheloske
England – Tanzania: Sr. Mary McNulty
Sr. Basilisa Jacob
Sr. Nancy Logue
United States: Sr. Gail Marie Borgmeyer
Sr. Mary Grace Barile
Belize: Sr. Consuelo Burgos
Sr. Clara Teul
South Africa: Sr. Annemarie Niehsen
Sr. Boscona Schämann
Poland: Sr. Mirosława Włodarczyk
Sr. Iwona Nadziejko
Sr. Blanka Sławińska
Sr. Anna Małdrzykowska
Cameroon: Sr. Anna Kot
India: Sr. Inacinha Fernandes
Sr. Eugine N. Francis
Sr. Lillian Kaniampuram
Rwanda—Congo: Sr. Liberata Niyongira
Sr. Marta Litawa
Switzerland: Sr. Maria Dörig
Chapter Secretary: Sr. Angeline Kambugu
Facilitator: Frau Maria Boxberg
Translators: Sr. Antje Eichhorn, OSB
Frau Aleksandra Czyzewska-Felczak
The initial rite of the Jubilee is the opening of the Holy Door. This door is only opened during the Holy Year and remains closed during all other years. Each of the four major basilicas of Rome has a Holy Door: Saint Peter’s, St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls and St. Mary Major. Fifteen years ago was the last time the door had been unsealed. This rite of the opening of the Holy Door illustrates symbolically the idea that, during the Jubilee, the faithful are offered an ‘extraordinary pathway’ towards salvation.
This afternoon at 3:00 p.m. the General Chapter delegates made a pilgrimage to St. Peter’s and walked through the Holy Door. In an earlier letter from Sr. Izabela Świerad, Superior General (28 Jan. 2016): “We must realize that our General Chapter will take place in the middle of the Year of Mercy. God wants to speak to us at this Chapter through the mystery of divine mercy, by His forgiveness and love. In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, let us allow God to surprise us. He never tires of casting open the doors of his heart and of repeating that He loves us and wants to share His love with us.” (cf. Misercordiae Vultus, 25).
