Aid to the Church in Need: Peru: The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception

Peru: The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception

Posted by Project description on 29/6/2009, 9:25 pm
Message modified by board administrator 2/7/2009, 11:39 am

HOLINESS, DISCIPLINE AND AUTHENTIC CONSECRATION
(With image of the Sisters at work in Lima)

Today, 125 years after its foundation, the female religious congregation of the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception has the most vocations of any religious order in Peru, with 30 houses and 37 other institutions, such as schools, old people's homes and day care centres. These sisters are now also present in other countries, such as Colombia and even in Italy, and they now number a total of 556 consecrated religious. Those of an evangelising, apostolic and fraternal spirit are teaching the world the love of God.

The religious habit of these sisters, and their very presence in the streets, are a living testimony to Christ and at the same time an open invitation to others to draw close to the Church.

The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (Hermanas Franciscanas de la Inmaculada Concepción) were blessed this year with no fewer than 30 aspirants, of whom only 18 were chosen to become postulants however, following a process of discernment and evaluation by their spiritual formators. The aspirants are given a period of two months in which to decide on their vocation. During this time they are accompanied, and also observed and evaluated, by psychologists, priests and the sisters who are their spiritual directors and formators. These provide them with guidance and correction, so that they can learn what they need to know in order to be able to live together on a daily basis. If they do not seem suitable, they are advised to return home. "A vocation is a free choice, not something imposed", says Hermana María Adelaida, the Superior General of the congregation. She adds that sometimes the young women see the religious life as a means of escaping from their poverty, gaining an education and improving their social status, and not as a genuine service to God. Hence the great importance of the process of discernment, interviewing and careful selection of the postulants.

All the sisters are given a university standard education. The great majority of them study teaching, although there are some who study administration and others law, while this year one sister embarked on the study of architecture. "We respect their particular qualities, so that they can be happy in what they are doing and contribute to the community with their own particular gifts", Sister Adelaida observes.

The fact that they are professionals also helps the sisters to fund their own formation, since they receive a salary from the state, in so far as they teach in the state run schools. Nonetheless, the contributions made by these sisters are still not sufficient to cover all the costs of their formation, especially since at the present time there are no fewer than 98 sisters undergoing formation – 18 postulants, 25 novices and 55 juniors.

In the year 2005 the external support they had been receiving came to an end. But one year later they came across the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), which is today the only charitable organisation supporting the studies of these religious. "As a female religious congregation, we believe that these courses are a gift of God. We are gaining not only an education but above all a formation", the Superior General explains.

For the current year ACN has given over $50,000 to cover the cost of three courses for 300 formators and superiors and other religious sisters in Peru. The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception are very grateful for the aid given by ACN for these courses, which they see as fundamental for a number of reasons:

1) they enable them to revive a sense of day to day holiness,
2) the importance of having a personal goal and by means of it moulding the spirit through discipline in order to attain a given objective.

At the heart of the formation they receive there has been, according to Sister Adelaida, "a real springtime of the religious life. We are starting to witness a new burgeoning and flourishing of vocations".

To help this cause please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org