By Kenya (Province of Eastern Central Africa)
On 7th April 2025, thirty-two apostolic sisters, four contemplative sisters, and seven partners-in-mission from Kenya, Congo, South Sudan, and Uganda gathered in Donum Dei, Roussel House in Karen, Nairobi for the historic third chapter since we became the Province of Eastern Central Africa and as we continue to explore regionalization with other units in RIMOA.
Among the sisters present were four temporary professed sisters and members of the Congregational Leadership Team: Sr. Joan Marie Lopez, Sr. Josita Corera, Sr. Maire-Francoise Mestry, Sr. Yolanda Sanchez Contreras, and Sr. Sadhani Welmillage.
Con one mind and one heart, we invoked God’s Spirit to guide our gathering through the support of our facilitators, Sr. Immaculate Nakato of the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix and Sr. Agnes Lucy Lando of the Sisters of Mary of Kakamega.
With great enthusiasm, the chapter opened with prayer and a ritual in which, in silence, we planted seeds to symbolize our shared commitment to create something new and care for our Mother Earth.
Together, we recalled our journey from the previous chapter in 2022. This has been a period of healing, renewal, recommitment, and re-integration for the province – as well as one of transformation and reshaping.
Since the last chapter, we have sought to make our province better, and we celebrated our achievements, taking note of what needs to be taken forward into the future.
We gathered at this chapter to plan our way forward, and each sister and partner-in-mission demonstrated their commitment to the process of creating the nueva that we desire by their active participation. During every step of the way, we listened and were open to being guided by the Holy Spirit.
In her opening message, Congregational Leader Sr. Joan Marie Lopez invited us to ponder on our experience of abundance and thanked us all for our faithful witness to God and the visible vibrancy of the province. She called us to have hope and set directions that can continue to evolve in embracing a wider, regional context and invited us to ask ourselves hard and brave questions as mission partners, letting go of what needs to be let go so that the nueva may emerge. Finally, Sr. Joan called upon us to concretely live justly, walk humbly, love tenderly, and witness boldly to the Gospel in our fractured and vulnerable world.
Reports offered by the different committees led us to highlight the challenges that need to be addressed. This process required speaking and listening, sifting and sorting through dialogue, judging and deciding together – a process in which our facilitators and the CLT were instrumental.
The chapter culminated with the election and appointment of the new Province Leadership Team, who, together with the sisters and partners-in-mission, will bring to life the priorities and recommendations drawn together during the chapter.
On the final day, April 13, the newly elected PLT were installed amid much jubilation. With renewed celo we now look ahead to new horizons as we continue our journey to be drawn by love and passionate about justice!
