The work of 2024 is underway strengthened by a year of re-connecting for GSIF, with over 300 sisters from all around the world. The Congregational Leadership Team offered a unique opportunity to join the sessions “Riding the Wind: Embodying New Ways of Being Leaders and Members” organized throughout last year in the five continents. GSIF Director Cristina Duranti was invited together with GSIF regional managers in Asia-Pacific, Onalie De Silva Ariyabandhu, and Latin America, Heidy Hochstatter, and GSIF President Hubert Janssen, in Europe, to re-introduce GSIF’s history and role, and present its 2023-2027 Strategic Plan “Co-creating Our Future“, to design an integrated vision in each continent.
Under the plan, GSIF is called to serve the global mission in new ways, moving from a role focused primarily on fundraising for a few countries, towards enabling capacities and facilitating networks that shall embrace the whole world, bringing into the future a vibrant testimony of the rich heritage of the Congregation. In each session, GSIF worked with the sisters to “un-pack” the four ambitious Horizons (objectives) set out in the plan and designed concrete initiatives to achieve them.
The sessions in Carrolton, USA, and Angers, France, helped to deepen the understanding of the future role GSIF can play with partners-in-mission with whom they have not directly been involved in the past. These offered important opportunities to reflect on how GSIF can facilitate connections among partners-in-mission in these countries and give value to their rich history, experience, and expertise in serving the global mission. The sessions emphasized the potential for partners-in-mission to learn and share diverse know-how and experiences in ministries and mission.
The sessions in Bangkok, Nairobi, and Lima, focused on how to continue the work carried out by GSIF in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia Pacific in the past 15 years. Looking at how to plan concrete actions to strengthen the mission, especially where there are greater needs for financial, organizational, and capacity development. The Mission Development Offices, under the responsibility of the unit leaders with the support of GSIF, play a crucial role in these countries. These local structures have grown in their capacity to raise funds, coordinate projects, and ensure accountability in mission development.
Mission Development Offices will play an increasingly important role in the Congregation’s new governance structure, supporting leaders in the coordination of ministries and networking with GSIF and the other bodies of the Congregation. In the last three sessions, GSIF’s director shared also about the synodal approach to cooperation within the Church, which will re-shape the relationships between the Global North and Global South and between donors and recipients of financial support, responding to a global call to move away from relationships of dependency and colonialism, towards sustainability and communion.
The GSIF Director and partners-in-mission were warmly received and greatly encouraged by the sisters in each session, re-igniting a patrimony of energy, passion, and zeal for the mission.
