By Sr. Paulette LoMonaco, New York (Province of New York / Toronto)

For three days from April 22, 2025, sisters in the Province of New York/Toronto came together to celebrate our final gathering as a province.

It was a time filled with rich memories and stories of the wonderful sisters who have gone before us, our early novitiate days, moves we have made, and stories of the changes in our ministries as we moved from institutional to community-based, family-centered work.

This was accomplished by inviting a number of sisters to tell their stories and share their journeys of ministry with the rest of us. Stories that we could relate to because they were our stories too. And we heard and reflected upon our journey towards universal justice and peace work.

Among these sharings was one by Clare Nolan who, during a panel presentation, discussed the ‘becoming’ and ‘learning’ of her journey, which you can read (in English) here.

These sharings were brought alive with meaningful slideshows celebrating the lives of our beloved deceased sisters, from whom we learned so much! They challenged us to grow, become educated, and, importantly, acknowledge that our charism did not belong solely to the Good Shepherd sisters but was given freely by our Shepherd God to all called to minister with us.

If the slideshow does not appear above, you can download it here.

We spent time walking down memory lane over tables filled with old pictures and other memorabilia, and we were encouraged to use the leaves on a memory tree as reminders of the sisters and partners who have gone before us.

It was a very inclusive meeting involving many sisters in both the planning and execution of the event, which ended with a Eucharist celebration, prepared and carried out by the sisters, followed by the powerful experience of “walking through the green door”. This specially created door was our replica version of the green door in Angers, which our sisters walked through as they left on mission from France to establish new Good Shepherd communities and ministries around the world. For us, in New York that day, it signified our stepping out into a new future for our communities and ministries in North America.

Our journey into a new region will culminate in October 2025 when we hold our first regional chapter for USA/Toronto, but it is a journey that began many years ago. Our three provinces have each undergone previous mergers in the past, leading to them coming together to create the existing provinces of Central South, Mid-North America, and New York/Toronto. This time, we’ve had the benefit of expert advisors, and we’ve learned from the mistakes of the past!

However, this journey is not first about the structure – it is about our relationships with one another.

Relationships formed through blessed times of shared novitiate or ongoing formation, having lived or vacationed together, through shared opportunities to enhance our mission through the work of the long-standing central Mission and Values Committee, through yearly gatherings of sisters and partners-in-mission, or trips to Angers, which takes place every three years.

These shared experiences, along with many Good Shepherd ministries and the National Advocacy Center’s updates on the pressing government policy changes we would like to see in place, have enhanced our sense of the shared history and values of the Good Shepherd mission.

We came together for these three days with different stories and having walked different paths along our shared journey, and although we are multicultural, we spoke a common language.

The words of Dag Hammerskjold, “for all that has been, thanks; for all that will be, yes!” echoed in our hearts and minds as we shared our past and began to dream about our future together.