To:      Superiors General

From:  General Secretary

Object: Modifications in the Structures of Government

and communication regarding the new Presidency

 

                                                                                                                              Rome, 24 May 2007

 

 

Dear Sisters,

 I wish to communicate to you officially an important change in the structure of the Government of the UISG.  After serious discernment and consultation with the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL)  and after making a formal request to his Eminence the Prefect Cardinal Rodé, the Presidency of the UISG will be performed ad experimentum in rotation during the next three years.

 The reason that led to asking for this change was the experience of the past six years.  Being President of the Union for three years is a service that one exercises with joy but it is not always easy to combine it with the responsibility of Superior General.

The discernment made prior to the election showed the difficulty in finding persons available to exercise the responsibility  during three consecutive years. An alternative solution that diminished the difficulty and safeguarded the continuity was sought, that is, an annual rotating Presidency among three elected members of the Executive Committee.  This alternative solution was presented to the Dicastery.

 The Dicastery examined attentively our petition to modify ad experimentum, for three years,  number 17, 2, of the Statutes of the Union pertaining to the function of the President, proposing that three members of the Executive Committee, elected by the Assembly, would execute the function of President, in annual rotation.  The Dicastery studied the motivations presented by Sister Therezinha Rasera, SDS.

Monsignor Gianfranco A. Gardin, Secretary of CICLSAL, in the name of Cardinal Rodé wrote a letter to Sr Therezinha Rasera, SDS, granting permission to modify the mandate of the President and requested that at the end of three years of experimentation an adequate evaluation be made of the new practice.

 The Assembly of the Union gathered at the UISG headquarters from 11 to 13 of May confirmed the change with  an affirmative and unanimous vote.

 The Assembly of Delegates, after voting for the new proposition, proceeded to vote for the new Executive Committee.

The elected members of the Executive Committee are:

Sr. Amelia Kawaji, Mercedarian Missionary of Berriz

Sr. Louise Madore, Daughter of Wisdom

Sr. Maureen Cusick, Religious of Our Lady of Sion

Sr. Therezinha Rasera, Sister of the Divine Saviour (Salvatorian)

Sr. Maria Soledad Galerón, Religious of Mary Immaculate (Claretians)

Sr. M. Viviana Ballarin, Dominican of St. Catherine of Siena

Sr. Carola Thoman, Franciscan Sister, Daughter of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Sr. Carol Regan, Sister of the Holy Union of the Sacred Hearts

 

The Assembly proceeded then to vote for the three Presidents

The following were elected:

May 2007-2008:  Sr. Amelia Kawaji, Mercedarian Missionary of Berriz

May 2008-2009:  Sr. Louise Madore, Daughter of Wisdom

May 2009-2010:  Sr. Maureen Cusick, Religious of Our Lady of Sion

 

Once the new Committee and the three Presidents were elected, the Assembly voted for two substitutes.

The following were elected:

Sr. Rose Maria Ferreiro, Sister of the Sacred Hearts, (Picpus)

Sr. Linda Webb, Daughter of Mary and Joseph.

 The Delegates also studied the modifications proposed for some Articles of the present Statutes of the UISG, and thereafter for the Directives, as they do not correspond to the needs of today.  After some sharing and some time for making proposals or amendments, a vote was taken.  The Statutes will be presented to CICLSAL for its approbation.  Once they are approved they will be sent to you along with the Directives.  In these Statutes the new form of Government is not considered, since it is only ad experimentum.

 Ten days have passed since our Plenary Meeting and the Assembly of the Delegates.  I am happy to inform you that you can find on our web page: www.uisg.org  not only a good photo gallery and the press releases but also the Holy Father’s message, the final Declaration and all the conferences and interventions.  Most of the material will also be published in our next Bulletin, but as some of you have already asked us for the  conferences in different languages, we have decided to give you access to the materials by putting them on our web page.  We also wanted the Superiors General who were not able to participate to have the documents.

 With affection,

 

Victoria Gz de Castejón, rscj

General Secretary