To:                  Superiors General Members of the UISG

From:              Sr. Therezinha Rasera, SDS,  President of UISG

Subject:          Plenary Meeting of the Union, 2007

 Dear Sisters,

 Having announced in my letter of March 25^th 2006, that I would later  communicate to you the theme of our next Plenary (6-10 May 2007), I am now happy to share this with you .

 First I wish  to thank each one of you for the wonderful response received to our invitation to participate in the process of choosing the theme. I am touched by your answers. Many of you  reflected with your Councillors, others even with their provincials.

 As Executive Committee we met with our two facilitators for the Plenary and Assembly,  Sr Barbara Valuckas, SSND and Sr Giselle Gómez, STJ,  to begin preparing the Plenary with them. I take this opportunity to express to them our gratitude for their availability. 

 We read your contributions carefully trying to discern the thread that women religious were called to weave after contemplating our world, hearing its cries, its needs, its thirst, its yearnings. Many liked the image of weaving and asked that it might be included in the theme. We reflected as Executive Committee and shared our insights.  We named the threads that many felt called  “to weave” and hoped to see “woven” more deeply during the Plenary. We chose five as representative of the calls expressed in your answers: Women; Injustice in its different forms; The Earth and its sacredness;  The Laity;  and World’s religions’ call to the prophetical and the mystical. Those threads kept challenging us to weave a new spirituality which will generate hope and life for all. In the challenge of being called  to weave a new spirituality we saw  our theme:

 Several scriptural passages illuminated this new spirituality: The Vine and the Branches (John 15), “See that I am doing something new”  (Is. 43,19 ),  and also  Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, (Acts 16) was present  in our conversation.

Big events are always prepared.  Listed below are some questions as help for the Constellations to reflect on in preparation for the Plenary:

 From your perspective,

 1.      In what way does the theme speak to you?

2.      How do  these threads, when interwoven, create a new spirituality?

3.      How will  this spirituality generate hope and life for all?

4.      What scriptural passage illuminates for you this new spirituality?

 With this letter you will find a form, number 3,  for your responses to the above questions.

 Sr.  Victoria Gz de Castejón, is also sending you a letter with some practical and concrete details concerning the Plenary.

 As it is written in our Statutes (Art 11) the Plenary Meeting is a body for consultation, animation and reflection at an international level. It is open to all those who are members of the Union.  I pray and hope that many of you will be able to participate at such an important event.

 Affectionately yours,

 Sr Therezinha Rasera, SDS

President UISG