Vida Nueva magazine interviewed Sr. Roxanne Schares about the changes and horizons of consecrated life today. We share this conversation, which offers a clear and hope-filled взгляд on the journey of the UISG and its mission in the Church.

Since 1 September last year, Roxanne Schares, a Sister of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, has been the new Executive Secretary of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), after serving during the previous year as Associate Executive Secretary. This American religious has been Superior General of her congregation and, since 2021, has been a member of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

In Rome she also served as international coordinator of her congregation for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, working closely with other congregations; previously she worked in her home country and was a missionary in East Africa for 27 years. There she was involved in formation and, in particular, in accompanying refugees, both in camps and in urban areas, carrying out pastoral, social and educational activities, including her service with the Jesuit Refugee Service in several African countries. She comes to this new role with all this wealth of experience and learning acquired over time, which she shares with Vida Nueva on the eve of the beginning of her ministry.

QUESTION – First of all, what does it mean to be the new Executive Secretary of the UISG?

ANSWER – First of all, I feel very honoured to have been called to carry out this service. It is truly a privilege for me to hold this role, because over the years I have felt that my experiences have led me to open my heart and better understand people throughout the world. Now I am at another moment in my life, in which I can embark on this new journey, so to speak, to walk alongside religious women around the world. We have more than 1,900 institutes with sisters present on every continent. So this is a great moment for me, to continue widening my heart. I am available to offer what I can from my experiences and learning.

Mission and peace
 

Q – After 60 years, what challenges will the UISG face in 2026?

A – There are many challenges. This Jubilee Year of Hope that we have just concluded reminded us that we must be missionaries of hope, regardless of how difficult the realities are that we face as congregations, as sisters in the world, or in our struggles in society. We have also heard the call to peace from the new Pope Leo XIV. This resonates very deeply with me and is lived by our sisters throughout the world: we recognise the growing divisions, the increase in violence and wars… I therefore believe that this is a further call to continue moving forward in this time which, as Pope Francis said, is not only an era of rapid change, but a real change of era.

Q – You were a missionary and belong to a congregation with an educational charism. What does the universality of religious life bring to the Church?

A – The challenge for us, as religious who are also people in the world, is to see how to be leaders and to live well in times that are changing so rapidly. An expression I encountered some years ago in a leadership training programme is that we live in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world. Therefore we must have vision. We need understanding to face uncertainty. We need clarity to face complexity — not so much to have all the answers, but to seek a clear path and then be agile, flexible, ready to adapt… And this is not easy, so we must support one another. As an African proverb says: “If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.”

I believe this is something I learned many years ago and continue to try to apply to my life and experiences. It is what we seek to do through the UISG: to recognise the value of our global sisterhood — as we call it — and then see how this sisterhood can be a support for people living on the margins or also within our Church, where we still face many differences — and divisions. For me, being a missionary and an educator is like a light. We define the charism of the School Sisters more as a communion lived through the ministry of education in its broadest sense, enabling people to become protagonists of their own lives. I am very grateful to Pope Francis for asking religious life to be prophetic and expert in communion. Also in the universal Church, as women and as religious, we can contribute to this synodal journey that the Pope has invited us to undertake.

Q – What kind of actions will the institution continue to carry out beyond the assemblies of religious women?

A – In fact, many people think only of the assemblies, but we are trying to make better known what we do. First of all, we are strengthening our collaboration in order to be stronger in the witness we give as a network. We are also trying to orient ourselves towards the future, and for this reason we want to further strengthen our members in the continental areas, which we call “constellations”, so that they may know one another and know how to work together. Then we have the Talitha Kum network against human trafficking, which is better known and has now expanded to more than one hundred countries with sisters involved.

Another network that we have recently launched serves to connect sisters who work in welcoming migrants and refugees, so that they can support one another and learn from one another; also in order to have the strength needed to continue this very necessary ministry in the face of the growing number of people forced to leave their lands. We will also continue to offer programmes both online and in person to strengthen leadership, interculturality, or also the understanding of canon law and the safeguarding of minors, which is an important concern. In this area there are already some programmes that bring sisters together to learn together.

Degrowth
Q – The UISG project aims to “walk together towards the future”. What new paths must be taken?

A – This is the inspiration of the UISG project at the international level. It means that religious life must be embraced and lived concretely; for this reason we have chosen this motto to gather our fundamental priorities for the next six years. So we continue to move forward as we have done so far, really looking at religious life itself, in order to see how to face current problems and those that will emerge with the decline of some congregations, the growth of others or the challenge of being more sustainable. We want to reflect on how we will live religious life in the future. There is no single answer, but only by walking together will we be able to live something new.

Another priority, in addition to synodality, is truly to examine how to be that prophetic voice at the margins. And it is not only about speaking on behalf of others: I have learned that we must be united in solidarity and that together we find a voice with those who are vulnerable. For this reason we must strengthen our support for sisters who are on the frontiers, in places of conflict, whether in Ukraine, Sudan or Congo, where war has broken out again, or in many other places, even in Israel and Lebanon, living this prophetic witness together with the people.

I believe that this is the path we want to continue to walk together. We have placed great emphasis on care for the Earth and therefore we continue to commit ourselves to sowing hope for the planet. We also have a second commitment through our Justice and Peace Commission to transmit the Gospel of nonviolence and just peace. In all these areas we continue to deepen our spirituality and to discover ways to discern together how to respond to the urgencies of our time. All this will be developed within the new council, as the departments integrate it and make it concrete.

Mateo González Alonso, Vida Nueva

(Interview originally published in Spanish. Translation by the UISG Communications Office.)