PRESS RELEASE

Rome, September 28, 2023 

5 women religious representing the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) and its 2,000 member Congregations counting over 600,000 women religious will participate in the First Session of the Synod 2021-2024: “For a synodal Church: communion, participation, and mission” set to take place in October in Rome.

The UISG is grateful to Pope Francis who first invited the UISG to participate in the Synod on the Family in 2014 as auditors. Since then, members of the UISG have participated in each subsequent Synod as auditors. This year UISG has an additional reason for expressing its gratitude since it is the first time its representatives will fully participate as members in the Synodal process – engaging in the conversations in the Spirit, offering feedback to be included in written documentation, and in voting.

The UISG participants in the upcoming General Assembly of the Synod are: 

• UISG President, Mary Barron, OLA
• UISG Executive Secretary, Patricia Murray, IBVM
• Elizabeth Mary Davis, RSM
• Elysée Izerimana, Op. S.D.N.
• Maria Nirmalini, A.C.

UISG President Sr. Mary Barron states in a larger declaration released on the participation of the UISG in the upcoming Synod, “We respond with joy to Pope Francis’ call to participate in the Synod of Bishops and to commit ourselves to the ecclesial journey of the Synod on communion, participation and mission. We are convinced that religious life, with its experience of community life and discernment, can help the Church achieve this synodal conversion.”

“The news of being selected to participate in the Synod on Synodality came as a total surprise to me, though a pleasant one at that”, Sr. Maria Nirmalini says. “I take it as an invitation to join in the incredible journey of walking together in communion, participation and mission with all His people.”

  
We hope the presence of UISG at the Synod will be that of bringing a prophetic voice. The UISG has heard the voices of its members who are eyewitnesses to so much of what is happening in our world today. Through the Synod responses we received, and through the synthesis we ourselves contributed to in collaboration with our male counterpart, the Union of Superiors General (USG), we feel we can confidently represent this important aspect of ecclesial life that touches so many people.

For further information, please contact: 
UISG Communications Office: comunicazione@uisg.org – WhatsApp +39 349 935 87 44

• Press kit
• Declaration from the UISG President, Sr. Mary Barron, OLA, on the participation of the UISG in the First Session of the Synod on Synodality