Sainte Marguerite Bourgeoys, Teacher
In 1640, Marguerite, then 20 years old, decided to “give (herself) to the service of God.” She requested admission to the extern congregation run by the Canonesses of Saint Augustine (whose monastery was situated in Troyes where la Gendarmerie stands today). The nuns had established a number of “little schools” in the poorer areas of the city. They trained the congréganistes as teachers. Marguerite received lessons in pedagogy and committed herself to education.
In these “little schools,” young girls were formed as Christians and taught catechism, reading, writing, counting and sewing.
Sister Louise de Ste-Marie, directress of the extern congregation, was the sister of Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve, founder of Ville-Marie (Montreal, Canada). When he came to Troyes in 1652, Sister Louise reminded her brother of the sisters’ desire to participate in the mission in New France. Monsieur de Maisonneuve explained that it was still impossible to establish a monastery of cloistered sisters in Ville-Marie. He stated that the colony needed secular teachers.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step...
The Spirituality committee, having had two conference calls, was delighted to gather for the first time on November 20-22, 2014, at Seton Spirituality Center, Terence Bay, NS. Sister Evelyn Williams, SC, gifted us with her engaging facilitation. We were reminded that in this work of ours we are called and we are “on a mission” with the entire Province. So let’s go together!
In preparation for this meeting, we first asked a number of sisters to respond to the following question:
What is happening to further enhance your spirituality where you live?
CATW applauds Canada and Ireland for their historic passage of laws
New York, December 1, 2014 - The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) applauds the legislatures of Canada and Ireland for their historic passage of laws that respectively target the demand for prostitution or buyers of sex, and decriminalize prostituted individuals. They follow in the footsteps of Sweden, Norway and Iceland, which passed a set of laws, known as the "Nordic Model,” that penalizes the purchase of sex, exempts prostituted individuals from punishment and recognizes prostitution as a cause and consequence of gender violence and discrimination.
