The much awaited A.C. Mission Congress was inaugurated today at the A.C. Generalate Bangalore in the presence of the Superior General, the Generalate team, the Provincial Superiors, six sisters of the CCR Congregation, A.C.A representatives, Fr. Datius OCD and 350 or more AC sisters from India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Tanzania, Rome and Pakistan.
The first day began with prayer, Eucharistic celebration by
Fr. Datius and then the formal inaugural ceremony. Sr. Agatha Mary, the Sup. General in her inaugural
address emphasized the Mission Congress as an occasion to celebrate the gift of
our Chrarism, handed down by our Foundress Moother Veronica 150 years ago. She also quoted the message of the Holy
Father Pope Francis and how we A.Cs can put it into practice by Announcing
Jesus and rejecting Worldliness, by Christ centred, and to focus on the
inseparable value of the Cross of Christ in His life and His Mission.
The
first two sessions were taken up by Sr.
Vincent our former Sup. General in which she spoke on our founding Charism. Afternoon session was moderated by Sr. Therese Rani with five
penalists – an A.C. Sister, Sr. Agnesita, an A.C.A., an ex-student, a staff
member and a parent. The sharing was very rewarding because the charism of Mother Veronica had touched the lives of the people we encountered. The final session was by Fr. Paul Puthanangady Sdb, who spoke on the "Faith encounter
with Jesus for effective Evangelization”.
He divided this theme into three parts showing the three phases of the
faith encounter which take in the life of the religious – Consecration,
Contemplation and Mission.
