On December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, we realized our dream of responding to a new missionary call, of “risking the new”, by opening a new community in Luena, Angola.
The opening Mass took place at St. Peter and St. Paul’s Parish Church, with the presence of Sister Margaret Fielding, Leader of the Institute, and Sister Ana Luísa Pinto, General Councillor, as well as Sisters Debora Jamal, Madalena Manhiça and Rhânella Oliveira, who form the Sacred Heart of Mary community in Luena.
Read below Sister Margaret’s words during the celebration.
“Bishop Dom Martin, Fr Dionisio, Priests, Sisters, and people of Luena, it is a great joy for us, Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, to be with you today, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, which marks the beginning of our missionary presence here in Angola.
For some years we have been nurturing the desire, the dream of responding to a new missionary call, to “risk the new”. The desire was awakened when Cardinal Dom. José Tolentino Mendonça, returned to Rome after a visit to Angola. He spoke to us about the Angolan people and expressed his conviction: “Your presence and charism would be very good for those people!” His words resonated with us, remembering how casual encounters with people often inspired our founder, Father Jean Gailhac, and our first Sisters, to send Sisters out to different places in mission. We felt that we were hearing in the words of Dom Tolentino a call to a new mission.
After much prayer, reflection, discernment, and conversations with other congregations, we felt a strong call to be a “missionary presence” among the people of Luena. Our three sisters Madalena, Déborah, and Rhanella, from different countries and different cultures, were missioned to be a small community of the Sacred Heart of Mary inserted here among the people.
And God is now asking you, dear Sisters, to “take off your shoes, for the ground on which you are standing is holy”, (Exodus 3:5). For God is already present here, and you are to be collaborators with God, to walk with the people, listening to their stories, their hopes, joys and concerns, and build together, in our fragile and divided world, a new reality where we are all brothers and sisters. With deep trust in God and with the support of one another, we believe that this dream will become a reality here in this place, this beautiful place, Luena.
Sister Ana Luisa and I thank you, Dom Martin, the Salesian community of priests and brothers and the Salesian Sisters for your warm welcome, your openness and hospitality, the witness of your lives, and your continued help. We are very grateful. Thank you also to the people of this parish, for your welcome. Let us all continue to be united in prayer and may the memory of this day remain in our hearts and give us energy and hope for the future, that all may have life. May God and Mary, our mother, Maria Auxiliadora, Sacred Heart of Mary, bless this new mission!”
