Sisters of our Lady of Apostles

News

Sisters of our Lady of Apostles » News

OLA MARKS WORLD DAY OF MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES

BUILDING THE FUTURE WITH MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES The Church has been celebrating the World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR) since 1914. It is always an occasion to express concern for different vulnerable people on the move; to pray for them as they face many challenges, and to increase awareness about the opportunities that migration offers. Every year the WDMR is the last Sunday of September…As the title for his annual message, the Holy Father has chosen “Building the Future with Migrants and Refugees”– To underline that we are all called together to build a future that responds to God’s plan without excluding anyone. “Building with” means above all recognizing and promoting the contribution of migrants and refugees in this work of construction, because only in this way we can build a world that ensures the conditions for integral human development for all. We are all travellers on this earth and we are all called to seek our true homeland: the Kingdom of God. This kingdom is already within us, but its full realization will only be seen at the return of the Lord in glory (Hebrews 13:14). There are 240 million displaced people in the world. Of these, 68.5 million are forcibly displaced, 40 million are internally displaced, 25.4 million are refugees, 3.1 million are asylum seekers and 10 million are stateless. Join the OLA Communities  in prayer to pray for this intention.

Read more OLA JPIC

Renewal session: Ibadan, Nigeria

A Renewal Session for the 55 to 75 age group took place in Ibadan from 09-28 July 2022. The group was composed of 24 sisters from Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, Lebanon, Italy, Egypt and the host country, Nigeria. The organising team were members of the Mission and Ongoing Formation Commission:  Sister Marie Hélène Gourdon from the Council of the Congregation, Sister Wilhelmina Mensah from Ghana, Sister Margaret Uwhache from Nigeria, Sister Samia Farouk from Egypt and Sister Françoise Gueu-Zro from the Ivory Coast. During these three weeks many topics were developed such as The prophetic character of the consecrated life and OLA mission. Living a balanced life … letting go … passing on … and sharing experiences… Life transitions and aging gracefully. Facing health challenges of health. Charism Intergenerational co-responsibility in community life and mentoring / Leadership. These themes were given by our OLA  sisters and some external speakers. The rhythm of the session included time for personal reflections, sharing the fruits of our reflections first  in small groups and then altogether in the  large group. At the end of the first week, we enjoyed quiet reflective integration time, shared in the different groups. We had two (2) days of recollection, led by Fr Julius Temyui, SMA who was also our competent translator, together with our own Sr. Fidelia Chukwumah. The talents in the group were also shared with one participant finding time to teach us some paper crafts. We say thank you to our sisters on the Council of [...]

Read more Formation - Training Sisters

SMA-OLA Seminar: Calavi, Benin

Our two Missionary Institutes, the Society of African Missions (SMA) and the  Congregation of the Sisters of OUr Lady of Apostles (OLA) are on a pilgrimmage  “Towards 2026”. In 2026 we will have a triple celebration: 150 years since the foundation of the OLA COngregation; 170 years since the foundation of the SMA and 200 years since the birth of Fr. Augustine Planque SMA; a man who the venerable Bishop  Marion de Brésillac, founder of the SMA,  gave the responsibility for realizing his dream for Africa. This occasion will help all our members to  imbibe our rich spiritual heritage and rediscover and recommit to a creative living out of our mission in fidelity to our common charism for our day. This journey which consists of four parts: the Historic, the Experiential, the Hermeneutic and the Reinterpretation or Adaptation phase,  is set to give a renewed impulse to our charism with fidelity to our roots and missionary audacity. In the historical phase we have taken a walk together into the past, looking at some aspects of our common history focusing on specific issues and  epoch  – 1856 to 1920. This helped us to put in perspective the intuition of our founders, the immense courage of our early fathers and sisters and how these marked the identity of our two Institutes. With the experiential phase, we were able to gather together, recognize and celebrate the missionary experiences and spontaneous responses of our members to the needs of mission today through the diversity [...]

Read more SMA OLA Mission