HISTORY

The Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions was founded by Euphrasie Barbier   in  1861   in Lyons, France.      
                                                                               Euphrasie Barbier
                                                                                 Foundress of the RNDMs

TIME OF PROMISE: 1861-1893

Euphrasie Barbier sent her first missionaries to New Zealand as early as 1865.  From then on departures from Lyons for the missions takes place at regular intervals. After having to give up the missions in Central Oceania, new fields of action open up in East Bengal.   Having centered her spirituality on the Divine Missions, Euphrasie Barbier realises that there is mission in every place.   Therefore she sends her sisters to England and to a predominantly working-class area in Armentières in Northern France. (On the death of the Foundress, the Congregation counts 205 professed Religious).

TIME OF GROWTH: 1894-1937

Go out to the whole world

Works of education developed everywhere particularly in New Zealand from where the sisters branch out into Australia from 1897 onwards.  New missionary horizons open up in Canada for religious obliged to leave France in 1901.  Sharing the poverty and hardships of the pioneers, the sisters established 13 missions in 15 years in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.   Other missionaries set out from Europe for the Tropics.  With Chittagong as their centre, new foundations spring up and soon become the Indian province (1920).  In 1924 the first mission is established in Indo-China (North Vietnam).  The Sisters who were forced to leave France are able to return.

TIME OF STABILITY:   1938-1966

The number of sisters working in different parts of the world having risen to 850 on the eve of World War II, reached its peak in 1966 with a total of 1243 members.  New foundations are made especially in Europe but soon there is evidence of a decline in numbers.  External reasons of a political, social and economic order play a part in this  - young nations achieving independence, etc.  Reasons of an internal nature have also exercised an influence on the evolution of the Institute.  Each province grew and developed its own structures, thus becoming able to supply its own needs regarding personnel and material resources.   The intake of vocations was sufficient to meet the needs of the local church.   Stability in the works of education and in other spheres of activity took precedence over the original missionary thrust of the Congregation, so that departures for the foreign missions became less frequent. This period is also marked by the departure of the missionaries from Burma and the exodus from North Vietnam in 1954 followed by their insertion in the South.

TIME OF RENEWAL IN HOPE: 1966-84

After the Second Vatican Council, the General Chapter of 1966, conscious of the slowing down of the Congregation's missionary thrust, wished to rekindle the flame of zeal which animated Euphrasie Barbier and the first generations of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions.  Each province adopts a new mission:  Australia turns towards Papua-New-Guinea, Canada towards Peru, New Zealand recovers a foothold in Samoa and the two European provinces choose Africa, establishing missions in Kenya and Senegal.  The Congregation transfers the Generalate to Rome.   Figures and statistics are not the only criteria for evaluating the vitality of a Congregation.  The first criteria is fidelity to the Gospel and to the charism of the foundation. 

   Integrity

Let us be with the poor as they seek to empower themselves and to transform unjust structures.

This return to our beginnings has given birth to a profound spiritual renewal and fresh missionary thrust.   This does not mean that our Institute is exempt from the difficulties of our times - diminution of life and strength resulting from departures and lack of vocations in countries with a long tradition of christianity and from slowness or resistence to change here and there.  The Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions want to be present to today's world and to become more deeply inserted into the People of God.  They are ready to go beyond the frontiers of their local Church in order to become more available to the wider needs of the universal church thus making mobility and internationality which must characterise every missionary institute more effective.  The Spirit of God who makes all things new is urging us to leave behind the beaten paths in order to enter more resolutely along the road of creativity and renewal in Hope.

AT THE DAWN OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM...

The times in which we are now living, more than any other time perhaps, are charged with signs which challenge our generation.   Today the Church is at a new crossroads.  What direction is she going to take?

And we, Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions - are we ready to allow ourselves to be called to account by the Gospel and to respond with responsibility and prophetic ardour similar to those which animated Euphrasie Barbier? 

In the light of reflection and research in today's Church, we are convinced that mission demands solidarity on the one hand and, on the other, a change of direction in the name of the Gospel.

Evangelization  / Inculturation

New times - new missions!  Each succeeding generation is a whole new continent to be evangelized, with its own mentality, culture, everything special to it.

    Mission

To understand and appreciate more profoundly that our internationality is a gift for mission- a gift which also holds the call to be ready to be sent anywhere for the sake of mission.

-Being With:

After the example of Christ in his incarnation, seeking to be more deeply inserted among the men and women of our time wherever we may be sent.

-Sharing:

. . . the conditions of life, the expectations and hopes of those around us in order to bring them the Good News and thus transform humanity itself from within and make it new.

- In Dialogue:

Evangelization is an encounter of the Gospel with different cultures.  In order to be authentic witnesses, understood and accepted by our generation, we must study the ideologies which attract people today, understand the religions of other believers and know how to read the signs of the times.

Internationality/Universality

We become more aware of the international character of our Congregation not as a means of greater apostolic effectiveness, but as a gift, a richness lived out concretely in our provinces and communities with a variety of cultures and traditions giving our mission of evangelization a universal dimension.

In a world which is a prey to violence, discrimination and racial prejudices, we strive in our communities to live true friendship based on sisterhood in an atmosphere of communion and reconciliation.

• OPEN TO OTHERS...
• ATTENTIVE...
• RESPECTING DIFFERENCES...
• SHARING...

Option for the Poor and for Justice

The Gospel is a Gospel of love.  But love demands justice.  Therefore, the Gospel is also a Gospel of justice.  It is the Good News proclaimed to the poor.

- Discerning:
Being informed, being aware of living conditions of those around us.   Passing from awareness to allowing our consciences to be touched.  Being converted from mere sympathy to true solidarity.

-Living Justly:
Allowing ourselves to be challenged by situations in the light of the Gospel, striving to be converted - continually examining our lifestyle.  Witness is life.   Witnessing to justice is witnessing to the dignity and freedom of humankind and to God's love for all.

-Working For Justice:
Rethinking our apostolic commitments.  Engaging in resolute solidarity with others.  Committing ourselves to work for justice means accepting insecurity and being willing to take risks in the name of Jesus Christ.

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