Congregational Pilgrimage – Brazilian Sisters 2023

May 26, 2023

The Congregational Pilgrimage is undoubtedly an opportunity intensely anticipated by every Sister. However, for us Brazilian sisters, being able to visit the place of the origin of our Congregation in the year of the Centenary of the SNDs’ presence in Brazil, made the experience even more special and meaningful.

Being in Rome, immersing ourselves in ancient and Church history, and visiting the places where the first Christians gave their lives and witnessed to their faith in Jesus Christ and in the Gospel, encouraged us to reflect on our personal following of Jesus as Sisters of Notre Dame and the way in which are witnesses to the world in which we live.

As we walked along the paths of our Congregation´s foundation, visited the places where our 10 pioneer missionaries lived and prepared to start the ND mission in Brazil; as we met so many Sisters with a deep missionary spirit and a heart overflowing with the goodness of God and his provident care, we renewed our commitment to dedicate our lives to the Kingdom of God.

We are deeply grateful for the warm welcome we received from the Sisters at the Motherhouse in Rome, and from the various ND communities in Germany and Holland as well as from the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Belgium. A big thank you too to the Sisters of House Emmaus in Coesfeld for their warm hospitality and for guiding our group through the Congregation’s historical sites. Gratitude to the members of our Brazilian Provinces and to the Sisters who made the pilgrimage with us – Sister M. Nonata de Aguiar Bezerra and Sr. M. Lory Inês Rockenbach.

The differences in language that we encountered so many times during our pilgrimage forced us to improvise gestures in order to overcome the challenge of communication. Despite dealing with a real “fruit salad’ of languages, communication did take place and was even fun.

(Sisters M. Lenice Rebelato, M. Antonia da Silva, M. Cristina Farias, M. Janete Adornes and Edinete M. Tomasini)