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The
General Council in ROME
PROVINCIAL
TEAMS :
African Province (Nairobi, Kenya)
European Province (Cologne, Germany)
Province of Canada, USA and Mexico (CUM; Montreal, Canada)
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The General Council
Sr. Maria del Pilar
(Piluca) Benavente Serrano from Spain is the Superior General
of the congregation.
Together with Sr. Hélène
Mbuyamba (from DR Congo), Sr. Marie-Alice Terrettaz
(from Switzerland) and Sr. Chantal Vankalck (from Belgium),
they form the General Team.
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From
left to right:
Sr. Marie-Alice, Sr. Piluca, Sr Chantal and Sr Hélène.
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| Sr.
Piluca Benavente, Superior General |
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The
superior general,
Sr.
Piluca Benavente Serrano
Born
in Spain (Alcañiz - Teruel) in 1948, she is
the eldest of nine children. Her ability for music, and
her studies of nursing that she made in Spain, have
been an asset all through her missionary life.
She
made her apostolic experience in Burkina Faso and her novitiate
in Toulouse, France. She made her first vows
in March 1976. She speaks several languages: Spanish,
French, English, Italian and literary Arabic, which
she learned during her two years of studies in the
PISAI (Pontifical Institute of Arabic Studies) in
1977-78.
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When
she arrived in Maghreb Province in 1978, Piluca first spent
four years in Mauritania, resuming her nursing career in
the clinic at Nouakchott. Then she returned to Toulouse
in 1983 to help in the formation of postulants. It was there
that she made her final commitment in October 1983. In 1987
she went back to Maghreb, to Algeria this time, where the
Archbishop of Algiers, Mgr Henri Teissier, very quickly put her
in charge of the pastoral care of the African students in
the Algiers area.
She
took part in the 1993 Chapter, where she was elected an
Assistant General, an appointment that was renewed at the
1999 Chapter. At the Chapter of 2005, she was elected as
Superior General.
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Sr Piluca - seeker and Italian Shepherd
"Piluca is a "seeker": of God, holding
fast to Jesus Christ to whom she said one day,"I
am all yours." ; of the meaning of religious
life in today's world; of the secrets of the computer!;
of mushrooms in the Roman countryside. We enjoy her
musical tastes, her guitar playing, and her artistic
gifts.
Attentive to others, she knows how to elicit
and valorise the gifts of each one. She quickly grasps
the meaning and repercussions of an issue or situation.
Her creative imagination and dynamism encourage people
to try out new paths." (Gisele)"
I
would suggest for Piluca the totem of the Italian
shepherd - that loyal, white-furred creature that
is constantly around the flock to keep the herd together
and guard them from straying…
There were times,
when - tired from the cares and labours of the week
- we might have preferred go our own way on a Sunday
morning, but she would say: "Let us go for a
walk in the countryside… to collect chestnuts,
mushrooms, anything…" We went, got tired,
and felt better for it…
Other times, when in
danger of loosing sight of something that needed doing
- or when pressing work could invade our time for
evening prayer… we would hear the "wouff,
wouff" to spur us into action… in the agreeable,
good-natured manner of the Italian Shepherd." (Gertrud)
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Sr.
Hélène Mbuyamba Mujinga
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Sr.
Hélène Mbuyamba Mujinga,
General Assistant
Age
52, Congolese (from eastern Kasai), Hélène
entered the Congregation in September 1986, with a qualification
to teach French and applied African Linguistics.
She made her postulate in Toulouse (France) and the noviciate
in Lyon (France). She made her first vows in September
1990. In between these two periods, she was sent to Burkina Faso for her apostolic
experience. She returned later to the same country. She already spoke several languages - French, Lingala,
Ciluba and Swahili - and added Bambara, which she learned
in Burkina Faso.
In 1996-97, she learned English and studied for a year in
Ireland to equip herself to become a formator.
Very shortly after her final commitment in Bobo Dioulasso
in September 1997, she was appointed mistress of novices.
She participated in the 1999 Chapter, and was elected Assistant
General at the 2005 Chapter.
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Sr.
Marie-Alice Terrettaz,
General Assistant
Marie-Alice is
42 years old and comes from Switzerland. When she entered the Congregation
in January 1987, Marie-Alice was equipped with
a dual training in business and secretarial
work and in nursing. She had had a year's nursing
experience after gaining her nursing diploma.
Her religious formation began in Toulouse, France,
then in Butare in Rwanda. In between, she had
the two-year apostolic experience in a clinic and
maternity unit in the Democratic Republic of
Congo.
After her first vows in September 1991
in Butare, Marie-Alice was sent to Burundi to
a new community concentrating on social welfare
and preventive medicine. After that, she returned
to France for a year of doctrinal studies in
Paris, followed by another year of "training
for religious formators".
She
was in charge of the initial formation, first
in Bukavu and then in the postulate in Goma, both in DR Congo.
It was from there that she came to the 2005
Chapter - having also attended the 1999 one
- which elected her an Assistant General.
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| Sr Marie-Alice
Terrettaz |
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Sr.
Chantal Vankalck,
General Assistant
Chantal, (43, Belgian) was already a nurse and midwife when she
took the first steps in the Congregation in 1983. After two years
of apostolic experience in Rwanda, where she was in charge of a maternity
unit, she entered the noviciate in Lyon, France, in September
1987. She spoke Flemish, French and English and, several years
later, added spoken and literary Arabic. She made her first vows
in September 1988, her final commitment in October 1995
in her home parish in Brussels.
From 1989 to 1991, Chantal worked in Uganda as
nurse and midwife. In 1993, she arrived in Maghreb, first in Algeria
and then in Tunisia. After two years studying Arabic at the Pontifical
Institute of Arabic Studies (PISAI) at Rome, in 1991, she became
responsible for a library for secondary school pupils in Tunisia.
She was very actively involved with newly arrived religious and
priests, whom she introduced to the country. She was sent as delegate
to the 2005 Chapter, where she was elected Assistant General.
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Provincial
Team of
Africa
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Sr.
Jocelyne Morin is the provincial superior. She was born in
Canada (Quebec) and has worked in Tanzania as
a Social Worker. Her apostolate has been mainly
at the service of the formation of women. As Provincial, she resides in Nairobi, Kenya.
Each
former Province forms now a region with a regional superior. On the picture from left to right:
Central Africa Region: The Regional is Sr Maria Victoria Elia Ansa from Spain, she has worked in Burundi.
North Africa Region: The Regional is Sr Danuta Kmiecak from Poland, she has worked in Algeria.
In the centre, sitting, the Provincial, Sr Jocelyne Morin.
West Africa Region: The Regional is Sr Beatrice Miburo from Burundi, she has worked in Burkina Faso and Tanzania.
East African Region: The Regional is Sr Victoria Ciharhula from DR Congo, she has worked in Tanzania and DR Congo. |
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European Province
(Belgium,
France/Switzerland, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom)
The
Provincial Superior is Sr. Gertrud Glotzbach, from
Germany. She has worked as a missionary in Uganda,
and in Rome, she was part of the general
team 1993-1999.
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Sr Gertrud Glotzbach, in the middle with the regionals of the European countries: On the picture from left to right:
United
Kingdom. The
regional is Sr. Catherine Booth, from England. She has worked
in Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya.
France-Switzerland: The Regional is Sr Marie Josée Blain. She has worked in Burkina
Faso.
The
Netherlands' regional
is Sr. Jeanne Simons. She has worked in Tanzania.
Belgium: The Regional is Sr Helene Verstappen, she has worked in DR Congo.
Germany:
The Regional is Sr. Helga Franke. She has worked in Zambia and
in Kenya.
Spain:
The regional is Sr. Carmen Garcia Sedeño. She has worked
in Burkina Faso.
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Province Canada- United States - Mexico (CUM)
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Provincial Superior is Sr. Felicia Nowak from the United States of America. She has worked
in Burundi and in Rome . (Picture) |
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| The
Assistants are: Sr: Fernande Patry and Sr Yolande Roy |
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