From Sister Maria Dinnendahl and Sister Jean Sinclair
T
he Society of the Holy Child Jesus dates its beginning to 15th October 1846, when Cornelia Connelly and the first small group of Sisters celebrated the first Mass in the Convent in Derby. So this year, 2021, we celebrate our 175th anniversary, 175 years of Love and Service. The members of the Society, together with Associates and Friends, are celebrating most of the year by following the Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola – adapted to be made over several months during their daily lives. Plans for other celebrations, such as Masses or parties, had to be postponed because of the present pandemic. However, we hope that the main focus chosen by the European Province of the Society to mark the 175th anniversary of its foundation will be realised before long, and this focus is The Tree. Trees are often used as symbols for a group or an institution and it is easy to employ images of roots, branches, fruits and so on. The planting of trees is also widely recognised today as important in the struggle to combat climate change. So, the symbol of the tree enables us both to look back across 175 years of Society history, and to mark in the present our concern for the future. In our celebration we will remember three stages of the tree’s growth: THE PAST: THE ROOTS OF THE TREE The Society was founded in Derby in 1846. Looking back 175 years from the present day, conditions at the time seem somewhat familiar: “England was a land of bitter divisions, hunger and disease. Cholera wiped out thousands of people and in Ireland a blight had almost destroyed the potato crop, causing the Great Famine. Hundreds and thousands of those made destitute crossed the Irish Sea to find work in newly-built factories in such cities as Derby. Conditions were often cruel, with child labour, few safety regulations, and low wages for those who spent long hours each day producing the immense wealth of early Victorian England. It was also an era
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of exploding scientific awareness and technological expertise.” 175 years later many of those descriptions can be ‘matched’ in countries where the Society is serving. We know the current times well... and we also know that when Cornelia and the first sisters arrived in Derby they ‘rolled up their sleeves’, literally
“...the tree enables us both to look back across 175 years of Society history, and to mark in the present our concern for the future.”
and metaphorically, and got on with what God was asking of them in the situation. This anniversary year is an invitation for us to do the same, whether still shielding or in semilockdown or returning to work in schools and other ministries. To remember and commemorate the place where the Society was first planted, we will arrange for 1846 trees to be planted in or around Derby.
THE PRESENT: THE EUROPEAN PROVINCE TREE OF TODAY Today, using the tree analogy, the European Province is probably past its full growth – a mature and elderly tree. Most of the elderly and frail Sisters of the Province live in the Society’s care home, Apley Grange in Harrogate. In recognition of this, we will arrange for 2020 trees to be planted in or around Harrogate, and for one tree to be planted in the grounds of Apley Grange, to join the many strong and healthy trees already there. THE FUTURE: NEW GROWTH, NEW SHOOTS The Province’s most immediate contact with future growth is possibly through the network of Holy Child Schools. We will make a gift of 175 trees to each of the schools in the network in England, Ireland and France – and to Mayfield of course. We will ask each school to involve its students in this gift, to give them an opportunity to decide how, when and where the trees are planted, and perhaps encourage them to add to the number of trees planted; and to help students get to know the history of their own school and the significance of Holy Child – and of particular Sisters – in its establishment and continuance. We will also make a gift of 175 trees to each of the other groups which are celebrated with us (our Associates, HOPSA and a small group of friends).
