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You know from the last issue of Response that we Holy Union Sisters are holding a Collegial Assembly in Nemi, Italy, from July 24 to August 10th. The Collegial Assembly meets every six years and includes elected representatives and staff from the various areas of the congregation; their task is to review “the state of the congregation,” to determine our direction for the next six years, and to elect a leadership team, who will be our guides until 2029.

Italy is a wonderful place to vacation, but a Collegial Assembly is not a vacation! Years ago, a travel writer reflected on the difference between a vacation and a pilgrimage, noting that a vacation distracts us from the cares and obligations of our ordinary lives; while a pilgrimage draws us into our core, into the central passions and desires of our lives. Our Collegial Assemblies are a type of pilgrimage for us. We began this pilgrimage last June, reflecting on the past six years and asking where God may be leading us now. The weeks at the Assembly in Nemi will be an intensification of the pilgrimage and we know you will be companions to us as our journey unfolds.

We will be more than 40 at the Assembly, mostly Holy Union Sisters from Argentina, Belgium, Cameroon, France, Ireland, Italy, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, and the United States, but also lay professionals who will work with us in different capacities. We’ll be six from the United States Province; The US Province delegation is composed of elected and ex-officio members: Sisters Kathleen Corrigan, Mary Lou Sullivan, and Carol Regan. Our responsibilities will include receiving and reviewing reports from the General Council, Treasurer General, and our financial managers as well as from the different areas of the congregation, discerning our way forward, and electing the next congregation leadership team (the General Council). Sister Fran Cavey, as interim Secretary General, will be responsible for the official records of the Assembly; Sister Mary Lou Simcoe will be in charge of communications to the congregation and the general public (be sure to check the congregation website www.suscinternational.org regularly); Sister Alice Michael will work with English-Spanish translation. Sister Paula Coelho, our current congregation leader (and a Tauntonian), will serve as president of the Assembly.

Surely all of us who assemble in Nemi will be companions on a journey, breaking bread and sharing life. You walk with us in so many ways. While all the words of the hymn Companions on the Journey are appropriate as our Collegial Assembly approaches, the lines We are fed and we are nourished by the strength of those who care remind us of your steadfast support for us. Please remember us as our pilgrimage in Nemi this summer draws us deeper into the core of our vocation and we continue to become an ever more holy union.