T he Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd Sisters in Korea celebrated their Golden Jubilee on
May 19, 2016. We prepared for this celebration for one year beginning in May 2015. This year of preparation enabled us to move forward with strength, confidence, and unity. We were blessed as we became more deeply rooted in our spirituality and experienced a renewal of our vowed
religious life.
For our preparation, all of our Korean Sisters formed six teams responsible for the following: spirituality, liturgy, booklet publication, video production, St. Mary Euphrasia’s Words calendar, and pilgrimage.
1) Spirituality
The Spirituality team prepared a monthly retreat for the Sisters according to the Spirituality of St. Mary Euphrasia and St. John Eudes. After reflection on our spirituality, each community shared their reflections.
After rereading St. Mary Euphrasia’s biography, Redemption, the Sisters shared their reflections with their community. The team prepared an annual retreat based on our spirituality and charism and gave an eight-day retreat on four different occasions for the Sisters.
2) Liturgy
The Liturgy team was responsible for remaking a Good Shepherd liturgy book.
3) Booklet publication:
This team published a Religious of the Good Shepherd booklet.
4) Video Production
This team produced a video of the Good Shepherd Sisters in Korea covering the history and ministries.
5) Calendar
This team designed and created a calendar using quotes from St. Mary Euphrasia for each day.
6) Pilgrimage
All the Korean Sisters made a pilgrimage on foot from Gunsan to Okbong, the location of our first missionary Sisters' convent. We retraced our Sisters’ lives, remembering that they sowed the seeds of Good Shepherd spirituality of mercy and reconciliation. We renewed our spirituality, zeal, unity and reconciliation following in the footsteps of our missionary Sisters.
Our 50th Anniversary
May 19, 1966 was the day our first missionary Sisters (Sr. Anne Marie Willig and Sr. Rose Virginia Hayes) landed in Korea. Afterwards many missionary Sisters came to Korea and lived our Good Shepherd life. They laid the foundation stone and developed our Korean mission. They include Sr.
Eileen Robinson, Sr. Rita Danganan, Sr. Bonaventure Mirasol, Sr. Pamela Volland, Sr. Joanna Le and Sr. Ramani Silva. We invited them to Korea and are deeply grateful for their response. Although Sr. Eileen greatly desired to continue serving in this mission, her health did not permit her to remain in Korea. Many other Sisters came for varying lengths of stay during the early years, including Sr. Kathleen Caples, Sr. Angela Battung, Sr. Suzanne Sinense, Sr. Bernadette Robitaille, Sr. Lourdes,
and others from Vietnam and Sri Lanka.
Thirty priests and over 350 people joined and congratulated us on the day of our celebration, including our mission partners, former students, benefactors, and Sisters from other Congregations. Bishop Jang presided over the Mass which was very beautiful and majestic.
During the Mass we sang "Shepherd of my Soul", and "St. Mary Euphrasia's Prayer for Hope.” Our Korean Sisters choir sang "Praise Song," which was about our Good Shepherd vocation and life.
After Mass, Sr. Marie Jean Bae, our Province leader, thanked all the missionaries and the participants.
Representing the missionary Sisters, Sr. Ramani expressed gratitude for having been part of our Korean mission. We concluded with a presentation of our history and mission in Korea through the video that had been prepared.
Our Missionary Sisters stayed some more days. They were very happy to meet old missionary friends and our Korean Sisters. They visited our apostolates and had a chance to do some sightseeing. It was a very meaningful time for our visiting missionary Sisters and for each of us.
We were filled with a profound sense of gratitude for all that God has done over the past 50 years. May God continue to guide and lead us over the next 50 years, granting us many vocations and enabling us, with His grace, to be faithful to His call!
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