Sisters of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame de Montréal coming from eight countries will gather in General Chapter this summer in Cornwall, Ontario, from August 11 to 29, 2016. In the course of this meeting, they will discuss major orientations that will set the direction of the Congregation for the next five years, and they will elect a new leadership team.
“No family drops from heaven perfectly formed; families need constantly to grow and mature in the ability to love.” Pope Francis writes these words near the end of his document on family. Francis has a keen sense of the ordinary way of God in each of us and in our lives together. He knows we live in a world where we often do less than the perfect and seem to make more bad choices than good ones. Yet we continue to stay the course and try to keep on being hopeful people, loving parents and faithful spouses.
Recently, Sister Simone Abbass, Sister Rita Clare and Ms. Marie-Josée Morin, archivist of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame, visited the archives of the Beaton Institute, named in honor of Sister Margaret Beaton (St. Margaret of Scotland). This regional archives centre stores documents which bear witness to the Congrégation de Notre-Dame’s contribution to the development of Cape Breton. Available for consultation are, for instance, records of the Cape Breton Chorale, directed for many years by Sister Rita Clare, and documents relating to the Mad Potters, a project began by Sister Catherine Rooney (Saint Philip). There are also thousands of photos of the Abbass Studio documenting the life of the entire region, including the daily life of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame schools.
