globetrotters

When I came back from my visit to El Salvador I wrote about the presence our sisters have had there since 1985. Today I'm finishing up a research project I've been doing on our Congregation History. I discovered that in addition to our ministries in the UK, East Coast & West Coast of the US, CSJP's have ministered in:

• the Philippines
  
• Vietnam
• Cameroon
• Zambia
• Kenya
• Paraquay
• the wilds of Alaska
• Grenada
• Haiti
• Yemen
  

The tradition continues. I recently heard that one of our Sisters who is an HIV/AIDS nurse will be spending the next year training HIV/AIDS nurses in Rwanda. We are a small congregation and not particularly missionary in our character, but I'm realizing how much we take to heart these words in our Constitutions:

"We value the ministry of presence
as an important dimension
of the gospel of peace.

I'm also reminded of what our founder Margaret Anna Cusack said when she was first approached about sending Sisters out to the wild Northwest in the 1880's: She said "we preferred the poor and desolate places that others would refuse."

Who knows where my call to serve will take me. I've never really thought about myself as a missionary, but I'm open to the possibilities. In any case, I continue to find myself in awe at the strength, courage and faith of these women I am journeying with, and those who have gone before.