This year’s Missionary Appeal in our parish is in support of the Sisters of Notre Dame De Namur. Many mission dioceses as well as several missionary communities of sisters and lay organizations participate in this mandatory Pontiical Archdiocesan Appeal. Several times, this appeal is their only means of raising funds for their mission.

The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are women religious in an international Congregation, founded in France in 1804 by St. Julie Billiart. Sisters serve in Belgium, Brazil, Congo-Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Italy, Japan, Haiti, Kenya, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Peru, South Africa, South Sudan, the United
Kingdom and Zimbabwe, and in 27 states throughout the USA.

We commit ourselves to make known God’s goodness through education in a variety of ministries. We staff offices/centers in Rome, ITALY, Namur, BELGIUM and Ipswich, MA, USA. We work to change lives and “to stand with people made poor in a world marked by increasing divisions and inequalities” (2014 General Chapter Calls).

This year’s speaker is Sister MaryEllen Howard, SNDdeN. She has spent thirty years in Africa, primarily in Kenya, and also in a refugee camp where she worked with the “Lost Boys of Sudan.” Today, she serves as a chaplain to women in prison in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. She will be sharing with us the ways the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are serving in Latin America and Africa.

Your donations will support the sisters in ministry with the very poor and provide for the education, spiritual formation, professional and leadership training of the sister in their formation. Please give generously to this year’s mission appeal. Let us show them how much we care about the wonderful work they are doing in the missions through our prayers and inancial assistance.