The newly formed membership of the International Finance Commission gathered for their first meeting at the Generalate on September 26, 2011. During this term of office the members are Sr. Stella Holisz, Chairperson of the committee, Sr. Magdalene Klein from Germany, Sr. Marta Litawa from Rwanda/Congo, Sr. Eugine Nimala Francis from India, Sr. Iwona Nadziejko from Poland, and Sr. Mary Grace Barile from the USA.
Superior General Sr. Izabela Swierad welcomed the sisters on behalf of the General Council and gave a brief summary of each sister’s experiences in finances within her respective country. Sr. Stella also welcomed everyone and thanked them for rendering their time and talents to serve on this important commission. She then explained in detail the goals of this commission.
The days were full of listening and discussing the financial situation of each country, as well as looking to the future of the congregation and its continued service to the church and to each other. Each member took to heart the words of Sr. Izabela when she said, “This is a great responsibility and each one of you as part of this commission, should look not only at what is good for my province, my community and how to deal with my problems or situations, but rather through this experience and knowledge, troubles and success, sharing and working together, we should create a body of experts, who can help us – as the General Administration to function, develop, and work more effectively as one family in the spirit of the Pallottine charism.”
Although there were slight language challenges, the group worked tirelessly on the task set before them, by building on the previous Finance Commissions work, and realizing that their mission was not to develop something new, but rather to build on what has gone before, and to look at the needs of current times and to be grateful for the work which was begun 20 years ago. The new members were happy to have such wisdom figures as Sr. Stella and Sr. Magdalene with them, sharing their experiences and the history of the commission. On the last day the sisters met with the General Administration team to share the work which they had done during the week. As an advisory board to the Administration some suggestions were made and the commission members trusted that the information given to the General Council will assist them during their deliberations in working with Congregational issues.
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Sr. Mary Grace Barile, SAC
