Just recently, Sister Michelle traveled to the beautiful city of Coesfeld in Germany on behalf of the Sisters of Notre Dame. Sisters from all over the world are elected to go and represent the whole congregation; our very own Sister Michelle was chosen to represent the United States of America, which is such an honor! It wasn’t an ordinary mission trip but a business trip for a whole month, where she met with many sisters worldwide. Coesfeld, Germany, is where the Sisters of Notre Dame was founded by two women who started it. Every six years, sisters are called to this general chapter to get together, meaning to elect the new leadership for the worldwide congregation and set the directions, themes, and times for the next six years. “ The meetings were great, and I worked with five languages, including English, Portuguese, German, Korean, and Indonesian.” Sister also mentioned the use of simultaneous translation, meaning “if someone were wearing Portuguese, we would wear earphones, and someone would, as they were talking, speak to us in English, and as we spoke in English, they would be listening in Portuguese. Kind of like being at the UN! That was neat!” The most memorable part of the meeting was, “Really talking about what sisters are doing all over the world was cool and just made me proud to hear all the things we’re doing.” India’s sisters are helping the poor, Brazil is assisting the amazon area, Korea is reaching out to Vietnam and China, and Africa is growing tremendously! Moreover, the sisters attended the Parish Church of Saint Laberti, where they could see the Coesfeld cross and pray. Wrapping up her journey in Germany, Sister Michelle then traveled to Rome, Italy, for a week with a group of sisters and stayed in the motherhouse, known as the
Headquarters of Sisters of Notre Dame. During her time there, her best memory was seeing the Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin distinguished graduates recognized with their names inscribed in a book in Rome. Not many people know this, but two seniors, a girl, and a boy, from every school with Sisters of Notre Dame minister are chosen as Notre Dame distinguished graduates! An award is also given to adults, and our very own Mr. Whaler was also in the book. To say the least, Sister Michelle represented the United States of America tremendously and shared great information that we would never have known of. Thank you, Sister Michelle