On August 26-28, 2022, Superioress General of the Daughters of Charity Sister Françoise Petit visited most of the communities of the Daughters of Charity in Ukraine. She was accompanied on the trip by, among others, Sister Hanna Cybyla, General Councilor for the Eastern European provinces. The Sisters arrived from Krakow, where the Superioress General visited the Provincial House of the Daughters of Charity and met on site or virtually with most of the Sisters of the Province.

First, they arrived in Smotrich, where S. Françoise met with residents of the House of Charity, refugees from eastern Ukraine, children and young people. Then they went to Storozhynets, where they visited St. Anne’s parish and met with parishioners. They continued on to Sniatyn,, where the tomb of Blessed Sister Marta Wiecka SM is located. Finally, they reached Perechyn in Transcarpathia. The Vincentian Fathers also carry out pastoral work in the same locations. The purpose of the trip was to manifest with their presence that the entire Company supports Ukraine as much as possible, above all in prayer. Sister Françoise said that every day she receives letters from all corners of the world in which the Sisters assure her of prayers for Ukraine. Many expressions of gratitude were shown to the Sisters in these days. It was, above all, thanks to God for giving the Sisters the opportunity to be in Ukraine and to serve God in every person He puts on our path of life.

Since the first days of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the Mother House of the Sisters of Charity and neighboring provinces have also been involved in providing material aid to the people of Ukraine directly or in cooperation with other branches and organizations of the Vincentian Family – the Congregation of the Mission, AIC and DePaul Ukraine.

The Daughters of Charity previously working in Odessa and the surrounding area evacuated to Transcarpathia in the first week of the war along with thousands of other residents fleeing bombardment and war. Asked when she would come again to visit all of Ukraine, S. Francoise said that if it was God’s will, the next time she would come to celebrate Ukraine’s victory with the Sisters.

[based on the story from the website of the Daughters of Charity in Ukraine: Szarytki.com.ua]

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