We share with deep joy the testimony of Sr. Enda Mullen, a member of the Sisters of the Holy Faith, a congregation part of the Vincentian Family. In a brief but inspiring video, Sister Enda recounts her experience during the international meeting held in Rome last November 2024. Her testimony is a hymn to hope, fraternity and the universality of our shared mission, and highlights with special emotion the role of young people and the richness of diversity in our spiritual family.
Through her words, she invites us to look at the present with faith and to dream together of a future where the cloak of St. Vincent de Paul will continue to shelter those who need it most.
We invite you to watch this video and let yourself be touched by the warmth of her experience.
Text of the video:
Good morning, everyone. I’m sister Enda, the leader of the Holy Faith Sisters and we are part of the Vincentian family. I want to talk to you for a few minutes about just what a wonderful experience it was to be in Rome with the Vincentian family last November, there was a real deep sense of a shared spirituality between all the delegates, and I particularly enjoyed sharing with many of the smaller congregations of sisters from the United States. We just had so much in common regarding our founding missions, our way of life, and the challenges that we face today. Two aspects of the conference struck me especially. The first one was the international or global spread of the Vincentian family. I mean the display of flags on the stage behind us in the main meeting hall was an obvious reminder of this, but it was also clear from walking around we’d to hear little groups of people talking in many, many different languages. The second aspect of it that struck me was just how many young people were there. And this was really a great source of hope for us for the future. The fact that so many young people care enough about struggling people in our world and that they have such a sense of compassion amongst them for people less well off than themselves. That was truly inspiring. I think another aspect of the conference for me was a chance to spend some time with the Irish members of the Vincentian family. So, although we meet regularly in Ireland, it was great to have a shared experience together. I’d like to thank all the organisers. Many of whom worked with great education and care, but in the background and we didn’t really get a chance to thank them properly. They worked cheerfully and behind those scenes and made everything flow so smoothly. In our Chapel in our mother House in Glasnevin, we have a statue of Saint Vincent de Paul and in that statue, he is wrapping his cloak around a small poor child. I think the sense of the conference that I got was that Saint Vincent’s cloak is just so much larger, that it’s wrapped around people throughout the whole of this world. And my prayer is that in this 400th anniversary year of Saint Vincent de Paul that the family will flourish, and Vincent’s cloak will wrap around so many more needy people, poor people, and that his spirit of compassion will be brought to people everywhere in this world. So, I pray for us all as members of the Vincentian Family that we will grow from strength to strength as we follow this wonderful Saint who leads us.
Read or download the final Document of the Second Convocation of the Vincentian Family: “Keeping the Fire Burning to Be Pilgrims of Hope.”
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