Mary Jo Mersmann, director of associates for the Sisters of Charity, co-chaired the recent North American Conference of Associates and Religious (NACAR) held in Cinncinati.Nearly 500 vowed members and associates of Catholic religious communities in the United States and Canada celebrated the 10th anniversary of the North American Conference of Associates and Religious (NACAR) at the group’s biennial gathering June 2-4 at the Cintas Center on the campus of Xavier University. The theme for the conference, held over Pentecost weekend, was “The Rivers of Living Water Flow From Within.”
“The 10th anniversary of NACAR is an important milestone in the associate-religious movement,” said Sister of Charity Ellen O’Connell, NACAR executive director. “It celebrates the development of a grassroots network that has accomplished great things in a short amount of time, including production of The Associate, a grassroots publication that reports on the growing associate movement in the United States and Canada, and the publication of a landmark study on the associate movement titled Partners in Mission: A Study of Associates and Religious in the U.S. NACAR has grown along with associate communities. In 2002 we counted 27,400 associates in the United States alone. Canadian associates add an additional 12,000-plus.”
