Read

  The first Zoom meeting of the delegates for the 25th Congregational Chapter   The first Zoom meeting of the delegates for the 25th Congregational Chapter was held on January 26, 2026. A total of 37 delegates participated in the meeting, consisting of four members of the Congregational Leadership Team, four delegates from the Ketteler Province (Germany), thirteen from the Marie de la Roche Province (USA), fourteen from the St. Joseph Province (Korea), and two from the Peru Mission. The meeting began with an opening prayer, followed by a welcoming address from Sr. Barbara, the Congregational Leader.  All delegates then introduced themselves by sharing their names and ministries, as well as a word or phrase from the opening prayer that had touched their hearts. This was followed by an input from Sr. Barbara entitled “A Holy Adventure: The journey of discovering many possibilities invites us to see life not as a predetermined script, but as a sacred unfolding process.” The delegates reflected on this theme while watching the YouTube video “Maybe by Corbi Yamada” Afterward, the delegates shared their reflections on the question, “What gifts and talents can I bring to the Chapter?” An orientation was then provided on the role of the delegates and the work of the Chapter, based on Constitutions Article 73. This included an explanation of the materials that had been sent in advance of the delegate election, followed by a time for questions and answers. As we begin this journey toward the 25th Congregational Chapter as a “Holy Adventure,” we pray that the Holy Spirit may accompany us and our Congregation throughout this process.

  Importance of These Meetings and the Coming Chapter Sr. Barbara McMullen, Congregational Leader   Last summer you told us that you wanted time to get to know one another better and to build relationships across the borders of our Congregation. We listened, and so we gather today across the Congregation to share from the heart, to listen deeply to one another so that as members we get to know each other across continents and oceans. We can benefit and flourish from the gift of our internationality and interculturality opportunities. We can share with one another how we think we are to carry on the spirit of our founders and their spirituality. In thinking about the theme of our coming Chapter: Holy Adventure: The Path to Possibilities it is our great hope that this theme and our living into it will lead us into paths we may never have chosen to explore or imagined in our future. We don't know what some new calls to us as a Congregation might be—perhaps to go to uncharted lands—to serve the poor and marginalized, to engage those who are disenfranchised and learn from them. We know that religious life across the globe is changing, that there will be challenges and yet doesn't our charism of trust in and openness to the Providence of God call us to respond with courage and vision for new ways of thinking and being? We don't have all the answers and perhaps that place of unknowing just might be the place of greater wisdom. Each of you has a piece of truth, a certain gift of wisdom to share. You might see possibilities that others don't. In our sharing, using synodal listening, we value each one's dream, each one's adventure as a part of the whole. To walk the holy adventure together is not to know every turn in the road. An adventure implies some mystery, some risk, some courage. It will ask each of us to be willing to enter into the Paschal Mystery where we see the end of one historical reality in order to embrace an emerging future where God beckons us. Many of you expressed that we need to be about mission—that our lives and actions need to be about serving others and finding ways to respond to the needs of the suffering and broken in our world. So think about what some paths to possibilities could be. It is our hope that through all of our sharing and listening to one another, a process of transformation will take us to new paths, to a rebirth of who we are as Sisters of Divine Providence and new responses to the signs of our times.  

photo by Sr. Elsa, CDP   As part of the preparation for the 25th Congregational Chapter, the first online meeting with all members was held. Approximately 70 members participated in this initial meeting, joining from Germany, the United States, Korea, and Peru. The meeting began with a welcoming address by the Congregational leader, Sr. Barbara, who introduced the theme of the Chapter and explained the purpose of the meeting. Participants were then divided into small groups of four to six members to share their reflections on the question, “What paths or possibilities do we see as leading toward the future of our Congregation?” These insights were later shared with the entire group. The meeting also included prayers for the Chapter, offered as the opening and closing prayers in Korean and German, respectively.  

image: Stained Glass France Jesus - Free photo on Pixabay   "Our Savior came to John to be baptized in the Jordan. Through these cleaning waters we are restored to new life, our sinful nature is healed, and we are clothed in holiness." - Canticle of Mary from 'people's Companion to the Breviary' -

  Sisters of Divine Providence Congregational Response to Happenings in Venezuela   The Sisters of Divine Providence Congregational Leadership Team joins LCWR in standing in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in deep concern for the people of Venezuela and their rights to determine their own future.  We call on our Congressional Leaders to speak out against this military force and invasion of another country and to work to stop it and unite with other global leaders in working for the common good of our global world.  As women of Providence we yearn for a world that is led by justice, compassion, hope and a longing for peace.  Sister Barbara McMullen We stand with LCWR and its following statement:   The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) stands with all people whose lives are threatened by violence, war, and hatred. Rooted in our faith, we profess our unwavering belief in the dignity, value, and rights of every human person and our commitment to the sacredness of human life. With deep concern for the people of Venezuela, LCWR stands in solidarity with our sisters and brothers of the Confederation of Latin American Religious (CLAR) and with the consistent teaching of the Church in opposing the use of military force as a means of resolving political and democratic crises. Violence and war do not bring peace; they deepen suffering, destabilize nations, and place the most vulnerable at greatest risk. We affirm the power of dialogue, negotiation, and diplomacy over military action. We call upon the United States Congress to exercise its constitutional and moral responsibility to address any use of force that violates our shared commitment to protect and promote human life and the common good. We urge the Administration and all members of Congress to cease any military involvement in Venezuela and to support international efforts that foster fair elections, a peaceful transfer of power, and conditions in which democracy can truly flourish. The people of Venezuela deserve the freedom to determine their own future without coercion, violence, or external domination. We recognize that these same threats endanger other countries throughout Latin America, and we affirm our solidarity with all peoples whose sovereignty, dignity, and democratic aspirations are placed at risk by similar forces. We also call upon people of faith to commit themselves to prayer for the people of Venezuela and for the discernment of global leaders, that decisions may be guided by wisdom, restraint, respect for human life, and a genuine concern for the common good. As we are reminded in LCWR’s Response to These Times, this moment calls us to be women who remain informed, who listen deeply to all voices, and who engage in serious and prayerful discernment. We refuse to contribute to hatred, fear, division, or violence. Instead, we claim our moral authority as bearers of love and as people of hope, trusting that faithful action grounded in compassion and courage can shape a future worthy of our shared humanity. Media Contact:Sister Annmarie Sanders, IHM | LCWR Director of Communicationsasanders@lcwr.org | 301-588-4955

     Global Connections                 Volume 10, Issue 1 Look Beyond Sister Barbara McMullen   The other day, as I was pondering what to write for this issue of Global Connections, an old song popped into my head: “Look Beyond the bread you eat, see your Savior and your Lord.  Look beyond the cup you drink, see his love poured out as blood.”  Whenever that kind of thing happens, I tend to pay attention because I feel that the Holy Spirit is trying to tell me something. Pondering those two words: “Look Beyond” brought the whole idea of seeing beyond the surface of things.  In an age of instant answers, quick impressions, and rapid judgments, it is easy to live at the surface of things.  We scroll, skim, and summarize; we categorize people by a single comment or moment; we expect situations to unfold as they always have.  Yet some of the most important human truths—and the most transformative moments—are found only when we look beyond what first appears.  “Look beyond” is both an invitation and a challenge; to slow down, to question assumptions, and to allow reality to be richer and more complex than our expectations. To look beyond is to acknowledge that our minds naturally take shortcuts.  Assumptions help us navigate daily life, but they can also narrow our vision.  When we assume we already know what someone is going to say, we stop listening.  Have you ever done that with another Sister in Community?  When we assume a challenge has only one possible outcome, we stop imagining other alternatives.  When we assume today will be exactly like yesterday, we miss the subtle possibilities unfolding right in front of us.  Expectations – whether hopeful or fearful – can become like tinted lenses:  they color what we see before we’ve truly examined it.  I read a story the other day that truly illustrates false assumptions or expectations.  There was a seven-year-old little girl in a hospital dying of cancer.  Her Daddy had left the day she was born.  Her mother had brought her to the hospital and never returned.  She was all alone.  She knew she was dying; she had heard the doctors and nurses discussing her case.  It just so happened that there was a man who came to the hospital each week to read to the sick kids.  His name was zMike and he was a biker, with tattoos covering both arms, a beard down to his chest, and he was big and loud and rode a motorcycle.  The first assumption might be that someone like Mike wouldn’t be in a children’s hospital at all, especially reading to sick kids.  But there he was sitting beside a little girl, reading to her about a dancing giraffe!  The little girl, wise beyond her years, asked Mike if he would be her “Daddy” until she died.  He didn’t know how to respond; he could only feel the hole that lived in his chest since the day his own daughter had died at 16 in a car accident.  Finally, he said, “Honey, I’d be honored but I gotta be honest with you – I’m not very good at this daddy thing anymore.  I might mess it up.”  Her whole face lit up like sunrise.  “That’s okay.  You can practice on me,” she said.  And so he came everyday to read to her.  My point is, judging by his looks on the outside, we might have dismissed Mike.  We may have felt some fear of a Harley riding motorcycle guy who looked pretty rough around the edges.  But what was really below the surface was a heart filled with compassion, a heart that didn’t want this little one to die alone.  Someone whose heart was filled with love. The practice of looking beyond invites us to hold our assumptions lightly.  Rather than accepting initial impressions as final truth, we pause long enough to wonder:  What else could be true here?  What might we be missing?  What is the story beneath the story?  It’s not so much about doubting everything but about staying open to discovery.  When we look beyond the surface of a person, we may discover resilience where we assumed weakness, wisdom where we expected simplicity, tenderness beneath the rough edges, or even burdens beneath confident smiles.  We humans are endlessly layered.  To encounter another person with depth requires curiosity, humility, and patience.  Oftentimes, misunderstandings are rooted not in facts, but in unspoken expectations.  We assume others will understand our intentions, interpret our words the way we meant them, and when they don’t, we feel disappointed or offended.  When this happens to me, and I look beyond the immediate frustration, I often discover unmet needs, differing experiences, or genuine misunderstandings rather than any kind of malice.  Looking deeper allows us to respond not simply to someone’s words or actions but to the human reality behind them.  When we look beyond, we often discover other possibilities hidden from our deeper knowing.  Even in our struggles we can discover growth; waiting can reveal wisdom and losing a loved one can reveal new ways of loving.  (Like Mike in the story).  Looking beyond calls us not only to perceive more deeply, but to trust in Providence more boldly.  Expectations tend to confine us to what has already been.  Imagination allows us to consider what could be.  To look beyond for our Congregation is to believe that the present moment does not contain the whole story, that change can happen, that hope can emerge in a vision we have not yet seen.  Looking beyond is a commitment to truth, to mystery, to a grace-filled future that Providence provides us.  It calls us to look with fresh eyes, to hold expectations gently, allowing space for surprise.  We can remember that each of us carries a Providence story deeper than we will ever fully know.  Ultimately, to look beyond is to live with depth.  It is to honor the unseen; to believe that truth is often discovered beneath the surface, in places where patience and compassion are required.  It is to choose understanding over assumptions, curiosity over certainty, and openness over the comfort of the familiar.  When we “look beyond” we step into a more expansive way of seeing – a way that enriches our vision for our future.  Wherever Providence leads, we will follow.  In this new year, especially in this Congregational Chapter year, let’s hold every moment as one that is more than we perceive at first glance and, hopefully, we will remember to search for the deeper story.  Our Chapter theme:  “Holy Adventure: The Path to Possibilities” invites us to “look beyond” and to resonate with the words from Scripture: “Behold, I make all things new.”  Happy New Year!    ......................  Please refer to the attached file to read the full newsletter. .......................  

  "You crown the year with your bounty, and your paths drip with abundance. (Psalm 65:11)" We pray that you may have a blessed year filled with grace in the providence of God!  

  December 16, 2025   Dear Sisters and Associates, As we approach the sacred feast of Christmas, my heart turns with gratitude to each of you – Sisters and Associates who bear the spirit of Providence into a world longing for hope.  In this holy season, we gather once more around the mystery of Emmanuel, God-with-us, whose coming brings a peace the world cannot give yet always seeks. This year, with the immigration crisis, wars, shootings and other tragedies happening in our world today, my Christmas greeting to you comes with a brief reflection on the theme of peace. Not a passive or fragile peace, but the deep and courageous peace born of trust in God’s abiding presence.  Bishop Ketteler, whose vision continues to inspire us, once reminded the Church that true peace cannot exist where the dignity of the human person is ignored.  He taught that peace grows when justice and compassion take root – when we recognize Christ in every person and act with the love that flows from that recognition.  In the spirit of Bishop Ketteler, we are reminded this Christmas that peace begins with a courageous “yes”:            a yes to seeing God’s Providence even in uncertainty.            a yes to lifting up those whose voices go unheard.            a yes to building communities where tenderness, mercy, and justice heal what is broken. Hopefully each of us embodies this call through our ministries, our prayer, and our daily witness. By doing so we make visible the quiet miracle of Bethlehem – God choosing humility, compassion, and presence as the pathway to peace. May the Christ Child, Prince of Peace, renew your hearts with the serenity that comes from trusting God’s loving design.  May you feel the steady companionship of Providence guiding you into the New Year.  And may your lives continue to proclaim that peace is possible – because God dwells among us and works through us. Christmas blessing and Happy New Year!   One with you in God’s loving Providence, Sr. Barbara McMullen, Congregational Leader

  Advent Letter, 2025 Dear Sisters and Associates, Advent season is upon us once again.  The words “expectation,’ “waiting,” “stay awake,” be “vigilant” and “hope” are the usual ones we associate with this season.   This is the time when we listen for God in the silence, in the dark Advent skies, and how we hear God in the cries of the poor, in the groaning of all creation, and we are awake to the needs of a wounded world. Hopefully we will enter this Advent with new eyes, open to change and ready to make connections with past and future generations.  If we are awake to the work of the Spirit these new eyes can reveal patterns of growth in our understanding, capacity for change, and real transformation. Advent is the time of waiting which calls us to a loving attentiveness to the Spirit—the same Spirit that touched Mary and gave her the courage to say “Yes” to the angel Gabriel.  Her heart was open, alert, awake to the stirrings of God within her.  In fact, Dietrich Bonhoffer called the Magnificat “the most passionate, the wildest, one might even say the most revolutionary Advent hymn ever sung.”  As we pray the Magnificat in Evening Prayer during these Advent nights, we might reflect on how Mary’s understanding of God’s plan speaks to us today.  It certainly reminds us that the Gospel is challenging and calls forth courage to live it.  If we are faithful to the “fidelity of waiting”[i] we, too, can expect God to be alive in our hearts.  Advent waiting and nourishing silence in our lives allows us to really hear God visiting us, speaking to us, revealing to us in unexpected ways the path forward.   It reminds me of the presentation by Sr. Simona Brambilla at the UISG Conference last May.  She spoke so poetically and beautifully about the moon, about the lunar light as a symbol of synodal presence finding its expression in the moon and humble stars.  In speaking about consecrated life, she said: “the sun has set, and it is the time of the moon.  The real light gives way to reflected light.  It is a time when the contours of reality are not so marked.  It is also the time when slumbering ghosts awaken within and among us, taking the form of a thousand questions, uncertainty, and fears:  Who are we?  Where are we going? What will we be like?  Where will we end up?  …Will we come to an end?”[ii]  These are the questions many religious communities are asking today, as religious life continues to evolve, to change, to awaken to new ways of being in a world desperately in need of spiritual presence and a sense of belonging. Perhaps this Advent is calling us as a Congregation of Divine Providence to “rediscover the authentic values of our consecration” as Sisters, and in our Covenant relationships as Associates.  In this season of waiting, expectation, and hope may we dream new dreams, see with new eyes, and trust that we are indeed on a holy adventure together. Happy Advent waiting! One with you in God’s loving Providence, Sister Barbara McMullen Congregational Leader [i] Dietrich Bonhoffer, Advent homily, 1933, quoted in “Daily Reflections for Advent and Christmas,” Mary DeTurris Poust, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN, 2025. [ii] Sister Simona Brambilla, MC.  Presentation at the UISG Plenary Conference:  “How Does Consecrated Life Represent Transformative Hope,” May 5-7, 2025, Rome, Italy.

  In response to the UISG Plenary Sessions' Final Statement and Commitment points, the Congregational Leadership Board, at its meeting, October 3, 2025 agreed upon this "Commitment Statement of the Sisters of Divine Providence" on behalf of the total Congregation:   Commitment Statement of the Sisters of Divine Providence   As Sisters of Divine Providence, an international congregation of women religious, we are called to make God’s Providence visible in our world. Rooted in trust in God’s faithful care, we commit ourselves to live at the edges of society, on the thresholds of struggle, and in the places of exclusion and hope. To follow Providence is to reject all forms of exclusion and discrimination and to be a consoling, compassionate presence with those who are rejected or silenced. These spaces of vulnerability and courage are holy ground where God’s Spirit is already at work. At the margins, we both give and receive. Through encounter, we are transformed by the wisdom, strength, and love of our sisters and brothers, discovering Providence alive in every person and community. We commit ourselves to advocacy, accompaniment, and solidarity — working for a world where no one is excluded and every person is cherished as a beloved child of Providence.