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Official Visitation to the German Province 1 The official visitation to the German Province began on September 25 with a meeting with the Sisters of the Mainz community. On the second day, there was a meeting with the provincial leadership team and a visit to the Sisters of the Aschsffenburg community.

September 29, 2025 Dear Sisters and Associates, Happy Foundation Day!  As you read this, the Congregational Leadership Team will be in Mainz, Germany celebrating our 174 years as a congregation!  It will be a special celebration with the Bishop of Mainz, along with Provincials and Council members who are participating in the Congregational Leadership Board meeting to follow the next day.  We will be remembering each of you in our prayers during these days. Of course, when I think of Foundation Day I think of Bishop Ketteler and Mother Marie and how they gave themselves to the mission of the Gospel.  I think of those first German women who were sent to serve and educate the rural girls and to serve the economically poor people of their times.  I wonder if there was any plan or if they were just supposed to find a place where there was a need and try to meet it.  There were no institutions then, no guidelines to consult, no best practices.  These first sisters went equipped with their passion for mission and trust in God.  They jumped in with both feet, so to speak, and gave it everything they had.  What about us today?  We’re just regular people whom God continues to call.  God invites us, through the lure of Providence, to give our whole hearts and jump in with both feet.  I imagine, as the little community of Sisters grew, even though hardships may have come their way, they didn’t give up.  They continued to show up, for each other in support, and for those to whom they were sent.  They responded with their time, talent, compassion, voices, hopes, dreams and love.  Fidelity is the word that comes to me.  Crossing an ocean, risking the unknown, settling in a foreign country, a different language, culture and customs, and yet they came, faithful to the call.  That kind of fidelity requires a steadfast commitment to those values which directed and defined them.  I think those courageous women grew as a result of the changes that taxed and tested their tolerance and led them to find God where God was, rather than where they thought God should be.  I copied this quote but I don’t know who said it.  “Fidelity lies in making whatever changes are necessary to bring us from the ideals out of which we have always operated, in order to achieve those ideals toward which we have always striven.  Fidelity manifests the truest part of us in process to the whole of us.”  What would Bishop Ketteler and Mother Marie say to us today?  Perhaps they would tell us that fidelity to Providence rests in consistently moving toward what will bring us more and more to wholeness of heart, clarity of mind and integrity of soul.  As we live out the legacy of our founders, let us review our own values, our own commitments, our very trust in the God of Providence whose dreams for us never fail.  Let us be seekers whose heart stretches for the truth and acts for justice.  Let us do the hard work of community so we may seek truth in light of each other’s wisdom.   Let us continue showing up, with trust that we are enough.  Everything we have and are is for the service of the kindom of God, of humanity, and of creation.  We give what we have of ourselves.  And God makes that enough.  Blessings to each of you on this Foundation Day! Sister Barbara McMullen, Congregational Leader  

CDP Allison Park  & CDP Korea, photo by Sr. Joni Luna, SP   Women of Providence in Collaboration(WPC) Gethering of Sisters under 60 0r those wh have entered within the last 10 years was held at the Loyola University Chicago Retreat Center, September 5-8, 2025.   The purpose of this workshop was rooted in our shared charism of Providence, we will nurture a foundation on which to strengthen our relationship with each other and our sense of community and unity so that we can contitiue making God's Providence visible for our world. About around 40 sisters were atteneded.   

  WPC Luncheon Meeting in Atlanta The Women of  Provicence in Collaboration (WPC) Luncheon Meeting  was held in Atlanta on August 13, 2025, during the LCWR  Assembly. Sister Mary Stanco, HM, Director of WPC, presided over the meeting, where she inquired about the current status of WPC members and shared future plans. Sister Mary also took time to say farewell, as she will soon be stepping down from her position. We express our gratitude for her hard work and pray for God's blessings upon her!      

  2025 LCWR Annual Assembly The 2025 LCWR Annual Assembly was held in Atlanta, Georgia, from August 12 to 15. Under the theme “Hope Unbroken: in God's Promise,” the assembly provided an opportunity for the members of the LCWR who are living in this era to reflect on and discuss the various challenges they face. For more information, please visit the LCWR Facebook page.   https://www.facebook.com/lcwr.org

  Jesus’ transfiguration is a call to great hope. Image and more reading, go to:    https://wau.org/resources/article/our_destiny_in_christ    

    The CLT had the opportunity to meet with the newly appointed Bishop Bruce A. Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, and introduce our Congregation to him.   ................................................ Prayer for a Bishop "O God, you have chosen your servant, Bishop Bruce A. Lewandowski, to be a shepherd of your flock. Give him a spirit of courage and right judgment, a spirit of knowledge and love. By governing with fidelity those entrusted to his care, may he build your Church as a sign of salvation for the world. Amen." .............................................          

    "I reconize the guidance of heaven so evident in all things." -Mother Marie de la Roche - ............................ ............................ " Praise the LORD, for he is good; for his mercy endures forever; Praise the God of gods; for his mercy endures forever; Praise the Lord of lords; for his mercy endures forever;" (Psalm 136: 1-3)    

  Congregational Chapter 2026 Prayer As an international, intercultural community, let us pray together for God’s Spirit on the preparations for our 25th Congregational Chapter:   “Holy Adventure: The Path to Possibilities” Provident God, give us a sense of your Presence on our Holy Adventure together. Strengthen our trust in your providential love and care as we explore new paths for the future before us. Open us to see possibilities, give us the courage to embrace them, and to enter into this Congregational Chapter ready to embark on a Holy Adventure with You.  Amen.   (Sister Barbara McMullen, XVII Congregational Leader)  

            July 13, 2025 Dear Sisters, Happy Ketteler Day!  I call upon the spirits of both Bishop Ketteler and Mother Marie as I officially announce the Twenty-Fifth Congregational Chapter of the Congregation of the Sisters of Divine Providence.   The Chapter is scheduled to convene at St. Imbert Center in Seoul, South Korea from September 1-14, 2026.  The Chapter will officially open with a liturgy of the Holy Spirit, after which the Delegates will proceed to the meeting room to begin the opening session of the Chapter.  The Chapter will close on September 14 after the signing of the Acts of the Chapter and celebration of a closing Mass. The theme of the Chapter is Holy Adventure: The Path to Possibilities.  Undergirding this theme is the Scripture: “Behold I make all things new.”  (Revelations 21:5)  A holy adventure is a journey in trust and in hope that we will see together a new future for our Congregation.  We have been on this path for a few years now as we have pondered and shared ideas for our new governance structures, reviewed our Constitutions, participated in national and international meetings.  This “holy adventure” beckons us to come with an open spirit, a trusting heart, a far-sighted mission.  The “path to possibilities” offers us the opportunity to detach from our own preferences for the good of the whole, to energize us with hope to imagine new ways of being together and to listen to the workings of the Spirit in our midst for the transformation of our hearts.  The Chapter logo, designed by our own Sr. Bibiana, symbolizes this theme with the open circle, the path of possibilities from the present to our future, and the guidance of the Spirit leading us.   The three colors of green, blue and yellow speak of hope, peace, vitality, trust, wisdom, joy, faith, determination and creativity.  This adventurous path will challenge us to break down our boundaries and overcome obstacles.  This adventure will change us and give us the opportunity to experience a deep understanding and respect among our cultures as an international congregation in a new way as we open ourselves to new horizons.  Providence will lead us! The beginning day and a half of the Chapter will have a presentation by Sister Nancy Schreck, OSF who will open our hearts to the Gospel message of unity as we seek new directions for the Congregation’s future.  We will commit ourselves, once again, as an intercultural Congregation to deepen our relationships and interconnectedness with one another and our global world.  Much of the Chapter agenda will be informed from the work of the established Commissions, especially the Constitutions Commission, where we will be looking at and selecting a new governance model.  We will also be discerning and electing a new Congregational Leadership Team.  In preparation for this graced time in our history, I invite every Sister / local community to begin praying the enclosed Chapter prayer.  Let us call upon the Spirit’s guidance, as well as our founders and all the great women who have gone before us, to intercede for us before our Provident God for the courage to move in new and bold ways for the good of the whole.  We are on a” holy adventure” together, a special time of both grace, blessings and challenges.  Together we explore the “path to possibilities” that will lead us now and in the future years to come.  In God’s loving Providence, Sister Barbara McMullen, Congregational Leader   Acknowledgements:  Chapter Logo:  Sister Bibianna Jinah Whang                                        Chapter Prayer:  Sister Barbara McMullen, XVII General Superior