by Msgr. John Vesey
It is sad to note that in the developed world there is the temptation by society, the Church, and religious groups to judge their vitality by the number of members in their congregation or by the average age of the members.
In China, Sister Avila, a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, has been inspired to work with 15 congregations of religious women whose members number between 6 and 15 sisters. Sister Avila studied spirituality in Rome for four years and had a mission experience of six months in the parish of St. Michael, Flushing, in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Now, she travels through China helping small religious congregations deepen their understanding of their religious commitment and helping them to better prepare themselves to be instruments of the New Evangelization.
In September 2014, Sister Avila participated in a workshop project in Rome on fundraising for Catholic Missionary Work. After completing the Workshop, she was inspired to start a project to help small religious groups in China. Sister had just finished serving as the Superior General of her congregation and wanted to use this experience and the formation she received in her spirituality courses to help small religious groups to grow in their vocation. In the spirit of Christ’s teaching, “as you did to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me,” Sister started the Service Center for Women Religious Congregations.
The Center seeks to “help Catholic sisters in distant places of China fulfill their special roles as women of the Church, make them more capable of serving the most needy in their communities and through their presence, testimonies and service bear witness to Christ who is the Savior and the Good News for the world.”
Sister Avila has seen that “these congregations though small are often the very hope of an entire diocese, but they are little known and not being cared for.” As a consequence, Sister Avila has dedicated the last ten years of her life going through China to support, inspire, accompany and teach other religious women the importance of their vocation, their role in the Church, and how much they are loved by God.
Most of the sisters do not have a bishop in their area and most of the sisters are poor. In the beginning, elderly priests who themselves suffered greatly in their younger years, have helped the sisters financially. But most of these older priests have died and young priests have not been sensitive to these sisters or the service that they offer to the needy.
The education level of the sisters is low, so Sister Avila provides workshops for them every year.
Four times a year Sister Avila offers workshops for 25 to 30 sisters in a retreat house that she uses in northern China.
Sister offers on a rotational basis five different courses: (1) leadership; (2) growth and development of the middle aged sister; (3) youth ministry; (4) social work; (5) retreat for religious leaders, superior generals, and other religious leaders.
Because of the distance in travel, Sister Avila visits each community twice a year to accompany them in their growth as religious women.
The neediest communities that Sister serves are in Inner Mongolia where there are three different groups of native religious women serving a population of 24.7 million people.
In eastern China, there are six consecrated women who, after their work in local factories, will go to the outlying mountain communities to serve the sick and the poor.
For those sisters who are able, Sister Avila has found the necessary finances to offer them scholarships to help them participate in a three year theology program that is being offered to all sisters in the Beijing Seminary and the Seminary in Xi’an.
Sister Avila has seen that these congregations, though small, are often the very hope of an entire diocese even though they are little known and uncared for.
Sister Avila asks for help so that these small congregations will live their call to serve others.