The members of the leadership teams from the provinces and regions were with us on Friday and Saturday for the presentation given by Sister Carol Zinn, SSJ. The information she shared gave us call for much reflection and contemplation. She left us with two questions:
One of Kathy Reichs’ Temperance Brennan novel, Monday Mourning, is set in Montreal. On page 189 we read:
"As Ryan turned onto Dublin, I noticed a historic marker out my window.
“What’s Parc Marguerite-Bourgeoys ?”
“Mon Dieu, Madame la docteure, you’re referring to one of Quebec’s best-loved ladies. Sister Maggie set up schools for little girls back in the seventheen century. Pretty rad idea for Quebec at the time. She also founded the Soeurs de la Congrégation de Notre-Dame. A few years ago the Church upped her pay grade to saint.”
“Why the sign?” I asked.
“In the mid-sixteen hundreds Bourgeoys was given a hefty hunk of this little peninsula. Bit by bit, the nuns sold the land off, and Pointe-St-Charles now covers most the acreage, but Bourgeoys’s original school and parts of the farm are up ahead. Site’s now a museum.”
“Maison St-Gabriel?”
Ryan nodded."
One of Quebec’s best-loved ladies, no less!
One of the first campaigns that I was involved in when I came on board as JPIC Coordinator, was for an independent ombudsperson to oversee Canadian mining, oil and gas operations around the world. As Congregation de Notre-Dame in Visitation Province and internationally we have tried several times, with three different governments to see this happen. And now, after ten years of campaigning, we are celebrating the news that Prime Minister Trudeau has stayed true to his election promise and established the ombudsperson office.