Conegliano (Italy). On 2 October 2022, in Mother Clelia Genghini Community of Conegliano, Treviso, in the Province of St. Mary D. Mazzarello (ITV), a collaboration began between the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and the Sisters of Maria Auxiliatrix (SMA), belonging to the Salesian Family. Three Sisters of Mary Auxiliatrix, accompanied by the Mother General, Sr. Josephine Selvi, were welcomed with an open heart by the Provincial, Sr. Palmira De Fortunati, the Animator, Sr. Rossana Zanda, and the FMA of the Community.
Sr. Mary, Sr. Rosamma and Sr. Pushparani will take care at the nursing and welfare level of the elderly and sick sisters of the infirmary, in collaboration with the lay staff.
The Sisters of Maria Auxiliatrix, were born from the intuition of the Salesian priest of Don Bosco, Fr. M.C. Antony, who in Madras, India, on 13 May 1976, began with four girls, a Pious Union engaged in social assistance and intervention activities.
The charism of the SMA is expressed in the motto, “Taking care of the poor and abandoned girls”. Fr. Antony built a rehabilitation community for abandoned and poor young women in Vyasarpadi, Tamil Nadu province, southern India. In 1999, the Sisters of Maria Auxiliatrix became a Congregation of diocesan right and on 15 December 2005, the Constitutions were approved. In 2009, the Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Fr. Pascual Chávez, and his Council accepted their request to be part of the Salesian Family.
Today the Sisters of Maria Auxiliatrix are about 150, present in 33 realities, in seven Dioceses of India, in Italy, and in other countries. Engaged in the social field, the sisters work in a network with different realities in the territory and in rural areas; some communities collaborate with the Salesians. The main activities of the SMA are teaching poor children, evangelization, work in orphanages and day care centers, nursing care in retirement homes.
Regarding this new possibility of collaboration, the Mother General of the SMA, Sister Josephine, expressed herself with joy and gratitude, “In the beginning of our Institute, three Daughters of Mary Help of Christians generously helped us and now three SMAs, with so much readiness, are helping you.”
May Mary Help of Christians be a maternal presence and guide in this new path of communion between the two Institutes that bear her name, with the hope that the reciprocity of good will be a fruitful seed for the salvation of souls.
Source: fmaitv.eu
