By Sisters of St Francis of Sarawak (SSFS)
KUCHING — 25 Sister Delegates participated in the 13th General Chapter of the Congregation of the Sisters of St Francis of Sarawak. Convened in the Convent of the Immaculate Conception, Central Road, Padungan, it ran from 3–10 December 2024 and bore the overall theme: “Advancing our Union with Christ towards the Centenary and Beyond.”
To mark the 800th anniversary of St Francis of Assisi’s Stigmata, we also kept in mind the theme, “You Are Love”. As a Chapter that joyfully looks forward to the Centenary of the Congregation in 2028, we started with a brief presentation of the history of the Congregation to provide us with a sense of where we had come from and where we are in the present. Hopefully, this will enable us to chart our course into the future—towards the Centenary, the next General Chapter and beyond.
Preceded by a three-day retreat from the evening of 29 November to 2 December, this 13th General Chapter drew inspiration from Chapter 21 of the Gospel of John. For we could relate with the seven disciples’ decision to “go fishing” that conveyed a sense of loss of hope, to say the least. They saw no point to stick to Jesus. Returning to their former profession for livelihood and for their future seemed to be the best option of hope for them in their given situation.
But here again, their hope was dashed, for a whole night of hard labour yielded nothing! But this fruitless labour took an opposite turn when they “cast their net to the right side of the boat” in obedience to the instruction of the risen Jesus: they caught 153 large fish. After their fruitless night, this great catch led them to recognise Jesus: “It is the Lord,” the beloved disciple told Simon Peter. The basic option for them was either to work with the Lord or without the Lord.
The disciples’ two subsequent actions signified their choice to return to the Lord and work with Him: (1) Peter jumped into the sea to move to the risen Lord on shore; and (2) the other disciples dragged their heavily loaded net also to the shore. Jesus’ invitation to them, “Come and have breakfast” marked His acceptance of their return. His dialogue with Simon Peter, son of John, led to His entrusting to the disciple a vital pastoral ministry to look after His flock. The exercise of this ministry called for love, whatever be the level of this love.
We read in Jn 21 a story of Jesus restoring discipleship to His disciples who had failed Him, and, despite his triple denial of Him earlier, placing His trust in Simon Peter as He entrusted the care of His flock to him. We took courage from this reading of the story.
Reports from our various Commissions provided a good overview of our strengths and our weaknesses. They also pointed out the challenges we encountered, coming mainly from the growing number of our aging Sisters without a corresponding increase of active ones, and influence of secularism and world trends.
Inspired by the story in Jn 21, we heard Jesus inviting us to breakfast with Him and restoring our discipleship, as well as calling us to continue our mission and ministry as Sisters of St Francis of Sarawak. While acknowledging them, we refused to let our weaknesses and failures overshadow our strengths and overwhelm us into despair.
On the contrary, we felt inspired by our predecessors who weathered all storms to follow in the footsteps of our Seraphic Father, St Francis of Assisi, and respond to the Lord’s call to “restore My Church”. Our celebration of his stigmata in a meaningful and prayerful service reminded us of his acceptance of Jesus’ sufferings which our predecessors sought to imitate.
Believing in the risen Lord’s gift of the Holy Spirit to be with us and lead us, we plucked up courage to respond with ever greater commitment to the Lord’s call of us to “restore His Church” today, regardless of the challenges this task may involve.
To this end, we proceeded to elect the Superior General, her Assistant and Council, to lead us in the next term of six years. We re-elected Sr Rose Wong as Superior General, Sr Irmina Peter as Assistant Superior General, Sr Agatha Ling as the First Councillor, Sr Natasia Tay as the Second Councillor, and Sr Catherine Uming as the Third Councillor.
Encouraged by Jesus’ restoration of discipleship to and trust in Simon Peter, each of these elected Sisters humbly and whole-heartedly accepted our election of them to look after us and motivate us to look after others in love like Christ.
Filled with the assurance of the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we confidently adopted the Proposals and Resolutions as agreed.
We now commend our Proposals and Resolutions to the intercession of our Blessed Mother as we embark on their implementation in the spirit of her FIAT to God, and to our Seraphic Father St Francis, and St Clare.
