Our Ministries

One of the features of the Sisters of Charity is the extraordinary range and variety of ministries in which sisters are engaged. This no doubt reflects our fourth vow of Service of the Poor. From the beginning, this vow was understood in terms of our making ourselves "extensively useful". Wherever a new need is perceived, we endeavour to discern our response, constantly seeking creative ways by which to do this. At times, this will lead to a new form of ministry, perhaps even to relinquishing a traditional one that no longer requires our involvement or is being well served by others.

Each individual ministry is an expression of the one mission in which we all share: urged on by the love of Christ, to continue the work begun by Jesus to bring about the reign of God on earth. Thus, however valuable this apostolic aspect of our lives, it has always to be seen in the context of our vocation to religious life. We are called primarily to be companions of Jesus and one another, to pray and share our lives together so as to offer visible witness to the possibility of one united body of Christ.

Whenever any one of us is "on mission", in a sense every other member is present, Sisters of Charity - plural - on mission. When "I" teach or nurse or visit someone in prison, it is "we" who are teaching, healing, visiting. This communal aspect of our religious living and ministry is not just an optional extra, it is integral to our vocation, and its articulation is a primary role of our Congregational leadership.

As you read each of these ministry accounts, you are encouraged to do so in this context of our religious commitment. We hope that this will help to make it clearer why we are constantly seeking to meet new challenges, to read the changing signs of the times, and to make ourselves more "extensively useful".