by PETER GRACE
BANGKOK — Sr Josephine Kane, the New Zealand provincial leader of the Sisters of the Mission, Religieuses de Notre Dame de Mission (RNDM), has been elected to be their international congregational leader.
She was elected at the sisters general chapter in Hua Hin, Thailand.
Sr Jo told NZ Catholic that she will officially take up her new role on Easter Sunday, April 20, and be based in Rome. The position will mean quite a bit of travelling, she said, as the leader’s mandate requires her to visit every province and
region at least once during her six year term.
Asked what the sisters looked for in electing a leader, Sr Jo said she supposed they would want somebody with a care for the sisters, a love for the congregation and of the mission of the congregation, and [congregation founder] Euphrasie
Barbier’s dreams to be of service to women and children.
She said she had had probably 30 years in education in New Zealand as a secondary school teacher. The order had schools in many, many places, such as Bangladesh and India.
“In several parts of India we run big schools and in some instances they have fee-paying schools, and they run afternoon schools for students who can’t afford fees.”
Sr Jo will replace Sr Maureen McBride, who is also a New Zealander.
The Mission Sisters came to New Zealand in 1864, three years after the foundation of the congregation by Euphrasie Barbier. The sisters now work in 23 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Pacific.
The order’s newest missionary insertions are South Sudan, Laos, Orissa in India, the Thai-Myanmar borders, Kazakhstan and Taiwan.
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