October 4th-13th provided Holy Name of Mary College School an opportunity to celebrate and re-commit ourselves to the Felician identity and mission of our school. Across North America, Felician sponsored ministries, from schools to shelters to hospices, marked Mission and Heritage Week (MHW). Together with all Felician sisters and their sponsored ministries, we are called to cooperate with Christ in furthering the spiritual renewal of the world.

The theme for this year’s MHW was: “Reverencing the Other: Fostering a Culture of Encounter.” In our fragmented world, we look to the life of Jesus, a life of unity with God and neighbour and a rejection of division wherever he saw it. We look to Felician foundress Blessed Mary Angela who crossed social and political barriers to reverence the other. For her, this stranger was a fellow sister or brother, a beloved child of God.

MHW was full of events that call us back to our mission. We were delighted to welcome Sr. Celestine and hear more about her vocation as a Felician sister. Sr. Celestine reminded us: “Be glad that you exist!” The Student Government’s social justice council led an activity to highlight that we are one: despite how much we differ in all our uniqueness, there is always much more that we share in common. Each morning prayer, we reflected on one of the five core Felician values in the hopes that these will grow to influence all of our life at HNMCS. Because the Felician sisters are women of prayer, students created prayer ribbons, writing intentions for themselves and the world, and tied these to the front step railings. They will be carried by the wind to the heart of God.

To close Mission and Heritage Week, we gathered in the chapel for a school mass, with Sisters Mary Anne and Michelle joining us. Together, we heard about the Good Samaritan, an example of care and service to the other we can follow. We prayed for the courage to follow the sisters’ seeking for justice, honouring of human dignity, continual transformation, solidarity with those in need, and compassionate service. We are so blessed, let us “be glad we exist.”