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Benedictine Sister joins leaders for Rome summit

Benedictine Sister joins leaders for Rome summit - (26-11-2018)

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Sister Dawn Annette Mills, OSB, prioress general of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, joined Benedictine leaders from around the world for the Eighth International Symposium of the Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum in September in Rome. The theme centered on the importance of Benedictine hospitality.

During the symposium, Pope Francis addressed participants during an audience at the Vatican and applauded the Benedictine vocation to hospitality.

Benedictines are able to “offer the precious gift” of their witness to the “many people in the world who seek to reflect in their lives the tenderness, compassion, mercy, and acceptance in their lives,” he said. He also welcomed how Benedictines partner through ecumenism and interreligious dialogue in order to create harmony among religious affiliations.

“You bring a precious gift to the life of the Church through your feminine witness of goodness, faith and generosity, imitating the Holy Mother of the Church, the Virgin Mary,” Pope Francis added .”For this we praise the Lord and we thank you.”

Speakers for the event included Abbot Martin Werlen who presented on “Hospitality: Of traditions and of the tradition,” Abbess Maria del Mar Albajar-Vinas and Sister Adelaida Ygrubay who both spoke on the “Hospitality within the Monastery,” and Sister Mary Theodora Ntuli who shared on “Hospitality to those outside the Monastery.”

Other topics of discussion included “Timeless traditions in Technological Times,” “A Mirror of Monastic Life Today” and “What are the challenges facing monastic life today?”

With the international flair of the symposium, which brings together religious women from around the world who speak a multitude of languages, Sister Dawn Annette  marveled at the balance of likenesses and of differences that the event highlights.

“It’s always a joy to see Sisters from different regions who share about their homeland and to see their different styles of habits and to hear other languages spoken,” she said. “However, when we all sit down together we soon discover we have similar battles and successes and how much we can learn from each other.”