RNDM COMMUNITY New Foundation logo Dear sisters,, It is a great joy to share with you the logo from Taiwan: We are One and We are Love. It is RNDM emblem with a Chinese character ッ (Ai), means “Love” at the heart of the cross, reminding us that each RNDM must be a witness of God’s love for each other and for all creation.

Even though each community is busy with its different mission, we tried our best to come together, sharing life and mission. On December 13th, 2014, four of us gathered for regular meetings and celebrations in Shanhua, diocese. We also invited Fr. Joseph, SVD to share with us on “Reconciliation” as a resource of on-going formation. On April 11th, 2015 we met in Douliu community, diocese for Mission Planning. We always treasure the opportunity to be together, listening to each other in order to learn, to support and encourage each other.

This year, we cannot manage the time for annual retreat together due to different ministries. Therefore, M. Minh Trang and M. Dung is going on retreat from 01st to 08th, 2015 at the SVD retreat Center in Chiayi diocese; Molina and Santica are going from 01st to 10th 2015 at the Jesuit retreat Center in diocese. Please hold us in prayers.

Minh Trang on home leave I would like to thank God for the opportunity to visit my home province and join our Vietnamese sisters’ life and mission from December 29th 2014 to 7th 2015. There is a saying: “Time flies when we are happy”. That was my experience during my vacation this year. I spent time not only to be with my parents and siblings but also to visit some communities. I took this opportunity to share our mission story with aspirants, novices, sisters, associates, catechists and youth wherever I was. I learnt that when sharing with others, I am receiving. I also experienced the joy of being with others. It was a privilege for me to join the two-day vocation program on January 18th, 2015 in Thu Duc community with more than 200 young women. I am grateful to God for the precious time I had with RNDM sisters, family and all the people whom I met and worked with. I have gained great strength and courage for the continuing mission on behalf of the Congregation. God bless us all. M. Minh Trang, Rndm.

1 Chinese New Year celebration for migrants

As Minh Trang was away for two months-home leave, M. Dung was so busy with many activities in the parish as well as with different migrant communities. While Filipinos’ community held “the battle of the band”- a competition of music instrumental bands on January 11th, 2015, the Vietnamese community had a wedding of a migrant worker couple on January 31st 2015 at Shanhua church. Thanks be to God and so many people of good will, everything went well with full of joy and cheer of celebration, a feeling “at home” of all migrants who are away from home during the end of the Chinese year. At Chinese New Year, we also organize a thanksgiving mass on the first day of Chinese New Year, then an outing trip to for migrant workers in two buses. They are so excited to be at the beach, enjoying each other company and many of them experienced for the very first time a buffet dinner!

Opening catechism class for pre-marriage couple.

Responding to the need of the migrant workers as well as to the teaching of the Church, every year, we organize a catechism class of marriage preparation. We are fully aware of the important role of pre-marriage catechism. This year, we have started on 1st March with a class of about 14 students. The class is held only one hour per week. Hopefully, it will finish at the end of the year. The migrant workers show their gratitude and interest toward our effort of helping them do the preparation for marriage which is so important for their lives.

HIV-AIDS Seminar in Xinzhu Diocese

Brother of Sr. Kate O’Neil, Rndm - father Peter O’Neil who is the president of a foreign migrant workers center organized a seminar on “Migration with HIV-AIDS” issue. We are invited by him to attend in order to help the migrant workers more effectively by better educating and providing them correct information. At the moment in Taiwan, the number of migrants who have HIV is still immeasurable due to undocumented migration. As a result, the risk of widespread of this deadly disease is relatively high.

May 1st, 2015: Saint Joseph, the worker- Feast day of migrant workers in Tainan.

Collaborating with other missionaries in the diocese, we organize a camping activity for migrants on their Feast day: Saint Joseph, the worker. As organizers of the event, we use many different ways to lead the migrant worker to study and discover the Gospel values as well as Saint Joseph’s virtues in order to follow his footstep to live their lives as migrant workers,

2 facing so many challenges in a foreign land. It is really a joyful, fruitful and meaningful for all foreign migrants who wholeheartedly participating in the activity.

Flower offering to Mother Mary.

At the beginning of May, we helped the migrant community to offer flower to Mother Mary by a traditional dance which is simple but really solemn and moving. By doing so, we encourage every migrant worker to learn from Mother Mary the spirit of serving, of obedience and listening attentively to the whispering of God. We also encourage them if possible to gather together in their dormitory to share and say rosary in order to honour Mother Mary and ask her to intercede for each one of us, for their families back home, for the Church and for the need of the world.

With dancing club

As member of dancing club, on March 30th 2015 we were invited to join an outing day with other members for sightseeing and museum visit. Thanks be to God, we enjoyed so much the spirit of the human family because they are all non-Christians but share so many common values with us. We wish that through the sharing of friendship and Christian values, we can be a true witness of God to these local people who already have deep root in Daoism.

Cycling tour

We make ourselves known to non-Christian community around us by joining them on a cycling tour around Shanhua town on May 2nd 2015. While cycling with them, we introduced ourselves, our ministry and our mission in Taiwan. Hopefully, there will be more opportunity like this for us to be with the local people and introduce our loving God to them.

3 Joining lived Stations of the Cross in Tainan diocese

We were invited to join Tainan diocesan activities during the Lenten season. Beside attending recollection, visiting the sick and helping the needy, we were invited to partake in the Stations of the Cross held in Tainan Park on the Palm Sunday 2015. M. Dung played the role of Our Lady in the Passion of Christ. The whole diocese gathered in the park from 3:00pm to 6:00pm for this solemn prayer and witness of Christ of Taiwanese people. We were struck by the love and creativity of the small Christian community in sharing the Good News with local people in the context of the mix cultures and religions. We learnt from them the lesson of trying to “light a small candle instead of complaining the darkness.” Every year, each diocese in Taiwan takes a turn to hold the National Youth day. This year, it will be in the Tainan Diocese from 15th to 20th 2015. Please pray for us as we are in the host diocese, especially Shanhua parish is going to accommodate a group of young people for one day.

Celebrating the 60th anniversary of Shanhua Church Foundation There are only about 30 parishioners in Shanhua church. Most of them are tribal people, but very active and devoted believers. It was a remarkable event for the Holy Family Church in Shanhua to celebrate the 60th year of its foundation. The celebration was combined with the closing ceremony of the Year of Family in Tainan diocese, held in Shanhua Church on December 28th 2014. This was the first time for Shanhua parishioners welcome more than 300 people for the thanksgiving mass, followed by dinner party and interesting performances.

Sharing RNDM vocation with Tainan Diocese and migrant workers.

On April 25th, 2015, a program for the International Vocation day was held in Tainan diocese. To prepare for this event, every Congregation was invited

4 to present a poster to introduce itself on that day. The whole day program consisted of the Holy Eucharistic celebration, thanksgiving to vocation promoters, promote vocation by sharing stories, and performances. It was such a wonderful day for us all to thank God for the gift of religious life in the Church and especially in Tainan diocese. There were about 500 attendants in this event. The following day, with a FMM sister and a CSJB priest, we shared our RNDM Congregation with immigrant and migrant workers.

Life and Mission in Duolio The previous newsletter was in power point form, some of our sisters might not have access to it. Thus we now would like to share briefly about our Mission. Our (Santica and Molina’s ) apostolate is in two different High schools of the Chiayi Diocese of Taiwan. In Taiwan, School hours are from Monday to Friday 7:30 am to 5 :30pm. Although some classes and activities take place on the weekends. We also take part in the Parish activities when we are free from school duties. The Church is 15 to 20 minutes of cycling from home. Therefore, we leave home early in the morning to go to the church, then straight to the schools. Santica is offering a service at The Our Lady of Perpetual Help High School and Molina is at the Sacred Hearts High School. Our mission is pastoral work, using varieties of ways to introduce the Catholic spirit in the schools. At Our Lady Perpetual Help High School

Eager to Learn:

I am impressed by the students who come to me and asked to accompany to pray with them. They are eager to learn and pray. Therefore, every day the students make an appointment with me to pray. I also make myself available to share the word of God with students, teachers and the workers.

Holy Week Practices It was very meaningful for me to see what Our Lady of Perpetual High school Students do and practice during the holy week. The students, teachers and the staff members’ sacrifices on Holy Thursday. The atmosphere of the school and its surroundings was completely quiet and lunch has been just a simple soup and rice. I say it was a simple meal because their daily food is rich and healthy, but this particular day was so special as they treasure and respect the Holy

5 Week eventhough they are non-Christian. Is not an amazing faith? And then at 1 pm in the hot sun they ran for 4km which was symbolized their sacrifices. Santica

Sacred Hearts High School To me, the name of the School is interesting. It represents two persons’ hearts: Mary and Jesus. So, at the time of our assignments, Rev. Bishop Thomas Chung mentioned to us that doing mission here is just simply going with Mary and Jesus to signify their hearts and spirit among the students and teachers. In this school, the total figure of students is 3,200. Among big numbers of pupils, Catholics are very tiny in number. Taiwanese are quite open-minded to learn about different faith and beliefs, particularly Catholic customs and knowledge. So we explain to them about Catholic customs, ritual and use biblical story to give their living values. I have three distinct groups which I facilitate to reflect and study: Depth study group, English Bible study, and Morning Light. Since this Semester, I have been given 28 classes of grade seven and eight to share about my experience of God, vocation and mission. I am glad for this opportunity to make RNDMs known. Molina

Charity Walk 20th December 2014 was a special day for me. The weather was neither hot nor cold. It was a vast preparation before we begin to walk. We were split into small groups and distributed towels to use on the way. I was with the senior graduated students from this school. All the teachers and students were enthusiastic to involve on this occasion. The teachers were assigned to assist the pupils at different stops and carry by car those who was not able to walk or got sick. The purpose of the exercise was raising fund to help the needy brothers and sisters of the society. In order to get enough money, we need to complete 25km walk. It was an awesome feeling to be able to join the students and manage to finish the circle. Of course, that was a joy for the students to see me in uniform walking with them. Most of the groups passed us and greeted us with a smiling face. Other non-Christians also came out of their houses to see and salute us. It is a kind of proclaiming the Catholic Spirit among non-Christians.

Cherish Meal

On 27th of March elderly people from three different centres were invited to participate in part of the students and the teacher at Sacred Hearts School to share a simple meal. This was

6 part of the practice of this school and done during the holy week. This meal was half cost of the normal lunch, and the other half cost was saved to help the need of the society. When Akong-Ama (grandparents) were walking around the school accompanying by the students, the whole school welcomed them with ringing bells and clapping hands from every corner. It was a wonderful feeling. Akong- Ama were also happy to entertain us with dance and action songs, though some of them are 90 plus. It is amazing to see their beautiful movements. On that day we collected 70,000 NT, donated to the Dominican sisters’ nursing home. In Taiwan, the life span is relatively long, therefore many aging people stay in nursing homes for many years and cannot pay the bills. Therefore, this year, saving was donated to the Dominican sisters.

Honouring mothers

To honour all mothers, from every class one student was selected by his/her classmates as a model of filial piety. Their qualities were shown in a poster with photographs. Those students’ parents or grandparents were present for the celebrations. It was a way of encouraging young people to appreciate each other. There also prayers and PowerPoint on mothers’ qualities. At the end of the celebration, flowers were offered to our Mother Mary with explanation and inspiration words. Everyone showed a profound reverence for Mary.

Loving Mission at Super Market

On 19th May 2015, the grade eight students’ service was provided to the elderly people who come from nursing homes to Carefour Suppermarketed. The students assisted them to buy what they need. It was a marvellous chance for them to choose things that they like and see around as they cannot move without assistance. Thus, they were glad to get around the supper market. Students and supermarket attendants were also pleased. It was only a simple act, but overwhelming to witness the love of God to non-Christians.

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Parish Activities

During Chinese New Year, Duolio parish organized a program for the children of broken families. Some of their mothers are foreign brides and divorced. We were requested to help these children with other teachers. In fact, we did not have fully holiday as the school considers us among the administrative staff. Hence we had to work a half day on some days of the holiday. Unfortunately, transportation during the holiday is not convenient for Santica, so instead of going to school, she served in the parish. Whereas, Molina was able to join in a few days. The teachers help the children to accomplish their homework and we taught them some action songs, games and Bible stories in between. We really need extra patience to manage these children because of their family background. At the end of the program they become more pleasant and polite. We think this was the fruits of our patience of love.

Prayer and Singing Groups Some of the prayer group members are 80 plus, but their hearts are young and dynamic. Every Sunday after the mass we come together and share the word of God together. Once a week we also come to practice hymns for mass and do some exercises. This is a way for us to improve our Chinese pronunciation and also widen our circle of friends.

DIOCESAN ACTIVITIES

Once a year all the Priests, Religious Men and Women of Chiayi Diocese have a get-together day at Bishop House to Celebrate Christmas and New year. All the Congregation and religious group are required to prepare an item to share with the group. On 28th of February 2015, we RNDMs also performed a Indian dance. Rev. Bishop Thomas, and all attendants appreciated it very much. They were attempting to dance

8 with us. Molina was helping Bishop and Santica was instructing Fr. Wu, the Bishop’s Secretary. It was a great fun for us all.

Vocation Day In Chiayi Diocese 24th May 2015 was the vocation day for Chiayi Diocese. It was a whole day program. All priests and sisters were split into groups to share about their religious lives with the youth. We also discussed with the parents about the vocation and how they could encourage and help their children. We were happy to know more young people. The day concluded by Holy Mass, celebrated by Rev. Bishop Thomas Chung. Reaching out ……. We thank God for our Congregation, particularly the gift of our internationality. We realized the Religious people of Taiwan, appreciate the intercultural and international community life. Consequently, Our Lady of Sisters invited us to help the nursing students of their College with English Conversation and share our experience in the Philippines as a foreigner. These students are going for volunteer service to the Philippines so they are happy to hear from us, as we have some experiences while we were doing Clinical Pastoral Education in Philippines. This was a good opportunity for us (Molina and Santica) to know the local Congregation and their Students.

Love and prayers from Four of us from Taiwan.

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