It has again been a blessing to be at Via Cassia. Yes, always work, but more the blessing of seeing our Sisters here, both SMSM and SM.
Even so, a couple of reasons had my latest trip to Rome not being the best time to leave the Australian shores:
- Whether or not, having booked my flights super early, planes would actually fly via Abu Dhabi. With some prayers to St Christopher and Mary of the Way I departed Sydney on the 1st of July and the following morning arrived safely in Rome.
- This year July has seen a heatwave across various parts of Europe. Fortunately, each of the five days I had to leave home by 6am, and arrived back at Via Cassia around 7pm. This meant I missed most of the day’s heat.
Each day of the workshop I travelled by train and metro from Via Cassia to three different universities. An experience which has given me more confidence to find my way around this great city.
There were 29 participants at the workshop, including 7 bishops, 7 priests and 7 Sisters. The remaining number were lay men and women. It was an international workshop which meant people attended from different parts of our world.
For some participants some of the workshop input was a reminder. At the same time the contents also emphasized the important and invaluable task of financial stewardship. We were regularly reminded that financial stewardship is not the task of one person. When speaking of SMSM it is good to always remember that each local bursar, Regional Financial Administrator and the General Financial Administrator is a member, not a sole entity, but rather one member of a larger group – community, Region, Congregation.
Each member of our congregation is missioned to the stewardship role of the Congregation’s goods. This is a mission of transparency and accountability, and where appropriate and necessary, evaluation – striving to become even better stewards of our common SMSM goods.
To every SMSM Sister, thank you for working with me in my RFA & GFA roles. God bless you all.
Sr. Vicky Wilson, smsm
