Welcome!

The Helpers' Extended Community:
Partners in Mission

If you would like to associate yourself with us as a Partner in our mission, please contact: helpersgb@tiscali.co.uk  
Photo:  A gathering of Partners in Hong Kong.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

I’m very grateful for the warmth of reception of the group and very impressed with the sincerity and variety of people and the distances they have come to be together with Helpers and one another.
Sr.Jean Ellen Stroh, Chicago

It’s been very interesting to hear people’s stories and think about all the people that are there and the different connections to the Helpers and just wondering if that is something for the future. The way that Helper mission can continue by having groups which are much more diverse. Made up of people who are interested and those who have had a connection with the Helpers and bringing them together in some form or other.

The other bit that struck me from Jean’s story was the importance of reflecting on your life. Maybe that is one way that these groups could have some structure, around coming together to reflect upon their own stories and life experiences.

Reflecting groups of some sort might be a possible way forward.  It’s certainly something I would be interested in.     Ros Wass, Edinburgh
 

I felt it as a gift coming in and feeling at home and sensing the desire of the group and the open heart to listen. To want to do something but also to wait to find the best way.

I have the universal Helper feeling and I go back with this to the group in Switzerland. 
Sr. Cecile Eder, Switzerland

I would say it’s been a truly joyous occasion and it’s a delight to meet Helpers that I know well already and to meet several new people that I’ve never met, and that sense that we have a shared desire.  And that word desire was fed back from several of the groups and it’s a very strong desire to some how continue to meet together in the future and basically to focus on our story telling.  If we can gradually build up more trust among us to the extent that we can share at that depth, I would find that absolutely wonderful.

     I liked the phrase from Cecile about the group in Switzerland who when they came together felt that it was their spiritual home. Already with this group I have felt a unity there.  It’s hard to describe what it is that draws us together, but it’s there and maybe charism is the right word.

     This afternoon we’ve been looking at the way forward and I really hope that each of us in our own regions finds a way of living out the way forward. 

Sr.Rosemary Bayne, Edinburgh

The day for me has been a day of sharing in a sense of freedom with other people of like minds and similar goals who have the same desire to follow in the Charism of Mary of Providence.  For me it’s been freeing because there has been no hidden agenda but it’s been a pure matter of sharing how you feel and who you are. 
Sr. Theresa Dunn, Huyton

The reason I've come today is because I still have within me a vision of what it would be like in the future if members of a religious community like the Helpers got together with lay people of any denomination and of either sex to meet for the purpose of  nourishing and nurturing each other spiritually whilst each remained immersed in the cut and thrust of daily living. 
     This group would meet not on the whim of some enthusiastic person but as an integrated part of the communities Charism.
    All members would be equal in status so all share the responsibility for the journey of the group. The vision I have for such a group would be that it would sustain itself by the members refreshing themselves through a variety of  Ignatian Exercises and stimulating experiences. I see a future when religious and lay people survive in partnership each fulfilling the common vision and hope.  
     After some ten years I still carry this hope that it will come about and it will come about if it is of God.

Sheila Toole, St. Helens