The members of the Society are gathering in different ways and places to celebrate the founding feasts of St. Edward and St. Teresa in 1846. We wanted to greet you at this time because you share so much with us.
The Society's life began with Cornelia Connelly knowing what it was like to feel alien in the increasingly crowded 'frontier' of industrial Derby, England. Many immigrants had come there seeking what was dangerous work in the cotton, silk and lace mills and also the new railway engineering works.
The tiny community started a Poor School. At any one time, about sixty girls – who laboured in the factories for nine hours a day – turned up there and two hundred on Sundays. Soon a night school was begun. The spiritual works of mercy were demanding in the middle of the surrounding slums.
170 years later, in the context of the urgent, escalating nature of the global migration crisis, our recent general chapter has called us to make the needs of migrant people* our shared commitment and concern.
Pope Francis has emphasized the need for dialogue and discernment at the frontier. As we know, religious congregations across the world are engaging in such reflection and action according to their charism, inspired and challenged by many other people of goodwill.