Susan Smith

Susan Smith, a Sister of Our Lady of the Missions, has worked in education at various levels: primary and secondary school teaching in New Zealand, university education in New Zealand and Australia, and with Duquesne University in Rome and Manila, the Philippines. She has been involved in pastoral and catechetical formation in Papua New Guinea; in adult literacy and numeracy programs for Maori in New Zealand; in congregational formation programs in Davao, Philippines, and St. Rambert, France. Currently, she volunteers as a budget adviser, helps with an emergency housing trust and some environmental groups, and writes for publication.

By this Author

Holy Spirit represented in a stained glass window (Unsplash/Mateus Campos Felipe)

Reclaiming the Holy Spirit and renewing the face of the Earth

The importance of Pentecost can never be underestimated, but the manner in which it can be celebrated can suggest that the Holy Spirit was absent prior to that wonderful day. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A representative group of the 2020 congregation chapter members of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions is pictured. From left to right, back row first: Rita Phyo, Myanmar; Molina Ritchil, Bangladesh, Pham Kim Phung, Vietnam; Anita Dungdung, India; Mar

Writing constitutions for an ethnically diverse, international congregation

When the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions wrote new 2014 constitutions, different provinces provided input. The input and the new constitutions show how congregational life is evolving, due to changing demographics.

Fawza Umri helps her son put on clothes after being bathed inside their tent at Atmeh refugee camp, near the Turkish border in Syria, on June 13. (CNS/Reuters/Khalil Ashawi)

Sanitation: an unacknowledged blessing

Good sanitation is key to ensuring good health, and COVID-19 reveals the ugly face of inequality in so many ways and in so many countries that lack good, effective and reliable sanitation.

(Unsplash/Roell de Ram)

Whither religious life? Reflections from New Zealand

As contemporary religious search for relevance in a rapidly changing world, perhaps it is useful to examine the relationship of religious life to the particular context or culture in which it exists.