Small, Smaller, Smallest!
Congo & USA: 7405 miles distant and a mere heartbeat apart.
2007: Kathleen, Marie-Bernadette, Pascaline, Regine in St. Peter’s Square, Rome
“Small world” seems almost trite in this cyber-era. Still, some connections shake us into seeing how closely bound we all are, riding through space together on our small globe.
Our thread is love.
Our Congo-USA small-world story begins in 2007, at the Federation’s international meeting in Rome. Kathleen Hallinan and I attended. Relying only on English, Kathleen was limited in her interactions. Marie-Bernadette, leader of the Company in Congo, is fluent in English and befriended Kathleen. Though the other Congolese participants spoke French, they and Marie-Bernadette welcomed Kathleen into their sisterly circle.
Eight months later … Facing death, Kathleen made a modest bequest to the Company in Congo to honor that kindness.
2015: Marie Chantal, First consecration
Five years later … Congolese-American immigrant Marie Chantal heard God’s call to a secular consecration. She confided this new awareness by phone to her friend Pascaline, a native of Congo now living in France, a member of the Company there. Pascaline recalled the bequest from an American secular Ursuline and told Marie Chantal that she could find the Company in the USA.
Almost three years later … Marie Chantal made her first consecration in our USA group. I shared this information with my neighbor Dr. Albert M., an immigrant from Congo living on my street in Cincinnati, Ohio.
2016: Mary-Cabrini and Dr. Albert M., Cincinnati
Dr. M. visited our website, and his reaction set off amazement on three continents. He said, “I saw a picture there of my cousin, Marie-Bernadette.”
Our small world is bound together not by coincidence but by kindness.
Mary-Cabrini
