GULF-GOANS e-NEWSLETTER (since 1994) Sister Prema concerned over lesser novices joining Missionaries of Charity
By Ajitha Menon Kolkata, March 28 (ANI): The new Superior General of the Order, Sister Prema, has said that the number of novices joining Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity every year has come down worldwide, over the last few years. She believes that it's mainly because as families grew smaller with less children, the choice of vocations got affected. But she hopes that the youth across the world will find a call for service to God and humanity attractive. Asked if the absence of Mother Teresa's charisma was one of the reasons for less new members joining the Order, Sister Prema said: "Mother has was always present in spirit with the Order and that could not be the reason." She said in Africa, Philippines, America and Europe the novice numbers were still seen in good groups. Reacting on recent attacks on Christians in India, Sister Prema said that the Missionaries of Charity had a presence across the country, including in places were Christians were facing communal attacks. The sisters suffer, pray and stand together with those persecuted. Sister Prema said the MOC also prayed for and forgave those who were carrying out the attacks. Love and service can be the only intervention to contravene the attacks. On conversion, Sister Prema said: "Every human being has the right to choose and choose with dignity which faith he or she wants to follow. If anyone chooses to convert, it is a decision which comes from God and not one that is enforced by any particular person or organisation." Sister Prema, the third Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, after Mother Teresa and Sister Nirmala, was born on May 13, 1953 in Reken, Westfalia, Germany. She was named Mechtilde Pierick by her parents. She now carries the name Sister Mary Prema. She has an elder brother and a twin sister. She was inspired by Mother Teresa after reading the book `Something Beautiful for God' by Malcolm Muggeridge. In 1980, she met Mother Teresa at a youth gathering in Berlin and joined the MOC in the same year in Essen, Germany. She has served in Italy and other European countries after joining the Order. Sister Prema say now she is in India and wants to understand the different communities here and serve them. (ANI) Source: ANI According to motherteresa.org: "Mary Prema is the second nun to lead the Missionaries of Charity after the blessed founder died in 1997. She replaces Sister Nirmala, who asked to be relieved of her duties to live a contemplative life in the congregation." - PHOTO: ARUNANGSU ROY CHOWDHURY / THE HINDU Sister M. Prema, successor of Sister Nirmala, Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, at Mother Teresa's house in Kolkata on Friday. Zenit.org reports: Sister Nirmala was re-elected for the third time, but (AsiaNews) cited sources inside the congregation that revealed she requested to be relieved of her obligations for health reasons, and because she wanted to dedicate herself to a more contemplative life within the Missionaries of Charity. Some 163 sisters voted at the general chapter, of whom 74 are of Indian origin and the rest are from other countries of the world. Motherteresa.org said: "Sister Prema met the (Mother Teresa) for the first time in 1980, in Berlin, after reading Something Beautiful for God, a book by BBC journalist Malcolm Muggeridge who wrote about his meeting with Mother Teresa in 1969 when he was making a documentary on the nun from Kolkata that would make her known worldwide. "I know Sister Prema. She is a visionary, a deeply spiritual person with an implicit trust in God. She has a clear understanding of her mission, with the charism of the Missionaries of Charity implanted in her heart, to serve Jesus by serving the poorest of the poor," said Brother Paul, who has been posted for the past seven years in the Shanti Bhavan, or House of Peace, in Kolkata.
