1993
'InterContinent' was the Society’s internal, central communications bulletin, published between 1968 and 2020 - with a special edition also published in 2022. It evolved from being a simple newsletter intended to keep sisters abreast of progress after the 1967 General Chapter, to becoming a focal part of the Society’s new communications strategy. As well as collecting and disseminating news, under the 1992-2020 editorship of Sister Eunice Cudzewicz, the bulletin became a treasure trove of creative content with original artwork, poems, essays and prayers by Medical Mission Sisters and others.
Here are a few examples of the themes of the bulletin covers which can be viewed opposite in the same order:
Empowering Women, March 1993
Sister Eunice writes to introduce this topic: "Now new words are entering our lives. One of them is "empowerment." We need to ask ourselves, "What does power and empowerment mean for us?"
Where is our own power? Do we reject it? Fear it? Work with it? New understandings of ourselves as women are helping us to understand power in a new way. Can we come to claim power with the simple strength we know is ours when we reach into our own depths, embrace life and carry on the tasks of birthing, connecting and making whole? How is it that we help other women to touch the source of their own strength and giftedness?
In this global age, we, as women, must continue to name and rightly use our power, our energy for healing. Today challenges us to join hands with women all over this earth as teachers, as healers and as equals in the mutual task of raising one another up. This "raising up" is empowerment. It is the surest thanks we can give our God for the life we have so abundantly received."
Jubilee, June 1994
The quotation on this bulletin cover is, when translated, "So let your light shine", Matthew 5:16. Sister Eunice’s artwork reflects traditional Indian designs because, as she explains, it is a year celebrating: “Jubilee! MMS all over the world rejoice with the sisters in India in commemorating the fiftieth year of official entrance into the novitiate of the first four women from India.”
She reminds us of the deeper biblical meaning of ‘jubilee’, as found in the Book of Leviticus: a time when people were to forgive debts, take time off from ordinary work to renew their spiritual resources, give attention to the quality of their relationships, and celebrate the fullness of life. Jubilee is a time to pay attention to the holy.
An Evolving Mission of Healing, August 2015
Sister Estelle Demers’ words in this edition remain as relevant today as when she wrote them in 2015: “We are living a wonderful moment in our Society history. We are witnessing ourselves in process of evolving into a future as yet unknown to us, and like a genie let out of its bottle, once launched there is no putting the genie of evolution back into its bottle.”
November 2022
Sister Eunice did heart-shaped artwork, which was included as an illustration in the bulletin’s special edition 2022, dedicated to her.