Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Madrid (Agenzia Fides) - During their 18th general chapter held in Madrid the Dominican Missionary Sisters of the Rosary elected a new General co-ordinator Peruvian born Mother Dominga Esther Garro Pérez, the first Latin America nun to hold the position. "I accept this service as a responsibility - Sr Dominga told Fides - with four other members of the general team who are Spanish. We are united by our missionary commitment in various countries: India, the Caribbean, Cameroon, Mozambique and Angola". "As a Dominican Missionary Sister of the Rosary - said the new general coordinator I have always tried with God’s grace to be ready to serve wherever the Sisters asked and where the situation of the people and the Christian communities required. Now in this same spirit I accept this service as requested by my Sisters in our recently celebrated general chapter". With regard to the election, for the first time, of a Sister from Latin America as Coordinator Generale, Sr Dominga says: "The 9 previous Coordinators General were Spanish; the election of a Peruvian coordinator is part of a normal process in an international congregation considering that most new vocations come from countries in the south of the world, where we are mainly present as Dominican Missionaries."
Sr Dominga has ample missionary experience. She entered the Congregation in l959 and made her first profession in 1962 and lived in various communities in Peru (Ayacucho, Ica, Arequipa, Rímac, Callao). She then assumed responsibility for initial formation in her province of origin, Sto. Tomas, in Peru. For two mandates she was also Coordinator of the provincial Government. In 1992, responding to the need to support formation of sisters of the African province of Angola, she offered herself for this service with another Peruvian Sister: “Angola was in the middle of a civil war - she recalls -, the situation was very difficult but I was encouraged by the fact that it was an opportunity to show solidarity with the Angolan people and with our sisters working there”.
The Congregation of the Dominican Missionary Sisters of the Rosary was founded in Peru in 1918 with the charisma to evangelise the poor according to diverse necessities and wherever the Church calls for their action. Today it counts 759 Sisters from 25 countries: most are from Spain (379) and Peru (85). The Sisters are present in Europe (Spain, Portugal); America (Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, the Caribbean); Africa (Angola, Mozambique, DR Congo, Cameroon); Asia (India, Philippines, Timor, Taiwan, Macau, mainland China) and Australia. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 19/6/2006; righe 32, parole 442)
