| Arnold Janssen had already recognized
early on that women were necessary for the proclamation of the Good
News. They were the best pace-setters for the missions and could
gain access to people in areas where men were could not go. He did
not actually have any concrete plans, but Helena and Hendrina were
prepared to wait and work as kitchen maids in the Mission House.
For seven years they waited patiently until, on December 8, 1889,
they could begin their religious-missionary life with four other
missionary-minded women.
The Sisters’ numbers increased rapidly and the first Missionary
Sisters set off for overseas already in 1895, although not to
China as Helena Stollenwerk would have so very much wished, but
to Argentina. Very soon ministries were also taken on in Togo,
New Guinea, the United States and Brazil. Helena Stollenwerk herself
was given a different mission: Arnold Janssen, a man of prayer,
carried out another long-held plan and established a second group
of Sisters, strictly cloistered, who were to pray for the world
missions. Helena transferred to the new community but died there
already on February 3, 1900.
“Servants of the Holy Spirit” (Servae Spiritus Sancti
– SSpS) is the name given by Arnold Janssen to the Missionary
Sisters’ Congregation. It was not just a name, it was a
life program that developed and deepened continually as the Congregation
spread to more countries. The main goal everywhere was and still
is to be filled with the Spirit of Jesus and, like him, to pass
on to all people the message of the Father’s liberating
love. This is possible only in conscious and close union with
Jesus Christ who gave his own life that they may have life and
have it abundantly (Jn 10:10).
Today approximately 3,800 sisters of 40 nationalities minister
on every continent – in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Philippines,
Papua New Guinea, Australia, India, Indonesia, Ghana, Togo, Botswana,
Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Zambia, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia,
Chile, Paraguay, Mexico, Cuba, Siberia, USA, as well as in fifteen
European states (Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy,
Spain, Portugal, England, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic,
Ukraine, Rumania, Russia). Most recently sisters have taken up
apostolates in Antigua (Caribbean) and the Republic of South Africa.
Missionary activities include pastoral work and catechesis, education,
nursing and health care, social work, adult education and many
other services designed to promote human dignity. Global changes
in politics, economics and society in recent decades challenge
an increasing number of sisters to minister especially to those
relegated to the margins of society and whose voices generally
remain unheard: women and children, the old and the sick, peoples
and minorities under threat, refugees and migrants and, increasingly,
those living with HIV/AIDS.
In all this the Servants of the Holy Spirit ceased long ago to
regard their mission as a “one way street” but rather
as an exchange between north and south, east and west, as journeying
together in the one mission. Today “Holy Spirit Missionary
Sisters” from all continents live and work together in international
and intercultural communities, uniting their strengths and abilities
to realize their missionary service. In this way they fulfill
the original vision of Arnold Janssen, Helena Stollenwerk and
Hendrina Stenmanns: “May the love of the Triune God be known
everywhere and may the Heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all
people.”
Sr. Maria Petra Schuettenkopf SSpS |
