Good Shepherd Mission by Sr. Debbie Drago
We are an international congregation with locations on five continents and in 68 countries. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd were founded in 1835 in Angers, France by St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier. Mary Euphrasia believed that God was like a compassionate Shepherd, whose love for us was boundless. She took as her model, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, reaching out to others to awaken in them a sense of their own unique worth and inestimable value. She desired that "No one should be lost in the chaos of the times." Sharing the conviction of our foundress we, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, believe that the heart of Good Shepherd is relationship, expressed through our ministry, community life and prayer. Our mission is based on a tradition and philosophy of a deep and profound respect for the inherent worth of each individual, a regard for the environment and belief in the capacity for personal healing, growth and change. We have a special mission to reach out to those who have in some way been marginalized or left behind in our world. Through our relationships we seek to foster in each person a sense of belonging, dignity and hope.

---

GOOD SHEPHERD SISTERS' DESCRIBE THEIR MISSION

Sr. Maureen talking with students at a Vocation Day at a High School in the St. Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese.

Sr. Mary Gertrude Sen
In my ministry I have met many people who had all kinds of problems. Some of those problems I was able to offer some concrete help, but others were beyond my ability to do anything concrete. In those situations, all I could do was try to have a "welcoming heart" to listen to their difficulties. I found that somehow that positive attitude did transmit some feelings of peacefulness into those troubled hearts and then things gradually worked out better for them.

As a Good Shepherd Sister, I feel that a Shepherd's heart is a heart, which tries to imitate the sentiments of the Divine Shepherd who is always empathic and caring.

Sr. Joan Tubbs
A Shepherd continually cares for his flock as a provider, one who gives security and loses some of the sheep entrusted to his service. His life is spent for the good of the flock. He also protects them from the danger of wild animals and unsafe places, rescuing any who may have wondered away, living on the fringes. His heart is in his life spent for the well-being and careful tending of the flock, even to the point of facing danger and death.

Jesus is the love of God, lived on earth as the Good Shepherd, a title He chose for Himself. Love dwells in the heart and heart equals life. Jesus truly had the Heart of a Shepherd when He gave his life for all persons and died on the cross. St. Mary Euphrasia chose this model to spend one's life like Jesus the Good Shepherd, to care for especially women who have been wounded and rejected by the world in which they live.

Sr. Marian Attig

Lk l5: 4-7 - "Who among you ...I have found my sheep that was lost."

Here speaks the heart of Shepherd intent to: -Strengthen what is weak
bind up what is broken - bring back what was driven away - preserve what is well and strong. The Shepherd's heart burns with zeal to reconcile souls to God and his joy is to seek them out and reunite them with God. St. John Eudes may have said it best about a sister: "Her light must be bright and brillant and it must come for a torch so flaming and piercing that it cannot be extinguished."