Between October 2025 and January 2026, Sisters Maria Teresa Cuervo and Maggie D’Costa will make the visit of the General Team to various countries of the Province of Vedrun America.
This is the first chronicle of their visit, from November 3 to 16, 2025, during which they shared with the 17 sisters who form the two Vedruna communities in Argentina: in Merlo, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, and in Suipacha, 120 km from the capital.
We were able to share at various times the Word of God in community: an experience that always strengthens us all. The community dialogues and informal encounters with the neighbors while walking around the neighborhood helped us to get to know the relationship and mutual affection of both sisters and neighbors. We were also present during the celebration of the feast of tradition: it was a beautiful moment of sharing in relaxation, with informality, joking, enjoying a delicious Argentinean barbecue, around the grill, typical food of this nation.
Merlo Community
In this community, the sisters participate in the animation of the Christian community in the different chapels of the area, which are a total of 11. They also collaborate with the attention of the popular pharmacy, receiving the medicines and distributing them according to the needs, as well as providing the service of taking blood pressure and measuring glucose.
Walking through the neighborhood, visiting families, being attentive to those who are sick is a gesture that we perceive that the neighbors are very grateful for.
A nice space that they also take care of are the days when they share the Word of God with people who wish to do so, coming to the house.
One of the sisters is a volunteer at the Bondad house in Ayacucho, B.A. It is a place where people in very difficult situations and almost always in a terminal state of life go to die. The accompaniment she has for this transit is very humanizing.
Suipacha Community
In this community there is a community of elderly or sick sisters. In addition, some of the sisters go out to visit the families of the sector, especially the sick or people who are alone. The sisters are present in a special way in situations of pain or suffering of the families, as well as in some celebratory event. The sporadic presence in the school for certain celebrations is another way of getting closer to the teachers and students who always demand and long for our presence.
Here the population has a vivid memory and a special affection for Leonor Maturana, one of the first Vedruna Sisters to arrive in Argentina in 1913. She is remembered for her missionary sense, closeness to the people, educator, counselor, among other things…
Sister Trinidad Vicandi, always attentive to the needs of the people, is also very well known and remembered. She immediately perceived the lack of attention to the elderly and founded an old people’s home that is still functioning. She also realized that in the hospital the workers did not have vacations, so she herself organized for them two or three days of rest, looking for the resources creatively for this activity. It was very common to see her pedaling her tricycle around town, collecting donations.
Animation teams of the Vedruna schools
In Argentina, we have four schools. We had the opportunity to meet with the life animation teams of these centers.
Each of them shared with us the current situation of the school, the type of student they are forming, envisioning the future of children in a reality that awaits them with many needs, and the need to respond with creativity and determination. The challenge is not easy but they have bet on it.
It is important to note that the characteristic notes of the four schools are: to form students, in solidarity, attentive to reality, with the possibility of responding from the Charism and the Gospel, with an experience of inclusion, capable of establishing relationships with others, that is, taking into account the elements of the Vedruna Educational Proposal.
In this dynamic the parents are integrating, some more than others, but the effort and effort is that most of them are involved in the educational-formative processes that the school offers. We also understand the need for teachers to be trained in the Vedruna Charism.
We were very happy to see the enthusiasm of the schools for the bicentennial celebration, expressed in the different activities they are carrying out. In Vedrunamerica the venue for the celebration is Suipacha and it will be held on February 28th. They are already preparing and are with a logistical deployment to involve the schools of the continent.
Assembly in Suipacha
All the sisters of the country participated in this meeting on the theme “Synodality and Shared Leadership”.
Some of the resonances of the participants were:
- Whenever we meet with the sisters of the General Team, we feel that they have the gift of encouragement and our sense of belonging is strengthened.
- The topics covered were very interesting and there was a great willingness to listen.
- The day was intense but bearable; it left us with a lot of material to reflect on and bring to life.
- The community meetings prepared us well and allowed us to go deeper.
- The presence of the Spirit is felt when the whole group is together.
- They have been very rich days: the meetings in each community invited us to be happy, to live with joy and to transmit it to others.
- The work of the day was practical and current, uniting the Chapter document Born Again, the Word of God and the word of Joaquina. There was a lot of participation and the meeting did not become heavy.
- The theme of diversity was very enriching: it helps us to grow. The sharing in the groups and in the plenary was also valuable.
- The plenary was very appreciative of the participation of the group in the different topics to be dealt with during this last stage, and expressed its happiness for the joint discernment for decision making and the ability to reach consensus and accept differences with serenity.
It has caught our attention…
Something curious for us is the amount of bakeries that there are and the diversity of products they offer: facturas, media lunas, or empanadas. Normally, to arrive at a place is to sit down and savor a coffee and a media luna. Cheese is a must in our culinary recipes.
The Argentine pampas is beautiful and even more so with the amount of cattle grazing large tracts of land or the wheat, sorghum and corn fields. It is to look at the horizon and not find the end.
The people are very friendly and respectful. Their tone and Argentine accent when speaking is striking, with the particular pronunciation of the “ll” or “y”, and the use of “vos”.
This is the second chronicle of this visit. You can already read the other accounts of this trip:
