Sister Barbara Spears (center right, in orange) attends the ASEC graduation ceremony for women religious in Ghana.
“We celebrate you, Sisters, because you have persevered,” said SNJM Sister Barbara Spears at the graduation ceremony for 64 Sisters in Ghana. Graduates recently completed the Sister Leadership and Development Initiative program presented by the African Sisters Education Collaborative (ASEC). “I believe these Sisters have acquired competencies that will allow them to bring valuable change and growth to their ministries. The skills acquired do not end with the individual Sister, but rather they are tools for service to your congregations, the diocese, communities, society and yes, the people of God.”
Sister Barbara traveled to West Africa for two weeks in August of 2024 as the Board Chair of ASEC to attend joyful celebrations in Ghana and Nigeria, speaking to groups of graduates as they completed ASEC’s three-year program. ASEC, a U.S. organization that serves thousands of Sisters in Africa, has been funding education for 25 years, including leadership development, high school scholarships, higher education and two-year college programs.
SNJM first started relationships with communities in Africa when a group of Sisters traveled to the Southern African country of Lesotho in 1931. Healthcare-focused ministry work during the mission trip led to the creation of several healthcare centers including Lesotho’s Maryland Health Center. Today, SNJM’s Lesotho Province is an active community of over 70 Sisters. Twenty-seven of those Sisters have graduated from ASEC leadership and technology programs in the past decade, and Sister Francina Mokoteli is now Director of ASEC programs in Lesotho.
Education is a core component of many SNJM ministries because of its transformational impact. ASEC’s work supports communities in 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa that face obstacles of poverty, chronic hunger, disease, ecological degradation and violence. Forty-eight percent of Sisters in these countries lack higher education credentials and access to the training they need to effectively carry out their service work (ASEC Congregation Survey, 2019-2020). ASEC programs help Sisters lead with education, strengthening their communities from within and making a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable and marginalized individuals in Africa.
Support of ASEC is part of SNJM’s response to the needs of our world and our commitment to “deepen our capacity to live our oneness and interdependence with the whole Earth community,” (SNJM Acts of the 35th Chapter, 2021). Sister Barbara said to the new group of leaders in Ghana, “We are challenged as women religious to examine the ways in which we can individually and collectively bridge the gap. You and I can do it.”
SNJM Sisters in Lesotho celebrate after completing their ASEC Leadership and Development program.