Religious must stress the value of “living witness,” especially in the socio-religious situations found in India, says the visiting head of an Italy-based women’s congregation.

Social and religious plurality “is a challenge everywhere. But in India, it may be more. It should inspire us more to build up the body of Christ through living witness,” said Sister Pier Carla Mauri, superior of the Sisters of Charity of Saints Bartholomea Capitanio and Vincenza Gerosa.

The head of the congregation, more popularly known as the “Maria Bambina Sisters,” is in India this week visiting some 1,800 Indian nuns in eight provinces.

In India, the congregation has a “growing presence” with “great possibilities of expansion” said the nun.

The Maria Bambina Sisters manage homes for orphans, the aged and destitute as well as schools and healthcare institutions.

She said her nuns are involved in “community-based evangelization” especially in India and other Asian nations.

The congregation also has communities in Bangladesh, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal and Thailand.

Sister Mauri said Religious and cultural plurality is becoming a global phenomena. Religious, particularly nuns living closely with people should take care “not to offend” religious sentiments of people of other religions.

“Our life should promote the values of the Kingdom of God. Direct preaching may not be possible always, may be dangerous too.

“Evangelization is witnessing the values of the Kingdom,” she said.

She said the aim of every Religious should be to build up a community of people with values based on truth, justice and love for each other.

“We need to live in unity even if we belong to different religions, caste and ethnic groups,” she said, adding that such a community would press towards the values of the Kingdom.

India has extreme poverty, with millions of people living in sub-human standards while some enjoy affluence, she said. “India’s poverty is a constant challenge” for religious life, Sister Mauri added.

“It helps our sisters to continue their life of simplicity and sobriety,” she said.

In an increasingly secularized world that seeks profit and comforts “people become unable to express the primacy of God.” Religious life becomes relevant “here because Religious keep the presence of God alive before them,” the nun said.

Source: Living witness needed, says Bambina nun (UCAN)

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