History (Philippines)

The first RGS missionaries came to the Philippines in 1912. They were Irish Sisters who came from their mission in Burma (Myanmar). They crossed the seas for the young students who needed a Shepherd’s care through education in a Catholic School. They opened St. Bridget’s Academy (now St. Bridget’s College) in Batangas.

As the years went on, the meaning of “salvation of souls” was expanded to embrace the girls and women who were to be protected from moral danger or who needed help to reform their lives. The Sisters started the first Good Shepherd ‘home’ in 1921 in Sta. Ana, Manila. The legacy of SME came to life in such as setting for each girl was accepted as someone precious.

The spirit and mission of our first missionaries would outrun the lifetime of that generation of RGS and pass on to later groups. “Souls” again needed rephrasing. They now included women in various difficulties: unwed mothers, prostituted women, battered women, slum dwellers, landless farmers, indigenous groups, overseas contract workers and their families, streetchildren, the most neglected and oppressed.

In this new millennium, the RGS seeks to proclaim the Good News that the Good Shepherd cares yesterday, today and forever. Living out our specific orientation to girls and women, we strive to serve them in the context of the family and the society in which they live. As Good Shepherdesses, we wish to be “Life Bearers” for the poor of our world—following the Good Shepherd who leads us all to FULLNESS OF LIFE.

Vision

We desire a Province of communities of compassion in radical incarnation of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

We dream of a world transformed in Jesus Christ where there is fullness of life for all beings; where no one is marginalized, oppressed or exploited; where everyone enjoys the all-embracing security of God’s care.

Mission

• To live out a spirituality centered in the Heart of Jesus and Mary that is truly contemplative and apostolic;
• To witness to the sacredness of all life valuing the person to be most precious;
• To live a life of availability inserting ourselves among the poor;
• To be the compassion of Jesus, the Good Shepherd to one another in a ministry of servanthood to the excluded;
• To be of humble service to the Church of the Poor with a zeal beyond the ordinary for the empowerment and liberation of persons wounded by sin, both personal and social;
• To proclaim the gospel of reconciliation beyond our frontiers in keeping with the international character of our congregation.

(Provincial Chapter 1997)

For more info about the Good Shepherd Sisters, visit http://www.goodshepherdsisters.org.ph.