Brothers of the Good Shepherd

Having informed readers of the foundation of the Little Sisters of the Good Shepherd, the sister congregation of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, and also the first reception of the veil, we have the greatest pleasure in informing you of another excellent initiative of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, a congregation of brothers, the Institute of the Angelus, as an house of formation for brothers ad experimentum under the moderation of M. l'Abbé Regis Spinoza.


The Institute proclaims its belief that the vocation of male religious should be better known to raise a revival among younger generations who too often think of brothers as "people who failed to become priests." This is obviously wrong, they rightly say, because the brothers are souls who are chosen of God to serve His Church and by the evangelical counsels of obedience, poverty and chastity who are, like the Lord, giving their lives for the glory of God and the salvation and sanctification of souls. Thus, the image of the friar "tuck" in Robin Hood and other images having a similar purpose to destroy the real meaning of the gift of self through various ministries in which the brothers can thrive from any point of view.


The Brothers of the Good Shepherd will be in two branches, first, the teaching Brothers. Some of them have opted to serve young people by introducing them to art or crafts. The Institute of the Angelus is developing this educational project. The brothers teachers will receive adequate training to their condition. In fact, over two years, which correspond to the "year of formation" and "novitiate", they are trained in spiritual, liturgical and doctrinal teaching. It is required for the Brothers secondary education. Some are going to university by correspondence at the end of "noviciate", after receiving the habit, at least for the standard license to teach in secondary schools. Others will deal with the administrative organization of the school. In the third year, following their commitment to the Institute and private vows, to be renewed every five years, they will receive additional training depending on the educational choices they have made.


The second branch will be coadjutor Brothers, who will receive training in their own spiritual state ("Catechism of the vows") and in areas of liturgical and doctrinal instruction. They will mostly develop their ability to perform manual activities serving not necessarily in a school.

Prise d'Habit - Petites Soeurs du Bon Pasteur

On 19th June 2009, two foundresses of the excellent Little Sisters of the Good Shepherd were received in simple vows and took the veil in the Church of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, St. Eloi in Bordeaux. With a number of professed Sisters and a new home at Bargemon near Cannes, the Little Sisters are now ready to receive postulants.




Notre Seigneur, Bon Pasteur, nous Vous prions de protéger les Petites Soeurs!

Petites Soeurs du Bon Pasteur - Nouvelles

The Institute of the Good Shepherd have informed us that their excellent initiative, a congregation of Apostolic Sisters known as the Little Sisters of the Good Shepherd, whose foundation has previously been reported in CHRISTVS REGNAT, now situated in the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon, is ready to admit candidates to a year of spirituality to begin in September, 2010. Young ladies who are less than 35 years of age and of good character can contact the Little Sisters:

By e-mail at: soeursdubonpasteur@hotmail.frBy telephone at: 00.33.06.66.06.47.94
By post at: Les Petites Soeurs du Bon Pasteur,
Presbytere,17, Rue Marceau,
83830 Bargemon,
FRANCE.


The Little Sisters are affiliated to the Institute of the Good Shepherd and are directed by M. l'Abbé Henri Forestier, I.B.P., formerly rector of the Institute's Seminary at Courtalain. The Spiritual Life of the Sisters is founded upon the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. Please spread the news to all!


Notre Dame de la Bergerie, priez pour nous!

News from the Seminaire St. Vincent de Paul

After only four years, the Institute of the Good Shepherd's Seminary of St. Vincent de Paul has seen remarkable growth both in numbers and in strength. Recently, news was posed in French on their website. It translates roughly as follows:

After the ordinations of July 4 at St. Anne d'Auray, where Fathers Beaugrand and Raffray were ordained, the seminary has (almost) emptied of its occupants for a well deserved holiday before a sizeable inflow. Indeed, the seminary is entering its fourth year and this means that we open the cycle of theology in September 2009. For the more senior seminarians who have completed their year of spirituality and their two years of philosophy Courtalain will be able to continue their training on site by commencing the study from September of Catholic theology. This is a milestone because it shows that the seminary of St. Vincent de Paul has reached a certain maturity that allows it to provide comprehensive training for future priests.

The venture commenced three years ago when there opened in France a traditional seminary under the auspices of the Institute of the Good Shepherd that we hoped would be successful and that, by the Will of God, we would be able to answer the call of the Pope who recalled the necessity of the seminary in the life of the Church during his catechesis on 19 August:

"Foundations laid during seminary training, are the irreplaceable "spiritual soil", in which we can "learn Christ" by gradually letting ourselves be configured to Him, the one true High Priest and Good Shepherd. Time at the seminary should be regarded as the realization of the moment when the Lord Jesus, after calling the apostles before sending them to preach, granted their request to stay with him (cf. Mk 3 14).

The faculty of the Seminaire St. Vincent has changed this year as l'Abbé Henri Forestier, IBP, having successfully undertaken for three years the heavy task of the foundation of this house, has left the seminary to direct the Little Sisters of the Good Shepherd full time; l'Abbé Yannick Vella leaves the faculty to join the staff of the parish of Saint-Eloi in Bordeaux. We wish to express our gratitude for the work they have completed while at the seminary.

Providence is good. Since l'Abbé Emmanuel Ducla, IBP has been conferred with his licentiate in Canonical and Dogmatic Theology this month, he will begin to teach these subjects to the Fourth Year Seminarians. l'Abbé Leszek Krolikowski will continue to give courses in philosophy and moral theology, in addition to his PhD in philosophy at the Angelicum in Rome. The younger generation of the Institute is will represented by l'Abbé Stefano Carusi who will undertake the teaching of Latin and Greek and Ecclesiastical History. l'Abbé Matthew M. Raffray begins his first year of priesthood by teaching our courses in philosophy and theology.

Finally, I will assume the office of rector of the seminary and undertake particularly the education of first-year seminarians and ensuring the general introduction to Sacred Scripture. We will be aided by some outsiders who transmit their knowledge and apostolic flame, especially l'Abbé Paul Aulagnier through his course on the recent history of the Church.

Seminarians return to Courtalain Saturday, September 19 and will begin the year with a retreat preached by l'Abbé Chanut which will launch the Holy Year of Priests of the Holy Father. Then we receive the fourteen new candidates that come from around the world to increase the Institute of the Good Shepherd. With twenty-seven seminarians, three brothers and five teachers, the house begans to crack at the seams and this presents us with difficulties of all kinds. It is urgent for us to make the investments necessary to accommodate these young people open to God. Also, we are asking for your generosity to give us the means to carry out the noble work of training future priests.

l'Abbé Roch Perrel, IBP
Rector

The Little Sisters of the Good Shepherd

On 8th September, 2008, M. l'Abbé Philippe Laguérie, I.B.P., celebrated Mass in the small chapel of the Chateau of Arrou.

L'Abbé Laguérie, is the Moderator General of the Institute of the Good Shepherd. The Mass marked the foundation of the Little Sisters of the Good Shepherd, les Petites Soeurs du Bon Pasteur, something akin to the 'second order' of the Institute of the Good Shepherd.

The Little Sisters are seen above with M. l'Abbé Forestier, I.B.P., who is the Rector of the Institute's Seminary at Courtalain, during a pilgrimage made to the shrine of the Little Flower at Lisieux on 8th December, 2008. The formation of the Little Sisters is taking place at the Chateau of Arrou, which you can see below, not far from Courtalain, to the west of Chartres.

The sisters, now four in number, have come together to be formed in the spirit of the Institute of the Good Shepherd as apostolic sisters in accord with the vision of St. Vincent de Paul, the great Apostle of Charity.

Their beginnings, like those of the Good Shepherd, Himself, and like the beginnings of the works of St. Vincent de Paul, are humble and hidden.

However, they promise great things for the future. The Little Sisters of the Good Shepherd have entered upon an heroic journey to create a religious Institute, living the burning zeal of apostolic Charity while maintaining the great traditions, not only of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, but also that traditional religious life that was so often France's great gift to the Church.

Their website states that, as with the Institute of the Good Shepherd, itself, the proper Rite of the Little Sisters will be the Traditional Roman Rite contained in the Liturgical Books of 1962. May the good God grant them increase of holiness and increase of sisters!