“AGE QUOD AGIS” – Do well all that you do
Background:
The Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, well known as Religious of the Good Shepherd was founded in France in 1835 by St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier. She was born on 31st July, 1796 in France. She was gifted with a deep love for humanity and socially marginalized young girls and women. By the time of her death on 24th April 1868, she had founded 110 convents across the world, including one in India in 1854.
At present, Good Shepherd mission partners (sisters and partners-in-mission) are working in 74 countries for the empowerment of girls and women, especially those who are at high risk, thereby bringing healing and reconciliation. The Congregation is affiliated to the United Nations as a not-for-profit organization in special consultative status with ECOSOC.
The mission in India was established on 14th August 1854 through education, health and homes for the disadvantaged children and young girls. Later, it was expanded to the rural areas to promote the rights and the development of Tribal, Dalit and other backward communities including women and children, victims of violence, abuse, discrimination and neglect.
The ministries addressed the following themes: Girl Child, Economic Justice, Anti-Human Trafficking, Safe Migration, Holistic Health, Formal and Non-Formal Education and Integral Ecology, with our interventions based on rights-based approach. We are also present in Nepal since 1998.
For 159 years, Sisters of the Good Shepherd in India functioned as one province as Province of India/Nepal. In order to be more effective in our ministries and for easy administration, the Province of India/Nepal bifurcated in November 2013 into two new provinces namely, Province of South-West India and Province of Central East India/Nepal.
The province of Central East India/Nepal (CEIN) has its Provincialate in Nagpur. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd CEIN are present in 8 states in India, both in rural and urban areas: Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Goa and Assam apart from Nepal.
Honouring the vision of our mother foundress St. Mary Euphrasia, the two schools – one in Chennai, Tamil Nadu (1925) and another in Karjat, Maharashtra (2003) continue to respond relevantly to the signs of time, educating and equipping students to be humane humans.
The institutions owned and managed by the Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd come under the category of Christian Religious Minority Institutions established and administered within the scope and ambit of the safeguards of the Articles 29 and 30 of the Indian Constitution with the right to establish and administer Educational Institutions of their choice.
Our schools are primarily for Catholics and thereafter for other communities, irrespective of religion, race, caste and language.
They are therefore MINORITY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS within the meaning of Article 30 of the Constitution of India. We promote education according to the Christian ideals.
