On November 8, 2025, in Flers -commune in the Normandy region, France-, Claudine and Valérie committed themselves as Lay Associates to the spiritual Family Daughters of the Holy Spirit
The celebration took place during the Sunday mass, at St Michel chapel, in a popular neighborhood where a community of Daughters of the Holy Spirit has been present since 2001. That evening, for both known and active in Flers and the diocese, the assembly reflected the image of a singing community, vibrant, in communion of friendship and faith with the event that was being lived.
Fr. Philippe Pottier, vicar general of the diocese, former parish priest and friend of the Congregation, presided over the celebration. In his homily, he enlightened the meaning of the approach of Claudine and Valérie, and those of the 538 Associates from the various countries where the DHS live:
“Some lay people came to knock at the door of your Congregation to ask to live, in a lay situation, the spirituality of the Daughters of the Holy Spirit. What had started them? The meeting and living it with sisters… It is not in the books that it was initiated, but in the sharing of life and commitments, in companionship with a community, with this or that sister … So it has been for you, Claudine and Valérie. In the lifestyle of the community and of the sisters who succeeded each other, in the commitment of another associate who has now passed away, in this “mystique at the heart of the world” as Sr. Anne-Marie Couloigner liked to say, you have discovered a “living source” for your baptismal life, for your commitments, a way of being and living in the Church and at the heart of the world refreshing… Isn’t it also an appeal for all of us this evening and for our places of life in the Church?”
In the continuation of the homily, he mentions a passage from the Charter of Associates: ” We want to become people of blessing and mercy, to be pastors of tenderness, watchmen, attentive to the seeds of life, to the sparks of love present in the world, to be sentinels of hope … “
These simple and strong words will be taken up by participants in the exchanges, during the glass of friendship. For some, Associate’s path was a discovery.
Thank you, Claudine and Valérie, for your approach and for what you expressed in your own commitment: – «I wish to discover more the charism that animates you and live by it, committing myself with you to being close to people who need compassion, attention, mutual aid, and love, simply» Claudine. – “I wish to enter into the missionary spirit of the Daughters of the Holy Spirit, to live and let myself be transformed in the ordinary of my daily life, so that it colors and nourishes my life, my relationship with Christ and others, especially the youngest and most fragile…” Valérie.
The celebration of your commitment, a time of renewal for each one of us, makes us strongly hope that other people will feel called to the path of Associates.
By Sister Thérèse REVAULT, DHS, community Ile blanche. Published on 11 November 2025
The Associates present: Josy Trésor, Josiane le Vézo, Anne Kermen, Marcelle Lelieur, Christiane Lefilleul.
The Daughters of the Holy Spirit present: Sr Françoise Beaumont, Provincial, the Communities of Briouze and Flers, Sr Françoise Lelièvre, Cté de Rennes, Srs Monique Blanchard and Thérèse Revault, Communauté Ile blanche.
