“The path of FEDEAR* is part of our lives” said the president, Marie-Lise MILHE in her welcome message for this last Congress. We were 137 gathered at the “Bon Pasteur” of Angers -France-, coming from all regions and 38 religious congregations. The host was Marie-Laure ROCHETTE. That it was good to meet again, even if we came with apprehension, given the delicate decision to vote -maintenance or dissolution of FEDEAR- in an extraordinary general meeting.
Since 1980, we have changed, physically aged, but in us Life is there!… Marie-Laure DENES put us back in the lived history: mutations of society, of the Church and also of our FEDEAR teams. For her, our DNA is “the experience of encounter, proximity, dialogue“. She pointed out to us that FEDEAR has made the inter-congregations live. She invited us not to let go of the rereading that considers people, not in the moment but in the dynamics of their experience, and to restore the taste for the other, different
Marie-Laure DURAND was responsible for telling us «The final word”. The FEDEAR, coming from various groups of circles*, brought us together. Today, we are living the end of an institution to which we still hold dear. The end is always an outcome, an achievement, the end reveals the meaning. Marie-Laure has no difficulty in proving to us that the end is «the support of life», simply because science reminds us that the end of an organism is the most effective way for the system to live. “The between” death-life is part of our lives, it is a place of struggle lived by many: dismissal, rupture, separation, mourning, failure, exclusion… Life will reappear, it’s obvious. This world has a Creator and also has a purpose. God is present in this death, paschal moment, fruitful, beyond us, to play elsewhere and otherwise.
From where will the Spirit of Life be reborn? Something is preparing, it’s the moment when loss turns into gain. We have to experience a space of faith “laid down but not finished” (2 Co 4,8-9), we have to build a place of trust. Let’s contemplate the cross and Mary (stabat Mater), Mary standing in the “between” death-life… She waits, not alone, in connection with the disciples.
The Board of Directors of FEDEAR wanted to rejoice us in the end. For this, he gave us a big surprise: the rereading entrusted to a participating clown who amazed us by 1 hour and 15 minutes of show. The LIFE is there, the proofreading assures us!…
In Angers, on September 26-28, 2025, we were 4 Daughters of the Holy Spirit: Anne-Geneviève GUERIN, Thérèse LE DENMAT, Jeanne-Yvonne LE BELLEGO and me, Nadette GUYOMARD. With this brief account, I hope to have made you want to know more.
* FEDEAR: Federation of Apostolic Teams of Religious and Religious
* of circles: refers to various groups of people linked by something in common (educational works for children and young people, the world of health, the working class, community services, permanent pastoral care… from 1940 to 1980, all grouped together in FEDEAR from 1981 to 2025).
Marie-Bernadette GUYOMARD, Daughter of the Holy Spirit. Published on 16 October 2025
