The Holy Family of Bordeaux   

Services of the General Administration

The Support Community works closely with the General Community at the service of the whole Family. Its members may be drawn from any region or country where the Holy Family is present. Internationality is, therefore, a characteristic of the community. It usually numbers about 20.

For a brief account of some of the services provided by the General Administration scroll down the page.

Archives
The general archives of the Holy Family are kept at the Generalate. They were begun in 1831-1832 under the direction of the Founder. Like all archives they contain documents of historical, administrative and general interest which have been preserved from the foundation and are constantly receiving additions.

Like those of any religious institute the Holy Family archives have an important spiritual dimension. They enable us to see God's action in the Church and the world through the life and work of our members from the first days of our foundation. Belonging as we do to a worldwide religious family we have this universal aspect in mind when we transmit information and documents.

The archivist's task is to conserve the material already in the archives, to record additional documents, to reply to researchers who write for material and to assist those who come to the Generalate to work.

Communications
The Communication-Information Service (ComInfo Service) was set up in 1973 to facilitate communion among all the members of the Religious Institute and to strengthen the links between it and the other Holy Family vocations. It invites all to an authentic sharing of faith, of life experience and to commitment in the common mission. The Service is co-ordinated from the Generalate by a team of three sisters each representing one of the official languages.

Publications
The ComInfo Service is responsible for three publications,

Interconnections: the news bulletin of the Religious Institute, published 3-4 times a year. It is primarily for disseminating information and news of the life and ministries of the sisters throughout the world.

Echoes:  a report produced whenever there is an international meeting of members of the Religious Institute. Its purpose is to give brief, rapid feedback to those who were not at the meeting.  

Agape: an annual review written for and by the members of all four vocations of the Holy Family. It has two thrusts: to deepen together our understanding of our common charism and to strengthen unity through sharing information about our involvement in the mission of the Church, according to our different vocations. 

E-mail: sfbinfo@pcn.net

Secretariat
The Secretary General, together with a team of secretaries, is responsible for keeping up-to-date records of all that pertains to the life of the Religious Institute and, on occasion, of the wider Family. She collects and preserves documents and acts which are relative to the life and government of the Institute.

The official languages of the Religious Institute are English, French and Spanish. All materials are produced in these three languages. Each member of the team of secretaries works in one of the languages and in conjunction with the General Councillor responsible for that language area.