Gathering of Pauline Cooperators and Friends

On a warm summer evening, on 23 January 2026, Pauline Cooperators and friends of the Pastorelle Sisters gathered in Bundoora to greet our Provincial superior, Sr Purisima Tanedo, visiting the sisters and participating in their annual assembly. For the occasion, we asked Sr Purisima if she would address the group and share something on the life, vocation and mission of our Founder, Blessed James Alberione.

About 35 people attended and were delighted to begin the encounter with a shared meal. For some, the meeting was like catching up with old friends, while for others it was their first time to meet new people and to be introduced to the marvel of Blessed Alberione and the Pauline Family he founded.

Sr Purisima’s presentation was accompanied by a PowerPoint featuring Alberione’s life journey, the charismatic discernment of each of the Institutes he founded with their respective historical challenges and divine intervention. From the very beginning, Alberione considered Pauline Cooperators essential for the fulfilment of the mission of the Pauline Family.

The group listened attentively and some individuals were visibly moved. This man of God emerged from the very humble beginnings of life in a poor farming Christian family, a family that passed on to him a strong work ethic and an unshakeable trust in providence, to becoming the father, the founder of the “marvellous Pauline Family”.

Sr Purisima commented on how Alberione knew from a very early age that he wanted to be a priest, and at the age of 16 on the night of 31 December 1900, after a long period of prayer before the blessed sacrament, God put it into his heart that he should do “something for the Lord and for the men and women of the new century”. And something extraordinary he did.

Through hard work, long hours of prayer, reading the signs of the times and the guidance of his spiritual director, Alberione gave life to ten Institutes, forming the Pauline Family whose reason for being is to live and give Jesus Christ to the world, through the most modern means of social communication.

Sr Purisima, radiating her love and knowledge of Alberione, was able to inspire the group to want to deepen their knowledge of Alberione and the Institutes he founded; to explore the spirituality of the Pauline Family, a spirituality founded on the Eucharist and Sacred Scripture, especially the Gospels and the Letters of St Paul, and, in prayer, to look into one’s own heart to discover where the Lord may be calling each one,  and to hear the same reassuring promise of Jesus that Alberione himself heard at a time when his life was difficult, he was sickly and the road ahead unclear, that is, to believe that Jesus is always with us, till the end of the ages, and that we aspire to keep our hearts free from sin.

At the end of the presentation, Trish, one of our Pauline Cooperators, thanked Sr Puri for a very informative and inspiring presentation that helped the group to know Blessed Alberione better and the fruit of his relationship with God, and his ability to read the signs of the times, that led him to the foundation of the Pauline Family.

In conclusion, the invitation was extended to those who are on the journey to becoming Pauline Cooperators, to pursue their calling with courage and trust.

Sr Mary La Bruna, sjbp