For they have shown great love Father Lataste (Japanese)

44 vues • 20/06/2017 • 29:44

Today, Net for God invites you to discover the vocation and the beauty of the charism of the Dominican Sisters of Bethany. Resident in several European countries, they are a religious congregation who gather together in a contemplative life, women who have come out
of prison, with a painful past, and other women whose lives have not been so turbulent.
All these religious consecrate their lives to God in a fraternal communion of mercy, that has discretion as its basis.

But where does the miracle of the Dominican Sisters of Bethany ultimately come from?
The ability of these sisters to live out this “fraternal communion of mercy” is built upon
a message of hope. This message was brought to them in 1864, by Father Jean-Joseph Lataste, a French Dominican, when he preached a retreat for women held at the prison of Cadillac,
in Gironde, France.

During the retreat, the young preacher was deeply moved by his encounter with these women whom he came to know as his “dear sisters”. He was amazed to notice that someone whose life is ravaged by crime can experience a surprising inner freedom when they encounter
the infinite mercy of God.

Father Lataste would follow through on the intuition he received whilst praying alongside
the prisoners: this was to create a Dominican congregation where female prisoners would
be integrated with other sisters who had less difficult pasts.


The distrust of society towards these women on leaving prison led him to write and publish “The Rehabilitated Women”, a 76 page booklet presenting the project of the new foundation called The House of Bethany. Father Lataste thus challenged public and political opinion:
“If these women prisoners are fully rehabilitated in the eyes of God, why should our society continue to exclude them when they come out of prison?”

In May 1866, despite many difficulties, the foundation was strengthened by the providential arrival of Mother Henri Dominique, a sister from the “Presentation de Tours”, who became the first superior of Bethany. In July 1866, a house was found in Frasne-le-Château
near Besançon. In this way the House of Bethany was founded on the 14th August 1866. Gradually the first sisters and rehabilitated prisoners arrived. They would be succeeded
by many others as the years went by and the foundation would grow in other countries,
right up to today.

The story of Father Lataste and the Dominican Sisters of Bethany carries an important message about how the mercy of God can operate in our hearts; we cannot remain indifferent!

Ce film est réalisé par la Communauté du Chemin Neuf via le réseau international de prière « Net for God ».

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