After a festive evening on 12 June, the final day dawned, Saturday, 13 June, the day on which the Eighth (8th) General Assembly of the Company closed.

Sister Evelyne Franc, re-elected Superioress General on 1st June, addressed the members of the Assembly. Her words, which were principally an expression of thanksgiving, were based on a well-known French hymn: “We give you thanks, Lord, for all your wonder. It is you give us life, it is you give us the Spirit …"

In her estimation, she considered that the members of the Assembly had welcomed and recognised the Spirit of God in one another, discerning respectfully what that same Spirit inspired in each person.

Later in the day, during the closing Eucharistic celebration, Father Gregory Gay, Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission, shared with the Sisters a few words which had struck him during these past few weeks, especially partnership and “connectivity”. He encouraged them to continue to network with others and to continue moving forward in the area of collaboration in the Vincentian Family.

“Through what you have shared these days, be prophetic in and through each of the different pillars that you have focused on in your reflections: by your unfailing faith witness, by your living in trusting communion one with another, in your loving service of those who live in poverty as well as in your deep belonging to the Company of the Daughters of Charity”.

One highlight of the General Assembly was on 4 June, the anniversary of Saint Louise's 'Light of Pentecost'. On that day, Sr Evelyne sent six Daughters of Charity on mission to other lands: Sr Ursula, Province of Krakow, to the Province of Congo-Congo; Sr. Esther and Sr. Toyin, Province of Nigeria, to Burkina Faso; Sr. Marie-Joseph Province of Vietnam to Greece; Sr. Consolación and Sr. Ana Belén Province of San Sebastian to Chad.

This mission 'ad gentes' is one further reason to see the General Assembly as a Pentecostal event.