Australian Sr Oonah O’Shea NDS has been elected the new president of the International Union of Superiors General. Source: UISG.
Her election took place during the Delegates’ Assembly, held in Rome earlier this month as part of the broader 2025 Plenary process.
Sr Oonah, a member of the Congregation of Notre Dame de Sion, is an Australian religious sister born in 1946 to Irish parents.
The USIG said Sr Oonah brings to her new role a “profound commitment to justice, interreligious dialogue, and the empowerment of marginalised communities, shaped by decades of pastoral, educational, and leadership experience”.
Sr Oonah began her professional journey as a primary school teacher in Catholic schools and was actively involved in the Young Christian Workers movement.
In 1968, she entered her religious congregation and continued her service through teaching and further studies in theology, politics, and economic history. A formative year spent in Israel deepened her understanding of faith and intercultural engagement.
In 1990, Sr Oonah co-founded a mission in a rural area of the Philippines, where she lived for 20 years. Her work included collaboration with lay catechists, the founding of an NGO focused on empowering poor rural women, and active membership in the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines.
Elected as Congregation Leader of her order in 2010, Sr Oonah completed her first term and was re-elected in 2022. She is serving her second term, which will continue until 2028.
In accepting her new role as president of the union, Sr Oonah addressed the assembly with words of both encouragement and humility:
“Thank you to each one of you for your dedication as women religious in today’s world. Let us move forward together, committed to our Church and to our God, as women called to be a beacon of light in many of the challenging realities we face across the globe. I ask for your prayers as I take on this role.”
FULL STORY
Sr Oonah O’Shea Elected as New President of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG)
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