On Saturday 28 September, Sr Susan Flood OSU, Provincial of the Australian Ursulines and a member of the Council of Catholic Religious Australia, was elected as the Prioress General of the Ursulines of the Roman Union, which is present in 39 countries and has more than 1,500 members. Sue is the first Australian to be elected to this important role, which is based in Rome, the term of office is eight years.

*Sue Flood OSU meeting Pope Francis, September 2019*

Sue is joined in this ministry of leadership with five other sisters from Indonesia, England, Poland, Brazil and Senegal.

On 3 October the members of the chapter were received in private audience by Pope Francis. Sue, in her greeting to Pope Francis, said the following:

“As Ursuline sisters, we deeply appreciate the leadership that you offer, and, hopefully, we can learn from you as we move into this new stage of our journey as daughters of Angela Merici. Like you, we also want to share the message of Jesus with clarity and conviction.

“Holy Father, we acknowledge the contribution that you are making for our Church and within our world today. In particular we value your commitment to the poor and the marginalised; your desire to stand with migrants and refugees; the strength with which you speak for the created world; and your efforts to build inter-faith dialogue.

We recognise that you do not only speak about these matters. You also act whenever you can. You are not afraid to be amongst the people, to take upon yourself ‘the smell of the sheep’ as you encouraged us in “Evangelii Gaudium”. Thank you for that.

We assure you that we support your efforts to build a more inclusive church, a church that is open and responsive, a church that is truly hopeful and joyful.”

CRA President, Peter Carroll FMS said, “It is wonderful to see an Australian sister like Sue, who has a passion for proclaiming the Good News, take up this leadership role on a global level at a time of challenge and hope in our Church.”

Media Enquiries

Sylvia MacRitchie-Hook | M: 0401 644 356 | E: comms@catholicreligious.org.au