About Us
The Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Good Counsel operates in federations. It is not an International Congregation. These federations share a common Charism and Spirituality.
- Sisters of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Chicoutimi – Canada
- Sisters of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Mbarara – Uganda
- Sisters of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Byumba – Rwanda
- Sisters of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Chile – S. A
The Institute of the Sisters of Our Lady of Good Counsel came into existence at the request of the late Bishop of Rwenzori Vicariate the Rt. Rev. Francis Xavier Lacoursiere W.F. to the Superior General of the Sisters of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Chicoutimi Canada, Mother Helen to come and help in the diocese in 1934. The Vicariate comprised of Ankole, Kigezi, Tooro and Bunyoro the present Metropolitan Mbarara Archdiocese. The needs of this vast area initiated the decision to ask assistance from Canada his homeland, through Father Antoine Caumartin.
The Community was founded in 1939, in Mbarara diocese, Uganda, E. Africa by the Canadian Sisters of Our Lady of Good Counsel when the first group of four Sisters arrived in Uganda. Until 1957, the professed Sisters were part of the Canadian Congregation. It was on 26th September 1957, that the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Mbarara was erected by the Rt. Rev. John Mary Ogez the then Bishop of Mbarara diocese.
“Considering the need of an African Congregation of Sisters for the districts of Ankole and Kigezi in my diocese, I formally erect as an independent diocesan Congregation of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Chicoutimi, Canada.
The special aim of the Congregation will be: teaching of catechumens and school children in the catechumenate and parochial schools, the education of young girls, the care of the sick in the dispensaries and hospitals, as well as any other work, which the Diocesan Authority and the Superiors of the Congregation may judge necessary or useful to the Church.”
Although our Institute is diocesan we respond to the needs of the church by being missionaries. In 1961, we opened a community in Worcester – USA. Since 1964, the Sisters of Our Lady of Good Counsel have been working in Kigoma diocese in Tanzania, as of now we have 4 communities and one in Bukoba diocese. In Rwanda, to work with Canadian Sisters in founding a Congregation of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Byumba in 1981. In 2007 took up leadership and formation of the presentation sisters in Malawi to help out in the re-founding of the latter.