St. Michael Formation Centre-Mbarara, Uganda
The then, Bishop of Rwenzori vicariate Bishop Francis Xevia Lacoursiere thought of requesting the Canadians to send him some Good Counsel Sisters to come and help him (1936).
The Superior General Sr. Hellen, by then asked Bishop Charles lamarche the Bishop of that time in Canada. He accepted and asked the Sisters to write and 100 Sisters wrote in request and only 4 Sisters were chosen i.e; Mama Redemptor, Mama Bruno, Mama Yosefu and Leo. The letter was written in 1937, replied the same year and Sisters selected in the same year. When the day of arrival was communicated, the priests and Christians of Nyamitanga gathered and prayed for the safe journey of the Sisters. They spent more than a month on the way. They left for Montreal their city on 2nd October and passed through Paris and the Red sea and reached Mombasa on 8th November where they found Bishop Lacoursiere waiting for them and they then reached Nyamitanga on 12th November where they found priests, some Bana Bikira Sisters and Christian waiting to welcome them. When they reached there, some girls including Fransiska and Rosa were asked to teach them vernacular.
In 1929, the first Postulancy was started and the Novitiate started in 1943 the delay was because of the 2nd world war which broke off before the acceptance letter was got from Canada. The first profession took place in 1945. The Indigenous Sisters started the Apostolate in different parishes and then Bishop took them to Butare where the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix who later went to Entebbe were staying. In Butare, the Sisters with the help of Canadian Sisters found the Dispensary and so the apostolate continued to grow and Indigenous Sisters continued to grow in numbers.
In 1956, Mama Redemptoris wrote a letter to Canada requesting for independence of the Sisters and on 26/9/ 1957, Bishop Ogez pronounced the independence and the Institute became African Sisters of Our Lady of Good Counsel.
The community of Goods:
We have the Spirituality of St. Augusine which originated from our Founder Bishop Thomas Labrecque and it is a Spirituality of “Contemplation in Action”. The Rule of St. Agustine asks to bring together our community of goods.