SMSM: Missionary Sisters
Sr Catherine Jones SMSM
The Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary (SMSM) originate with the departure of lay missionary Marie Francoise Perroton. She left France for the missions of the Marist Fathers in Oceania in 1845 and spent her life in Wallis and Futuna.
Other women from France and Oceania joined her. After years of searching for how to be missionary, Marist and religious living in community, in 1931 we became Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary.
Today, in the Wellington Archdiocese, you can meet SMSM sisters who have worked in the Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea, Latin America, West Africa, Australia and the Chatham Islands. Many work in refugee and migrant support, interfaith relations, and in various pastoral ministries.
As members of the wider Marist family we look forward in 2016 to celebrating 200 years since the first Marists made their commitment to found the Society of Mary at Fourviere, Lyon in 1816.
The vision that inspired them continues to call us into the future.
Sr Catherine Jones SMSM is a Society of Mary Mission Sister.