Tours (France), 10/11/2023, Sr. Rosario A. Garcés del Castillo.- On Monday, October 2nd, 2023 at 11 a.m. in the presence of the authorities of the Department, the City of Tours, the Regional Health Agency, the president and the Board of Admintration, the Director General of the Leopold Foundation Bellan, the staff of the EHPAD and of the Congregation, we gathered in the Auditorium for the official opening of the EHPAD de la Grande Bretèche.
We present to you the words that Sr. Véronique Margron, provincial superior, addressed to the assembly. There is also a video of this ceremony and some photos.
Dear Sisters and Friends,
The congregation decided on this project almost 10 years ago, right here, by a vote of delegates from all the countries where we are present. To decide on the transformation of the House so that it can continue to be what it was made to be: the House of the sisters, wherever they come from, but also that of many others, open to the city and far beyond, especially now through the EHPAD and the senior residence. It was a difficult vote, so dear is this place to us, and any change is a risk that leads to the unknown. The project that has taken shape over the years is all the more essential and far-reaching for the entire congregation. Today, our House would like to reflect what breathe at the heart of our religious life: human concern in favor of others, especially the most fragile; modestly as much as truly supporting the lives of women and men in distress, in precariousness, waiting.
Ante todo, quiero dar las gracias de todo corazón a las hermanas de la Casa. Durante casi 10 años, viven en medio de un trabajo incesante para hacer posible la construcción del EHPAD y ahora de la residencia senior. Hemos aprovechado la ocasión para dar una renovación a la cara de toda La Bretèche, para hacerla más bonita y moderna, al menos eso espero. Lo verán con la nueva capilla en el corazón de la capilla histórica, la zona del museo, el taller de nuestra escultora, sor Marie Séraphie, y la renovación del jardín de invierno, el auditorio donde nos encontramos, sin olvidar el magnífico nuevo archivo general. Nuestro más sincero agradecimiento a las hermanas de la Casa, incluidas aquellas que se convirtieron en las primeras residentes del EHPAD y aceptaron este viaje, quizás corto en distancia pero muy real en nuestros corazones. Gracias también a los empleados que nos han acompañado en estos viajes de trashumancia y siguen haciéndolo.
First and foremost, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the sisters of the House. For almost 10 years now, they have been carrying out incessant work to make possible the construction of the EHPAD (Establecimient d’Hébergement pour Personnes agés dependentes) and now the senior residence. We've taken the opportunity to give the whole of La Bretèche a facelift in terms of beauty and modernity - or so I hope. You'll see this with the new chapel in the heart of the historic chapel, the museum area, the studio of our sculptor, sr Marie Séraphie, or the renovation of the winter garden, the auditorium where we are, not forgetting the magnificent new general archives. Our charm thanks to the sisters of the House, including those who became the first residents of the EHPAD and agreed to this journey, short in distance but real in heart. Thanks also to the employees who have accompanied us on these transhumances and continue to do so.
Thank you to our architects - I salute Bruno Le Moal - artists, project managers, consultants and all the teams and craftsmen who have worked on this House and continue to do so. I'll mention just two names, if you'll forgive me: Lucie Cruchet, our orchestra conductor for all our projects, and of course Xavier Pats, the congregation's advisor, and tireless worker on all our projects.
That recognition of the other as a subject, even in his or her most precarious physical and cognitive state, is at the heart of ordinary practice. As far back as the 1960s, sociologist Erving Goffman spoke of the "desecration of personality" as an invasion of patients' privacy. Allow me, Mr. Lainé, Mr. Llorens, Mrs. Barbe and your teams, to expect and hope that this place of life will demonstrate its infinite consideration for each and every one of its patients, in the smallest of ways, according to the guiding principle of the Foundation, against all desecration.
Thank you to all of you, Sr. Véronique Margron, provincial Superior of France. La Grande Bretèche, October 2, 2023.