41 years spent on mission in a foreign country may not change the world but it requires a great capacity to adapt, especially upon returning home after such a long absence. Even though she had to take French language courses on her return to Quebec, Sister Nicole Grégoire, originally from Montreal, quickly took up the torch again, as was reflected in her conference held on February 22, at Maison Jésus-Marie, in Longueuil.
A member of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, also known as the White Sisters of Africa, Sister Nicole spoke enthusiastically about her role as a producer of videos, with the help of volunteers. Incidentally, the success of the experience in Africa with a group of members from different denominations (Jewish, Muslim ...) motivated her to revisit this experience in Quebec. It should be noted that, with her group, she has produced 46 religious videos for national and private television in several African countries.
Formation of catechists and pastoral workers
Committed to the formation of catechists and pastoral workers, she was entrusted with the task of setting up the Commission pastorale de catéchèse de la Tanzanie (Pastoral Catechesis Commission of Tanzania). At the same time, she was giving numerous formation seminars to lay people, religious, indigenous priests and missionaries throughout the country.
Co-author, with Father Michael McGrath, of a series of 32 volumes under the title "Africa: Our Way", Sister Nicole actively participated in the first mission of evangelizing a nomadic tribe of East African herdsmen known as the “Barbaigs”.
Her command of Swahili and English allowed her to continue her work of formation in several other English-speaking African countries. And so, for four years, she crisscrossed through Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Botswana and Namibia, as well as venturing numerous times to the Philippines.