Denise Sullivan, IBVM, with her young friends in the Seychelles Seychelles students welcome their new IBVM teacher

On October 27, 2004, Sisters Colette Deasy and Denise Sullivan left their home province of Mauritius to begin a new mission in the Seychelles, a group of more than 100 islands scattered over a million miles of the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa.

Seychelles, you say? For many people throughout the world the mere mention of the name conjures up visions of a lush tropical paradise, and indeed it is. However it is also a place hungry for faith formation. It is this hunger that Colette and Denise will try to satisfy. After more than 20 years of a Marxist Socialist government there is much to do.

On the main island of Mahe, Denise and Colette have begun working where they can best help to develop and to care for the faith among a population that is nominally about 90 % Catholic. Because the people have had no religious formation for a generation there is a critical need for both good teaching and pastoral care. Colette now teaches catechetics in large secondary school; Denise is busy about pastoral work, visiting hospitals and working to empower the laity to take their place in parish life.