The Association of Major Superiors of Religious Women (hereafter, the 'AMSR') in Korea held its 42nd Plenary Assembly at Aaron Retreat House in Suwon from November 3 to 6, 2009.

Sr. Mary Aquina Youn Jeong-ok, Provincial Superior of the Sisters of Notre Dame in Korea, was nominated as the 17th President of the AMSR. She will represent the AMSR for three years starting from 2010.

Sr. Youn, took a permanent vow in 1992, studied social welfare at St. Louis University in the Philippines and finished the course of christian social welfare studies at Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg in Germany. She became the Provincial Superior of the Sisters of Notre Dame in Korea in 2008.

In an interview with the Peace Weekly, Sr. Youn said, "Along with my fellow sisters, I will ponder on the answer to the true incarnation as a sister following the footsteps of Christ."

She also said, "It is a common mission of the religious institutes to return to the intrinsic nature of the religious life, as the women religious societies are facing now the temptation of secularization, as well as the challenge of the changing society." She continued, "As we can find the origin of the religious life in Jesus Christ who literally abided with the poorest of the poor in his whole life, we have to devote ourselves in the apostolic activities for 'the most marginalized of the marginalized'."

Besides, the AMSR issued a closing statement of the Plenary Assembly. In the statement the AMSR manifested its resolution: to live a life centering on the Word following Christ radically; to practice personal or common prayer; to live a contemplative life sharing the experience of divine mystery; to promote a creative leadership overcoming the regional and positional boundary of the sisters in Asia and Oceania, as well as the limits of the response method.

The AMSR also announced that the 'Academy for the apostolic spirituality in parish' will start in March, 2010, as it was decided at the 41st Plenary Assembly. This is a professional program for the sisters practicing parish apostolate ministry to promote their perpetual spiritual holiness and vocation of mission, as well as to help their search for identity.