On the afternoon of Wednesday, September 24, the Enlarged General Council ended with the closing Mass celebrated by the Superior General, Javier Álvarez-Ossorio.
The general tone of the meeting has been marked by a fluent dialogue among all. It was not the aim to reach decisions nor to publish documents, but rather to reflect together on important issues of the life of the Congregation. In this sense, these were really sessions of General Government’s meeting, expanded with the participation of the Major Superiors as counselors.
The participating Major Superiors were:
Jean Blaise Mwanda, Provincial of Africa
Enrique Losada, Provincial of Iberia
Christian Malrieu, Provincial of France
Heinz-Joseph Catrein, Provincial of Germany
Derek Laverty, Provincial of Ireland / England
Juliaan Vandekerkhove, Provincial of Flanders
Piotr Budrewicz, Provincial of Poland
Vinicius Maciel, Provincial of Brazil
Alex Vigueras, Provincial of Chile
Carlos Mendoza, Provincial of Mexico
Raul Pariamachi, Provincial of Peru
Arley Guarin Sosa, Viceprovincial of Colombia
David de la Torre, Viceprovincial of Ecuador
Nugroho Krisusanto, Provincial of Indonesia
Kenji Honma, Provincial of Japan-Philippines
Johnathan Hurrell, Provincial of the United States
The Major Superiors had the opportunity to share how they are doing in their service of authority, their joy and sorrows, and where they found nourishment for themselves to do this service. They offered an assessment on how the decisions of the General Chapter, particularly the document on Mission, have been implemented in their respective communities.
The General Government offered information about its work since the General Chapter and invited them to select topics considered most important to be looked into more carefully later on. One of them was the project of the international community of Leuven.
Time was also allocated to reflect on the Apostolic Exhortation "Evangelii Gaudium". Special attention was also given to the issue of internationality and interculturality, as requested by the last General Chapter to be the subject of reflection throughout the Congregation. Various other issues were also informed and consulted.
From the General Government of the sisters, Aurora Laguarda and Mary McCloskey have participated in a session to share the process they are doing from the time the decision was made at the General Chapter to reconfigure themselves into a single entity up to now, and the steps planned for the coming years.
Finally we must mention the very satisfactory evaluation given by Major Superiors of the welcoming gesture shown by the Generalate community. Both the house facilities as well as the good spirit of everybody have fostered these few days of work, reflection, prayer and fraternity.
In the INFO of October, the Superior General will publish an extensive letter with more information about what has been discussed in the Enlarged General Council.
09/24/2014