Fraternal Meeting of Fr. LEOCIR PESSINI (Camillians),
Mother ZELIA ANDRIGHETTI (Daughters of St. Camillus), and
Mother LAURETTA GIANESIN (women Ministers of the Sick),
and their respective GENERAL COUNCILS

LIVING THE MYSTICISM OF ENCOUNTER

TO BE MEN AND MEN OF COMMUNION

Incontro inter-Congregazionale Camilliano

Characterised by our diversities as people in terms of origins, ages and lives, but having in common the gift of the Lord in our Camillian vocation, on Saturday 24 January we experienced a historic moment – and committed ourselves to it being the first of many others! – of fraternity, of greater knowledge about each other and of a sharing of our hopes, projects and challenges, at the generalate house of the women Ministers of the Sick (Rome).

In us there is a strong wish to serve the Lord in an increasingly better way in our consecration to care for the sick and those who assist them: we have been chosen by the most varied fields of ministry to begin to learn and to grow in the service of coordination and animation of our religious brothers and sisters.

We hereby bring together and share certain healthy provocations for the renewal of our religious vocation which Pope Francis has launched in concomitance with the Year dedicated to Consecrated Life:

• A grateful memory of our past which should be remembered and narrated in order to keep our identity alive.
• The ‘mystery fire’ of our charism filtered by the lives of our Founders made of joys and hopes, pains and trials, to be lived in the kairos-present with Samaritan compassion.
• Our future planned with hope and wished for in a spirit of unity and cooperation – human, intellectual, ministerial, spiritual, formation and managerial resources, moments of spirituality and prayer – to reinforce the unity of the great family of St. Camillus and our feeling of belonging to it.

In a society of difficult coexistence between different cultures and inequalities, we are called to offer a concrete model of community in order to become ‘experts of communion’, by small and humble, decisive and essential, steps, being meek in prophecy and courageous in order to respond with realism and sincerity to the signs of the times; resilient in trials, flexible and generous in responding to the requests for health and salvation of the ‘outskirts’, with realistic creativity in order to mature by serving those in need. We are called to be first and foremost women and men of communion, making ourselves present with courage where there are differences and tensions, with the resolution to become a credible sign of the presence of the Spirit which infuses in hearts the passion that everyone should be one thing (cf. Jn 17:21).

  To give continuity and a practical basis to this first meeting, Fr. Leocir Pessini – the Superior General of the Camillians, Mother Zelia Andrighetti – the Superior General of the Daughters of St. Camillus, and Mother Lauretta Gianesin – the Superior General of the women Ministers of the Sick, have already come to an agreement and have established a small committee for liaison and coordination – with a representative on it from each institute – which can already agree upon the date and the theme of the next meeting and assure greater communication between our institutes!

May Mary Our Lady of Health, St. Camillus, the Blessed Enrico Rebuschini, the Blessed Giuseppina Vannini, the Blessed Luigi Tezza, the Blessed Maria Domenica Brun Barbantini, and our Martyrs to Charity, continue to accompany us, support us, and provoke us with their life witness!

Rome – Saturday, 24 January 2015

PHOTOGALLERY