Warsaw, 19 May 2015
The House of Hospitality and Welcome of the Barnabites
Meeting of the Superior General and the General Consultors with the Provincial Superiors, the Vice-Provincials and the Delegates
Tuesday 19 May 2015
The chairman of the assembly on this day was Fr. Laurent Zoungrana (the Vicar General of the Order). Those taking part in this meeting were all present.
The morning session was opened by an introductory prayer and an invocation of the Holy Spirit.
Fr. Aris Miranda, the General Consultor for Ministry, presented his report on the sector of ministry. He concentrated on certain general projects for the revitalisation of our charism in the active exercise of ministry while waiting to be able to complete the team of the Secretariat for Ministry with the people who would act as reference points for the various geographical areas of the world.
Definition of the question: consecrated life (the Camillian life, in particular) is threatened by the loss of its fundamental values and meaning, by a fragmentation of the approaches and the programmes of ministry, and by the absence of passion and creativity in living our charism (cf. The Camillian Project, 2013).
Challenge: ‘Starting afresh from our witness to the merciful Christ’, subjecting our activity to critical and authentic discernment in order to achieve the (interior) revitalisation and (exterior) reorganisation of the Order.
Programmes, Objectives, Strategies and Activities
| Programmes | Objectives | Strategies |
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Revitalisation (interior) |
Broadening the horizons of the actuation of the Camillian charism by integrating forms of care with the great challenges of the world of health and health care, such as prevention (of illnesses) and the promotion of public health (cf. agenda n. 4).
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* Involvement in health-care programmes that develop and implement the capacities of the most vulnerable people who do not have access to health-care services.
* Relaunching of the forum of Camillian physicians and its extension to professionals of the health-care sector who are members of the great Camillian family with a view to the formation of a group of medical doctors (Foreign Medical Team – FMT) which is ready to respond to disasters and emergencies (cf.. WHO)
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Organising a common project on formation and research in the field of pastoral care and health and revitalising the ministry of chaplaincy.
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* The coordination of all the Camillian centres for humanisation and pastoral care in health of each macro-region under the supervision of the Camillianum (cf. OG # 13). | |
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Assessing our communion with the local Churches and collaboration with lay people and coordinating our ministry with the pastoral needs and plans of the local Churches. (cf. agenda n. 3).
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Reinforcing our presence in the local Churches, through the Camillian religious who exercise the ministry of parish priest and/or rector as well. |
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Reorganisation (exterior) |
Promoting a change of mentality with respect to inter-regional/Provincial cooperation and changing our outlook: this means that the Order should be lived as a body, a single organism, even though multiform and diversified, seeking a renewed efficacy in harmony of the various forms of cooperation, in a synergy of the very many resources that are made available by divine Providence.
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Reintroducing the political project for a consortium of all the Camillian NGOs in order to respond in a more effective way to situations that are economically and materially difficult on the lower part of the socio-economic pyramid which are socially marginalised, culturally silenced and politically excluded.
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The Camillian Task Force towards its institutionalisation: the project for the years 2014-2020 (starting with the strategic conference organised in Bangkok at the end of 2013).
At the present time there are four projects underway: in Kenya, the Philippines, Nepal and Sierra Leone.
Kenya (on the border with Somalia, in the north-east of Kenya): this is a food security and health education project. The objective is to reduce the dependence of these people on the external supply of food by humanitarian organisations and to help them to produce food in an autonomous way through the use of technology.
The Philippines (two projects): reforestation of the coconut plantations after the great Bofan typhoon and the reconstruction of the resilience of the community after that traumatic event with the aim of strengthening the resilience of the survivors (our role is to help them to develop the dynamics of resilience).
Sierra Leone (the diocese of Makeni): this is a project shared by Camillians, the Lay Camillian Family and Camillian women religious and has the goal of strengthening health-care institutions and supporting families and basic communities with psycho-social programmes after the emergency generated by Ebola.
Nepal: after the dramatic and recent earthquake, after investigating the needs, a team of twelve workers (Camillians and men and women religious of other Congregations) is organising initiatives of a health-care character.
In the face of the impact of disasters, it is possible to intervene on the front of the suffering and the pain of humanity. When one speaks about a disaster one is speaking about the vulnerability of man: the more he is vulnerable (in social and environmental situations which are already fragile and poor), the more the effects will have an impact.
Vulnerability is a Camillian field: it calls our attention to social exclusion, to poverty, to marginalisation and to inequality. Faced with human suffering and pain we have to offer faith, hope, justice and resilience (and not only food in an immediate way!!).
Faced with marginalisation, we are asked to bear witness to compassion; this is to declare the frontier spirit of St. Camillus in bearing witness to tenderness, being at the side of these men and women and offering them support to grow in resilience but also speaking out in the face of those injustices that determine and aggravate the impact of disasters.
Faithfulness to our prophetic roots of St. Camillus and to a spirit of transformation compels us to adopt a creative ministry in the post-modern scenario. It is not enough to have a heart that suffers in the face of suffering – one must also have a head that analyses the needs of the beneficiaries and offers intelligent initiatives which are suited to urgent and emerging needs, naturally enough organising human and economic resources in an efficient way.
Resilience is ability in frailty: such is the motto of the CTF.
Who are the beneficiaries of initiatives of the CTF? They are the most vulnerable families, people who are most isolated in a geographical sense, the economically isolated, and the victims of injustice.
The second part of the morning was dedicated to the deliberations of groups formed according to linguistic areas.
At 15.00 the deliberations of the assembly began again. During the first part Fr. Gianfranco Lunardon, the General Secretary, presented a report on the current situation and the immediate projects for the general archives, the General Secretariat, the Office for Communications and the rectory of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Campo Marzio.
Premiss
The general archives of the Order are in large measure made up of two compartments: the historical archives and the current archives.
The historical general archives do not need to be described given their value and their prestige. The current archives, instead, contain all the documentation in our possession relating to contemporary religious and to the institutional matters connected with them. At the end of each year the General Secretariat has the task of bringing together the documentation that has been produced and placing it in the archives of the Order
It is evident that a correct conservation of the documents assures historical faithfulness to the facts and does justice to the people who are involved in them. So that the material can be correctly archived and conserved, we need to have – ad intra – a physical and ICT structure that can receive and send out documents on request in a precise and rapid way, and – ad extra – a close, faithful and rapid cooperation between the Provincials, Vice-Provincials, Delegates and the General Secretariat.
Historical General Archives
- The gathering of data and their organisation (information on the present, the past).
- The protection and conservation of documents.
- Continuation with the digitalisation by indexes of the documents of the archives and the current activity of the General Secretariat.
Current General Archives
- A Census of the religious of the Order in order to complete the personal files.
- The proposal to renew systematic study activity (the team research for the ‘twentieth century project’: from the Second World War onwards; the Second Vatican Council; missionary expansion; the renewal of the Constitution…).
- The supply of a wider historical circuit.
General Secretariat
- A more precise use of the Handbook in the presentation of official cases.
- A report on the status quo of the revision of the Constitution of the Order.
- The preparation of a small legal office in order to be able to debate in a serious and appropriate way ordinary and above all extraordinary questions (the revision of Provincial statutes, documentation connected with the Holy See, assessment of the status of individual religious or individual religious Provinces…).
Office for Communications
- Intensification of the publication of articles relating to the Camillians on our web site.
- Communications to be implemented from the ‘periphery to the centre’ as well.
After the break the deliberations of the assembly recommenced with a report in the hall of a summary of the deliberations of the groups in the morning.
Some practical advice for the pilgrimage on the following day to Krakow, Auschwitz and Czestochowa ended the day.
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