Gérard Du CM
Assistant General
The Visitors of the Provinces of Asia and the Pacific, which includes the two Indian provinces (North and South), Indonesia, China (Taiwan), the Philippines and Australia, gathered in Sydney, Australia, from the 18th to the 22nd April, 2005, at the mother-house of the Sisters of St Joseph, founded by Blessed Mary McKillop, the first of the women beatified by John Paul II. All the Visitors of the region were present; Jose AIKARA (South India), Mathew KALLAMMAKAL (North India), Antonius SAD BUDIANTO (Indonesia), Marcelo MANIMTIM (Philippines), John WANG (China) and Greg COONEY (Australia). Fr Manuel GINETE, recently named as Delegate to the Vincentian Family (replacing Benjamin ROMO) and now resident at the General Curia, continued to undertake the role of Executive Secretary of the Conference, at least for another year. Besides those who are members by right, the Conference this year was enriched by the presence of the Superior General, Gregory GAY, and two Assistants General, Jose Antonio UBILLUS, Assistant for the Missions, and Gérard DU, Assistant with responsibility for the region.
Having listened to the annual reports given by the Visitors on the activities of each Province, especially with regard to the activities envisaged by each continental groups during the last General Assembly in July 2004, the discussions focussed on the works undertaken in common by the Region, in particular the Meeting of Formators which take place every eighteen months (the next will be in Mysore, South India, in February, 2006), the work of the Commission on Charism and Culture, the Theological Forum and the Vincentian Centre for Asia and the Pacific. The members of the Conference then shared at length on the common apostolic works undertaken by the region, at the level of personnel, while the General Curia continues its financial support for the education of confreres. The Visitors have undertaken to provide formators for two major seminaries; Holy Name of Mary Seminary, in Honiara, Solomon Islands, and Holy Spirit Seminary, Bonama, Papua-New Guinea.
The last day was given over to the study of the Postulates which the General Assembly of 2004 had set aside for examination by the various conferences of Visitors.
After the closure of the Conference, the host president, Greg Cooney, invited the Superior General and his two Assistants to speak about their observations and impressions. All the participants have agreed to meet again next April in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Before going their separate ways, the Visitor of Australia had organised an informal get-together at the Provincial House for the participants of the Conference and the confreres from Sydney and thereabouts, which ended with a barbecue in a convivial fraternal atmosphere.
In the afternoon, Fr General took advantage of his presence in Australia to meet the Visitatrix of the Daughters of Charity and her companions at the Provincial House, which is not far from that of the confreres.
Traduction: Eugene Curran, C. M.
