The 1st Joint-Meeting of CCC & APRF at Prigen

The 1st Joint-Meeting of CCC & APRF at Prigen. July 1-15, 2007,
The meeting was called “Joint Meeting of CCC & APRF (CCC – the Commission of vincentian Charism and Culture at Asia Pacific. The group was initiated on 2003. The chairman choosen by visitors of Asia Pacific is now myself, Armada Riyanto CM; APRF – Asia Pacific Regional Formators. It is a gathering of the formators founded by visitors of Asia Pacific on 1994).
The participants were 54 vincentians (at the first week); whereas the second week was particularly for CM formators. For first time we have complete participants from different countries in Asia Pacific: India North and South, Vietnam, Thailand. Philippines, PNG, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Australia and Indonesia. We got also some members of Vincentian family in Indonesia.
The meeting was divided into two weeks: The first was inputs and the second, applicative week to formation. Besides, we had exposures and visits to cultural center of Yogyakarta and Pesantren (Islamic seminary) and charitable works of Fr. Paul Janssen CM. Inter-cultural nights were memorable.
The topic: POLITICAL CHARITY and VINCENTIAN FORMATION. You may see at the program in detail (see the Attachment!).
“The formation and and charism and culture workshops have taken Asian root. The Asian provinces have done a lot already to prepare confreres for intellectual, formational and congregational leadership. This is very promising. The Asian provinces can be very proud of how deeply they have grasped and committed themselves to the charism of Vincent. I look forward to the publication of the papers. There are a good number of young, talented and enthusiastic confreres in the APVC region and so there are good resources to bring it all forward.” It’s one of comments about the meeting at Prigen. .

Asia-Pacific Regional Formators (APRF)

and the Commission on Charism and Cultures (CCC)

First Joint Meeting in Prigen, Indonesia

July 1-15, 2007

Theme: Political Charity and Vincentian Formation

[to The CCC members, formators, provincial visitors, the Exc. Secr. of APVC]

In his first encyclical, Benedict XVI mentioned Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac among “the men and women of faith, hope and love” (Deus Caritas Est, 40) who has exemplified for us authentic Christian charity. Love, which proceeds from God, can only be real when it shows itself in concrete ‘charity’ for the neighbor; when it expresses itself in viable structures which alleviates hunger, loneliness and pain in society. All throughout this great letter, the Pope outlines how the Church has made the practice of charity its main responsibility. The ministry of charity is part of the Church’s nature, “an indispensable part of her very being” (DCE, 25). In fact, Benedict XVI asserts that it is only when we see charity effective in the structures of society that “we see the Trinity,” he quotes St. Augustine (DCE, 19).
St. Vincent already made the same assertion almost 400 years earlier when he told the sisters “to leave God for God”. He also once reminded the missionaries who wanted to abandon the ministry of charity in favor of preaching: “Are not the poor the suffering members of our Lord? Are they not our brothers? And if priests abandon them, who will be there to help them?” (SV XII, 87). Organized charity – that is – charity effectively working in the structures of the church and society is not only a work of the Company. It belongs to the deepest part of its identity.
It is within this tradition that our Superior General, Fr. Gregory Gay, during his visit to Indonesia, talks about ‘political charity’. He thinks that our candidates should not remain indifferent towards what is happening in contemporary society. They should be grounded in their own socio-political situations, be formed to analyze it critically so that they can respond to its challenges more effectively. The term ‘political charity’ does not appear in the sociological and political science dictionaries. But, in the Vincentian tradition, charity can only exist ‘politically’, that is, in concrete works and social structures. As St. Vincent says: “our work [for the poor] is the only proof of our love”. In the same conference, he continued: “Let us love God, my brethren, but let us love him with all our strength and in the sweat of our brow” (Abelly, Bk. I, Ch. XIX, 81).
In this year’s gathering of Vincentian formators and other members of the Vincentian family, we have chosen the theme: “Political Charity and Vincentian Formation”. We invite all speakers and participants to reflect on the implications ‘political charity’ has to our Vincentian life and charism, in general, and to Vincentian formation, in particular. Our aim is to think of concrete ways with which to equip our candidates and members with critical sensibility to the movements of contemporary society – its joys and hopes, its ups and downs, its lights and shadows. It is through this sensitivity that we can be more perceptive to the pain and sufferings of the victims of our global society, be in solidarity with them and respond to them more effectively.
In order to achieve our aim, we divide the topics into three parts (during the first week): analysis of contemporary Asia-Pacific socio-political context [to see]; learnings from St. Vincent’s own response to the socio-political issues of his times [to judge]; (3) practical applications this has to contemporary Vincentian life [to act] in the field of spirituality, political involvement, inter-religious dialogue and inculturated formation. The speakers of the first week – most of them members of the Commission on Charism and Culture – will have these as the focus of their talks. For the second week, we invite the formators to reflect on the concrete implications political charity has to the different dimensions of Vincentian formation: human, spiritual, academic and pastoral.
In the end, we hope to come up with (1) some concrete lines of action for the formation programs of each Province with regard the theme; and (2) a letter of recommendation to the APVC (Asia-Pacific Visitors Conference).

1st Week : THE CCC & FORMATORS

Participants
The participants of the first week include (1) the members of the Commission for Charism and Culture; (2) Formator-delegates from different Provinces; and (3) the invited representatives of the Vincentian family in Indonesia. We are expecting 30-40 persons.

1st Week: Coordinators

[Armada Riyanto & Dany Pilario]

1st Week: Topics and Speakers

To see: Socio-political Analysis of Contemporary Situation

1. A Socio-Political Analysis of the Asia-Pacific Context (Indonesian sociologist)
2. Poverty, Culture, Religiosity and Contemporary Responses in the Asia-Pacific (Armada Riyanto, C.M.)

To Judge: Learning from St. Vincent

3. The Socio-Political Forces of XVII Century (Marcelo Manimtim, C.M.)
4. Vincent de Paul and the Court: His Response to Elite Political Power (Daniel Franklin Pilario, C.M.)
5. Vincent de Paul and the Masses: His Response to the Social Issues of his Times (Guy Hartscher, C.M.)

To Act: Implications to Contemporary Vincentian Life and Charism

6. Political Charity and Vincentian Spirituality Today (Charles Pan, C.M.)
7. Political Charity and Contemporary Political Involvement (Francis K., C.M.)
8. Political Charity in the Context of Inter-religious Dialogue (Paul Bharati, C.M.)
9. Political Charity and Inculturated Formation (Kusno Bintoro, C.M.)

1st Week: SCHEDULE

July 1, 2007 [Sunday] – arrivals
July 2, 2007 [Monday]
– Morning : – opening ceremony with holy mass presided by ind. visitor
– Afternoon: [topic 1] by an Indonesian sociologist
July 3, 2007 [Tuesday]
– Morning : [topic 2] by armada riyanto, cm
– Afternoon: [topic 3] by marcelo manimtim, cm
July 4, 2007 [Wednesday]
– Morning: [topic 4] by dany pilario, cm
– Afternoon: [topic 5] by greg brett, cm
July 5, 2007 [Thursday]
– Morning: [topic 6] by charles pan, cm
– Afternoon: [topic 7] by j. edathil, cm
July 6, 2007 [Friday]
– Morning: [topic 8] by paul bharati, cm
– Afternoon: [topic 9] by kusno bintoro, cm
July 7, 2007 [Saturday] – Excursion
July 8, 2007 [Sunday] – Free day or particular meetings
NOTES FOR SPEAKERS:

1. That they prepare a publishable paper on topic dealt with.
2. That paper can be more specific from the topic expected, yet still in the framework of thoughts.
3. That speakers suggest two or three questions for group sharings.
4. That they prepare comment or summary of reflection for plenary session after listening to presentation of group sharings.

1st Week: Process

As seen above, we will follow the process popularized by the Social Teachings of the Church: the see-judge-act method. But we can also say that our framework indicates this developing progression of thought: first, we are provided with ‘tools’ to understand contemporary society (topics 1-2); second, we revisit and re-appropriate some ‘values’ from the historical experience of our Founder (topics 3-5); third, we proceed to reflect on the ‘practical implications’ St. Vincent’s response has to contemporary Vincentian life.
Each day, there will be only two presentations (two topics). Each topic will be dealt with in approximately four (4) hours. In concrete, this serves as the common process we will follow for each topic.

1. Conference (1 hour)
2. Open Forum/ Question and Answer (30 minutes)
3. Break (30 minutes)
4. Small Group Sharing (1 hour)
5. Plenary Session (1 hour)
   1. Short Reports from the Small Groups
   2. Plenary Discussion
   3. Synthesis/Last Comments by the Speaker

2nd Week : FORMATORS

Participants
The second week will be spent more on reflecting what implications our theme has on the CM formation. Thus, only the CM formator-delegates from the different Provinces will remain. More or less, we are expecting 20 participants for these sessions.

2nd Week: Coordinators

[Peter Handoko and Rafael Isharianto
plus coordinators from each province]

2nd Week: Topics and Speakers [call for papers]

Each participant/formator is expected to write a paper of 2-3 pages on the topics indicated below. The basic question for these papers is as follows: “What are the concrete implications political charity has to the formation of our candidates?” Each formator will only reflect on one dimension of Vincentian formation (human, spiritual, academic, pastoral). We hope your paper will talk about concrete issues, processes and structures as your response to the question. The delegate-in-charge of each Province will coordinate with you about this: who deals with what

1. Political Charity: Implications to Human Formation
2. Political Charity: Implications to Spiritual Formation
3. Political Charity: Implications to Academic Formation
4. Political Charity: Implications to Pastoral Formation

2nd Week: Process

1. The process of the second week mostly resembles that of the first week.
2. Instead of invited speakers, the formator-delegates of different Provinces will share their reflections (2-3 pages)
3. We will also make a one-day visit to a “Pesantren” or an “Islamic Seminary” in order to see for ourselves how Islamic formation is done and what we can learn from them.
4. We will end up with some concrete lines of actions for the formation program of our own Provinces (Political Charity: Lines of Action – Concrete Implications to Each Province’s Program of Formation)
5. The whole process will be crowned with a letter of recommendation to the APVC (Asia-Pacific Visitors’ Conference) and a closing ceremony.
6. You can set your date of departure on July 14, 2007.
7. A detailed schedule will be sent to you soon.

The Indonesians welcome those who wish to come earlier or spend more days in Indonesia. Please feel free to set your date of arrival as well as departure. Those who need visa can contact Peter Handoko or Rafael Isharianto to get letter of invitation needed.
Please send forward this schedule to visitors and other delegates of formators’ meeting.

[Armada, Dany, Han, Rafael]