Tempo Forte (1-6 October) Circular

21 October 2007
Mission Sunday
To the members of the Congregation of the Mission
Dear Brothers,
May the grace and peace of Our Lord Jesus Christ fill your hearts now and forever!
The following are some of the more significant matters that we dealt with in our tempo forte meeting from 1-6 October:

1. We did an overall evaluation of the Visitors’ Meeting in Mexico. We reflected on the synthesis of the evaluation done by all the participants, as well as an evaluation that was done by the Preparatory Commission for the meeting. We discussed the possible lines of action that were draw up in the synthesis. Some of the decisions that we made based on our studies are the following: We will recommend to the new administration, after the 2010 General Assembly, that the Visitors’ Meeting continue to be held because of the value that it has for the leaders of the Congregation to dialogue among themselves and deepen their unity and their relationship with the Superior General and the Curia. In response to one of the recommendations of the synthesis, the Superior General will write a letter, summarizing the experience of the Visitors’ Meeting. That will be published around 25 January, the foundation date of the Congregation of the Mission. We have formed a task force to organize and present, in a unified report to the Superior General and his council, all the pertinent materials on ongoing formation that were produced during the meeting or previous to it, as well as other materials. Then further steps will be taken to implement those at the level of the worldwide Congregation.

1. We planned the New Visitors’ Meeting that will be held from 9-15 January 2008. We are anticipating the participation of up to 13 new Visitors for that meeting. The coordinator of the program will be Corpus Delgado, the Visitor of Zaragoza. The Superior General and the rest of the members of the General Curia will also participate in the development of the program with the new Visitors. I would like to remind all those who are new Visitors that the follow-up program will take place in Paris, with the opportunity to get to know some of our Vincentian sites under the leadership of the Directors of CIF and Elie Delplace, the Visitor of Paris. More information regarding that will be forthcoming.

1. A commission was formed, once again, to continue the study of the office space, etc. in the Curia, dealing with the area of the library and the archives. New office space will be provided for the Director of Communications for the Congregation of the Mission, Julio Suescun.

1. Our ongoing formation session in this tempo forte was a visit to the archeological excavations under Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. We had a special guide and the tour took about an hour and a half. This interactive, ongoing formation was open to all the members of the Curia House.

1. Financial matters were treated. There are a number of points to be mentioned. The Curia has been channeling funds from different provinces of Daughters and the CM, as well as individual confreres, for the earthquake relief in Peru. The International Congregation itself has taken from its Special Needs Fund donations for relief in Peru, as well as flood relief for Colombia and Northern India. We considered the possibility of replacing the late José Luis Fernández with a new member for the Financial Committee of the General Curia. We established a fixed cost for Vincentiana.

1. We received the report of the Vincentian Solidarity Office from Peter Campbell. From 1 March to 30 September, the VSO took on 28 new projects, as well as 13 micro-projects for grants. We discussed a replacement for Brother Peter, who will finish is six-year term as Administrator of the VSO in June 2008. Because of personal reasons, he has asked not to continue, so we are in the process of searching for a replacement for him. At this time, I want to thank Peter for the wonderful job he has done, together with Mr. Scott Fina, in raising funds for over 86 projects, since its beginning in 2003. In addition, they have given 38 micro- project grants to different poorer provinces in the Congregation. Therefore, the combined number of projects, together with the micro-project grants, is 124. Peter asks us to inform you that he has a new email address for the Vincentian Solidarity Office. It is cmvso@yahoo.com. For information regarding the Vincentian Solidarity Office, you can check out its website: www.famvin.org/vso and read its monthly bulletin.

1. We heard the report of Manuel Ginete, the Delegate of the Superior General for the Vincentian Family. Manny spoke about the AIC International Assembly that was held in Rome in March 2007, as well as his visit to the MEGVIS meeting in Untermachtal, Germany, in April 2007. This latter meeting was attended by members of the Vincentian Family from Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands. Manny was one of the keynote speakers at the Vincentian Family Gathering in San Francisco, California, United States in May 2007. He gave a talk entitled: “The Vincentian Family Worldwide: Expanding the Circle of Solidarity.” He also gave us a report on his participation in the International Visitors’ Meeting in Mexico in June 2007, where he had the opportunity to meet with the core group of the Mexican Vincentian Family and talk about planning the next formation session for advisors and directors in Latin America. This will be held in February 2009. In June of that same year, a similar session will be held in Africa and, in October 2009, one will be held in the Asia-Pacific region. Manny also gave us a report on his visit to the Vincentian Family in Japan, South Korea and Vietnam during the months of July and August. He reported on his visit to the AIC meeting in the United States, where they were celebrating the 150th anniversary of their foundation. He participated together with the Superior General, who gave the keynote address on the theme of “Honoring the Past, Celebrating the Present and Embracing the Future.” This, together with a visit to the CM’s United Nations Representative, Joseph Foley, took place in September. He also mentioned that from 31 January – 2 February 2008 the International Heads of the Vincentian Family will have their annual meeting in Rome.

1. Joseph Foley, the Vincentian NGO Representative to the UN gave us his report. In it he mentioned that this fall the United Nations will attempt to focus the attention of world leaders on the challenges of climate change and on financing for development. It is also a time when the United Nations is appealing to nation states to keep the promises they made relative to the Millennium Development Goals. Joe also participated in COVIAM’s Formation of the Formators workshop in Nairobi. For more information on the Vincentian NGO’s work, you can refer to his website: www.cm-ngo.net.

1. We received a report from the Webmaster, John Freund. Among other points of interest, he mentions that the current main famvin site has a very effective search engine that allows for quick retrieval of materials. However, he notes that users seem not to utilize it adequately. The famvin campaign to raise consciousness of systemic change in the Family is beginning to take clearer shape. This is a project on the English site (www.famvin.org).

1. Julio Suescun, Executive Secretary of SIEV, presented a report on the meeting held in Dublin from 3-5 September. SIEV is promoting a Colloquium for Young Vincentian Researchers, which will take place in February 2008. To this date there are ten participants. However, if any Visitor has an interest in helping one of the members of his province to develop his capacity to do Vincentian research, please contact Julio Suescun (vincentiana@cmglobal.org) or Alexander Jernej (cmgraz@inode.at), Coordinator of SIEV. SIEV continues with its project of drafting a guide for an “Introduction to Vincentian Studies.”

1. The Director of Communications, Julio Suescun, made a proposal, which came out of the SIEV meeting. It was approved by the Superior General and his council. The General Curia will establish a virtual office of translators under the direction of the Office of Communications.

1. We received information from the Directors of CIF, Hugh O’Donnell and Juan Julián Díaz Catalán, regarding an upcoming new effort, which will be for the Visitors or one of their assistants: a session on leadership next summer. The dates will be somewhere from mid-June to mid-July. Details will be forthcoming in a letter from the Superior General.

1. We spoke about the various Conferences of Visitors.

CLAPVI will be sponsoring a meeting for brothers from 14-20 October. The Superior General has prepared a video-conference for that session, in which he highlights what he considers to be the significant role of brothers in the Congregation of the Mission today. The conference is available, in Spanish, for anyone to see. Please contact the Secretariat of the General Curia.
We received a report from the President of COVIAM, Michael Ngoka, which included the activities of the meeting of the Visitors of COVIAM and other regional representatives that took place in August in Nairobi. At the same time, there was a meeting for the formators, which is held annually. Among the presenters were Robert Maloney and Joseph Foley, the Vincentian Representative to the UN. The theme for the next COVIAM meeting, which will be in Mozambique, is “Financial Sustainability.” The Treasurer General of the Congregation, John Gouldrick, has been invited to lead them in these discussions. COVIAM has also endorsed an invitation to open a mission in Chad. A new Executive Secretary was elected. His name will be announced, once we have the approval of his Visitor.
We received two reports from Sylvester Peterka, the Curia’s special representative to COVIAM. One report dealt with the Formators’ Meeting, which was held in Nairobi. The other report recounted his visit to the Mission of Tanzania.
From APVC, we received a proposition for the next Rector of the Holy Name of Mary Seminary in Honiara to replace Frank Vargas, who finishes his responsibility at the end of this year, 2007. We also received the proposal of a new candidate for the mission in the Solomon Islands, Joeli Nabogi from Fiji, who will replace Joseva Tuimavule. The latter will be moving on to a new assignment at the end of this year. Many thanks to both Frank and Joseva for their wonderful services on the mission.
We analyzed a report from CEVIM, the Conferences of Visitors of Europe and the Orient. It was the minutes of the Conference meeting held during the Visitors’ Meeting in Mexico. Giuseppe Turati was reelected as the Executive Secretary of CEVIM for the next three years. In January 2008, CEVIM has organized a meeting of missionaries who work in formation. The next Conference meeting will be in April 2008 in Kraków.
We also received and reflected on a report from CEVIM concerning the meeting of young missionaries, which was held in Budapest from 3-9 July.

1. Later we heard from the Assistant General responsible for Missions, José Antonio Ubillús. We have two confreres, John Macías Loor and João Donizete Dombroski, who will be participating in the 19th Session of Spirituality and Missionary Animation for Priests, held in Rome from 15 October to 1 December.

1. We discussed reports from the International Missions that come under the responsibility of the General Curia: El Alto and Papua New Guinea.

We had a visit from Bishop Gilles Côté of the Diocese of Daru-Kiunga in the area of Papua New Guinea where four confreres from the Province of Indonesia work. He and another bishop from Papua New Guinea have made petitions to the Superior General for missionaries. These will be presented in the October Mission Appeal Letter.

1. We spoke about my upcoming visit to the Province of China in November and different aspects to help me prepare for that trip.

1. We discussed the responses from last year’s Mission Appeal Letter. An update on those candidates will be published in this year’s appeal, which will be out at the end of this month.

May the Lord continue to bless each of us, as we seek to follow Jesus Christ, Evangelizer of the Poor.

Your brother in Saint Vincent,

G. Gregory Gay, C.M.

Superior General