Meeting of Provincial Directors of the Daughters of Charity
The Provincial Director: Animator, Companion and Formator of the Daughters of Charity
Diego Luis Vásquez, CM
Director of the Daughter of Charity,
Cali, Colombia
At the Motherhouse of the Daughters of Charity in Paris the Provincial Directors of the Daughters of Charity were called together in order to participate in a formation session that was intended to enable the participants to serve the Daughters of Charity in a more effective manner. This event took place from February 1st – February 5th, 2016.Ω
Father Gregory Gay (Superior General of the Congregation), Sister Kathleen Appler (Mother General) and her Council and Father Bernard Schoepfer (Director General of the Daughters) participated in this meeting. The Directors that gathered together were those who had been appointed to their position since 2012. This time together provided the participants with some doctrinal, spiritual, Vincentian, juridical and practical elements with regard to the exercise of their ministry. The theme of the gathering was: The Provincial Director: Animator, Companion and Formator of the Daughters of Charity.
Eighteen Directors participated in this program: Directors from Mexico, Albania, Central America, the Congo, Northern India, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, Indonesia, Slovenia, Nigeria, Los Altos Hills, Madagascar, Great Britain, Eritrea, Vietnam, Cali (Colombia), Poland, Cologne-Low Countries.
The themes were presented by the following confreres:
[1] Father Corpus Delgado, “Louise de Marillac and the Spirituality of the Daughters of Charity”, “From the Common Rule of the Daughters of Charity to the present Constitutions”, “The Process of Animation of the Spiritual Director of the Sisters”.
[2] Father Fernando Quintana, “The specific identity and characters of the vows of the Daughters of Charity” … during this presentation Father stressed some specific aspects concerning the role of the Directors as spiritual directors.
[3] Father Patrick Griffin, “The Functions of the Spiritual Director in accord with the Guide for Directors” … during which Father presented some elements with regard to animation, accompaniment, formation and collaboration.
[4] Father Alberto Vernaschi, “Canon Law and the proper law of the Company”.
[5] Father Yves Bouchet, “Give witness to the joy and grace of God that one experiences as Provincial Director of the Daughters of Charity”.
At various times during the gathering there was the opportunity for dialogue between the Provincial Directors and Father General and Mother General and the members of the General Council of the Daughters of Charity. There was also a presentation of the worldwide statistics of the Daughters and some practical aspects of the ministry of the Directors was dealt with.
We are grateful for the preparation that was put into making this gathering so successful. We are also grateful for the hospitality of the confreres and the Daughters who received us with much joy.
Translated: Charles T. Plock, CM
