News from the Province of Slovenia: Provincial Gathering and the visit of the Superior General, Father Tomaž Mavrič, CM
On November 3rd 2016, some thirty members of the Province gathered together for the autumn formation session that took place at the Provincial House in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The meeting was attended by the newly-elected Superior General, Father Tomaž Mavrič, CM (whose province of origin is the Province of Slovenia).
The day began with prayer in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the burial place of the venerable servant of God, Bishop John Francis Gnidovec. After prayer, we gathered together in Gnidovec Hall at the student house. The Visitor, Father Pavle Novak, opened the meeting by welcoming all those present and offered some warm words of welcome to our special guest, Father General. He then proceeded to present the most recent provincial statistics and continued with the presentation of the final document of the General Assembly 2016, which includes the lines of action that will be undertaken by the European Conference of Visitors, CEVIM.
The second part of our gathering involved a dialogue with the Superior General. He thanked us for all the prayers and the support that were offered to him at the time of his election as the twenty-fifth successor of Saint Vincent de Paul. He then invited us to consider some proposals as we begin to prepare for the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Vincentian charism.
In order to facilitate this process we reflected on Part One of our Constitutions (Vocation, articles #1-9) and Chapter One of the Common Rules (The purpose and nature of the Congregation, articles 1-3) which resulted in numerous proposals for our consideration. Father General suggested that we decide on three that would involve all the branches of the Vincentian Family in a common project between Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
After lunch we thanked the Superior General for his visit and his encouraging words.
Edited: Charles T. Plock, CM
