#CAMVOVI are the initials for the Summer Vincentian Program in the Province of Peru. This is an experience of prayer, reflection and vocational discernment while at the same time being in contact with the beauty of nature and being accompanied by priests and seminarists of the Congregation of the Mission. This program, which began some thirty-five years ago, has become a tradition in our Province … almost all the members of the province participated in this experience before entering the seminary for initial formation.
As the years have passed this program has been further enriched as a result of the initiatives of those involved in vocational ministry. Here we mention, Fathers José Luis Lerga, Pedro Guillen, Javier Balda, Rubén Borda, Walther Crespo, César Chávez “Chuno”, Arturo Aguirre and presently, Francisco Amésquita. Each one, with a team of seminarists, has accompanied the participants and contributed to this program. Those individuals who participate in this program have an opportunity to encounter God in a new way, to make God the center of their lives and to enter more deeply into a process of vocational discernment … and thus, to know something more about the Vincentian charism and the Congregation of the Mission.
Over the years the site of this program has changed: for many years this program took place in Santa Rosa de Quives in the parish and the shrine that is administered by the Congregation (in the mountain area north of Lima). Later, the site was changed to the south, to Humay and the mountain area of Pisco which was the place where the 2018 program took place.
This years, twenty-five young men participated in this program, young men from the different communities where the members of the Congregation of the Mission, the Company of the Daughters of Charity and the other branches of the Vincentian Family are ministering. The program this year focused on discernment and living in accord with a plan for one’s life … all of this was based on the Preparatory Document for the Synod on youth. There were also presentations on the Vincentian charism as a valid vocational option for the present era (all of this was done in a very dynamic manner). In addition to intense moments of prayer and listening to the Word of God, there was also time for exercise and walks and games … time to reaffirm one’s talents and share those talents with others.
It should be stated that CAMVOVI – 2018 was a province wide experience in which all the confreres joined together in prayer for those participating in this program. It is also viewed as a time of hope in which we dream of a young and renewed province and in which we dream of continuing this vocational promotion and encouraging men and women to dedicate their life to Christ, evangelizing the poor. May the experience of these young individuals help all of us to renew our own vocation.
By: Vero Urbina Brerona
Seminarist: Province of Peru
Translated: Charles T. Plock, CM
Eastern Province: USA
