January 25, 2001
To the Visitors of the Congregation of the Mission and
the Visitatrixes of the Daughter of Charity
My very dear Brothers and Sisters,
May the grace of Our Lord be always with you!
I write to you today with considerable excitement, to tell you about the First General Assembly of MISEVI which was held on January 2-6 in Los Molinos, just outside Madrid. It was a wonderful experience. Seventy persons participated, coming from 16 countries.
During the meeting we elected the first President, Eva Villar, and three lay members of the coordinating team, Marcos Amador, David Sanz, and Gema Gabaldón. We also worked on a document on spirituality which will now be used ad experimentum over the next four years and on a document describing the internal workings of the association. The Assembly wrote, approved, and is now publishing in various languages a final document with lines of action for the next four years. It can be found, and downloaded, from the MISEVI web site which is under that of: www.misevi.org
For your interest, I am enclosing a copy of an article written by Fr. BenjamÃn Romo on how to found MISEVI in one's own country. I would ask that you discuss this article with the members of your council at some time in the near future. In those countries where both the Vincentians and the Daughters of Charity are present, perhaps this article could serve as the basis for a joint discussion of the two provincial councils.
With you, I thank the Lord for the birth of this newest and still tiny member of our Vincentian Family. My prayer is that the Lord who has placed in the earth this small missionary seed will make it grow into a huge tree whose branches extend to the ends of the world.
Your brother in St. Vincent,
Robert P. Maloney, C.M.
Superior General