FROM THE EDITOR

“Not only during our formative years, but throughout our lives we should be open to development, formation, and deepening the meaning of our lives…., and to continue developing our spiritual growth”. (FIC Constitutions art. 115)

The quotation above is in line with the theme of this edition of our magazine, “Promoting and Nurturing Our Religious Life”. We recognize that promoting and nurturing our religious life means sustaining our efforts of continuing formation. We realize that it is important to sustain our vocation based on the Good News of Jesus Christ and on the spirit of our founders. This depends largely on the quality of our lives, how we are open to development, formation, and especially deepening the meaning of our lives as Brothers FIC. Is religious life still meaningful for us and the people around? Are we still convinced of our call as religious people? Do we still continue to develop our spirituality based on our belief as Christians and as Brothers FIC? These reflective questions can provide a meaningful guide to the nourishment and promotion of our life in concrete ways taking into consideration the signs and circumstances of our times.

Beloved readers, some of our brothers have shared in this edition their opinions and testimonies regarding the promotion and nurturing of their lives as Brothers FIC. Some of them have given us useful reflective questions and shared their opinions regarding the promotion and advancement of our life. This hopefully will help us continue to deepen and develop the quality of our lives according to the spirit of our Founders and the prevailing situation. As usual we also present the profiles of two of our brothers: Gregorius Suhadi from Indonesia Province who is currently the treasurer of Pangudi Luhur Foundation and a lecturer in Soegiyopranata Catholic University in Semarang; and Henry Surnye from Ghana Province who is the program officer of Christian Health Association of Ghana. In this edition we intentionally skip the column “Picture News”. In its place we have published a special report on our Formators’ Meeting” which took place concurrently with the Congregational Conference at Syalom Retreat House in Bandungan, Indonesia. Hopefully our readers will understand the efforts the formators are making in accompanying candidates during their initial formation.

Finally from the bottom of our hearts we warmly greet you: