CONCON FIC Brothers, Friday30 September 2022. The closing session. (Reported by: Bro. Theo Riyanto)

We started our day with our morning prayer with the theme "Open Your Heart To Gratitude" led by Bro. Lucio Torres from FIC Chile Province. He invited us to reflect on true spirituality in making every moment of life a moment of thanksgiving. We are borne in God's fatherly hand. Gratitude may add luster to our lives; gratitude for our being human, for our being Christians, for our being religious.

After the Morning prayer and breakfast, participants gather in the Conference Hall at 9.00 am for some agendas namely: Evaluation of the meeting, Sharing gifts, Closing, Open day, and Eucharist. 

On the evaluation of the meeting, the participants did it in writing and there was also the opportunity to express it orally. All participants expressed their gratitude for the gathering, for the presence of each of us, for the inputs, for our sharing and learning from each other, etc. We demonstrate our spirit of unity in diversity, and our brotherhood as FIC Brothers. All participants were satisfied with the process of the meeting and also with the atmosphere of the meeting and the result of the meeting. We are happy with all the services done by the FIC Ghana Province. They also see how good the teamwork of the General Council is. 

Because of Bro. Remy will fly to the Netherlands, we gave time to him to express his experience and also to the Provincial Superior to express their gratitude to him. We wish all the best for him and also for a safe flight back to the Netherlands. 

After the time of exchanging our gratitude, we took some group pictures wearing t-shirts we got from the provinces. It shows our spirit of internationality and above all our spirit of brotherhood. 

In his closing speech Bro. Augustine expresses his gratitude for our gathering together to deepen some of our General Chapter 2018 Resolutions. We are grateful also for our togetherness, for our presence together as fellow brothers. We asked us to be men of great faith and religious who see with wider eyes, a leader who leads wth our ears wide open and speak with a more knowing tongue. We need to be men of God who know the issues of our time. Ignorant  creates fear and recede our dreams and effort to be better. He also stress that as leaders it is necesssary to have superiors with open minds who are able to create a peaceful and enabling atmosphere in the province and communities for the growth of the people. Let us exercise our authority as a service to the vocational growth of both individuals and the communities.

We close the event of our Congregational Conference by having a relaxed time together before our lunch. 

We have also what we called an open day. This event is the time to inform and share the process, atmosphere, and results of our conference with the brothers in Ghana province. In this event, we also listen to the sharing of each province and the Religious House of the Netherlands about the latest situation in the provinces. About 30 brothers from surrounding attended this open day. We conclude our open day with the eucharist at 17.00 and followed by getting dinner together.

Reported by: Bro. Theo Riyanto