Day 1 report on Leadership Workshop and Congregational Conference 2019.

Opening of the Leadership Workshop and Congregational Conference 2019

One of the General Chapter resolutions that the General Council (2019-2024) is expected to implement this year (2019) is the FIC Leadership Workshop. The workshop, which is meant for all FIC Provincial Councils and RHN, is currently underway at Bezinningscentrum “Onder de Bogen”, in Maastricht. It started last Wednesday 2nd October and will last till the 17th. The participants include brothers from Ghana: 5, Malawi: 4, Chile: 3, Indonesia: 5, The Netherlands: 3, and General Council members plus the Treasurer: 5. For the practical arrangements, Br. Lo Koeleman is available to do this for the GC. Our secretaries are Mr. Willy Basteaens and Mrs. Leny Ubachs.

We officially opened the Leadership Workshop and Congregational Conference on Wednesday, 2 October 2019. Our fellow brothers from the RHN and associated members and friends in the Netherlands were invited. We felt very grateful for this support from them especially by their presence in the opening session. In all, around 15 brothers and associated members took part in the opening Eucharistic Celebration presided over by Rev. Fr. Ludwig van Bussel. This occasion coincided with the Memorial of Holy Guardian Angels. From the second reading we had the opportunity to reflect on what Jesus said to us: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”

We discovered that these words were very significant for us as leaders in this congregation and we recognized this as a call to live out these words in our daily lives. We closed our Eucharistic celebration with a song entitled “Santa Maria Del Camino”. In this way we asked Mother Mary to be with us and guide us during our meeting and lead us to Jesus in order to be able to do the will of God. It was also an opportunity to interact with one another and to display our brotherly spirit in the presence of our associated members. Personally, I felt very happy that our senior brothers gave us their warm attention during this international gathering. It was also a display our spirit internationality.

In his official welcome address, the Superior of Religious House Netherlands, Br. Wim Luiten gave a warm welcome to all participants after which the General Superior, Br. Augustine Kubdaar, gave the opening address and declared the workshop officially opened. He informed participants that the content of the workshop would be based on the Spirituality of FIC Leadership. He reminded the gathering that this international meeting was meant to fulfil resolution 8A of the General Chapter 2018. The purpose of the workshop is also to provide help to leaders of the Congregation (both Provincial and General Council members) to better understand our mission and task for the coming six years. In this way we would be able to properly carry out our leadership roles as expected of us.

This official opening concluded with supper together with our fellow brothers, associated members and friends with Indonesia menu. We are looking forward to seeing that our international meeting proceed smoothly and eventually bear fruit for the benefit of all.

By. Theodorus Suwariyanto