Province Mediterránea
The third Provincial Chapter of Mediterranea Province began on December 26, 2009 at Guardamar, in the presence of the participating Brothers and lay people. In addition, Superior General, Brother Emili Turu, came from Rome to join us for the Chapter days. The meeting got under way with a word of welcome from Brother Manuel Jorques, who expressed his thanks to the Brothers and other collaborators who had supported him over his six years as Provincial. ?The Province was born,? he said, ?on August 6, 2003 under the theme ?Venturing into the Future.? Since that time we have sailed together on a marvelous journey, even if we did strike the occasional reef that slowed our advance. ?We have not everything,? and thus we leave to the new administration some stimulating tasks to accomplish.?
Brother Jorques then gave a brief overview of Province realities and pointed out a few issues that will demand particular attention. To conclude, he emphasized how pleased he has been with the mission outreach and the Province solidarity that has been generated by the Province?s commitments in the East Africa District, and the marvelous welcome that the District has given to so many volunteers over the six years.
Brother Emili Turu pointed out the great efforts that were entailed on the part of Brother Jorques in exercising Province leadership over twelve years, first as Provincial of Levante Province and then of Mediterranea. In his remarks, Brother Emili particularly underscored the challenges that arose over restructuring.
Afterwards, there was the reading of the official General Council decision of June 25, 2009 appointing Brother Antonio Gimenez Provincial of Mediterranea Province for a three-year term. Thereupon Brother Antonio expressed his gratitude to the Superior General and the General Council for the confidence shown in appointing him Provincial. He went on to speak of his principal hopes for the Province and his confidence that there will be an ever greater collaborative effort on the part of all. He gave special attention to trusting in God, using the following image: ?Provided that God is directing the orchestra, it doesn?t matter who is waving the baton.?
In order to fix the Province priorities for the coming three years, the Chapter then moved on to study the reports presented by the committees and Province teams.
The evening of the 29th was given over to fixing the number of Provincial Councilors and their election. The decision was to have six Councilors, five of whom would be elected by the Chapter and one to be selected by Provincial Council. The new Provincial Council is made of Brothers Juan Ignacio Poyatos, Onorino Rota, Juan Carlos Fuertes, Fernando Ales and Damiano Forlani. The just-named Brothers were voted by the Chapter, while Brother Aureliano Garcia Manzanal was selected by the Provincial Council.
The morning session on December 30 dealt with the Province Norms and various suggestions for their modification. The Chapter concluded with a Mass of thanksgiving.