Regional meeting in Buenos Aires

The meeting was scheduled for the dates 30 April to 3 May 2009. With the participation of all those invited, it began on the 1st of May, in the Provincial house of Cruz del Sur. This was the first zone meeting in view of reaching a consensus on the contributions from the brothers and lay people of the Provinces of Santa María de los Andes and Cruz del Sur and of the District of Paraguay.

During the day on 30 April, the participants arrived: Brothers Ángel Medina and Ignacio Pruna, from the district of Paraguay, accompanied by the lay persons Zuny Silva, teacher in Horqueta, and the young Friden Bazán, who was having a vocational experience in Coronel Oviedo. For the Province of Santa María de los Andes, Brothers Antonio Peralta, Saturnino Alonso, Mariano Varona, Patricio Pino and Rafael Kongfook and the laity Enzo Bonomo and Sara Sánchez Vicuña. From the Province of Cruz del Sur, Brothers Demetrio Espinosa, Horacio Bustos, Eugenio Magdaleno, Rubén Seipel, Juan Bernal and Carlos Urrutia, and the lay people Analía Ruggeri, Yolanda Abrego, Celina Chimeno and Fernando Larrambebere (one of the laity invited to the Chapter). Also present were the two zone coordinators, Brothers Carlos Vélez and João Carlos do Prado. Brother Eduardo Gatti of Cruz del Sur performed the tasks of secretary and support.

The first day commenced with shared prayer, in which, after the presentation of each of the participants, they prayed for the preparatory process of the General Chapter. Each one made a contribution to this meditation on the road covered.

After the instructions of the regulations, they passed to the report from the coordinators on the steps of this process and of some of the achievements attained with the presentation of the four principal themes agreed to on the level of the Congregation.

The task which provided the work for the rest of the day was the reading of the letters sent by the delegates to the two Provinces and the District after the meetings with Brothers and laity. In the afternoon, they worked in mixed groups to analyze the letters and to find points of coincidence and points of mutual enrichment.

The work of the day finished with a meal of welcome and confraternity.

During the meetings and plenary sessions, what stood out were the agreements existing in the different Units on the themes of the life and identity of the Brother and the lay person, on mission and on spirituality.

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Br. Eduardo Gatti