Session for Community Animators in Manziana
The Community Animators Course started very well in Rome with 8 participants from different parts of the Marist world. We had to move temporarily from Manziana to the General House on Thursday 2 February late afternoon due to a low heating system and to lack of water. This incident did not affect our morale. The warm welcome from the brothers at the General house made our stay enjoyable despite the first experience of cold and snowy weather for some of us.
The participants in this Community Animators Course are: Jacobo Song (South Korea), John Curry (Australia), Fortune Chakasara (Zimbabwe), Nicholas Banda (Malawi), Justin Kanaume (D.R.Congo), John Chong (Malaysia), Robert Thunus (Belgium), and Jean Bruce Rasamimanana (Madagascar). We are still waiting for Vitus Osuji from Nigeria who did not get his visa on time.
The facilitating team is composed of Anthony Hunt (Australia), Barry Burns (New Zealand) and Antoine Kazindu (Rwanda). Mokesh Morar, our chaplain comes from South Africa.
The first three days allowed us to slow down, share our stories and reflect on our hopes and expectations for the Program. Listening to each brother’s sharing was helpful in getting to know one another.
At the General House, members of the General Council led us on the theme “Visioning Community Life through the 21st GC calls”. They focused on “Fraternal Dialogue” and “Spirituality”. Their presentations were very rich, deep and challenging. It became clear to us that there has to be a personal conversion in the process of finding new ways of being Brother and community today.
During our stay at the General House, the liturgy and the prayers, which were prepared in turn by different groups, helped everyone to pray with the theme of the week. We had a wonderful opportunity of sharing prayers and meals with the General Council. Some days, we shared meals with the rest of the General House Community. We appreciate very much the sense of brotherhood which prevailed during all our gatherings and sharing.
On Friday 10th February, two small communities were formed in the presence of Brother Emilì Turù, our Superior General. On Sunday 12th February at 11:00 am, we returned to Manziana which we found still covered by snow and where Brother Anthony received us with a hearty welcome. We were joined there by Brother Sean Sammon, the animator of the second week on Marvelous Companionship.
________________
Brother Fortune Chakasara