The meeting of the provincials ends at the Hermitage
The last day of the General Council’s meeting with the Leaders of the Administrative Units, March 9, had the general theme of leadership. It was a time to focus on the role of superiors as leaders who care for themselves and their team.
The morning prayer was led by Br. Jorge Gaio, Bursar General, who highlighted Mary as the one who encourages Jesus in his ministry. Each one wrote down an intuition, a dream or a commitment they wanted to entrust to Mary. It was placed in a basket for presentation to our Good Mother.
The first session of the morning focused on the theme indicated above: personal care as a leader and care for one’s team. Br. Ken McDonald, General Councillor, began the reflection, which he titled “Finding a Balance,” on the theme of self-care. He discussed the importance of investing in self-care in order to be able to lead the Administrative Unit. This care can be divided into three aspects: physical, psychological and spiritual health. This was followed by a period of silence and table time where everyone meditated and shared on what they do to take care of themselves and what they could improve.
Br. Luis Carlos GutiĂ©rrez, Vicar General, then spoke to the group about their task of taking care of their team as leaders. He emphasized the importance of the Provincial’s commitment to “help create an environment of mutual trust; without trust it is not possible for a team to work effectively”. Participants then discussed among themselves how to build and nurture a good team.
The second session of the morning marked the conclusion of the meeting. Br. Ernesto Sanchez, Superior General, thanked everyone for their participation, especially those who are finishing their term as provincials. After the evaluation, everyone proceeded to the large chapel, where there was a closing prayer led by Br Ernesto. Each one received a souvenir of the meeting, a symbolic drawing of the meeting, made by Br. Ricky of the Norandina Province, a member of the LaValla200> community of Syracuse. The traditional group photo was then taken in front of the reliquary of Father Champagnat.
Saturday afternoon was dedicated to a pilgrimage to Lyon, especially to the basilica of FourviĂšre, to the chapel where, on July 23, 1816, 12 priests made solemn promisess to found the Society of Mary and where Champagnat returned the following day to commit himself to the foundation of the Institute. The brothers renewed their commitment to this ideal and all together sang the Sub Tuum Praesidium, thus concluding the fifth and last meeting of the Leaders of the Administrative Units of this General Government.
Sunday, with the Gier in bank-full flow, was a day of rest and the first departures. In the morning, most of the brothers attended the parish mass in the Hermitage chapel and in the afternoon there was a pilgrimage to Marlhes and Rosey.
Many provincials will remain at the house until next Thursday, as the regions of South America, Arco Norte and Europe are taking advantage of the occasion to hold regional meetings.
“The last day of our General meeting took us back to a theme raised earlier in the week. It is what Pope Francis refers to as the âculture of caringâ. Brothers Luis Carlos and Ken provided us with the opportunity to reflect on the self-care needed by Leaders and then the care required for our Councils. Valuable comments and advice were shared.
We then moved into closing moments. Firstly, some words of appreciation from Br Ernesto, then expressions of gratitude for Leaders concluding their mandates before our next gathering at the Chapter, notably Br Orlando (Norandina), Br Bene (Brazil Centro Sue??), Br Canisio ( MDA), Br Raul (??)âŠâŠ we then completed an evaluation of the process. It seemed clear from comments that the initiative of this administration of having annual meetings of Provincials, has been valuable and valued. We then gathered in the Chapel around the statue of the Good Mother for our closing prayer.
However all was not finished! After lunch we boarded a bus for our pilgrimage to Fourviere. Once again, in the small historical chapel we made our own pledge to live and lead in a Marist way, making Jesus known and loved and caring for the young.
We then moved to the cobbled streets of old Lyon for a final meal in our fraternity groups.
One surprise remained! In our return to The Hermitage we discovered that there had been a storm which left us without any power! In the spirit of Champagnat we werenât deterred and found our way to our rooms.
Sunday dawned clear and bright and we headed into the light!”
Br. Peter Carroll – Provincial of Star of the Sea