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GENERAL HOUSE: Celebrating a new Central GovernmentOn January 6, 2011, there will be a special celebration at the General House in Rome. The new Superior General, Fr. Louis LOUGEN, and his General Council will ask God’s blessing on their new ministry of service to the Congregation.
To join them for the occasion, besides the local communities of via Aurelia, 290, other Oblates from the area have been invited. There will also be guests from religious general administrations in Rome and other friends of the Oblates, lay and religious.
While the new Central Government elected at the 35th General Chapter in late September did have the opportunity to meet after the Chapter concluded, in January they will begin their first month-long Plenary Session. Besides the usual business that occurs during such sessions, this meeting will give them the opportunity to begin making plans for their six-year mandate and to assign portfolios and internal committee positions.
The Founder and Charism Animation Service was born from the conviction that we Oblates have not done enough to make Eugene known. Yet whenever we speak of his spirit and charism to others, we find that they are attracted to him and to his vision because he continues to have something of great value to say to us today.
With this is in mind, a personal blog was started in which I published a text from Eugene’s writings each day for a small group of English-speaking Oblate animators. Some liked it and suggested that I make it generally available as an open blog on the internet. I did so in May, and the reaction and interest surprised me, so that from this initiative were born three further versions: in French, Spanish and Italian. In December a German version will come into existence.
What is its purpose? Firstly, it is to make the person and writings of Eugene known by publishing a daily text with an explanatory comment. It is the fruit of a daily meditation on a text of our Founder in the hope that others will pause to reflect on it and will find it helpful. I go through his writings basically in a chronological way (and sometimes around a theme) – so some days the text may not say much to some, but be useful to others.
Secondly, by means of the search engine and of the tags on the site it is possible to look up a word or concept and find Eugene’s thoughts and words on it. At this stage in English there are only some 180 daily entries, but over the years it will increase and should become a useful research tool. For this reason I keep it as scientifically correct as possible, indicating the source of all references.
Thirdly, it is possible for all to publish comments on the writings, and to bring some reactions and thought-provoking insights to the site.
The addresses are:
In English: www.eugenedemazenod.net
Spanish: www.eugenedemazenod.net/esp
French: www.eugenedemazenod.net/fra
Italian: www.eugenedemazenod.net/ita
German: www.mazenod.de
We hope that through this work, many others will be as inspired as I am by the spirit of Eugene de Mazenod and the difference it can make to the lives of people in our world. (Frank SANTUCCI, OMI, FCA: Founder and Charism Animation Service)
Fr. Tomas VYHNALEK, a member of the Central European Province and a native of the Czech Republic, was appointed in July as an official representative of VIVAT International at the UN headquarters in Vienna.
The UN in Vienna focuses on Drugs and Crime and Fr. Vyhnalek intends to focus on Human Trafficking, Migrant Smuggling, Criminal Justice, Prison Reform and HIV-AIDS. All of these are issues that are of prime interest to the Oblates as well as to VIVAT. The mission of VIVAT is designed to provide opportunities for the “voices of the poor to be heard where decisions are taken affecting their lives” (CC.RR 9a).
The VIVAT International website defines the NGO as: “an organized network of all the members of SSpS and SVD, ASC, CMS, CSSP, MCCJ, MSHR, OMI, whose work, expertise, and experience has a direct bearing on issues related to social justice, development, peace and ecology, and whose work, expertise, or experience has direct bearing on issues related to social justice, development, peace, or ecology. It also includes those directly associated with these congregations in their apostolate and activities related to the above issues.” (see http://vivatinternational.org/)
