7 September 2011

Greetings from the Casa Generalizia where the General Council have just returned from their Annual Retreat at Bujedo in Spain and about to commence their September meetings.

Perpetual Vows District of ANZPPNG: Brothers Shahid (Pakistan) and Thomas (PNG) are currently preparing for Perpetual Vows at a Jesuit Programme in Lahore. Bro Shahid will profess his vows at Multan on 17 September, while Bro Thomas will profess his on a date yet to be determined in January. Thomas will be the first Papua New Guinean Brother to make Perpetual Vows for some years.

VEGA in the District of Colombo: Vanessa Abella and Fritzse de Vera from the Philippines along with Bro Loyola (Colombo) are facilitating this week, a PARC VEGA programme for youth in the District of Colombo.

Archives in Bujedo: One evening during their retreat, the General Council spent an hour in the archives of the Brothers located in the monastery at Bujedo. I would have to say it is one of the best I have seen. In seven rooms there are well organized, documented and structured displays representing not only Spain, but many parts of the Institute. If any Bro Visitor is thinking of giving on the spot formation to a current or future archivist, I recommend Bujedo.

APLEC: Registrations are being processed for the December APLEC in Manila. You have received information from the organizers. It is not too late to register.

Vocations Summit: Invitations have been extended to PARC and all Regions of the Institute to attend the Vocations Summit being organized in January by the Philippines Sector of LEAD. This is very timely and very much in keeping with one of the priorities of the Bro Superior and General Council as presented at the Inter-Capitular meeting in March. Let’s see all Sectors of PARC having at least one representative in attendance.

Bro Mark Murphy: Mark is on leave in the USA during the month of September. In January, Mark will take up a position with SJI International in Singapore dividing his time between Myanmar and Singapore. December will be his last month in the PARC office. As you are aware Bro John Pill will take up his appointment as Director of Lasallian Services in January.

Revision of the Rule Sub-Commission: Six of the members of the Sub-commission for the Revision of the Rule met last week.The principal focus of their meeting was the processing of feedback from the Inter Capitular meeting of the Visitors and Auxiliary Visitors in March.Recommendations which will be made to the Full commission when it meets in October will include a suggestion that each current article that has been proposed should be examined to identify just what exactly is intended to be said in the article and for what reason.There is an obvious need to both simplify and polish the current texts before any final submission of the DRAFT to the General Council.Part of the challenge is that there must be a “base” text written in French and then there is the challenge of translation.Both French and Spanish excel in the use of abstract nouns and do so very effectively.English, especially for the Institute based English speaking audience is less enthusiastic about abstractions.Good progress was also made on suggestions to be put to the Full commission about the Chapters on Formation and Government. ( From “In the Loop” ANZPPNG)

During PARC 35 the Brothers Visitors will take time on the Revision of the Rule.

Best wishes and prayers.

David Hawke FSC
General Councillor for PARC