5 September 2012

Greetings from Rome where the General Council has just returned from its Annual Retreat which took place at the Sisters of the Sacred Heart retreat house at Torricella in Sabina. The venue is adjacent to the road that Francis of Assisi took when he walked from Rieti to Rome. Prior to the retreat we spent two nights at Lake Bolsena. The General Council now gets down to work during its September plenary meetings.

CHINA PROJECT: Br David Liao writes; “We had a very busy summer with a record of more than 550 students from all over Guangdong and even a few from other provinces. The 2012-2013 academic year begins tomorrow. Our adult night classes will also begin tomorrow while the weekend classes will begin two weeks later” A recent edition of LEAD Story reports on a China Daily newspaper report on the project. The China Daily is the only English language newspaper published in Beijing.

Bro David welcomes volunteers to be involved in the English language summer programme. You can contact him on: liaodavid@yahoo.com

BROTHERS CONGREGATIONS PROGRAMME Fifty Brothers from eight Congregations engaged in education have commenced an Inter-Congregational renewal programme in our Casa Generalizia. Bro Nicholas Seet from Singapore (LEAD) is following the programme.

INTERNATIONAL ASSEMBLY 2013: Bro John Pill has prepared an “Action Schedule” for the PARC delegates to IA 2013. During this week the Delegates will be confirmed in Thematic Groups and advised of the schedule which works towards preparing a draft PARC Report to the Assembly by November 15. Delegates will receive a copy of the IA 2006 report and Circular 461 as background material. John is setting up an electronic meeting process for Delegates with face-to-face meetings of some delegates a possibility as the final PARC report is prepared.

HEARTS ON FIRE: Brothers are invited to send vocations’ ministry news etc to Bro John Pill for the next edition of Hearts on Fire. Various newsletters received indicate good news stories on vocations from various countries in PARC. Hearts on Fire serves to spread this good news throughout the Region and beyond.

REVISION OF THE RULE: (from “In the Loop” (ANZPPNG) 3 September)

The process of bringing the Revision of the Rule to some sense of completion has continued since the last meeting of the full Commission in June. Gerard Rummery (ANZPPNG) has been a most significant contributor to this by his tireless work in translating the entire text from very precise and formal French.The same was done in the case of the Spanish translation by Antonio Botana (ARLEP).Following the reception of the translations Peter Ryan (ANZPPNG) set about weaving his magic in establishing a common format into which the translations and the definitive French test were transferred.The intention has been to ensure that the process of revising the Rule is not hampered by its presentation.Part of this latter concern is that there are always difficulties in achieving the balance of idiom and meaning when working from one language to another.No matter how many times one reads the text of around 22000 words there are always punctuation issues, typos and inelegancies that seem to pop up.An essential part of a revision for those who consider the final result is to establish at a glance the relationship of the proposed text to the text that has been revised.This has meant that extensive cross referencing has had to be done.Almost every page of each of the three language texts is now presented with a side-bar that shows relationships to Scripture, the 2008 Rule, canon law, church documents and Institute documents.Currently all members of the Commission are considering “exposure drafts” and many helpful responses, small in number thankfully have been made.The secretary to the commission and the convenor (Bro Ambrose) will meet in Rome from 12 September to work on the final presentation to the Brother Superior and General Council on or around 15 September and thus meet the timeline established four years ago.

NOTE INVITATION BELOW

APLYC9 Thailand: Registrations for the regional youth gathering will close by the end of September. Each country of PARC has been invited through their respective Sector Head to send a delegation of approximately 10 participants. Australia, New Zealand and PNG have 27 confirmed and the local organising committee is still awaiting a response from a number of countries. Please don’t underestimate the effect that these international gatherings have on young people and their commitment to the Lasallian Mission into the future. The team in Thailand has prepared a very exciting program that will be challenging and engaging. Please see the website for more info and the registration forms: http://www.lasallethailand.org/aplyc9/site/Welcome.html or contact the coordinator directly: bro.danai@me.com

Best wishes

Bro David Hawke FSC
General Councillor PARC