At the request of the two superiors general of the Assumptionists and the Oblates, the members of an ad hoc committee to study the feasability of an international congress on education at the Assumption met in Paris on June 19 and 20, 2013.

The committee's work consisted in following up on a proposal for such a congress developed by Fr. Richrad Lamoureux and Sr. Claire Rabitz, former superiors general, and Br. Jean-Michel Brochec, an Assumptionist who dedicated most of his life to education and who edited the booklet entitled Teaching and Education in the Spirit of the Assumption.

The spirit of our founder impels us to embrace the great causes of God and man, and to go wherever God is threatened in Man and Man is threatened as the image of God (Rule of Life, #4b)

Assigned to the new community in Goma (Democratic Republic of the Congo/DRC) to be involved in radio communications, I find myself, instead, for the time being, in the sphere of the ‘formal’ word-of-mouth communication that takes place in refugee camps near Goma-Sake, with those who have had to flee militia violence in the area. It is a preferential option for the poorest levels of society, especially the most vulnerable displaced persons; the elderly, the handicapped, widows and widowers, unaccompanied children, and heads of households also need someone with whom to communicate in order to be healed of the loneliness they are suffering. This is my new way of ‘communicating  in another way »: confidential conversations in plastic-sheeted huts or simply outside in a field. These huts for the displaced are popularly called « blindés » (« armoured shelters »). The life lived there is not very attractive at all!

(The following article appeared in the Assumptionist magazine, L’Assomption et ses oeuvres, April/May/June 2013 issue.)

I was born on a Saturday, December 15, 1984, in Adjudeni, a village located in northeast Romania, in the section of the country known as Moldavia. I was told that it was a bitter cold day, with heavy snow, typical of that time of year.  Although Romania is basically a Christian Orthodox country, I grew up in a Catholic village, where the church, with its characteristic bell towers, symbolized by itself alone the pride of these peoples who were to maintain their Catholic faith in spite of fierce persecutions that lasted almost half a century. I was fortunate to be one of the first generations of “free” children, that is, those who grew up after the fall of Communism in 1989. My family never longed to return to those days even if the transition was painful.

An Interview with Fr. Vincent Leclercq, A.A., M.D.*
(This interview first appeared in the online newsletter www.aisnenouvelle.fr)

Doctor, Assumptionist priest, professor at the Institut catholique of Paris, Fr. Vincent Leclercq wears many hats. But there is no contradiction among them, he insists. Versed in ethical and bioethical questions, he is preparing a book at this time, to appear on April 12, entitle Fin de vie (End of Life) (1). He was recently invited by an organization called Traversée (2) to give a presentation and engage in a Q/A session on the theme, "Medically assisted and ethical reproduction."

- You are both a doctor and an Assumptionist priest… How did that come about?
- Being a doctor, that's who I am by training, my profession. Assumptionist, that's my vocation. In fact, the Assumptionists asked me to teach moral theology. I have specialized mostly in bioethics.