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The International Formation Commission (IFC), made up of Fr. Emmanuel Kahindo (Vicar General-Rome), Fr. Richard Lamoureux (USA), Fr. Iulian Prajescu (Romania) and Fr. Jean-Paul Sagadou (Burkina Faso), has just completed a week-long working session (5-13 November, 2012), in Worcester (USA).
We are grateful to our American confrères for welcoming us with such warmth and generosity during our stay in the community at Emmanuel House on the campus at Assumption College in Worcester.
Our days together included times for prayer, for work, for meals shared with the different communities in the region, and for a variety of meetings. Shortly after coming together we were able to attend the ordination of one of our Congolese brothers, Bernard Kambale Musondoli, by Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester. The ordination was held in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit at Assumption College.
At the College, daily prayer and the Eucharist are shared with the Religious Sisters of the Assumption, with the novitiate community, with lay people, friends and students in the area who come together faithfully, morning and evening, for the prayer of the community.
We spent an evening with the novitiate community as well. There are eight novices of seven different nationalities, with experiences and vocational journeys that the Holy Spirit has gathered together under one roof. Fr. Richard Lamoureux is their master of novices, doing all he can to provide them with the best formation possible. The community is a real rainbow. The novices come from two different Provinces (North America/Philippines and Chili/Argentina) and from many countries: Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Philippines, USA and Vietnam. Might this not be a prophetic sign at the very moment when the International Formation Commission is considering the creation of international formation communities for the Congregation?
We also had the opportunity to talk with our older brothers in their residence. They are the ones who made it possible for the Assumption to take root in American soil. We were happy to hear them recall with enthusiasm their own formation days, as well as their apostolic involvement most especially in the important institution that is Assumption College. There are currently over two thousand students each year who profit from the quality education offered at the school. You can also imagine how we felt as we talked with the senior religious who expressed themselves as easily in French as they did in English. A great example for our young religious in formation today, whom the General Chapter has urged to learn foreign languages.
It was in this setting that the Commission was able to work seriously on the following topics:
- The formation session for French and Spanish speaking brothers, which will be held in Rome from the 24th of June to the 24th of July in 2013. Another session will be organized for English and French speaking religious in 2014.
- The preparation of a formation session for Masters of Novices in the month of May in 2014. There are currently seven novitiates in the Congregation: Arusha (Tanzania), Butembo (Congo), Sokodé (Togo), Juvisy (France), Ba Ria (Vietnam), Worcester (USA), Toliara (Madagascar). These include fifty-eight novices.
- A reflection on international formation communities as decided by the Plenary General Council in July of 2012: Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) for philosophical study in French; Emmanual House in Nairobi (Kenya) for theological study in English; and Emmanuel d’Alzon in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo) for theological study in French.
As should be clear, the Commission carries an important responsibility. Our proposals, to be submitted to the General Superior and his Councils, could lead us to imagine formation in our religious family in a new way. We are confident that you have accompanied us with your prayer during these days of meeting. Many thanks to all!
Fraternally,
Fr. Iulian Prajescu, for the International Formation Commission
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