At the Generalate, we are mostly scheduling everything around the programmes of our “confreres students”. And as most of them resumed or started their studies today or last Monday, the past weekend had been selected to have some activities together. We started on Friday evening with a nice BBQ gathering not only the 45 members of the community but also the 14 senior missionaries from our Society and from the MSOLA, who had come for the “senior-session”, plus their two animators, Father Bernard Ugeux and Sister Helga Franke. Some visitors were present as well to make of that evening a grand evening!
The next day and a half were dedicated to living out together a formation session, entrusted to our JPIC-ED coordinator Andreas Göpfert and our studying confrere Prosper Harelimana. On Saturday morning, we started with some ice-breaking games meant to … well, break the ice, but also to highlight in a ludic way the frequent misinterpretations that can occur in a large community composed of members with so many different backgrounds.
Throughout the weekend, we were divided into small groups of discussion, carefully composed according to the topics discussed. As the big community of the Generalate is divided into three sub-communities, which we call teams, we were invited to assess in teams the quality of our communication among ourselves and to bring creative proposals to improve it, and then to do the same at the level of the greater community. The next day we were also divided into intercultural and intergenerational groups to share the success and the challenges of communication among us and the possible ways of improving it.
Mass on Saturday presided by the superior of the community, Guy Theunis.Most of us took advantage of that session, which ended with an “apero” after the final mass presided over by Martin Grenier, the assistant playing the role of the provincial in the community of the Generalate.
The closing mass was presided by Martin Grenier, the official “Provincial Superior” of the General House Community.