News
Religious-Brothers session in Rome: continuation and end
A great first!
Roma
At the beginning of the session, we gave you an indication of the objectives we had in mind, and now the session is drawing to a close. For 9 days, the 15 Assumptionist religious-brothers gathered in Rome were able to enter fully into the proposed process and make it their own:
- We took ample time to listen to each other's stories and, in particular, to the itinerary that led them to choose the vocation of religious brother. Each brother, when given the floor, has much to say: the meaning given to his choice, the opportunities it affords, the challenges encountered, the appropriation of his vocation, etc. This mutual listening was rich and formed the basis of our work.
- Three members of the preparation team: Milad, Joao and Benoît each shared some reflections based on the text "Identity and mission of the religious brother in the Church" published by the Dicastery for Consecrated Life (DIVCSVA) in 2015: Fraternity as gift received; fraternity as gift shared; fraternity as mission. Father Vincent Leclerc led the way and animated our morning of recollection.
- Three wonderful encounters marked our week:
o At the Dicastery for Consecrated Life, Carine DEQUENNE (consecrated laywoman), who has been working at the DIVCSVA for fifteen years, presented the work of the dicastery and shared some of her convictions: the beauty and gratuity of religious life, and more particularly the life of a religious-brother as the "pearl of consecrated life".
o An afternoon with the Brothers of the Christian Schools (FEC), explaining how John Baptist de la Salle, their founder (16th century), had wanted to respond to the challenge of education for the poor by creating a congregation made up solely of brothers: so that they would not be dispersed by other pastoral demands; so that they would constitute communities of teaching brothers supporting each other in their common mission; for a mission of education carried out in community and not individually and with numerous lay collaborators.
o An afternoon with the Brothers of Saint John of God: a hospital order founded in the 16th century by a layman, John of God. Among them, only a small number of brothers are ordained priests, and serve only the spiritual needs of the brothers and the sick. Their mission of hospitality unfolds not only in hospitals, but also in evangelical hospitality to the poor, the homeless, migrants, the needy, the disabled... They attach great importance to the professional, spiritual and theological formation of their brothers, as well as to ongoing formation to keep pace with today's challenges.
- Our session was also punctuated by a pilgrimage in the footsteps of Father d'Alzon in Rome, a celebration at the Vatican grottoes, various films related to our subject and various times of conviviality.
- Finally, the last part of the session was devoted to the production of a number of tools to enable the whole congregation and young people in formation to benefit from the fruits of our exchanges: production of a video; tools for animating a community meeting on the vocation of a religious-brother; articles for AA-info; suggestions and reflections addressed to the Ordinary and Plenary General Councils; letter to religious-brothers not present...
In short, it was a great first, and we hope it won't be our last!
With the Brothers of the Christian Schools
With the Brothers of Saint John of God
In the footsteps of Emmanuel d'Alzon
Link to the photo album