From 28
November to 4 December, the Superior General, Brother Jesús Etayo, accompanied
by Brother Vincent Kochamkunnel, General Councillor and Brother Luigi
Gagliardotto, Provincial Superior of the Rome Province, visited the Order's
centres in the Philippines, Manila and Amadeo, and the regional Postulancy and
Novitiate formation centres in the Asia-Pacific Region. We shared many moments
and meetings with the Brothers and those in Formation, especially in relation
to the Formation Centres. A number of matters were reviewed and some decisions
were taken regarding the current location of the Novitiate and other issues
related to the organisation and supervision of the current formation plan. In
the coming days, the Superior General will send a letter to the Provincial
Superiors and to the Formators concerned with more detailed information on the
conclusions of this visitation.
During the
visit, Brother Jesús Etayo conferred the lay ministries of Lector and Acolyte
on Brother Roque Jusay, on Sunday 3 December, during the Eucharist celebrated
in the Church of the Casa de Amadeo.
On the
evening of the 4th, Brothers Jesús, Vincent and Luigi travelled to Madang
(Papua New Guinea), to visit the Order's Community in that city. There we met
Brother Joseph Smith, General Councillor, Brother Timothy Graham, Provincial
Superior of the Province of Oceania, Brother Peter Van Peperstraten and the
Brothers of the Madang Community. The purpose of the visitation was to close
the General Canonical Visitation that Brother Joseph Smith had just made to the
Province of Oceania (Australia, New Zealand and Papua NG) and to learn more
about the current situation of the Order's presence in Papua NG, where there is
only one community of five Brothers, who are carry on their mission of
Hospitality with great enthusiasm and dedication.
Several
meetings were held in connection with the conclusion of the General Canonical
Visitation and the future of the Order in Papua NG. Every day we shared the
Eucharist and other fraternal moments. On the 7th, we visited the Order's
mental health centre in Madang "Haus Bung": it is a day centre, where
about forty people with mental health problems, often caused by drugs and
alcohol, are being cared for. They also provide out-patient care to several
villages in the area, providing care to people with the same kind of
difficulties. Finally, we visited the Bishop of Madang, Mgr Anton Bal, with
whom we discussed the state of the Church in the diocese and especially the
presence of the Order in Madang of which he spoke very warmly both for what is
being done in the mental health centre and also for the mission that several
Brothers are deploying in different parts of his diocese.
We are
grateful to all the Brothers and Communities of the Philippines and Papua NG
for the hospitality and fraternity with which they welcomed us during our
visit, yet another example of fraternity.
