11th meeting of the International
Coordination of the LAY MSC of the Chevalier Family
November 19-20, 2005 in PARIS (
Attendants: Rita CLEUREN, (
Excused: Sue KIMBERLEY (England)
We start our meeting after the opening
prayer.
Louis lends us some information on the statutes
approval:
-
Meeting
of November 2004, all articles are accepted
-
February
2005: meeting of the three Generalats and approval of
the statutes
-
June
2005, constitutive Assembly with M. Lépine in Miribel
-
September
2005: M. Lépine transmits the statutes with all
necessary documents to the prefecture.
-
Approval
of the prefecture; a number is given to the association, published in the
official French Journal.
-
November
2005: everything is settled, the Association is
constituted and has its social seat in the “
a)
Father Gérard
Hamel, MSC counsellor of the Quebec Lay, visited
They encounter the same problem as the
Religious do, that is to say the gap with the
The Quebec Community is slowly dying, due to
ageing and the decreasing number of new members.
The Provincial sent the address of the Lay
representative who works with two Fathers to Rita.
b)
Louis received the statutes of the MSC Lay
Charter. The Charter was presented to the Provincial for approval. Lopez Mark
is the new Lay representative.
- Hannie Jansen,
who is retired, will take care of the translations (French, English, German and
Dutch).
- Each group will visit the other in order to
get to know one another (prayer, sharing, and discussion). The Lay Council (1
member of each group + 1 sister and 1 father) will take care of the
organisation.
- Annual meeting of the groups, readers and
friends of the journal “De Brug” (The Bridge) during which they will try
to attract new members. Age of the Members: between 45 and 65.
- Meeting of the Provincial Council of MSC,
FNDSC and the Lay Council on the discussion how to spread the Holy Heart
Spirituality throughout the world. Meeting planned twice a year.
d)
FRANCE/SWITZERLAND
Two groups participate in the Lay Council:
the Alain the Boismenu Communion and the MSC
Fraternity. The Lay Council consists of representatives of both groups. At this
time, the situation of the Council is somewhat unstable due to a decreasing
number of members and the bad health of the person in charge.
-
One
Fraternity: 7 people of whom some have already taken their vows and some are
about to take their vows. Those who wish to consecrate have the opportunity to
follow a preliminary formation. Its mission is to support Louise Belval and her Centre for the poor.
-
The
prayer group: 20-30 people, actively involved in the parish, come together once
a week on Friday. They organise mass + two or three weekends a year + the
Stations of the Cross on Good Friday.
-
One
weekend: beginning of September
-
Monthly
letter written by both MSC and Lay
e)
-
one
new group in the south of
-
In
Hiltrup: mother house where a large group comes
together to meditate and danse.
Weekend to meditate on the Holy Heart Spirituality
one week annual retreat, in another Centre
a few members of the group are Lay that took their vows
-
A
third group with Martina and Sister Stephani:
16 people between the age of 34 and 67
monthly meeting
some of the members gather once a week to meditate and talk
members: catholic women – belonging to another Church – with no attachments,
but with a common spirituality, the spirituality of the Heart which they try to
live in their everyday life.
Diversity of social engagement
Actions: fund raising for the struggle against AIDS in
prefer not to take vows.
No contact whatsoever amongst the members of
the three groups: differences distance…
Sister Stephani
would like to:
-
establish
some contacts with The Netherlands
-
invite one member of the Hiltrup
group to join the Lay Association Committee. They need to open up in order to enlarge
the groups.
Louis answers:
As a Committee
member, it is the group that appoints its representatives. Still, it is
possible to invite them to our meetings to get to know one another.
f)
g)
-
meeting
once a month in
-
1
weekend in the month of December: retreat in
Activities organised between July and
November 2005
-
Reflection
Days on the theme “Church as God’s People, fireplaces today”.
-
Trip
to
-
Family
Day for both Lay and MSC Religious in
-
Meeting
Day of the Chevalier Family in
-
Weekend
for young families in Rotselaar, on the theme “Did
you know that you are also talented?”
-
Celebration
commemorating the deceased MSC Religious, in every MSC House.
Activities that will be organised between
December and July 2006
-
Participation
in the celebration and feast on the occasion of the founding anniversary of the
Congregation (in every MSC House)
-
Formation
weekend in Opwijk. Theme ”Enthusiasm”,
guided by MSC Father Herman COOREMAN, annual vows, presence of several Lay
coming from The Netherlands.
-
April
1-2: Weekend for young families
-
May
1st: Meeting day for youngsters from 14 upwards in Herent
-
July
18-22: Reflection Week in Issoudun, with Lay coming
from The Netherlands
The MSC
activities that were organised and lead by Father Germaan
Van Muylder and Father Herman Cooreman:
·
Two
weekends for youngsters, in the
·
Two
formation weekends for singles in Opwijk
·
Three
reading weekends; this year, reading and discussion of the book by Jean Monbourquette on “Forgiveness and Reconciliation”
·
December
31 2005: alternative for New Year’s Eve in Herent
·
“Silence
Day”: in Herent, once a month (Friday or Saturday)
·
Annual
retreat for the elderly in Malle, organised every year.
·
Week
for young families in Hoogstraten, organised once a
year in July
·
“Silence
Days” (one week in the month of August) in Malle,
organised every year.
·
Camp
for adolescents in the
3. RITA’s REPORT ON THE GENERAL MSC CHAPTER
Rita
reads the report on her participation in the General MSC Chapter. Louis reads a
few extracts on the Lay MSC taken from the opening speech of the Chapter.
4. FUNCTIONING OF THE ASSOCIATION “LAY OF THE
CHEVALIER FAMILY IN
The
constitution of the Association has been completed! The legal part has been
taken care of so that an official banc account can be opened. The meetings of
the Executive Committee will continue to take place in
5. FORMATION AND INTERNET
SITE
-
No
changes whatsoever since our last meeting. Louis is waiting for the next team
of the General Council to update the texts of the Cuskelly
Symposium.
-
Louis
is about to install one page on the site concerning the European coordination
(with or without professional help).
-
There
is already a world map on the coordination page showing the addresses and some
explanations. It would be useful to create extra links between this map and the
other European websites.
-
We
would have to try to lower the costs! Not all texts should be translated in
English, French and Spanish: only the official texts such as the reports and
the formation texts.
-
Ask
the various countries to translate their own texts in English!
-
The
Cor Novum program will be
put on the website. Focus on the session
that will be held from April 11 to April 21 2007!
6. INTERNATIONAL MEETING IN 2007.
- Contents:
- Time to discuss the “spirituality”
as it is experienced by the Lay (common vision)
- Time to exchange
- time to update the charter; this will have
to be prepared by the delegates
- time for the
formation of the International Coordination: how, who?
Louis will make a summary of the most
important points for this meeting. This summary will serve as the basic text to
work with.
Rita will contact the various Provinces of
the different congregations in order to obtain the addresses of the representatives
of each country.
At the
end of this meeting, we would like to express our warmest thanks to the
Community of the Rue des Roses for its hospitality!
Next Meeting
(Location to be confirmed)
May 20-21 2006.