3^rd International Coordination of the MSC Laymen of the Chevalier Family

Miribel (France), March 24-25, 2001

Word of welcome by Louis

Opening prayer:
Reading of a P. Chevalier text on laymen (third order), both in English and in French followed by the personal intentions.

1-  REPORT OF THE MEETING OF JUNE 24-25, 2000
The missing English translation has just reached us. The letter that was supposed to have reached the groups by now, has not yet been sent. This will be discussed later on.

2-  SHARING THE LIVES OF GROUPS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD.
Reading of an email in which Claire Personnette (U.S.A.) regrets not being able to attend the meeting.

England:
A group is trying to organize an MSC lay coordination in England. In October, they had a meeting of one day and a half. The group will communicate the name of one correspondent to Louis JOLY.

The Netherlands:
A new group was started in Arnhem. Initially, they were five and now they travel round Holland to get some publicity. Their first brochure will be published in May. Also in May, the group organizes a Solidarity Meal in aid of El Salvador. The two Provincialats will also be asked for help.

An MSC father has translated all the formation texts into Dutch and will send them to Louis JOLY on diskette or by e-mail to put them on the Internet site.

Belgium:
The document handed out by Rita contains all the information on the groups. Belgium organizes meetings for youngsters, but there have been some problems lately.

Spain:
Two communities: Pontevedra and Madrid
-     Every semester, a Bulletin is distributed all over Spain
-     Four times a year, they have a meeting of 3 or 4 days
-     Every two years, a Chapter is held for the whole country

Pontevedra:
Once a week: prayer meeting
Every group has a particular mission: visiting prisoners, drug addicts, cancer patients and terminal patients, rural catechism.

Madrid:
A growing group, with Father José-Maria ALVARES (Formation in the MSC spirituality: once a week; common prayer: one hour a week)
One NGO: missionary fraternity of 40 people with one mission: starting a child day-care centre in Paraguay, helping El Salvador.

France – Switzerland:
- Renewal of the laymen Council in October 2000 (every three years)
- Orientation for the three years to come: “How to be an MSC where we live?”
- Communion among the different groups: common letter and annual meeting (June)
- Decreasing number of members in the groups

The Philippines:
- There are now several groups (due to the large number of islands and the distances between them)
- A congress will be held in 1 or 2 years.
- Every group makes use of the media for evangelisation. Every philosophy of life is represented (diocesan father, Baptist father)
- English Formation books are available.Sister Barbara is asked to transmit a contact address to Louis JOLY.

Papua:
- The one existing group asks for help in the formation of their members (they barely have access to the Internet)

Congo – Cameroon (Sister Suzanne)
- Due the difficult situation in that country, we do not have any information on the laymen.

Various Messages:
Sister Suzanne made a report of the last meeting of the International coordination and sent it to the three congregations. Here are the answers received:
Australia: is planning a international meeting
Japan: has sent the Formation book of the Japanese laymen
The Netherlands, the Philippines, Kiribas,

Louis received a number of letters and emails:
Australia: the information they receive is also published in the Australian MSC laymen News Letter.
South Africa: One group regularly gathers and there’s also an exchange paper.
Japan: expresses its thanks for the information accessible on the Internet Site.
El Salvador: sends its information brochure and calls in for help for the earth quake victims.
Canada: the existing group largely relies on the letters of the MSC Fraternity of France-Switzerland.
Uruguay: Family members of Mgr Alain de Boismenu, who visited the Internet site, identified themselves with a picture of a brother of Alain de Boismenu and a proof of the existing family ties.

3-  WEBSITE EVALUATION
Pages that were added to the website after the last meeting:
-  Bibliography of Father Chevalier (3 languages)
-  Track “In P. Chevalier’s footsteps in Issoudun” (3 languages)
-  First year of the Formation track of the Laymen Council France-Switzerland + Cor Novum
-  Contribution of Klaus Sanders: “Who’ s the MSC layman?”
-  The Cor Novum Formation programme (also accessible to MSC laymen)
-  Reports of the International Coordination meetings
-  An invitation “to share/to exchange” by means of the Egroup: (does not work properly)

The members are asked to transmit the information (in one’s own language) by means of the Egroup.

The 2^nd year of the formation programme of the Laymen Council France –Switzerland will be achieved later this year and added to the site. This Formation track is nothing more than a help those who are interested.

It is important for the Generalats that the links between the MSC and the MSC Laymen sites be reviewed. It would also be useful to create links between all the existing sites on the Chevalier Family.

The Formation booklet “The Heart of God…” was translated into Spanish and will be sent to Louis JOLY in order to be put on the website. The information papers on the groups as well as the testimonies should be adapted to all the groups from all over the world.

The exchange/sharing of information and the experiences of life through the discussion group “Laymsc” does not seem to work properly. Therefore we think it would be useful to set up a movement for exchanging/sharing the experiences acquired in the different groups (item that should be mentioned in the letter).

4- CUSKELLY SYMPOSIUM
On December 22, 2000, Louis received a letter of MSC Father Michael Curran in which he announces the Cuskelly symposium and in which he invites the MSC laymen to consider their participation in this congress.

The Symposium will be a meeting of MSC/FNDSC/ MSC Sisters/MSC laymen during which the current reality of the “Spirituality of the Heart” will be highlighted and the orientation for the following years will be set out.

Four topics:
-  Introduction to the life and work of Mgr Cuskelly
-  “Spirituality of the Heart”, today and in the future
-  “Our Lady of the Sacred Heart”
-  Reconciliation in the light of our spirituality.

This will take some research work. It is thus advisable that MSC laymen be equally represented on this symposium (preferably people closely involved in the formation all over the world).

Date: 16-27.9.2002

Number of guests: 6 to 10 laymen

Selection:
The people selected should be able to follow this symposium and should be actively involved in the formation.
A number of criteria for the selection are suggested.

Conclusion:
There will be:
- A letter addressed to all the national representatives.
- A letter addressed to the Provincials of all countries in which they will be asked to appoint the most appropriate candidate to go to the symposium. Their financial contribution should also be mentioned. This letter will also include a letter from Cor Novum or a letter from the Generalats pointing out the exact requirements, the number of laymen invited as well as the cost of the participation.

The names of the possible candidates ought to be sent to the international coordination that will make the final decision.

Sister Barbara is appointed to write the letter with Cor Novum

Louis, Rita and Marie-Blanche will draw up the letter for the Provincialats and the Laymen (Sue will check the English version and Father José-Maria the Spanish one).

5-  LOGO FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MSC LAYMEN
Reading of the question of Kathy SNOW (U.S.A.) who‘s in charge of the communication matters together with the MSC fathers and the Provincial Father and reading of Louis JOLY’s answer.
Louis: the idea of a logo sounds good since this is a sign of communion. The image suggested by Kathy cannot be used, because it is already being used by the MSC laymen of Australia!
We cannot use a national logo, we certainly need a logo that exclusively refers to the coordination!

Conclusion:
The national representatives are asked to suggest a logo expressing the spirituality of the MSC laymen of the Chevalier Family. The Logo is supposed to be the symbol of our spirituality and not the symbol of the MSC name or the Chevalier Family name! The logo will not contain any words or phrases.

6- FINANCES
The current credit: 45955,37 French Franks (cf. document distributed)
Estimated cost of each coordination meeting: about 10.000FF

Recent expenses:
-  Coordination meeting of June 24-25, 2000
-  Update of the Internet site

Future expenses:
- The adding of the 2^nd year of the formation track on the website
- The next International coordination meetings

Remember: When travel and accommodation costs are not refunded by the national groups, they will be refunded by the International Coordination. The question as to the groups’ financial contribution was left unanswered. The question will be asked again in the next letter to the national representatives.

Sister Suzanne again stresses the importance of spreading all information/letters to all those involved and particularly to those who cannot be reached by computer.

7- PLANNING OF THE INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS
Philippines: Meeting in 2002 or 2003
Brazil: Meeting in the near future
Europe: Would it not be useful to have another European meeting prior to an international meeting? (or: a meeting for each language group?)

7.1. “European “ Meeting

Suggestion:
Date:             beginning of the month of August 2003 (30.07 to 3.08.2003 or preferably from 6.08 to 10.08.2003)
Place:            Issoudun
Duration:       4 days (Wednesday evening till Sunday noon)
Participants: Europe (80/100 persons)

Contents:            Suggestions:

Evaluation of the Symposium
Meeting/sharing/celebration
Discovery of Issoudun
Specific action plan

8. LETTERS TO THE REPRESENTATIVES

Contents:

      Renewal of the International Coordination + goal of the coordination.

      Formation on the Internet: needs, expectations + the things already available in the domain of formation

      Finances + the International Coordination’s account number

      Stressing the importance of the “exchange of experiences, testimonies”

      Mentioning the regional meetings up to 2003 and the international meeting in 2005/2006

                                                                        MIRIBEL (France) November 17-18, 2001