From the 18th to the 23rd of April 2007, the Missionaries of Jesus gathered for its 6th General Assembly at the Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Baguio City. Present were twenty-seven (27) confreres, including two representatives from the Districts of Papua New Guinea and the United States of America. The theme was “MJ Corporate Commitment, Revisited”. Although “real” chapters belong to institutes with diocesan and pontifical rights, this assembly functioned like a chapter as it tried to appraise the missionary project of the institute and the quality of its missionary presence.
The opening liturgy set the theme of the assembly. Manny Gacad used the symbol of the dream-catcher to establish that as MJ’s we are God’s dream-catchers. Whether we stand in the early morning sun of our lives or in the midday sun or in the afternoon sun, and whether or not we will see our missionary dreams come true, the commitment is there for every MJ to remain a catcher of God’s dream. This is important if we are to be firm in our belief that God’s dream will never die.
Then we listened to Atty Randy Baniaga Kinaod and Ms Rhoda Galang. They gave the first of the inputs on Extra-Judicial Killings and Elections 2007. As situationers, they helped us to analyze the state of the nation, challenging us to be vigilant and involved.
Freddie Dulay, our General Coordinator, later presented a report on the State of the Institute. Highlights of his presentation included the important events in the institute and the decisions made since then. He also dealt with the ad intra and ad extra concerns of the institute, which include missionary professionalization, the renewal of the members, and the planning, systematization, and updating of MJ’s missionary commitments. The offices of the Secretariat and of the Treasurer also gave their reports.
The actual reflections on the theme of the assembly came from the input of Luc Mees. The points he made focused on the foundational texts of the institute. He insisted that the MJ Constitutions, the vision-mission statement of the institute, and the texts of the MJ assemblies should serve as reference points when reflecting on our corporate commitment. Likewise, he mentioned that the emerging MJ Spirituality could also easily serve as a guide for our reflection. Luc’s presentation was followed by the reports of the various MJ communities and committees on their respective attempts to evaluate the different aspects of their religious missionary life.
Since obviously the discussions could become too heavy for everyone, a much-needed break in San Fernando, La Union was scheduled. We spent the whole day swimming, singing, and playing games, aside from eating and drinking, of course.
After the one-day break, the assembly was ready for the workshops. The body was divided into four workshops on the following topics: the MJ Formation Program; Vocation Animation; Financial Policies and Fundraising; and Budgets and Financial Reports. Each workshop presented their recommendations to the assembly.
The “heavy” part came when the assembly listened to the reports of the different workshops and deliberated and voted on their recommendations. There were a total of 53 recommendations addressed to the General Administration, Initial Formation, and Financial Management of the Institute. Everyone felt that the assembly was a chapter, and were it a “real” chapter, would there have been more recommendations?
There was much to learn from this assembly. And obviously, there is much to follow up after. But one thing was clear—we needed this assembly. We needed simply to meet one another, to celebrate everyone’s presence, and to find anew that presence to one another is indeed important. We needed the voice of every confrere and co-disciple so that our collective thought could make a contribution to understanding what it means to enter into the lifelong process of becoming missionaries of Jesus.
And when all was done, the assembly voted unanimously for Mindanao District to prepare for next year’s assembly. Shall we see each other in Mindanao next year?
—Eugene Cañete, mj
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