(Mexico) – The Major Superiors of the Union of Redemptorists of North of Latin America and the Caribbean (URNLAC) met from 19 to 23 March 2018 in the provincial residence of the Province of Mexico. The meeting was led by our Superior General Fr. Michael Brehl, General Consultor Fr. Rogério Gomez and the Conference Coordinator, Fr. Marcelo Araujo.
On the first day of our meeting, we had the Eucharistic celebration in the big church “La Santissima” with the Redemptorist family of Mexico City. The Superior General presided at the Eucharist and three confreres helped out as acolytes and one as a reader. After the Eucharistic celebration, the community offered us a delicious dinner in which various religious congregations and lay people were present.
In our meeting, we discussed the experiences of the extraordinary visit of the General Council. The visits were a true moment ‘Kairos’ for our unit, a time of grace to read the signs of the times in the light of our charism. The visit was an occasion to see ourselves members of one missionary body, co-responsible for meeting the missionary challenges of our time.
The restructuring process is a response to the action of the Spirit in our Congregation. It is a call to personal, community, provincial conversion. The restructuring pushes us to work with the responsibility that comes from the sense of belonging to the Congregation, by making ourselves available and to serve. During the meeting, it was stated that in the process of the restructuring of the unit and the conference it is necessary to return to the sources of our spirituality. Restructuring is a process that involves and leads to the revitalization of our apostolic life.
The meeting gave us the space to talk at the sub-conference level on the missionary and apostolic priorities and the priorities presented during various visits. Other topics discussed were the elections in our units for the period of four years starting in 2019, our mission in Cuba, Novitiate of the URNLAC, “second novitiate”, lay missionaries, the WYD 2019 and the activities of the Conference.
We ended our meeting by thanking the presence and animation of Fr. Michael Brehl, our Superior General and the Fathers Rogério Gomes and Marcelo Araujo. The community of the provincial residence of Mexico welcomed us offering hospitality and fraternity in these days. We thank Fr. Adalberto Lucas Alfaro for all the care and attention of the Province in these days.
Felipe Santiago, C.Ss.R.
