Start of the Annual Assembly 2016

The Annual Assembly is one of the most important activities of the Philippine Region. It is normally held in the beginning of January in Cagayan de Oro City. This year the assembly started on January 4 and will end on January 8, 2016. The purpose of this gathering is to evaluate the activities of the Region and plan new ones. The theme of the Annual Assembly 2016 is “‘Servants of God’s Mercy’ (MV 17); Answering the call of the Founder ‘Go, let the World know the Love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus’” and was inspired by the “Misericordiae Vultus”, the Bull of the Indiction 0f the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy declared by Pope Francis and conclusions of the XXIII General Chapter in Rome “Merciful, in community, with the poor.” As usual it started with a short recollection conducted by Fr. Dariusz Drzewiecki, MIC, who helped the group to reflect on the theme of the “Year of Mercy” and was followed by the Community Reconciliation facilitated by Fr. Szymon Bendowski, SCJ, personal confession and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

The whole afternoon of the first day was dedicated to personal sharing of all the participants who tried to answer the three following questions: What do you consider as most significant experience of the past year 2015? How can your experience of God’s mercy help to draw others closer to Christ? and What possible changes in your life do you hope to effect during this Year of Mercy? The activities of the first day were concluded with the celebration of the Eucharist presided by Fr. Francis Pupkowski, SCJ, the superior of the Philippine Region.

On the second day of the assembly the different committees and communities will report their activities of the year 2015.  Wednesday and Thursday will be the core of the activities.. It will consist of three workshops allowing the assembly to identify the “lights and shadows” and challenges lying ahead of the Philippine Region, and come out with concrete plan of action. The method that will be used during these workshops is: SEE, JUDGE and ACT.

The assembly is attended by thirty five participants (35), members of the Philippine Region and guests. Among the guests there are: Fr. Paulus Sugino, the General Councilor for Asia, Fr. Luca Zottoli, the General Treasurer from Rome and Fr. Thai Tran, the representative from the District of Vietnam.