The International Dehonian Theological Commission held its annual meeting from December 1-4 in Rome. Members of the commission include Frs. Artur Sanecki (general councilor and committee chairperson), Stefan Tertünte (coordinator), Juan José Arnaiz Ecker (secretary) and the coordinators of the continental SCJ theological commissions: Joseph Kuate (Africa), João Carlos Almeida (Latin Ameria) and Fernando Rodríguez Garrapucho (Europe). Also present were Frs. Francis Purwanto (Asia) and John van den Hengel (North America) making this the first meeting with full representation of the areas of the congregation around the world. This structure has been the goal of the General Government for more than six years.
Although there are now theological commissions on all of the continents where the SCJs are present, many issues need to be clarified: What are the expectations of the General Government for the International Commission? How can the continental commissions grow in strength and fruitfulness?
Much of the meeting’s time was taken up with the next theological conference in Yogyakarta in 2017, both organization concerns and the theme itself: “Charism and devotions – towards an inculturated Dehonian identity.”
Other issues discussed at the meeting included the future of the publication Dehoniana, and an initial exchange of views on the 2018 General Conference on “Mercy and the social teaching of the Church. The Dehon Study Center also shared its activities of the past year, including a beta version of the DehonDocs project.
