CLT CALENDAR 2013
May
May has seen the CLT sending out invitations to Brothers to express their interest in membership of the Transition Support Team (TST), which implements the Proposition 'A Way into the Future'. Much of our work this year will be following up on this process, which will involve gathering around 12 to 15 Brothers in Lusaka in Zambia in August, and then some of these will be invited to undertake specific training for membership of the TST from October to December.
Philip and David will be present at the Indian Pre-Chapter meeting in Umbhir in early May. All of the CLT are involved in the Annual General Meetings of the Companies for which they have membership roles. These will be in late May in Manchester and Dublin.
June/July
In early June, the annual Congregation Leadership Group (CLT and Province/Region Leaders) meeting takes place in Buenos Aires. Philip and Peter will be present for the Oceania Assembly in late June. In July, Philip and David are attending the West Africa District Assembly in Sierra Leone, and Jack and Peter will be with the Latin American Region Pre-Chapter gathering.
August
August sees the TST process in Lusaka, involving Jack, David, Francis and Peter. Philip, Francis and David will also attend the European Province Pre-Chapter Assembly, and Philip and Francis will attend the African Province Pre-Chapter meeting in Nairobi in late August. Jack has a three-day workshop with the Edmund Rice International Board around this time too.
September
In September, there will be considerable work required for 2014 Congregation Chapter preparation, along with planning for the TST orientation to follow in October to December. Later in September, the CLT hosts the Leadership Teams of the Presentation Sisters and Brothers for some days in Rome.
There are various Board meetings along the way, some of which the relevant CLT members attend in person, if they are in the country at the time, and others of which they attend through Skype.
January - April
2013 has begun and the CLT have reassembled in Rome after being in various places in recent months, especially sharing the Proposition 'A Way into the Future' with Brothers in different Provinces. Francis and David were in Lima, Peru, for the Assembly of Latin American Brothers at the beginning of January. After some meeting days in Rome, the CLT has moved to Cork in Ireland for some discussion and sharing with the CLT of the Presentation Brothers, who have typically been most welcoming hosts.
January 19 marks a celebration for 200 years of the Christian Brothers in Dublin, and after this, the CLT has meetings in Dublin for the rest of the week and some days with the Core Group of 'A Way into the Future'. Philip will be a presenter at the Conference of Religious Ireland (CORI) meeting at this time too.
In February, there will be a mixture of meetings in Rome (with a strong focus on initial preparation for the 2014 Congregation Chapter), and Jack, David, Francis and Peter will be in the US for some weeks to offer workshops on the Proposition for the North American Brothers. This will complete their presentations to the Brothers of all the Provinces.
March will see the CLT largely in Rome, although Philip is a key presenter at the Trocaire Conference in Ireland in early March, David will pursue some further Transactional Analysis in-service in Kinharvie in Scotland, and Jack, Peter and Francis will have involvements in ERI, ERIHC and ERD in Ireland respectively over the course of the month.
At the end of March and into April, the CLT will review the responses of the Brothers to 'A Way into the Future' and determine the next steps on the journey, which will form the bulk of the work for April.
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November/December 2012
Meetings in various Provinces on the Proposition "A Way into the Future".
October
Meeting with Leadership Teams in Nairobi and then travelling to Indian and European Provinces.
September
All of the Team will be in Rome for some shared time. There is a meeting of the Core Team for 'A Way into the Future' from 5 to 7 Sept. Mark McDonnell will be with the Team for some days around the middle of the month to help the CLT with its understanding of cosmology and how it relates to our living religious life today. Peter will be involved also for most of the month with a gathering of 40 Brothers from eight different Brothers' Congregations, who will gather at the De La Salle Brothers Generalate. CB's present will be Alfred Banda (Africa), Steve Casey (North America), Hugo Caceres (Latin America), Gussy Jairzj (India) and Geoff Whitefield (Oceania).
August
Philip is in Lusaka for the Formators meeting in Lusaka. He then spends most of the month in Rome, with travels to Ireland for the Edmund Rice Summer School in Waterford and then working with the Ursuline Sisters in Dublin.
Jack is in the US, returning to Rome around August 8 and will be in Ireland for the Summer School in Waterford and meetings in Dublin afterwards.
Francis is in Chicago as a retreat director for the North American Province. He returns to Rome and then he and Peter have a week in Geneva. They will be back in Ireland around the 21st for some work on 'A Way into the Future' and then the Summer School.
David is in Ireland finishing off his responsibilities to the European Province this month.
June/July
Philip – travelling to Tampa, Florida USA for the General Chapter of the Good Shepherd Brothers where he has been asked to provide some input; he will also be going to Australia to be one of the main speakers for the Catholic Religious Australia Conference in Adelaide. Then he will be involved in retreats for the Brothers of North America, and go to Lusaka for the meeting of African Formations in late July.
Jack – meetings for ERI and ERBT, travel to North America and present for the final profession of Br Jason Ford, then some vacation time.
Francis – meeting in Manchester for ERBT AGM, then retreat in Wales, followed by ongoing work on 'A Way into the Future' in Dublin, and being a retreat director in Chicago in July.
Peter - meeting in Manchester for ERBT AGM, then retreat in Wales, followed by ongoing work on 'A Way into the Future' in Dublin for late June and all of July.
David – continuing with his responsibilities as part of the European Province in the field of Child Protection.
May
Launch of 250 Appeal in Ireland attended by Peter and Francis
Meetings in Rome both administrative and review of Congregation issues - discussion on policies and precedures.
Peter and Francis attended Sados Meeting in Rome - the topic "Latin America"
Philip visits novitiate and community in Ghana
Jack administrative work in Rome
David administrative and pastoral work in Ireland
The Team in Ireland for AGM of ERI, ERD - end of May
Congregation Leadership Meeting at Emmaus in Ireland followed by Congregation Resource Group
Attend 250 Celebration of Edmund's birth in Callan and Waterford early June.
April
Team meetings in Rome
Meeting with "Spark Groups" 12-18 April
Visit by Mary McAleese past President of Ireland
March
Visitation of presence to the Europen Province
- meetings with various groups
- workshops
- days of recollection England and Ireland
- meetings with the PLT
Francis has been working closely with others around the "Edmund Rice 250 anniversary Appeal". The Edmund Rice Development Team in Dublin is co-ordinating this major appeal for funds for our CB developing world mission, the training of our new Brothers, the advocacy work and Mt Sion Heritage Centre.
February
February has been a meeting and reflection month for the CLT. One of the reflections is reading and sharing thoughts on "Fields of Compassion" by Judy Cannato - exploring how the new cosmology is influencing spiritual life.
The CLT is also focussed on the "Way into the Future" work - validating the Outline Proposition with the fellow members of the various Spark Groups.
They are also engaged in the usual discussions and decision making.
They are preparing to do a pastoral visit to the European Province in March.
All the members are conscious of Peter whose father died last week. He is with his family in Melbourne. Later in February David Gibson, the new member will arrive in Rome for a week of meetings.
December - January
Philip
Visiting India in December and then back in Rome January.
Jack
Jack had his annual physical with his cardiologist, Dr. Amir Kol and found that all is well with his heart a year after his stent insertion. He spent a fair amount of time preparing for his work in India. The time in India in early January was spent with three Brothers and a Presentation Sister (Stephen Fernandes, Tommy Samuel, Joe Johnson and Ida Ferrao) Karl Rahner was the major topic. It went well and added value to the ministry of each.
Christmas and New Year was spent here in Rome and Jack passed his 71 birthday.
Peter
From the 11th to the 23rd December, I was with the Brothers of West Africa in Sierra Leone. They gathered from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ghana for their annual assembly at Kenema in eastern Sierra Leone. Apart from the camaraderie of all joining together, Martin Vamboi and Titus Kallon were welcomed back to the District after their study time at Iona College, New Rochelle USA. Twenty two Brothers renewed their annual vows at the final Eucharist of the Assembly.
On December 28, I travelled to Peru where the Brothers from Latin America gathered at the Society of St James Centre in Barranco, Lima. They came from Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia. The New Year was celebrated in fine style, and Alberto Llanos made his Perpetual Profession of Vows during the Liturgy on January 1. Spanish was the language of the Assembly. Beautiful sunsets over the Pacific were part of each evening! From the 11th to the 23rd December, I was with the Brothers of West Africa in Sierra Leone. They gathered from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ghana for their annual assembly at Kenema in eastern Sierra Leone. Apart from the camaraderie of all joining together, Martin Vamboi and Titus Kallon were welcomed back to the District after their study time at Iona College, New Rochelle USA. Twenty two Brothers renewed their annual vows at the final Eucharist of the Assembly.
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Hugo Caceres, Peter Dowling, Renato Llerena
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Ever Cieza Tello, Pablo Keohane, Alberto Llanos
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On December 28, I travelled to Peru where the Brothers from Latin America gathered at the Society of St James Centre in Barranco, Lima. They came from Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia. The New Year was celebrated in fine style, and Alberto Llanos made his Perpetual Profession of Vows during the Liturgy on January 1. Spanish was the language of the Assembly. Beautiful sunsets over the Pacific were part of each evening!
Francis
I was very happy to join the 40 Brothers of the East African District for their annual Assembly in December. The theme was ‘The Globalisation of Brotherhood’ and I found the few days most heartening. Following the Assembly I joined the Leadership Team for their meeting.
I flew on to Kolkata to join 50 Brothers from all over India at a series of events – retreat, Jubilees, First and Final Professions – all held at St Vincents, Asansol over Christmas. Following that I facilitated a peer support group (the “Go For It” group) meeting for 3 days and then joined the Leadership Team for one of their regular meetings. It was wonderful to spend Christmas and New Year in the company of such welcoming and energising Brothers.
Here in Rome we are now busy preparing for the arrival of the 5 Brothers who chair the ‘Spark Groups’ for the “A Way to the Future” process. They meet with the ‘Core Team’ , which includes CLT, next week to see what has emerged among us since our October gathering in Nairobi.
During February we on CLT will be altogether in Rome, with David Gibson here for some days, to reflect on our recent visits and meetings and plan ahead for 2012.
Thank you for keeping us in your prayer.
