fall council report
REPORT FROM THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL
These past three months have been rather tumultuous for the Provincial Council. First, Gerald had triple by-pass surgery. That same day, Pascal fell and shattered his heel. So, things slowed down for us while we awaited their recovery but then, just 10 days later, Katrina hit. Pascal evacuated New Orleans and for a good week or so we worried until finally he turned up in Ft Worth before moving on to Monroe, LA to an empty home made available to he and his family. His home was flooded with 10 ft of water so he's lost everything but is otherwise doing well.
Katrina held the attention of the Provincial Council as much as everyone else as we worried over our friars, nuns, and especially our seculars in the areas hit. We still have not heard from many of our New Orleans community nor from many of our Gulf Coast, MS community. And we were terribly saddened to learn of two deaths among our seculars in those areas, Marion Sterns of New Orleans, and Nancy Murphy of Bay St Louis, MS.
In the midst of all this, Nancy had some medical problems come up with her son and Amelia had family visiting so Provincial Council work slowed to a temporary crawl while we all dealt with those things that life throws at us.
We did manage to put the last finishing touches on our provincial formation guidelines and submit them to be added to our statutes and they were approved at the Sept meeting of the General Definitory. Very soon we will be publishing a book with all our current legislation so that everyone in our province will have a copy of the Rule of St Albert, Constitutions, Statutes, and Ritual.
The Provincial Council was also able to review profession requests from a few of our study groups and we continue to make visitations of our communities and study groups. Pascal's visitations that were schedule have been postponed until either another Provincial Councilor can make them for when Pascal is able to turn his attention once again back to provincial matters.
At the end of September, Elizabeth, Nancy, and Amelia were able to attend the OCDS National Congress in St Louis (Gerald and Pascal had to cancel). Elizabeth and Nancy attended the National Council meeting prior to the start of the Congress. On Friday, we had the Plenary Council where Elizabeth gave a State of the Province report (included in this Flos Carmeli) and representatives of all our communities had an opportunity to express any concerns to the provincial leadership. The possibility of a Spanish speaking OCDS group in Houston was raised as well as some concern over an increase in bureaucracy in light of the Constitutions and Statutes. On Friday evening, an opportunity was provided for everyone from our province who was in St Louis to meet the Provincial Council and many good questions were asked. Elizabeth, Nancy and Amelia certainly did enjoy the opportunity that the Congress gave for us to meet so many members of our province.
We wish everyone a blessed feast of St Teresa and we continue to hold in our prayers all those impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
These past three months have been rather tumultuous for the Provincial Council. First, Gerald had triple by-pass surgery. That same day, Pascal fell and shattered his heel. So, things slowed down for us while we awaited their recovery but then, just 10 days later, Katrina hit. Pascal evacuated New Orleans and for a good week or so we worried until finally he turned up in Ft Worth before moving on to Monroe, LA to an empty home made available to he and his family. His home was flooded with 10 ft of water so he's lost everything but is otherwise doing well.
Katrina held the attention of the Provincial Council as much as everyone else as we worried over our friars, nuns, and especially our seculars in the areas hit. We still have not heard from many of our New Orleans community nor from many of our Gulf Coast, MS community. And we were terribly saddened to learn of two deaths among our seculars in those areas, Marion Sterns of New Orleans, and Nancy Murphy of Bay St Louis, MS.
In the midst of all this, Nancy had some medical problems come up with her son and Amelia had family visiting so Provincial Council work slowed to a temporary crawl while we all dealt with those things that life throws at us.
We did manage to put the last finishing touches on our provincial formation guidelines and submit them to be added to our statutes and they were approved at the Sept meeting of the General Definitory. Very soon we will be publishing a book with all our current legislation so that everyone in our province will have a copy of the Rule of St Albert, Constitutions, Statutes, and Ritual.
The Provincial Council was also able to review profession requests from a few of our study groups and we continue to make visitations of our communities and study groups. Pascal's visitations that were schedule have been postponed until either another Provincial Councilor can make them for when Pascal is able to turn his attention once again back to provincial matters.
At the end of September, Elizabeth, Nancy, and Amelia were able to attend the OCDS National Congress in St Louis (Gerald and Pascal had to cancel). Elizabeth and Nancy attended the National Council meeting prior to the start of the Congress. On Friday, we had the Plenary Council where Elizabeth gave a State of the Province report (included in this Flos Carmeli) and representatives of all our communities had an opportunity to express any concerns to the provincial leadership. The possibility of a Spanish speaking OCDS group in Houston was raised as well as some concern over an increase in bureaucracy in light of the Constitutions and Statutes. On Friday evening, an opportunity was provided for everyone from our province who was in St Louis to meet the Provincial Council and many good questions were asked. Elizabeth, Nancy and Amelia certainly did enjoy the opportunity that the Congress gave for us to meet so many members of our province.
We wish everyone a blessed feast of St Teresa and we continue to hold in our prayers all those impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
--Provincial Council:
Pascal Alfano, Gerald Alford, Elizabeth Korves, Nancy Thompson, and Amelia Wilken
Pascal Alfano, Gerald Alford, Elizabeth Korves, Nancy Thompson, and Amelia Wilken
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