PC Report
REPORT FROM THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL
January 2008
There was only one visitation in the past few months. Pascal visited the Conyers, GA community and some of us are a touch envious that he got to say at the Cistercian monastery. In January, Elizabeth is scheduled to visit one of our Houston communities. Gerald is still trying to get to Topeka and with that, we will have visited all the communities in our province over the past three years. What an accomplishment! As you will remember, our Provincial Delegate, Fr. John Michael, was only able to visit a few communities each year so many of our communities had not had a formal visitation in many, many years. We have learned so much about our province in the course of these visitations. You’ve seen some of what we’ve learned in the various “special issues” of the Flos Carmeli where we’ve focused on a particular topic. If you check our provincial website, we’ve posted all sorts of stuff that we’ve come across that we felt would be helpful in light of what we’ve learned. The best part has been the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people. We wax a bit eloquently about this since soon Amelia, Gerald, and Pascal will complete their term of service on the Provincial Council… but not until the end of May… so we do still have some work for them to do. Do not think that having visited all our communities at least once in the past three years, we’re done… we are not… the Provincial Council will continue to visit all our communities at least once every three years as part of our service to the province. Not only is this helpful to our communities (or so we’ve been hearing!) but it is also helpful to us for having a good feel for the people we serve.
Finally, we ask that you do hold all our communities and our friars and nuns in prayer as everyone holds elections this spring. The friars will be holding their Provincial Chapter in San Antonio on May 26-June 6. The OCDS Provincial Council with its new members will have their annual meeting over the weekend of May 31 and meet with the chapter friars on Tuesday, June 3rd.
Provincial Council:
Pascal Alfano, Gerald Alford, Elizabeth Korves, Nancy Thompson, and Amelia Wilken
January 2008
As our communities turn their attention to elections, we pray that those approached to serve will recognize how important service is within our communities. Without our councils, meetings would not be so organized… discernments would not happen… retreats wouldn’t happen… and all sorts of important things would not happen! But they do because the council looks after the “spiritual growth and well-being of the community” (Sec. XVI.8). We’ve sometimes heard people say “but I’m not worthy to be a council member”. It’s not about worthiness. Anyone who’s ever served on a council knows that it’s not about prestige, it’s about service and often involves some hard work. After all, discernment is hard work and certainly not easy when a council has to tell someone that they do not have the vocation. So…don’t worry about whether you are worthy or not… if someone has nominated you, then you are more than worthy to serve!
With that in mind, we’d like to take this opportunity before they roll out of office to thank all our council members of the past three years for their dedicated service to their communities. We know some of our councils have had some pretty difficult situations to deal with in this triennium and we really appreciate everyone’s efforts in resolving them.
Speaking of elections, we were a bit disappointed in how few nominations we received for the Provincial Council elections. We received six nominations and after some discernment on the part of the nominees, ended up with only three candidates to fill the three open slots. So, we petitioned Fr. Provincial for postulation to appoint these three candidates since there seemed no reason to hold elections. We certainly hope that in three years, more people will be nominated for the Provincial Council and able to serve.
With that in mind, we’d like to take this opportunity before they roll out of office to thank all our council members of the past three years for their dedicated service to their communities. We know some of our councils have had some pretty difficult situations to deal with in this triennium and we really appreciate everyone’s efforts in resolving them.
Speaking of elections, we were a bit disappointed in how few nominations we received for the Provincial Council elections. We received six nominations and after some discernment on the part of the nominees, ended up with only three candidates to fill the three open slots. So, we petitioned Fr. Provincial for postulation to appoint these three candidates since there seemed no reason to hold elections. We certainly hope that in three years, more people will be nominated for the Provincial Council and able to serve.
There was only one visitation in the past few months. Pascal visited the Conyers, GA community and some of us are a touch envious that he got to say at the Cistercian monastery. In January, Elizabeth is scheduled to visit one of our Houston communities. Gerald is still trying to get to Topeka and with that, we will have visited all the communities in our province over the past three years. What an accomplishment! As you will remember, our Provincial Delegate, Fr. John Michael, was only able to visit a few communities each year so many of our communities had not had a formal visitation in many, many years. We have learned so much about our province in the course of these visitations. You’ve seen some of what we’ve learned in the various “special issues” of the Flos Carmeli where we’ve focused on a particular topic. If you check our provincial website, we’ve posted all sorts of stuff that we’ve come across that we felt would be helpful in light of what we’ve learned. The best part has been the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people. We wax a bit eloquently about this since soon Amelia, Gerald, and Pascal will complete their term of service on the Provincial Council… but not until the end of May… so we do still have some work for them to do. Do not think that having visited all our communities at least once in the past three years, we’re done… we are not… the Provincial Council will continue to visit all our communities at least once every three years as part of our service to the province. Not only is this helpful to our communities (or so we’ve been hearing!) but it is also helpful to us for having a good feel for the people we serve.
Finally, we ask that you do hold all our communities and our friars and nuns in prayer as everyone holds elections this spring. The friars will be holding their Provincial Chapter in San Antonio on May 26-June 6. The OCDS Provincial Council with its new members will have their annual meeting over the weekend of May 31 and meet with the chapter friars on Tuesday, June 3rd.
Provincial Council:
Pascal Alfano, Gerald Alford, Elizabeth Korves, Nancy Thompson, and Amelia Wilken
Labels: elections, PC report, winter 07-08
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