Pedro Castillo, CM.
VMY Sub-director General
At the mark of the 175th anniversary of the Apparitions and in the cradle of the Association itself, the Vincentian Marian Youth celebrated its 2nd General Assembly in Paris on August 7-13 under the theme, "With a Lay Spirituality, We Share the Mission: Challenges." After an entire year of preparation and contacts, it was a joy to meet at the cosmopolitan and Vincentian Paris with some 185 Assembly delegates representing 50 countries wherein VMY is established; from the United States to Argentina, from Vietnam to India, from Portugal to Poland, and from Egypt to Madagascar. In the Chapel of the Rue du Bac, the Blessed Virgin received us with open arms while we presented her with hearts filled with dreams and hopes. In her Words of Welcome, Sr. Evelyne Franc told us that, “I hope, then, that this Assembly will be a time of grace for you, an occasion to experience God, a time of dialogue and discernment as you seek together the way forward to the future. You will follow this road as young people committed with Christ in the Church, as young people who live the Vincentian charism of the Marian Association to which you belong. It is my wish, too, that during this time of meeting in friendship, you may discover the charm of these historic places, that you may rediscover, in this city of Paris, the spirit that urged Saint Vincent, Saint Louise, Saint Catherine and Blessed Rosalie Rendu to follow Christ, to be witnesses of his love, to bear the Good News of the Gospel to the poor with daring and creativity.”
We had an extensive program since the objectives of the Assembly were:
- To evaluate the course from the First General Assembly Rome 2000 in order to detect the new challenges and call to those who will give the response;
- To continue deepening and strengthening our convictions related to identity, formation and apostolates proper of VMY;
- To take new commitments of participating in projects of service with the whole Vincentian Family;
- To elect a new International President and the lay members of the International Council.
For his part, Fr. Gregory Gay, as Director General of the Association, presented the general tone of the Assembly and from the beginning, he threw a strong challenge to the young participants of the Assembly, “Do not be afraid to take on your empowerment within the VMY! We urgently need to promote an authentic youth empowerment that is born from an encounter with the Lord of Life and of History! The decision to take on your empowerment is in you. The responsibility of advisors, as ‘elder brothers and sisters,’ is to encourage you and make effective, relevant and applicable the message that the Blessed Virgin Mary entrusted to a young Daughter of Charity, St. Catherine Laboure, 175 years ago.”
The Assembly was presided by the International President, Gladys Abi-Said Dib who, without leaving the care of her little daughter, accompanied all the activities of the Assembly. Dorys Castillo (from VMY Ecuador, member of the International Secretariat) was appointed Secretary General while Denise el Khoury (National President of VMY Lebanon), Gina Paredes ( from VMY Domincan Republic, Coordinator of the VMY Latin American Council) and Yasmine Cajuste (from VMY Haiti, member of the International Secretariat) were the moderators. Together with Francisco Pires (from VMY Portugal, International Councilor), Ana Maria Escaño (from VMY Philippines, International Councilor,) Sr Wivine Kisu, DC (VMY General Councilor,) and Fr. Pedro Castillo, CM (VMY Sub-director General), they formed the Central Commission which guided the steps of the Assembly. Aside from this, there were other Commissions formed for specific functions: one for drafting the Final Document and another to propose guidelines on the Financial Management of the Association.
Then, after the Opening Liturgy in the Chapel of the Apparitions, the International President presented the objectives of the Assembly, using the beautiful image of the rainbow, sign of unity in diversity. The participants unanimously approved the Directory of the Assembly after the explanation and clarification made by Fr. Pedro Castillo. The whole of the first day intended to become some sort of "examination of conscience" toward the interior of the Association based on two strong points: the summary of the work done by the International Council taking the Lines of Action of the previous Assembly (Rome 2000) as its reference and the actual situation of the Association based on an extensive survey responded by 60% of the member countries. These were presented by Gloria Santillan and Edurne Urdampilleta, members of the International Council, respectively who helped evaluate the course taken the past five years, acknowledging the achievements as well as the challenges. The group workshops came up with a generalization that formation, auto-financing and the relation with the Vincentian Family are the courses which still have a lot left to be ventured forth.
The morning of the second day was masterfully motivated by Professor Juan Bellido of VMY Spain who invited us to reflect about “The Spirituality of the Young Marian Vincentian in the World Today.” In a very pedagogic and testimonial manner, he invited us to live our identity as believers and VMY members in this constantly transforming world marked by globalization and post-modern culture: “One can be a Vincentian in any period. Besides, all periods need it. This too.” In the afternoon, we continued reflecting about our identity through a Round Table Discussion with representatives from the different branches of the Vincentian Family who tried to answer two questions, “what do you expect from VMY’” and, “what can your Association offer VMY?” Aside from the Father and Mother Generals, Marina Costa (AIC International President), David Sanz (Coordinating Team Member of the MISEVI International), Jesus Benitez (AMM Spain) and Fr. Manuel Ginete, CM (Delegate of the Father General to the Vincentian Family) also participated. Everyone coincided in considering VMY as a hope of the future which assures the continuity of the service to the poor and offer its associative or congregational experience as a possibility to live firmly the Vincentian charism as adults. Perhaps the best conclusion were the five challenges thrown by Fr. Ginete to the members of VMY, “Take advantage of your YOUTH, and all the good things that come with being young: idealism and vision; openness to what is new, challenging, and exciting; and creativity and persistence… Seek God in the depths of your experience… Nurture your love for Mary as Mother, Inspiration, Guide… Know your place in the Church and take it seriously… Deepen your commitment to the Vincentian charism.” The day ended with the Eucharist at the Mother House of the Vincentian Priests, at the foot of the relics of St. Vincent and a well-deserved tour around Paris after supper.
The third day was focused on how to realize the apostolate proper of the Association. Sr. Wivine Kisu (General Councilor of the Daughters of Charity and Fr. Ziad Haddad, CM (National Priest Advisor of VMY Lebanon) helped us reflect over the Shared Mission, a relatively new concept which notes a reality as old as the Church itself: the evangelical mission of the Church is the responsibility of the whole people of God and each one participates in it from his own specific vocation. What is said as the mission of the Church in general can also be called as the Vincentian charism and the specific mission of VMY which was born in order to evangelize the young people from the middle class and the marginalized. In this mission, the laypersons, Daughters of Charity and the Vincentian Fathers collaborate equally; each one contributes the richness of his particularity towards the dynamism of the Association. The sharing was enriched by Fr. Jose Eugenio Lopez, CM (former Director of the VMY International Secretariat), who gave a concrete example of shared mission with the lay persons of VMY in Nacala (Mozambique.) In the afternoon, was the continental group workshop in order to evaluate the reality of VMY and review the commitments of the previous Continental Encounters. Afterwards, Sr. Asuncion Garcia (Delegate to the International Secretariat) imparted the Five-year Economic Report, followed by Fr. Gregory who presented the candidates for presidency of VMY and then the first indicative poll took place. VMY France and Haiti closed the day with a very beautiful Marian Vigil at the Chapel of the Apparitions.
On the fourth day we tried to focus towards the Church and the whole world in order to detect the challenges that we are confronted with. For this, we wanted a member of the Saint Egidio Community (a movement born in Rome in the 60’s at the initiative of Prof. Andrea Ricardi, at the light of the Vatican Council II and is present today in more than 60 countries) to share with us their experience. Prof. Jesus Romero did that with his sharing “Challenges for VMY in the Church of the Third Millennium.” With simple words, he spoke of very profound realities that we should never forget, “communion is the way to live in the Church. And it is precisely communion what is more needed nowadays, prior to any coordination or organization. The true secret of the Gospel, of Jesus’ message, is that it teaches us how to form a family and not an organization. I think that our task, above all, is to be in tune with everybody’s heart, and not so much with everybody’s agenda…The security or serenity we need does not come from the programmes we draw up for the future, or from the methodologies or our psychological withdrawals. Many times we exorcise the challenges of the future by writing schedules, by repeating methodologies or by closing ourselves up. However, the subject is a different one; it is a matter of the heart. Our wise schedules do not grant the serenity to look at the future. It is a matter of the heart, or if you prefer, of spirituality.” In the afternoon, we held the election which was motivated by Fr. Gregory. It was a very important moment in the whole Assembly. After the elections, the new VMY International Council 2005-2010 are composed of the following: Yasmine Cajuste from Haiti as the International President and Dorys Castillo from Ecuador, Denise el Khoury from Lebanon, Voanginirina François de Paul Ravazaha from Madagascar and Maria Jesus Garcia Oliveira from Spain. The day ended with an International Socio-Cultural Presentations by the delegates.
The fifth and last day left us short of time, perhaps for being inexperienced yet in these activities. We worked almost against the clock to discuss and approve the Final Document and the commitments concerning the finances of the Association. For lack of time the meeting of the Director General with the National Advisors was suspended and a vote of confidence was given to the new International Council to study the suggestions from the different National Councils and the International Secretariat. The Closing Liturgy, presided by the Director General, was really a MAGNIFICAT, with all the participants singing as a choir and which culminated with a mission-sending. Together, we listened to the encouraging words of the prophet Isaiah, "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger announcing peace…!" (Is. 52) which invited us to go out, like Mary in the Visitation (Lk.2), into the streets of the world to become good news to the poor. To conclude the Assembly, Fr. Gregory said, “Dear young people, be authentic members of the VMY. Be missionaries of Christ and His Gospel. Love Christ in the poor and the marginalized. Do not forget that true love is renewed daily. Do not place conditions for service. Be ready to enter in the dynamics of missionary mobility. Mary, mother of the Messiah…gives us an example of faith, joy, availability and service. She is the way of generosity and total self-giving. She is the example of a missionary and of mobility. Mary is the model for all of us in proclaiming and witnessing the simplicity, purity and beauty of faith in Jesus Christ in the person of the poor.”
The last day ended with the guidelines on how to go about our pilgrimage to Cologne and participate in the 20th World Youth Day, as well as a beautiful socio-cultural presentation.
