Friday, April 25th, 2014
Since 1993, the International Center of Formation, St. Vincent de Paul (CIF) has developed and led programs for our members and those of our "Vincentian Family." For our own priest and brother members this has been an opportunity for personal renewal and to experience our holy places, i.e. those sites where our founder, Vincent de Paul, was born, grew up, and developed into the saint and founder we know today. The center over the years has adapted these "ongoing formation" programs to particular groups and needs, such as those who work in seminaries, parish missions, with youth, our lay brother members, our leaders and others.
CIF has just initiate a new "session" called "CIF for Missionaries" - this is the first time for
confreres who work outside of their home culture (and language) and/or serve as
missionaries to immigrants within their provinces.
All 18 participants arrived on time. The group
is quite international: eighteen confreres from thirteen provinces, each with
different missionary experience. This
evening we introduced ourselves to each other, assisting with our own
translations – French, English, Spanish, and a bit of Portuguese and Italian.
Photo: Introductions in the Salle Pouget
Saturday, April 26th, 2014
In our first formal gathering of this session, the CIF
Director, Fr. Dan Paul Borlik introduced the general program of this special session.
After a brief orientation and history of CIF , he introduced the methodology of
this session. He also presded at our first Eucharist, in the House community’s
“Oratoire”, concelebrated by all participants of this session.
Photo: the Group in Chapelle des
Missionnaires
In the afternoon we took the underground (the celebrated
Parisien METRO), to see the site of the ancient home of Saint-Lazare. We
visited the church of Saint Laurent which was the parish church of Saints Vincent
and Louise de Marillac our our foundation from the 1630’s until the Revolution (1789) as the
Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity. We then went to the street of the nearby Rue
Saint Denis, to see the still-visible walls of the ancient chapel of
Saint-Lazare, the striking outside wall sculpture Vincent’s face, recently
dedicated to the saint by local residents, as well as other remains of the
hospital chapel Saint-Lazare.
Sunday, April 27th, 2014
The most important event of the day was Eucharist in the main
chapel, at the tomb of our Founder, saint Vincent de Paul. Presiding among us along with the other
members of the House was the Mother House superior, P. Bernard Schoepfer. On this Divine Mercy Sunday we prayed for the
assistance of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II, two new saints of the Church.
After Mass the participants of session took a tour of our
“Maison Mère” and its chapel.
We had dinner together with resident confreres who live here
at 95, rue de Sèvres in Paris.
Photo: 27 April – The Maison Mère
Commuity welcomes the CIF missionaries
Monday, April 28th, 2014
After our early (7:00) morning prayers and Mass, we met in the
“Salle Frederick Ozanam” (the CIF instruction room with translation and
projection equipment), where we listened to our first presenter, Fr. Alvaro
Restrepo, who spoke of documents missionary of the Church, the encyclical of Benedict
XVI of 1755 up to Francis’ exhortation of last year. This survey, a
historical-critical presentation, prepared us for work in our three language
groups, to correlate recent three missionary documents of the Church: the
Exhortation, Evangelii Nuntiandi of Paul VI, the encyclical Redemptoris Missio of Pope
St. John Paul II, and Pope Francis’
recent exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.
Group work began in the afternoon. After discussion, we gather together in “plenary session” to share results. We note remarkable evolution of the thought of the Church. There was much we had in common, indeed we most most struck by how much these official reflections had in common, while not always consistent with methods and practices apparently adapted to cultural trends and the mindset of previous epochs.
Photo: Álvaro Restrepo, CM (of the
Paris Province)
Tuesday, April 29th, 2014
This day was given to presenting and reflecting on the
documents of the local churches where we serve, i.e. the Bishops' Conferences reflections
on missionary activity. In the morning we worked in language groups, shared those
materials already prepared for this subject.
In the afternoon, in a meeting in the Salle Ozaname, the English
and Spanish groups related what they had discussed in the morning –
presentations were organized according to region. They illustrated the context
of bishops’ preparation (education) and underlined the peculiarity of every
country, as well as the variety of methods for evangelization, liturgy, and
catechesis.
Wednesday, April 30th, 2014
That day in session been envisaged pilgrimage in Folleville.
We left Paris in the morning early. Env. 09 h 30 we arrived at Gannes, where
waited for us Mr Michel Sorel. It showed us the church. Then we went instead of
birth of the Congregation, to Folleville. We celebrated mass there, governed by
an associate of Madagascar – P. Jérôme Ralahizafy CM.
Photo: Folleville_Chapelles Saint Jean Baptist and Saint Jacques
After mass we saw the ruins
of the castle and we went to Amiens, where the Missionary Community received
us. We had dinner with our confreres who live and work in Amiens. We also visited the church St
Ann, their base community for a number of ministries in the city.
Another unforgettable part of our visit in Amiens was the two hours we had to pray in, visit, and study the splendid gothic cathedral – the highest in France. Our guide in
the cathedral was Fr. John Rybolt CM.
After the visit of the cathedral we came back
to Paris to enjoy pizza, beer, and fellowship in our newly refurbished Salle Pouget.
Photo: a midday banquete with the Missionaries at Amiens
Thursday, May 1st, 2014
We celebrated this official holiday for workers, by working
ourselves ! Our sessions began at 9:00 am with the conference of Fr. John
Rybolt, who introduced the historical context of Vincent de Paul’s life and
missionary activity, where we noticed the same, if deepening sense of the word
'mission '. A lot of well-known events
of the life of our Founder can now be seen in a new light, thanks to those many
who have worked on the volumes of the history of the Congregation.
Photo: John Rybolt, CM (Western Province of the United States)
The afternoon began with an introduction for group work. Each
received different portions from the Common
Rules (of the Congregation of the Mission), and tracts taken from Abelly
and from other writings, which illustrated the various elements of mission. Having worked in linguistic groups, all
participants shared their points of view, particularly on popular missions.
They pointed out the context of these missions in the time of St Vincent and
more recent times, of the methods and of strategies or of other elements, all
of which for the participants seemed quite valuable.
Friday, May 2nd, 2014
Fr. John Rybolt continued today with a new set of
conferences: following the historical context of popular missions and showed how
this work was accomplished from the times of St Vincent until our own. Examples comes from different countries and
from different circles. In the same time our guide explained why next to
mission appeared other writings. Which was the reason of the extension of
activity of the Congregation.
The session of afternoon was opportunity to share the
experience of popular missions in different countries and in different
environments. What approches do we have today to popular missions, and what are
their particular characteristics? Three of our confreres spoke about their
experiences of popular missions: Thomas Lunot (Paris Province), who spoke about
the experience of the Frenchmen, Giuseppe Ciappa (Naples Province) who
introduced Italian missions, and Jérôme
Ralahizafy, who introduced missions in the environment of Madagascar
The afternoon ended with preparation for our “long pilgrimage”,
which begins early tomorrow, and will have us arriving tomorrow evening at the birthplace
(Berceau) of Saint Vincent de Paul.
Chronicled and Photographed by Fr. Adam Bandura, CIF Directeur Adjoint ;
Translations and editing by Fr. Dan Paul Borlik, CIF Directeur
