It is 11:30pm in Avila and the walls of the city are lit up. I feel tonight they are lit up for the Carmelite nuns who presented at the General Chapter today. I am so proud of our nuns! I think it's quite possible that St. Teresa is too! :)
Mass was celebrated by the Friars of the French-speaking region today. Lovely to hear the language! After Mass, Fr. Rafal gave us the scheduled order of presentations. Lucia and I were scheduled to speak just before lunch. Alleluia! I didn't want to wait all day. I quickly made copies of the statistics for our Associations and with that - all was ready.
After breakfast we went to the meeting room, learned how to plug into the simultaneous translation channels corresponding with our language and got settled. Fr. Saverio spoke to the assembly about the importance of this day of listening to the nuns and Fr. Rafal introduced Sr. Elena from Spain to begin. We all began looking at each other when, after 15 minutes, Sr. Elena had not even begun to speak about the 3 themes! We were wondering, "Well, did we all get a different letter?" Then finally! "Our response to the first theme..." Sr. Cristina from Portugal followed. Both presentations had good content but took altogether over an HOUR - twice the allotted time! We were wondering if we'd still be there the next morning! Nada te turbe. Sr. Bendina (Africa) got us back on track with a 10 minute report of the 3 themes. After that Sr. Ann Marie of Mauritius, Sr. Jennifer from Australia and Sr. Angela from Indonesia. By the time for the break - we were only 7 minutes past schedule. The French sisters were next: Sr. Christine and Sr. Anne-Franciose, followed by Sr. Lucia and myself. Our segment finished 7 minutes early. It's a good way to get compliments from the friars. :)
Truthfully, I had many compliments on our presentation: "Brief, clear, fair to all views." My delivery was measured, deliberate - as we had been asked to do for the translators. Afterwards the French translator ran up to me thanking me over and over...he said, "You were a dream for a translator! You were slow enough. I could get every word!" So thanks be to God, Sisters, you were heard!
More news - than lots of photos to follow.
I must confess - I missed a little of the afternoon presentations. A deadly hour to expect us to be alert through 8 more presentations! But I heard MOST. I did ask Fr. Rafal if he could possibly send each of us translations of the texts in our languages. He said "that's a good idea." I think that means he'll do it. I will share them with the Coordinators.
I did not exactly take a poll regarding the international commission of nuns but I think the bottom line is that most of the nuns feel the discussion about an IC led them (as it did us) to see the need to build up regional relationships. We are not saying 'no' to an IC - just "not now." I believe this is wise. And the nuns are glad the idea was presented to us because it is moving us further in imagining our future.
Many of the reports included reference to updating the Nun's Constitutions.
At the end of all our presentations Fr. Rafal gave a summary of the individual reports he had received from nuns around the world. We were saddened that one group suggested splitting the Order of nuns into 3 parts: 1990 Constitutions, 1991 Constitutions and Revised Constitutions reflecting a possible future re-writing more in keeping with the reality of our time.
Following all the presentations I presented Fr. Saverio (on his way out of the hall) with our card/offering - explaining that the enclosed check was 'fake' - that we had already arranged for a direct deposit. He was truly, truly delighted and thanked many times! Both Fr. Saverio and Fr. Rafal are very happy that our 4 Associations have collaborated in this way - and in our presentation - for the General Chapter.
AB Carballo is here now. Tomorrow we will listen to him in the morning and ask questions. In the afternoon we hope for open dialogue with the Friars in the assembly. On Friday the nuns will spend the day together for follow-up - probably with Fr. Rafal - and Saturday we depart.
I will follow now with photos - LOTS of photos - to introduce the nuns who presented.
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| Fr. General's introduction of the day with the nuns |
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| Left: Sr. Elena (Spain), Right: Sr. Cristina (Portugal) |
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| Left: Sr. Bendina (Africa) Right: Sr. Anne Marie (Mauritius) |
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| Left to right: Sr. Christine (France), Sr. Anne Francoise (Holy Land), Fr. Rafal, Sr. Lucia (Holland), Moi |
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Sr. Lucia and Claire...giving our report!
 Our grateful Superior General |
Sr. Angela & Anne Marie, Fr. Rafal, ? (German) and Fr. Ramiro - CA Province!
It seemed like it would be fun to end this historic day with a fun photo...This is one of our OCD brothers who works at CITeS and has this pet parrot who whistles around the hallways all day long. And now that my report is given, I'm going to whistle all the way to bed!
Love to each of you, dear Sisters! Thank you for allowing me to be here and for trusting me to present on your behalf! It is a privilege and joy!
Sr. Claire
Sr. Claire I want to commend you on the excellent job on the Chapter commentary and blog.
ReplyDeleteGod bless, Victoria
Claire thank you so much, we almost feel we were there, your written report to us was as they commented in the assembly: brief and clear, but it also gave us a real flavour of the the experience. May the Holy Spirit continue to hover over you all.
ReplyDeletelove and prayers.