14 December 2002

Dehonian Year Week XLII
Preparation for the 125th anniversary of the congregation

3rd Week of Advent
Year B of the Liturgical Calendar
150 days to the start of the XXIst General Chapter

What's New?

Christmas letter

Fr. General's Christmas letter to the Dehonian Family dated December 3, 2002, has been posted to the Letters & Documents page, and is available in English, French, Portuguese and Italian.

MESSAGGIO NATALIZIO E PER IL NUOVO ANNO 2003
ALLA FAMIGLIA DEHONIANA

Speaking of Christmas

Due to the Christmas and New Year holidays we will take a short 'winter' break from the news. The last www.scj.org news update will be for Saturday, December 21, 2002, and the first update will be for Saturday, January 11, 2003.

Note: There will be a Christmas message posted on or about December 24, 2002.

What's Happening?

Spain - deacon & missionary

On December 7, 2003, Pedro Jesús Arenas Toboso (IM) was ordained to the diaconate. He will shortly depart for Ecuador to join his fellow scjs who have been working there for the past five years. Ecuador was the first scj mission, but due to political circumstances the scjs were forced to leave and returned 100 years later when the first three missionaries from Spain arrived on October 17, 1997.

South Italy - final vows

Giuseppe Ferraiolo (IM) made his final vows profession on December, 12th at Naples.

Rome - presentation to USG members by Fr. General

On November 23, 2002, Fr. General gave a talk, as one of six superior generals, on the experience the scj community has gone through in restructuring governmental models given at a meeting of the USG (Unione Superiori Generali).

There were about 120 religious called together by the USG to reflect on the topic of restructuring and the experience among various religious orders and congregations affording the opportunity for an interchange of ideas, especially to those just beginning to undertake such a process.

The six presentations were:

Concepts and States of Restructuring in Conjunction with the Revitalization and Refoundation of Religious Life. P. David Flemming, Superiore Generale dei Marianisti (SM).

Models of Restructuring. P. Wilhelm Stekling, Superiore Generale degli Oblati di Maria Immacaolata (OMI).

Reasons and Criteria for Restructuring. Br. Sean Sammon, Superiore Generale dei Fratelli Maristi (FMS).

Managing the Process of Restructuring. P. Virginio Bressanelli, Superiore Generale SCJ.

Resistance to and Difficulties with Restructuring. P. Robert Prevost, Superiore Generale degli Agostiniani (OSA).

Benefits and Questions of Restructuring. P. Annibale Devizia, Vicario Generale degli Scolopi (Sch.P).

Fr. General sought in his presentation to show how inspirational elements govern the methodology of participation in the restructuring process on the part of the General Government. It is also interesting to note that almost all of the orders and congregations began to consider the subject of restructing in 1991.

Fr. General's presentation is available here in the original Spanish text.

This week's Dehonian Historical & Spiritual Calendar

Here is this weeks Dehonian Historical and Spiritual Calendar. As previously noted the text is in Spanish with the Dehonian quotes in French. You can link to past weeks from the Letters & Documents section.

Dehonian Historical & Spiritual Calendar for the week of: 16.12.02 -22.12.02