EJIF Summer 2006 Meeting in Spain
A balance of EJIF meeting 2006
Ignacio González Sexma and Saúl López Cuadrado, from the Castilla province (Spain), tell us about the 20th EJIF meeting which took place in Salamanca (Spain) from the 28th of July to the 17th of August.
In EJIF we met eighteen young Jesuits from fifteen other European provinces gathered in Salamanca to share and work on the topic of this year: “Creative ways of bringing the Word of God to the People”. This topic was developed in two main parts: the Forum (time to reflect, discuss and work together in groups) and the Spiritual Exercises.
Saúl, who studies philosophy in Salamanca, had been with the CoCo members since the beginning of their arrival on the 24th, to help them in all the things that he, as an expert in the city, would be able to. The days before the meeting were quite important in order to have everything prepared for the delegate’s arrival on the 28th.
We didn’t stay in a Jesuits house but in a residence for high school girls in the centre of the town, ran by the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus who treated us really well.
In the beginning of the meeting we tried to get to know better one another and the city. The lunch with the Jesuit community on the 30th and 31st of July, and a four hour guided tour around Salamanca with Saul as a guide, helped us in this intention.
From the 1st to the 4th of August we worked hard with James Hanvey (BRI), theology professor in Heathrow as facilitator of the Forum. Each day began with a lecture given by James in which he motivated us to a topic in a particular point of view and in the end always left a challenge for us to solve (e.g. how to communicate resurrection?). It would then be followed by group work during the entire morning and evening (we were divided in three groups of six or seven delegates). In the end of the afternoon we all had to show our final work. In each exercise, we tried to find new ways to speak to people about old but always pertinent problems.
During these four days, the main topic was developed in these items:
- Preaching to a culture where God is unrecognized. We were helped by the reading of Paul at Areopagus (Acts 17, 15-34).
- Preaching as a dialogue, helped by reading of the woman at the well (Jn 4, 1-42).
- Preaching as personal testimony. Peter at Pentecost (Acts 2, 1-47), motivated us during the work.
- Deeds not words was the issue for the last day of work, animated by the Washing of the feet (Jn 13, 1-17)
PowerPoint, theatrical, and film presentations were given; even a “church” was built in the courtyard by one of the groups. The results of these Forums were diverse and very creative.
A special mention to some Jesuits who were with us these days: Mark Rotsaert s.j. (President of the European Conference of Provincial) and Giuseppe Zito s.j. (ITA) (a young film director who has won some international awards and helped us to make three short “films”, one from each group).
On the 5th of August, we left for Villagarcía de Campos where we made our retreat with John Dardis s.j., Irish provincial, as director. Milan Bizant s.j. (SVN), and Tommaso Guadagno s.j (ITA), secretary of Mark Rotsaert who were with us to help James and John in the Spiritual Direction.
After Villagarcia (and after Giuseppe and Milan's departure), we went to Javier, where we had the mass for the “ Renovation of Vows”.
Once in Salamanca again, we had a free day that included a visit to S. Pelayo de Guareña, a little village with a house to rest (with swimming pool); one more day of work to make our conclusions; and the election of a new Coco for the next two years (in Krakow and France) to substitute Enric Puiggròs s.j. (TAR), Pawel Adamczyk s.j. (PME) and Primoz Jakop s.j. (SVN) who have done this service for the last two years: Luca Uggias s.j. (ITA), João Delicado s.j. (POR) and Andrzej Kowalski s.j. (PME) were elected for the next two years.
We can say that this meeting was a really great “Society” experience and the atmosphere in the meeting was wonderful. The usual language barrier wasn’t such this time because everybody tried to understand each other. We think that the Holy Spirit was above us giving the gift of the word and illuminating the work of these marvellous days.
Ignacio González Sexma s.j.
Saúl López Cuadrado s.j.
A Sample of SJ Europe
After the great experience of EJIF, I would like to share some aspects that I feel to be the most important of all:
1. The challenge of working in groups
Working hard in a group with six other Jesuits, made us face some problems: how to organize a group that has no previous organization besides the assignment of its members; how to take profit of all the individual skills and talents; how to purpose and not impose personal ideas; and maybe the most challenging problem, how to engage seriously and creatively with a project or with an idea which is somebody else’s project or idea. In my opinion, this was one of the most enriching part of this experience.
2. To widen borders in the Society
I remember that when I entered in the noviciate, my master said to me that I was not entering in the noviciate of the Portuguese province but in the noviciate of the Universal Society. But the truth is that, in these four years in the Society, my impression is that provinces have very closed borders and I don’t feel part of a universal body. The course in Manresa, (near Barcelona) in my second year of the noviciate about the Spiritual Diary of Saint Ignatius, where all the novices of Italy, Spain and Portugal were gathered and mainly this EJIF experience, were the two privileged opportunities that I had to taste the universality of the Society or, more correct, the “European flavour” of the Society.
To understand that the Society is not just the reality that usually surrounds me, and to realise that it is a much bigger thing than I thought, is something essential to my vocation. I think that it isn’t just a matter of getting to know other realities abroad as mere curiosity. I think that it is all about something much bigger: to know how to collaborate actively with Jesuits from other provinces and other cultures so that the Society and each Jesuit are able to find his universal vocation. In this sense, EJIF is a really important event to spread the seeds of a more European Jesuit culture (and perhaps more universal).
3. To develop friendship beyond borders
The importance of this closer relationship between Jesuits from different countries is not just intimately related to the institution of the Society and the success of its mission but, it has also to do with personal relationships. Thus, EJIF was also a wonderful opportunity to develop friendships beyond borders. In the end I felt that now, I have much better reasons to visit a lot of cities in Europe which before didn’t mean much to me.
4. To understand the importance of English as a common language
In order for us to be able to live the universality of the Society and to
develop friendship beyond borders among companions of other countries, it’s
essential to have a common way to communicate. In this scope, the EJIF
experience has also underlined the need to have a good level of English.
At the beginning, I arrived in Salamanca with some distrust or scepticism
specifically about the perspective of doing Spiritual Exercises and
spiritual direction in English. But the truth is that the experience turned
out to be extremely positive. The same happened with the contact with all
the people involved in the meeting. However, if on one hand, it was amazing
to see how English was the connecting link between so many nationalities (in
a group of nineteen delegates there was no one who had English as its own
language and there were thirteen different nationalities!), on the other
hand, during our group work, it was very curious to verify some little
problems of communication due to lack of vocabulary. That and other
difficulties that I experienced during the meeting and also the perception
of what one may gain if one controls that tool better, left in the delegates
and in me in particular, the desire to spend more time learning English.
5. Conclusion
In conclusion, EJIF was for me the privilege of experiencing a sample of SJ Europe, a sample of the (more) “Universal Society”. EJIF was something as simple as staying, talking, discussing, working, playing and enjoying life with spiritual companions from all over Europe.
João Delicado sj (POR)
All is well that ends up well
There is now already some time since this year's Meeting ended and some final reflections can be made.
The retreat in Villagarcía de Campos went well. The Mass of renewal of our vows in the castle of Javier was just a very appropriate ending of this experience, especially in the year of 500th anniversary of St. Francis Xavier, our predecessor in the same Society of Jesus and in many ways our role model, when it comes to the question of announcing the Good News to the people.
We got back to Salamanca in the afternoon on 14th of August. Next day, the feast of Assumption of Our Lady, we had the opportunity to spend a very pleasant afternoon in the Jesuit villa in San Pelayo, dedicating ourselves to some interesting reading, engaging ourselves in friendly conversations and sharing or just simply having a good time in the swimming pool.
The fifth day of forum, we tried to bring together the experience of the first four forum days on one hand and what we lived and learned during our retreat on the other. Every group came up with different artistic expression, but trying to bring forth the same experience: the importance of listening attentively to the questions present in our societies and cultures, the encouragement to use and engage all our creativity in conveying the word of God as an answer to this questions and the need of us Jesuits working together as a team. Hopefully, all three forms (bookmark, image and powerpoint presentation) will be presented in the Provinces by the Delegates, but don't hesitate to take an initiative and ask for it firstly!
The last day of our Meeting was dedicated to the elections of the new
CoCo. Under the attentive eyes of Tommaso and James, all the procedures went
through smoothly and at the end of the morning, we had a new CoCo: Luca
Uggias (ITA), Andrzej Kowalski (PME) and João Delicado (POR). The afternoon
was free to visit the town, but also to prepare some artistic piece for our
final fiesta in the evening. Clemens, Gvidas and Nacho as the responsible
for it did a very good job and two very pleasant hours ended almost too
soon.
One of the few thing to lament was the absence of some Delegates that had to
leave our Meeting earlier for different reasons - it would have been really
great to have them with us until the end...
At last, but not at least, we would like to thank our Paris fellow scholastic, Gellért Merza from Hungarian Province, for the logo of the Meeting. By his creative approach and the nice combination of symbols in it, it was easy for us to recognize ourselves in it and take it for our own.
September 2006. Reported by Primoz Jakop
Time to pray
It is our fifth day in Villagarcía de Campos, which means that our Delegates are halfway through the retreat.
Before coming to the heart of the Castilla, in the middle of Tierra de Campos (Land of fields), we spent in Salamanca four very creative days. James Hanvey from Heytrop College, our facilitator (again!), set various tasks for the Delegates: for example to present to a contemporary person the resurrection, or the Church. Every day James gave us an overview of the culture and the Church with the reference to the passages from the Scripture. These texts were also used for everyday individual prayer. We understood the goal of preaching as: “Making Christ Visible”.
We were working in three different groups. Each day one of the group was making a short movie with the help of Giuseppe Zito from Italian Province. We enjoyed and admired each others work and imagination, but the general remark was that the key to this lies in the team-work. Obviously, creative work in a multi-cultural group where the common language is not our own, is very demanding and tiring, so the retreat appeared, at least to a certain point, as a possibility to get some rest.
The retreat is led by Fr. John Dardis, Provincial of the Irish Province. During his inputs he shares with us some of his experiences from working in social and media fields. This way he creates an atmosphere of companionship and also connects with the topic of our Forum. Other retreat directors are: James, Tommaso Guadagno from Italian Province and Milan Bizant from Slovenian. They form a team that inspires confidence that God will make himself heard in the heart of each Delegate.
We plan to leave Villagarcía on Sunday, 13th of August, and to go to Javier. There, we will celebrate a Mass of renewal of our vows, celebrate the anniversary of Ignatius, Francis Javier, and Peter Faber, as well as the 20th anniversary of EJIF meetings.
We also want to send greetings to all the Jesuits who participated in EJIF meetings in those past twenty years.
10 August 2006. Reported by Primoz Jakop
Meeting started well
The feast of St. Ignatius is the forth day of this year's EJIF Meeting in Salamanca. Until today, we had a rather relaxed schedule. We tried to get in touch with each other and with the beautiful university town starting with the Plaza Mayor, considered one of the most beautiful town squares in Spain, if not in Europe. This year we focus our reflection and work on creative ways of bringing the word of God to the contemporary men and women. We already shared the presentations of different interesting new ways of evangelization and preaching the Good News. Today, on St. Ignatius feast, we will have a Eucharist and lunch with the Jesuit community. As of tomorrow, the working part, so called "forum", begins. It is going to be a time for reflection and practical exercises on the ways of announcing the Gospel today. Next Saturday we move to Villagarcía de Campos, where we have eight-day retreat. (to be continued...).
31 July 2006. Reported by Primoz Jakop