EJIF Summer 2001 Meeting in Portugal
The Forum (29 July-13 August)
On the beach at Rodizio, Portugal, huge waves from across the Atlantic are an awesome spectacle. Nevertheless, during the annual EJIF Summer Meeting, held in a Jesuit retreat house nearby, we were more concerned with waves from this side of the Atlantic: communication in a spectrum of accents from all over Europe, all in English. The meeting brings together delegates from all the Jesuit provinces in Europe and consists of three distinct moments: a Forum, wherein we share and receive information on a topic (Jesuit Youth Apostolate, in our case); an 8-day retreat, and a Symposium, where Jesuits in formation take decisions and seek to draft a common statement which is then presented to all the European Provincials.
The Forum started on Sunday, 29 of July. As we arrived in Lisbon, the Portuguese scholastics ran a shuttle service to take us to Rodizio. There, Mass was celebrated by Fr Mark Rotsaert, President of the Conference of European Provincials (CEP), and was followed by short presentations and a social evening. Monday morning was dedicated to a visit of Lisbon; in the evening we embarked on the preparation of an individual presentation of our own Provinces and their apostolate with young people. On Tuesday, the feast of St Ignatius, several Portuguese Jesuits working in Lisbon, including the Provincial, Fr Amadeo Pinto, paid us a visit. Actually, it is a Province tradition to celebrate St. Ignatius in Rodizio. Before indulging in the superb buffet lunch, we faced a morning full of activities. First, we read Fr. General's letter to the meeting, listened to an introduction to the Portuguese Province by the delegate from Portugal, shared in workgroups on Christian Life Communities, University Chaplaincies, Secondary Schools or Youth Groups and took part in the feastday Mass presided by Fr Pinto. Later, Fr Pinto gave a speech on how the Province is focusing on the apostolic priorities and how this is giving rise to some very radical changes in the structure of the Province.
In the plenary meeting on Wednesday, the four workgroups presented the fruits of their sharing. The CLC group concluded that the challenges facing this movement can be neatly summarised by the letters of CLC: connection - language -- creativity. Teamwork among Jesuits, collaboration with the laity and 'on site' training for young Jesuits were suggested as means of countering the dwindling commitment of students to university chaplaincies in a 'pick and mix' culture of education. As regards our Secondary Schools, stress was placed on the presence of Jesuits in the lives of the students, in both formal and informal moments. In this field, extracurricular activities and personal witness from committed Jesuits and lay people - invited to our colleges so as to share their life experience - are deemed valuable tools of evangelisation for this age group. The team sharing on the various Jesuit youth groups and centres in Europe felt that the challenge for this activity is that of preparing young people for day-to-day life: how to stay committed to the Gospel in spite of the difficulties, doubts and tedium arising in the shadow of the ordinary, flat routine.
In the evening, Fr Rotsaert SJ spoke about the Society in Europe and the role of the CEP. The following day was dedicated to Horizon 2000: Jean Paul Hernandez helped us to reflect on the concept and the spiritual background of "Horizon 2000" and Ignatian pilgrimages in general, then some of us who participated in the event did some sharing. It is worth mentioning that during the forum, empty spaces in the timetable were filled in by short presentations of particular youth-work projects, such as the 'Dur Dawra mad-Dinja' stand at Festazghazagh 2000 set up by the Maltese Province.
The last three days of the forum were dedicated to some more systematic
reflection on our work with young people, under the direction of Fr. Tobias
Karcher (Young Europeans Network, promoter of EU-Programmes that foster
international education projects - based in Brussels). Fr Karcher helped us
reflect upon who are the young people we meet by asking us: What are their
questions?; What are their visions, their dreams?; To what are they ready to
commit themselves? In a second moment, we considered how we as Jesuits answer
to the needs of young people: When do we respond well?; When do we fail?; How
can we improve? Several proposals were formulated, and four workshops were set
up on the following topics: Liturgy for young people, Retreats for young
people, New languages for youth work (e.g. arts, video etc.) and proposals for
marginalised young people. At the end of the Forum, Fr Karcher gave us an
interesting talk on European programmes referring us to web sites such as E.U.
Youth Programme homepage (www.europa.eu.int/comm/education/youth.html)
, Eurodesk (www.eurodesk.org) and the
NGO Youth Forum in Brussels: (www.youthforum.org
).
The Retreat (6-14 August)
On the way to the retreat house at Soutelo (near Braga), we visited three
Youth Camps ran by Portuguese Province. The retreat was a very beautiful
moment; it was directed by Fr Herminio Rico (Portugal) aided by other
spiritual directors from Portugal, Poland and Britain. After supper, the
possibility of attending eucharistic adoration and sharing groups was offered
in an alternating manner. On the last evening we visited of scholasticate in
Braga, and on our way back to Rodizio we stopped at Fatima for the devotional
Renewal of Vows.
The Symposium (15-17 August)
As a special guest during the Symposium, we welcomed Fr José Morales
Orozco, Fr. General's Assistant for Formation and Vocations Promotion. We were
divided into three groups to hear about and discuss the structure and work of
EJIF, the EJIF Summer meeting in general (and its planning for the coming
years) and the EJIF Website (EJIF Openings: www.jezuici.krakow.pl/ejifmart/).
Finally we discussed, amended and voted on a Common Statement (ask me for a
copy if interested) that focuses on three of the major points we dealt with
during the meeting; this has been presented to Provincials all over Europe in
these last months. Hungary was then chosen as the venue of next year's Summer
Meeting. The event ended with a talk by Fr Chris Dyckhoff (Socius of the CEP)
followed by a farewell Mass with personal sharing about the meeting as a whole
and a very colourful (and spirited) social evening.
...Reported by Schol. René Micallef - micallef.rene@iname.com