Almost half of those who came, 23 Religious started their stay last January 9 and extended till February 4, 2012, the last day of the Renewal Course. These 23 Religious were the participants in the Renewal Course, which is the oldest permanent training formation that the Order is undertaking. It started to be organized during the early seventies, and since then, it has been done annually and alternatively between Europe, America, and Asia.
This time, this Course Renewal in Rio de Janeiro corresponded to the American continent, and most of the participants came from the eight countries of the American continent, except for one coming from the Philippines.
The Course Renewal is like a refresher course on what the Religious has learned. It serves to update him on priority experiences of community life (living together) and to open himself to the wide reality of the Order far beyond the place where he works. The course ends with a week of spiritual exercises. All this together with the restful pace of the month, the best conditions of the houses chosen and with the weekend excursions, explain the success of this endeavor, which has persisted for four decades. It is an authentic psychic healing and spiritual health, to which every religious must undergo every 10 years, at least.
To Live to Spread
The participants of the Renewal Course delved into the meaning of their religious vocation and the manner by which to live it better while the other 28 religious who joined them on January 16 to January 20 were raising questions on how to get, discover, and strengthen the religious vocation in other persons. They are the vocation promoters and animators of the whole Order. Coming to Rio de Janeiro from all parts of the world, their encounter was convoked by the General Secretariat of Vocation Ministry.
The two groups of Augustinian Recollects joined sessions for three days, Monday to Wednesday. In the morning, the sessions were allotted to the Resource Person who expertly discussed the vocation promotions and other related matters. The afternoon sessions were spent on group meetings to exchange ideas and opinions and to share their experiences to be brought up later in the plenary session. They also had the occasion to treat, assimilate, and enrich the two documents on the Vocation published recently by the Order, namely: the Pastoral Plan on Vocation (2004) and the Program on Vocation Promotion (2011).
Revitalization
On January 19, the sessions were done separately for the participants of the Renewal Course and the Vocation Promoters/Animators. The latter had until January 20 to discuss and analyze the methods and techniques that would allow them to work and follow up better the people who feel they have the calling. On the other hand, the participants of the Renewal Course have zealously pursued the renewal call of the Lord. They were not alone neither solitary since the Sitio Santo Agostinho became the center of the activities of the Order. Besides the presence of the two general councilors, Jailo Gordillo who presided the Course Renewal and Jose Maria Sanchez, who presided the Vocation Promotion Encounter, the Prior General, Miguel Miro was also present. During his stay, the Father General had the task of directing and discussing the activities on January 19 and January 20 on the main topic of the “Revitalization and Restructuring of the Order”. From January 23 till January 26, Msgr. Jesus Maria Cizaurre, Bishop of Cameta, Brazil profoundly talked on “New Evangelization and the New Constitutions”