Together with the Prior General, Miguel Miró, was the General Secretary, Sergio Camarena. Likewise, the priors provincial of the provinces of Our Lady of Candelaria (Colombia and Chile), Saint Augustine (United States) and Saint Rita (Brazil)were present. The prior provincial of Our Lady of Consolation (Spain, Panama, Guatemala and Dominican Republic), joined the meeting, as by coincidence, he was already there. Then the vicars provincial of Mexico and Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Panama and the two other vicars of Venezuela participated in the said encounter. Finally, the provincial delegates of the province of Saint Nicolas in the United States and Brazil also took part in the gathering of superiors.
In an official communication addressed to all the religious of the Order, the same participants took upon themselves the responsibility of giving a report of their achievements and commitments. According to that communication, “It has been an occasion to promote communion and to advance the process of revitalization and restructuring of the Order.” And they propose “with courage” various points that seek to develop “a plan for the future and the revitalization within the Order.” The first points have something to do with the mindset of religious: their sense of belonging to the Order, on one hand, and the overcoming of individualism and of the false dilemma between community life and ministry, on the other hand.
Joint Formation
The following two points refer to the formation of the young aspirants who will be the Augustinian Recollects of the future. There is a need to revive in them the missionary spirit and “to give urgency to steps in establishing common theology seminaries, under the supervision of the General Administration.” The fifth proposal is organizational in nature, and seeks to put forward common initiatives “in countries where there are more than one province or in neighboring countries.” It refers to ordinary activities like retreats, week of continuous formation or monthly recollection. Finally, the following four points move toward the same direction of communion and effectiveness, and they deal with vocation ministry, schools, secular fraternity and the RAY. The last point could summarize the whole document: the superiors of the Americas desire- and ask all the religious- “to be committed in a decisive manner to contribute the richness of the charism of our Order to the New Evangelization.”
During the sessions, the participants discussed very diverse topics according to the general direction of each vicariate or province or according to the evaluation of the process of revitalization and restructuring in their respective jurisdiction.
Likewise, they reviewed the implementation of the ordinances of the general chapter and of the plans of the general secretariats, as well as some initiatives to organize joint activities related to spirituality and formation, national gatherings in the future and plans of formation of the secular fraternities.