The General Council and the Provincial Councils have held working meetings to address the main issues that the Order will have to face.
The meeting held by the Prior General and the Provincial Priors a few weeks ago agreed to deal concretely with the conclusions of that meeting in the context proper to each Province. For this reason, the General Council has met with the four provincial councils and vicars provincial to detail the commitments of each province, which in a general vision shape the challenges of the Order in the world. The meetings began on Friday, November 13 and ended on November 19.
First of all, in line with what was agreed in the meeting with the provincial priors, the religious reflected on the structure of the secretariats and commissions. The need to lighten bodies that in many cases are duplicated in order to work in communion and achieve optimum functioning in each of the areas was noted. This is a commitment that is reflected in the Life and Mission Project of the Order.
The General Council has asked the provinces to evaluate their presence in each of the countries where they are located. The process of revitalization that the Order began years ago, and which continues today, had as its main objective the living out of the Augustinian Recollect charism and the evangelizing mission of the Order. That is why the Prior General and his Council have invited to reflect on the presences and make decisions so that each community may have life.
On the other hand, the meeting discussed the projects of collaboration between provinces. This is the case of Spain or Brazil, where several provinces coincide. The Order must walk in communion to simplify efforts and to strengthen its own work. In these countries, work will be done for interprovincial collaboration in educational centers, in vocations and youth, in parishes, or in what refers to secular fraternities.
Following this year’s motto ‘Prophets of the Kingdom: poor, peripheries and social projects’, we have also insisted on preparing the provincial plan of missionary action. Several provinces have already carried it out and it allows to establish a line of continuity for the mission territories, favoring the maintenance of unity in the diversity of religious who can work in those missions.
Likewise, the importance of formation, both initial and ongoing, for the religious, especially the young, has been emphasized. Inculcate from the beginning of the process the living of poverty as a dimension proper to the Augustinian Recollect charism. It has also been asked to form the laity to lead processes of revitalization and evangelization.
In a concrete way, the Province of St. Ezekiel Moreno has committed itself to carry out the decision of the last General Chapter and will establish a second community in Indonesia to consolidate its presence in this country. In addition, to facilitate translations, it is necessary that there be a more active participation of the religious of the Philippines in the organisms of the Order.
The work will continue. The general and provincial organisms will continue to strengthen their ties in order to advance in the same direction, always with the same objective: to be creators of communion.
