The meeting now taking place in Bangalore was previously held in Manila in the Philippines in 2013. It is important to place this meeting in the process of the Order’s expansion in Asia.
In the convocation for the 2013 meeting, Father Pedro Aguado explained: “It seems to be a favourable moment to reflect deeply on what we have experienced, to recognise our reality and to plan for the future in the short and medium term. For this reason, the General Congregation has convened this ‘Conference of Reflection and Discernment on the Expansion of Pious Schools in Asia’. We want to move forward with clarity in consolidating the current Demarcations. At that time, in 2013, it was: the Vice-Province of Japan, the Philippines and the Vicariate of India and a first immersion in Indonesia. Eleven years later, we can see that the Order’s cartography in Asia has evolved. Today there is the Vice-Province of India, the Province of Asia-Pacific with offices in Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam, and the presence of Betania Asiatica in the countries of Indonesia and East Timor.
This is the third day in which the participants of this important meeting for the future of the circumscription will be enriched with the methodology of the Conversation of the Spirit, as we have learned from the Synod of Synodality of the Church promoted by Pope Francis. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and a dynamic of active listening, prayer, silence and discernment, the friars will experience a day of reflection on the present and future of circumscription.
Let us unite in prayer with our brothers and may the will of the Lord be recognised as an attitude towards the challenges of our ministry through the tenacious patience and the fortunate daring that Calasanz has inherited from us.
