On 7 April, the General Canonical Visitation of this six-year term began, convened and led by Father General Carles Gil i Saguer, Sch. P. This visitation fosters, in each Piarist presence, the Keys of Inspiration of the Order: to live our vocation authentically, identified with Calasanz; to live synodally; to live Pious Schools Going Forth; and to live in an integral and sustainable way. Its purpose is to dialogue and discern together the culture of the Order that we are called to cultivate, so that we may continue to be Good News tomorrow as well. During the canonical visitation, the Father General is accompanied by Fr Julio Alberto Álvarez, Sch. P., General Assistant for America.
The Father General has met with the Provincial Congregation, with the community of Buenos Aires, and with the three communities in Córdoba: Colegio Santo Tomás, Colegio Escuelas Pías de Mendiolaza, and Colegio Escuelas Pías de General Paz. In the four Piarist presences, Fr Carles Gil i Saguer has held meetings with the leadership teams, the religious communities, the pre-novices, the novices, the juniores of Stage I in Córdoba and those of Stage II in Buenos Aires, the Fraternities, the ITER group, the Cooperators and Adalides, the teaching staff in Córdoba and at Colegio Santo Tomás, the pupils from the 4th to the 6th year of secondary level, and the pastoral teams of the parishes, both in Buenos Aires and in Córdoba.
Likewise, the Father General and the General Assistant for America have toured the facilities and visited different groups of pupils in the schools, both at initial and primary level. In the same way, the visiting fathers have met with teachers from primary and secondary level, taken part in the flag ceremonies and in the opening greetings at the start of the school day. The Eucharist has been, on each day of the visitation agenda, the principal act and the first space of encounter with the pupils.
With great pastoral sensitivity, Fr Carles Gil has preached the homilies for children and young people, letting resonate within them the horizon of life of our founder, Saint Joseph Calasanz: the gaze that radically transformed his life, his vocation, his present, and, with it, history and society.
One of the greatest joys of this first part of the visitation has been to witness and share the life and the joy of the Gospel and of Calasanz that are lived and breathed in each person, in each pastoral and pedagogical process, and in the 32 men in formation who are passing through the different stages of initial formation. Another great source of joy has been the visit to the Hogares Calasanz, theophanic places where not only are the most vulnerable children served, but where a space of encounter is also created that transforms the lives of the volunteers and makes the universal Piarist mission concrete in the Pious Schools of Argentina.
We are still only halfway through this journey, in which each port of call has been a great experience of encounter and fraternity. Thank you to the Pious Schools of Argentina and to Provincial Fr Sergio Conci, Sch. P., who has accompanied us throughout this experience of the visitation and has made it possible. We continue opening doors and building bridges so that communion with the Order may be a living experience to the ends of the earth.
