Our Lady Queen of Ireland province
On Saturday, 28th Feb 2009, 66 FMA of the Irish province met at a Spirituality/ Conference centre near Portarlington, for the third phase in the Transmission of the recent General Chapter. The setting was beautiful, as the centre is situated in a lovely rural part of the country. We were very happy to welcome back Sr. Kathleen Taylor (Visiting Councillor) from Rome, for a brief visit and to have her present for the occasion.
Sr. Nora Ryan, Provincial, welcomed everyone and shared her hope that the day would be one of listening, reflection and openness. After the introduction, Sr. Mary Doran, invited the group to create the atmosphere of the Cenacle where we were,,and to take note of the items in the Prayer Space: our province candle, already used for the session in December 2008, a large poster with the Chapter theme and the core message on it, the mosaic of the "open Cenacle" which was explained briefly. Our prayer was helped by an inspiring power-point on the Spirit.
After a brief recap, on what had already been covered at the previous meetings in December and when visiting the communities in January, Sr. Nora took up the section: signs, challenges, and the paths to conversion or the ways forward. Sisters Kathleen and Mary took turns with her, in presenting these, particularly the "ways forward". After some time of reflection and involvement at personal and group level, there was a break. This was followed by Nora's presentation on the theme of "accompaniment" a choice of the Chapter to help us as we convert to love and revitalize our charismatic identity.
After lunch, the two priority Guidelines: Continuing vital renewal, and the choice of poverty were explained by Nora and Kathleen.
A question and answer session about the day followed where the sisters had the opportunity to comment or clarify different points; some also wanted to hear about Kathleen's life in Rome!
After the expression of "Thanks" by Sr.Nora to all who had come and to those who had helped in the preparation - Sr.Kathleen was presented with a candle - Sr. Mary Downey said a word of thanks to Nora who had prepared with great enthusiasm for the day. We finally concluded with a hymn: "Send down the fire of your Spirit", and two meaningful slides. Coming away, each one received a bookmark showing the flame with the chapter message on the back, a summary leaflet of the day's input and lectio3 (Sr. Maria Ko, Rome) relating to the Pentecost story. There was also a folder, with some optional extra reading for each community, as well as a picture of the mosaic.
The journey will continue in the days and weeks ahead, when the Chapter material will be taken up by the Provincial Council and the Planning Group, as they prepare for the Assembly in June.
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