Council meeting in Ottawa

the Council of the Region met with the Regional Superior on Wednesday, June 26, the day that the Region met in Ottawa for the Feast of the Sacred Heart. Here is a summary of the most salient points of the meeting.

Community news:
Montréal: No major changes of the situation in the community. Louis Marie was reappointed as administrator of the Unité pastoral until May 2020. A new bishop has been appointed for Saint-.Jerome diocese on May 21: Bishop Poisson. Richard met with the Bishop who is very concerned about the situation in the diocese. He will write a letter to the parishes that are slated to be closed in the next little while. One of the churches has only four people attending of Sundays. The Unité pastoral will be dissolved since only two parishes of the Unité will remain. The closure of parishes is accompanied by a lot of controversy.
The news from the Séminaire du Sacré-Coeur is the increased enrollment for next year. Approximately 70 students will be registering for next year: a good omen.

Ottawa: Buy Van Tri, an ESL student from Vietnam, has been living in the community since the end of May. He has been very helpful in the community. It is unfortunate that the second Vietnamese ESL student could not come with him. The roof section of the house that has leaked over the winter has been repaired. Also a new roof has been put on the shed and the stairs to the side entrance have been repaired.
Paul Tennyson reported that there will be an expansion by 200 beds of the Rideau- Perley Hospital, where he is working. The new facility will have a permanent chapel. Construction has not yet started.

Toronto: The UKI community organized a pilgrimage to Czestochowa after Easter. 80 people participated. Yuliwan also tells us that the UKI will be celebrating its 40th anniversary. The celebrations of the anniversary will be held in all the parishes where the UKI has found a home in the past 40 years: Pius X, St. Joan of Arc, St. Anselm.
Willyans is currently visiting Brazil. Br. John Hung left last week for the USA and then to Vietnam. Hung will continue to study in Manila. He has been a good member of the community. It was the first time that the community accepted outside students. The two students worked in the Vietnamese parish. Vincent, who left earlier, will do his pastoral year in Vietnam. Joseph, the new theology student from Vietnam has not yet arrived. He will continue his theological studies in Toronto.

Regional Assembly
– Location and date: The assembly will be held in Kingston at Providence Spirituality Center from August 12 to 15. Supper at the Center on August 12 will be served at 5:30 and our first session will be at 7.30 p.m.
Moderator: Gustave will be the overall moderator. For each of the days one of the members of Council will guide the activities. Day 1: Monday evening. Gustave. Tuesday: Richard Woodbury, Wednesday: Yuliwan Maslim, Thursday: John van den Hengel.
On Tuesday, August 13, Fr. Stephen Huffstetter will introduce the Programmatic Letter of the General Administration, He will also be the main celebrant at the Eucharist on Tuesday.
The speaker for Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday will be Rev. André Beauchamp, a priest of the diocese of Montreal who will speak to us about ecology, particularly in relation to Pope Francis’ Laudato Si. Richard woodbury, John van den Hengel and Gustave Lulendo met with André Beauchamp to help plan the assembly. Beauchamp will be with us on Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday.
The anniversary celebrations will take place on Wednesday evening, starting with a Eucharist at 4 p.m.
On Thursday there will be a discussion on the Region’s finances and the commissions will give a report on their activities. On Thursday morning, Richard Woodbury and Jim Casper will also introduce the changes to the election procedure in the Regional Directory.
During the Eucharist on Thursday, Gustave Lulendo will install the local superiors of the Region.

Appointment of local superiors
During the past two months, consultations have been held in the three communities for local superiors. For Ottawa Paul Tennyson has been reappointed for a second term. For Montreal, Fr. Gustave Lulendo has been asked to continue his office for another three years. As his councillors were appointed Dieudonné Tcheutou and Maurice Lègaré. For the Toronto community Fr. Aegidus Warsito was reappointed for another three years.

Programmatic Letter from the General Administration
The communities have received the Programmatic Letter of the General Administration. As to the follow-up for the Region: The Regional Superior will encourage the communities to read and discuss the letter in the community prior to the Asssembly. Since Stephen Huffstetter will be presenting the letter at the Assembly, we will ask him to present us with the practical impact of the letter for the Region.

Regional Treasurer report contained the following points:
1. Some months ago the Region received a letter from Revenue Canada about the danger of losing our charitable status. A letter was sent to Revenue Canada by Paul Tennyson and it is hoped that our charitable status will remain.
2. The SCJ foundation mail is now coming to Paul Tennyson. Paul spoke of a $ 65.000 investment in GICs which he can cash on December 5. Riviera Investments portfolio will be transferred to Michel Lefebvre.
3. Our yearly contribution to Rome has been sent. The General Bursar was notified that the form of the Rome Report should be discussed at their meeting with us in September.
4. 10.000 euro was sent to Bishop Claudio Della Zuanna in Mozambique for relief from the Beira hurricane.
5. Meeting with General Financial Administrators of Rome Luca Zottoli and Aldo Ivaldi will be held on Monday September 9 2019 in Montreal with the presence of Michel Lefebvre and Benoit Lefebvre.

Varia
– Letter from Brazil regarding Father Antonio Resende, proposing that Antonio be transferred to the Region of Canada. The Region accepts this transfer. The request of the transfer will be sent to Rome for their confirmation.
Letter from Jim Casper re. paying the Brazilian pension plan for Frs.  Willyans and Antonio. Council decided that if a country has a pension plan, it was agreed to assure that these members remain within these pension plans of their country.
– Letter from Father Nardi of Indonesia in which he asked to send a student to Ottawa or Toronto for a doctoral study in education. It is suggested that he come in September 2019. Council accepted the request, even though arrival before the start of the next academic year may not be possible.
Letter from India: invitation to the silver anniversary of the India District on October 5-6, 2019. It was suggested that Gustave Lulendo go with Fr. Martin to the celebrations as a way of connecting more fully with the District.

Next Meeting: Location and Date: September 9/ 10 with the Financial Committee and the members of the General Administration.

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