New Provincials, vice-provincials and vicar generals who were elected last year from different provinces, vice-provinces and vicarates just concluded their introductory workshop here at Santa Sabina. 13 of them were being expected but 12 made it. They are; Bros. Chris Eggleton (Southern Province, USA), Brian Mulcahy (Eastern Province, USA), Christophe Holzer (Upper Germany and Austria), Mark Padrez (Western Province, USA), Charles Bouchard (Central Province, USA), Joseph Ngo Si Dinh (Vietnam), Pablo Sicouly (Argentina), Paschal Paulus (Pakistan), Saulius Rumsas (The Baltics), Giovanny Pazmino (Ecuador), Vincent Li (Taiwan) and Tiberio Polania Ramirez (Puerto Rico). The new vicar general of South Africa, Bro Sikosiphi Mgoza could not make it for the workshop. Two of the provincials, Joseph Ngo Si Dinh and Pablo Sicouly are on for their second term in office.
The workshop affords the brothers who are now taking up the responsibility of being major superiors in their entities to familiarize themselves with the general curia. The 2 week workshop began with an introduction to the workings of the general curia. The brothers working in the curia, the socii, the promoters and their duties were made known to the new provincials. They were enlightened on the nature and role of their authorities, their relationship with their council and chapters, their priors and local superiors. They will be handling a lot of canonical issues concerning the brothers in their different entities, they were therefore enlightened on canonical issues and procedures by the Procurator General, Bro. Philippe Tox. They met with the Syndic of the Order, Bro. Hilario Provecho Alvarez and shared with him on financial issues. For the sake of continuity, formation is one of the vital duties of the new provincials. They therefore had discussions on the rudiments of formation with the Master and Bro. Michael Mascari, the promoter for Intellectual Life. There is an ongoing communication revolution at the curia and Bro. Eric Salobir and his team were at hand to update the new provincials.
Although the Master was out on canonical visitation when the new provincials arrived, he had about a week with them by the time he returned. He addressed them on various issue and they also had the opportunity to have fraternal one-on-one interactions with him, which the Master found very refreshing. While he was way, his vicar, Bro. Edward Ruane took charge of the planning for the workshop. Other socii and promoters where at hand to meet with the new provincials and enlighten them on their duties.
Talking about planning, the workshop was not all work and no play, indeed it was well planned. In-between the sections, there were other activities to help the new provincials relax. They had excursions and guided tours to interesting places. They had the opportunity to visit the Vatican for the Popes general audience, the Angelicum, Fassanova, San Sisto, Monte Cassino, Monte Mario, the Archives etc. as groups and many other interesting places individually. Throughout the 2 weeks, the new superiors prayed, eat and recreated with the entire community of Santa Sabina. We wish them all a successful term in their various entities.
