Oceania Asia – Prequel to VMY Assembly

by John Freund, CM | Jul 26, 2015 | News, Vincentian Family, Vincentian Marian Youth

The day before the opening of the General Assembly of the Vincentian Marian Youth the Oceana Asia group held its regional meeting.

III Encounter of Asia and Oceania

Salamanca 2015

The VMY held its III Encounter of Asia and Oceania in Salamanca, Spain. Because of the many difficulties that confronted these delegations in traveling to Europe we had representatives from the Solomon Islands (Oceania), the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. The gathering took place on the day before the opening of the IV General Assembly of the Association.

The morning began with the celebration of the Eucharist that was presided by the Director General of the Association, Father Gregory Gay, CM. The meeting was open by Anh Thu (Councilor from Asia) who welcomed the delegates; then Yasmine Cajuste also spoke some words of welcome. The work during the morning was divided into three parts: See, Judge and Act (this method was utilized in order to analyze the reality of the Association in the various countries in Asia and Oceania). After doing this work in groups there was a plenary session during which the participants shared the strengths and weaknesses that they discovered during their analysis of the Association.

Karmen Kunc (Councilor from Europe) presented a reflection on the Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, of Pope Francis. This reflection focused on six aspects of evangelization (the joy of the gospel, personal growth, reaching out, inclusion of the poor, attitude when confronted with passivity and pastoral reform.).

The afternoon session began with a workshop led by Yasmine Cajuste who invited the participants to reflect on their ministry of service. Fr. Gregory Gay presented the formation documents that have been developed by the International Team. The concluding presentation was led by Father Claudio Santangelo who spoke about the importance of Christian presence and participation in interreligious dialogue … this presentation was based on his own personal experience derived from meetings with brothers and sisters of religious faiths.

An Official Photo was taken of the group.