The meeting was opened with a Vincent Prayer. After a brief introduction by the Chairman of the Committee of the Vincentian Family Netherlands, Brother Ad de Kok CMM, the program could start. First speaker was Mr. Toine van den Hogen, the new chairman of the Dutch sections of the Vincent de Paul Society. He informed the audience about several recent activities, such as the tasty and heart-warming initiative ‘eat and meet’ in Nijmegen and in many other cities. Are you interested in other activities, or do you like to know whether there is also a section of the Vincent de Paul Society in your neighborhood? Take a look at their national website (in Dutch): www.vincentiusvereniging.nl

Second speaker was Brother Broer Huitema, who announced the Masterclass socio-spiritual leadership, which will start in January 2016. The masterclass is an initiative of the Vincent de Paul Center Netherlands, in collaboration with The Hay program from DePaul University in Chicago. More information about the masterclass can be found here, at the website of the Vincent de Paul Center.

Our third speaker was Mr. William Brok. In September 2015 he participated in the Vincentian Pilgrimage organized by a committee of the Vincentian Family Netherlands. He shared his experiences in a very compelling, honest and humorous way. There was also a PowerPoint presentation with pictures of this pilgrimage.

A recurring item in the meetings of the Vincentian Family Netherlands is reflection and discussion on a text of Vincent de Paul. After reading a short text, the participants discuss about it in small groups, starting from questions such as: “Could this text be relevant for our context, and, if so, how?” Each time, these reflections lead to engaging conversations.

The meeting was closed by singing our ‘Vincent Song’ together. The spring meeting is planned for April 12th, 2016.

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