Last day of the meeting … time to bring together and summarize the wonderful contributions and everything that we have shared since January 8^th.

Sister Blandine Klien, SC was responsible for the wonderful summary of our discussions during the gathering … a summary of all that was heard and shared, a summary of all that remains to be done.

With a sense of profound gratitude to God, we celebrated the closing Eucharist of the meeting. During that celebration, Father Tomaž Mavrič, CM, president of the Executive Committee of the Vincentian Family, spoke about our dreams and hopes for a future of greater collaboration among the members of the Vincentian Family Movement. Members from the group, Gen Verde, animated and enriched the celebration with their music (they also accompanied us during the time of the 2017 Symposium).

After the Eucharist a relic of Saint Vincent de Paul, who inspires and provides us with a model of service on behalf of the poor, was distributed to each branch of the Family that was present for this meeting.

At the conclusion of this meeting, we now return to our homes with great hope and strength to continue to deepen our living of the Vincentian charism and to work together on behalf of those who are poor “our lords and masters” … thus following Jesus Christ after the example of Vincent de Paul and all of our elder brothers and sisters of the large Vincentian Family and incarnating the charism in the midst of the realities of this fifth century of our existence.

Translated: Charles T. Plock, CM
Eastern Province, USA