On Friday afternoon, September 23, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Vincent de Paul Center Nederland with a symposium, titled ‘Exploring Boundaries – Secular Ecumenism’. Almost one hundred people came together in Radboud University Nijmegen to participate in this symposium.

Host of the day, Louis Sibbald, opened the meeting by lighting an Easter candle from 2012, the foundation year of Vincent de Paul Center. He then led us through the program.

Chairperson, Maria Martens, briefly looked back at the first 10 years of the Center. How did it all start and what has been done? A few examples: we explored the inspiration of Vincent de Paul and tried to find language that was more in tune with our time; we developed a masterclass ‘Inspiring and Serving’ about servant leadership; we wrote a manual about ‘My Look at Life’ for workers involved with mentally challenged people; we organized more than one hundred Tuesday-conferences in which we exchanged thoughts and experiences about old and new sources of spirituality.

Speaker Hans Boutellier, author of the book ’The New West’,  philosophized about the situation of our current society. He made a plea for intensifying mutual dialogue about the major issues of our time … dialogue that could potentially lead to a new sense of community.

Speaker Tjeu van Knippenberg c.m., author of the book ‘Between Name and Identity’, stated that our rational, technical and individualized society had decreased our direct contact with the world around us. Listening with an open heart and mind can restore resonance with the world we belong to. It is the basis for a worldwide secular ecumenism to which all people are invited: the sense of belonging to a common and inspired world.

Bishop Gerard de Korte, bishop of one of the Dutch dioceses, reflected on the contributions of both previous speakers. He told about his struggle with the concept of ‘secular ecumenism’. He proposed the concept of ‘spiritual ecumenism’.

Between the various speakers there were presentations from the so-called G17 groups. G17 refers to name Generation17 and this name refers to the fact that we are, given four generations per century, the 17th generation after the decisive year 1617 in the life of Vincent de Paul. Five groups, each with their own perspective on life, world and values, gave a short presentation:

• the group ‘Inspiration’ comes together around questions like: what inspiring experiences came to me last week, what experiences made me worry?
• the group ‘ReliBio’ comes together around life stories. In each meeting the story of one of the participants is central: what kind of family do I come from, what choices did I make, what are my guiding values?
• in the group ‘East West Story-Constellations’ participants explore stories from various cultures, for example from Buddhism, through a kind of role play: who are the persons in the story, what are their concerns, how do they deal with that and what is the meaning for me?
• in the group ‘Table of Five’ participants explore value-dimensions in life: what is valuable for me/for you, in our culture and how do I feel related to the ultimate source of life?
• in the group ‘Bible Explorations’ participants explore the personal meaning of biblical stories and parables: what is this story all about, with what person do I feel connected, what choices are made, what do I learn from it?

After a break there was time for discussion with the speakers which was led by the moderator, Carlien Geelkerken. Durng this time a wide range of questions, reactions and suggestions surfaced. This revealed not only the variety in views and positions of people in our society today but also showed the need to come together and the need to communicate with one another.

The symposium was concluded with snacks, something to drink and most of all with many wonderful encounters.

Marieke van de Ven,
Vincent de Paul Center Nederland
www.vincentdepaulcenter.nl