The Eighth Meeting of the Claretian Family has taken place in the city of Bata (Equatorial Guinea) from July 28th to August 4th, 2013.
The branches of the Claretian Family who participated were: Claretian Missionaries, Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, Missionaries of St. Anthony Mary Claret, Missionaries of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Institution, Institute Affiliation Cordimarian and Movement Lay Claretians. From the very first moment, we havw lived a true family experience.
As a central theme of this meeting, the promotion of "Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation." And based on the Apostolic Exhortation documentary "Africae Munus". This document has been complemented by the different experiences that in this area the different branches of the CF develop, work and live , as well as the experience of the Claretian Family Missions in Africa, specifically in the reality of Equatorial Guinea.
Enriched with interesting presentations on the African reality and visits to areas of Mission, sharing Eucharist and prayer has deepened worked together on the challenges that evangelization actually represents.
As fruits of these working days the Secretary General of the LCM Tino Rodriguez was elected as New Claretian Family Coordinator for the next four years. It was determined that the next World Claretian Family Meeting will be in Brazil in 2017 with the theme
"Dialogue with the culture for a New Evangelization." And he wrote the manifesto addressed to all members of the Claretian Family which we reproduce:
MESSAGE TO THE FAMILY CLARETIAN
Dear brothers and sisters of the Claretian Family ,
We send a warm greeting from Bata, in Equatorial Guinea, where we’ve just concluded the Eighth Meeting of the Claretian Family.
As in the past, the conference has provided an opportunity to thank God for the gift of our missionary charisma and the multiplicity of expressions through which we offer the service to the Church and the world. The meeting and sharing enriches and encourages us to live faithfully creative this gift that has come across our Founders and those who, with their lives, have been writing the history of our Institutes
This time we have met in Africa, concretely in Equatorial Guinea. The contact with the reality of Africa has become a stimulus to our thinking that, this time, it was centered on the commitment for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC). The exuberance of its vegetation and threats of aggressive exploitation of its natural resources; the cultural expressions of their people which express a deep love for life and the desire to live in solidarity; the struggle of its people for social and political organization that respects the rights of individuals and of the various groups that make up the African society; all of those have helped us to become aware of the importance of upholding our responsibility in building a world that responds to God's plan for his children. We believe that the commitment to JPIC is an integral part of our work of evangelization.
We’ve shared various activities and initiatives that each group is carrying out in the field of social ministry. Everyone, from the peculiarity of their vocation, is working to make the dignity of every person and people respected.
As Claret, we have been called to deal with a distinctly materialistic culture that "is drying up the heart and guts of society" (cf. Aut 357) and excludes many millions of people.
We have let ourselves to be challenged by the Gospel of the Lord under the guidance that the Magisterium of the Church and our own institutions have been giving to integrate into our personal lives, in our communities and in our missionary outreach commitment for JPIC. In this regard, we read and discussed, in a special way, the apostolic exhortation "Africae Munus", which includes the contributions of the second special session for Africa of the Synod of Bishops.
And we have dreamed of projects and initiatives that, in this area, could be performed as Claretian Family. We are aware of our limitations and the difficulty of fleshing out these dreams, but we will not give them up. Therefore we have agreed:
a.) To conduct a further effort to emphasize the dimension of JPIC in all our ministries, highlighting the urgency of responding to situations of denying or lack of attention to human rights. So we are committed to work in concienciation of all our brothers and sisters and to integrate systematically this topic at all stages of the training, initial and continuous.
b.) To appoint a person responsible for this task in each of the Claretian Family groups and seek specific habits for collaboration. To do this, we will share information between us and we will arrange a meeting of leaders of JPIC of each group to improve this collaboration.
c.) To collaborate on the project that, in the frame of non-governmental organizations accredited to the United Nations, the Claretian Missionaries currently have. For this we will share the information about the projects and activities that each of the groups have in the area of attention to human rights and peoples, and we will make echo of these realities to the relevant organs of UNO. This activity presents extremely important spaces to us to reach these instances the voice of many people and people living in situations of exploitation and marginalization and introduces us into the dialogue dynamic with other people and groups working for the transformation of the world.
During the meeting we elected the Secretary General of the Movement of Lay Claretians, Constantino Rodríguez as new Coordinator of the Claretian Family. We have also had occasion to thank Maria Soledad Galerón, Superior General of the Missionaries Claretian, her service as Coordinator for the past four years. We also decided to create a web portal about the Claretian Family that facilitates communication between us and allow us to make known to others our reality as Missionary Family.
During the meeting we had the opportunity to know the reality of the Claretian Family in Equatorial Guinea. We have been deeply impressed by the missionary witness of so many brothers and sisters who have given the best of their lives in the service of the evangelization of the Guinean people. Among the members of our family, the Claretian Missionaries and Missionary Sisters of Mary Immaculate have been, above all, the main protagonists of this missionary history.The visit to the tomb of the Mother Imelda Makole, founder of the Missionaries of Mary Immaculate (with Claretian Bishop Mons. Armengol Coll), has been for all an experience of grace. The missionary history of the Claretian Family in Equatorial Guinea continues being written by three hands today, as the Lay Claretians have joined the other two groups.
e conclude the meeting feeling closer to each other and deeply grateful to the Missionaries of Mary Immaculate and to the Claretian Missionaries for the many courtesies we have received during these days.
We entrust our lives and our projects to the Heart of Mary. We would want her deep "warmth" could be the imprint that characterizes them.
Bata, August 4th , 2013.
Signed: Josep Maria Abella (Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Claretian Missionaries);
M ª Soledad Galerón (Sisters of Maria Immaculate, Claretian Missionaries); Carolina Sanchez (Daughters Secular Institute of the Blessed and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Affiliation Cordimarian); Constantino Rodriguez (Lay Claretian Movement); Josefa Tuku (Missionaries of Mary Immaculate); Pilar Rovira (Claretian Missionaries of the Institution); Maria de Fatima Ships (Missionaries of St. Anthony Mary Claret)
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