Members of the Leadership Teams of the ASIANZ region met in the Manresa Retreat House in Manila from Friday, November 10 to Sunday, November 12 for the first ASIANZ meeting since before COVID. During the meeting participants shared updates with each other and shared how each was moving towards becoming a new province. The focus of the meeting was to discuss the ASIANZ Novitiate. Sharing, listening, and conversing with each other was grace-filled and rich.
After receiving the reports from Ayds Sua-an (former Novice Director of the ASIANZ novitiate) and Kathy Conan (former Director of the ASIANZ pre-novitiate), we expressed our deep gratitude to them for their guidance, wisdom, and love-filled, hard work. We also met with Ellen Collesano, the new Novice Director, to engage in planning for the future.
We were particularly blessed to be able to visit the ASIANZ Pre-Novitiate and Novitiate Communities. The four pre-novices (soon-to-be first-year novices on the Feast of Philippine) and the six second-year novices gave us tours of their communities. Seeing the recently built novitiate community was particularly gratifying given the years of thought and planning which have gone into making the dream of an ASIANZ Novitiate come true.
Most significantly, both groups took time to share some prepared comments about their lives with us. We were impressed by their confidence, honesty, and the atmosphere of life and joy which was indicative of the youthful energy of the community. The relationships between and among the novices and the intercultural community they have created gave us all hope for the future of the Society. We also were fortunate to have dinner with the Risen Christ Community in Manila where we enjoyed conversation with many of our elderly sisters.
In addition to our formal meeting time, we were able to pray together, share meals, and be with each other in person. The meeting concluded with enormous gratitude to all who helped create a wonderful gathering. Special thanks to the Philippine District for hosting the meeting.