Thanking the SVD Community at the Ad Gentes Center in Nemi

  • The SVD Community at the Ad Gentes Center in Nemi (from left to right): Tim Norton, Gino Jimenez, Mauloko, Joseph Trong Nguyen, John Bissue (our ever-patient and always-available contact person), Peter McHugh (seated)
 
With grateful hearts we leave the Ad Gentes Center in Nemi.
We cannot thank the SVD Community enough for their hospitality.
 
 
The six weeks spent by capitulants, participants, and staff of the 2016 General Chapter in the Ad Gentes Center would not have gone as well as it did without the help of the community of the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD).

Community Superior, Gino Jimenez, shared that their community goal is "to form an international and intercultural community that gives witness through hospitality, and that serves those who come to the Center in a way that makes them feel welcomed."

We have certainly experienced that kind of welcome and service from them.  Not only did they allow us to transform the Ad Gentes Center into an RSCJ house, but they also helped in setting the tables, washing the dishes, preparing the place for our outdoor activities, presiding at our morning masses, and attending to our many needs and requests.

 
 

   

   

 
In our interaction with them, they also noted some points about us:

-  "From the very first day, you were extremely happy to see each other.  The joy that you showed in greeting one another was very clear.  That helps us work with you.  You are a happy group."

-  "I noted the spirit with which the Chapter is developing.  We don’t know what is being discussed.  But it is in the way the Sisters come out of the hall, when they come to the dining room which is where we see them and interact with them.  It seems something is moving -- the Spirit is moving."

-  "There is much joy and creativity.  There seems to be a lot of artists among you.  You are also very free with one another."

-  "You asked for things that I never thought was possible.  Never did I think that our chapel could become a Chapter Room.  This is a new development that we are happy to have."

 
   

The Ad Gentes Chapel                                                    Our Chapter Room

 
We are all grateful to the SVD Community.  Yuka Arita rscj and Cuca Maset, our Logistics Team, express our gratitude well:

"We are grateful for the hospitality we have received from the whole community.  We have been very demanding.  The Chapter preparation was intense and we required things to be done in a particular way, in our way.  Yet you have been generous, flexible, and supportive in every way possible --  both during the preparation and in the actual days of the Chapter.  Everything we asked for was always given or done with a smile and a welcoming demeanor.  We cannot be grateful enough for all that you have done with and for us."

 

Our Logistics Team (Yuka Arita rscj and Cuca Maset) with the SVD Community.
From left to right (standing):  John Bissue from Ghana, Gino Jimenez from Chile, Mauloko from Indonesia,
Joseph Trong Nguyen from Vietnam, Tim Norton from Australia; and (seated) Peter McHugh from England
 

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