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I left Rome, after
the World Leadership formation course (November 25th –
December 2nd, 2006) full of enthusiasm and hope. I deeply
appreciated my Dong-Hanh community for sending me to this course. The
encounter with other CLC members from all over the world has really
impacted my view about the World CLC. More than ever I felt a deeper
sense of belonging. Even though we came from all over the world with
different cultures and backgrounds, we all shared the same language:
the Ignatian language. We were together with the same objective: to
commit to the leadership development which is a critical part to the
CLC journey toward an apostolic community.
During the workshop,
we worked very hard in order to finish 16 modules in 8 days. These 16
modules drew on the “Tripod” model of CLC leadership: the reality of
CLC, the person of the leader, and the content of the CLC leader role.
The CLC leader is called to live a discerning life and he/she must be
rooted in CLC charism and the Spiritual Exercises. I really enjoyed
Eileen Burke Sullivan’s presentations. When Eileen talked about the 4
weeks of the Spiritual Exercises, she said, “we mostly are around the
end of the Second Week... not yet an absolute yes... Most of us are in
the 2nd week of discernment. It points to the election. The
process must go on, should not stop...” These words still resonate in
me. What is holding me back? As a CLC leader, being at the end of the
Second Week, what impact do I have on my commitment and on my CLC
community? The importance of Being over Doing: How do I live the
Spiritual Exercises? The person of the leader and the leader role
modules were drew on contemporary leadership and management materials
and provided tools to help leaders become more effective in their
role. These modules were carefully designed, however I see the
challenges in the application of these tools. How do I apply these
theories in the national US CLC and more specifically, in the
Dong-Hanh community? How do I put these tools into practice?
One of the
highlights of the conference is the presence of Fr Kolvenbach and the
guests from the Curia (Fr. Mercieka, S.J. and Fr Franco, S.J.). Their
presences and their sharing meant a lot to all of us. When talking
about the challenges facing the CLC communities, Fr Kolvenbach made
very clear that CLC needs to live out our commitment and mission and
we need to safeguard the identity of CLC. He also emphasized that CLC
leadership need to have more clarity on the identity. For me, these
are very strong statements and they are so crucial to the growth of
CLC.
Besides the
learning, we spent quite a lot of time building bonds. Together we not
only shared the workload, but we also learned about each other and
about the activities in each national community. We shared the
characteristics of our cultures and how they influenced our
spirituality. I was amazed about the similarities between the
challenges and opportunities among the CLC communities in various
countries. We spoke English with many accents, Arabic, French, German,
Polish, Spanish, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, etc., and yet we
seemed to understand each other quite well...amazing! In this
multi-language setting, we had several occasions to put our “active
listening” skills into practice. The “Sending” ritual during the last
day mass was very touching. As we gave the sign of peace, we also sent
each other to carry what we learnt back to our national community. It
was also the time for us to say goodbye to each other. I still
remember all the peaceful and joyful faces that reflect the deep
commitment to respond to the “call of the King” and to be ready to
live the “Third and Fourth weeks of the Spiritual Exercises” fully to
serve God and to console the world. To my CLC brothers and sisters
that I met in Rome, “ Let’s roll our sleeves and let’s do it! “. Yes,
with God’s grace and love, we will make it!
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