Rejoicing in God's presence

A letter from the General Council

January/February 2003

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Dear friend,

Our General Assembly and the XIth General Chapter, August 4-17, 2002, was a time of incredible blessings for all Scarboro missioners.

Bringing together priests and lay missioners, we celebrated a vision of Church that until now had seemed more like a distant dream. Together as priests, lay men and women, married and single, young and old, we were able to look at our community and share our dreams for the future.

While in some aspects that reality and its challenges may have seemed discouraging, through the grace of the Spirit, we were blessed to see that something new is indeed coming alive. Each day we joyfully celebrated together the faith that we profess, sharing with one another the gifts of the cultures and peoples among whom we are blessed to be working.

The General Assembly generated a fresh enthusiasm for mission and a deepened spirit of unity among our priests and lay missioners. During that time we reaffirmed our mission priorities:

• to recommit ourselves to work for justice, peace, integral human development and the integrity of creation;
• to put even more emphasis on the work of interreligious dialogue both in Canada and overseas; and
• to examine and ratify a fresh statement on our Society's mission, vision, and values.

All of it was accomplished through a process of consensus-building among the participants. But most of all, we opted to work towards developing a new model that will even more closely link us as priests and lay missioners, walking together in service to the reign of God.

The delegates to the XIth General Chapter that immediately followed, unanimously ratified almost all of the motions developed through consensus during the Assembly. We were indeed graced during these days to truly listen to one another and draw up these decisions for our future mission together.

By the end of our Chapter, we felt graced by the Spirit of God and energized to face the future with renewed hope and trust that enabled us to recommit ourselves as Scarboro missioners.

We endeavour to realize these hopes and dreams, going forth confidently in mission with Christ, celebrating and rejoicing in God's presence among us and those with whom we are privileged to walk.

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