Assembly 2007 - Bangalore

Day 3 - 16 November

The third day of the Assembly began with prayer led by the Sisters from the English Province. Victoria, Australia and Staten Island NY shared their symbols. Later in the day, Sisters from the Philippines led the Assembly in prayer and the Sisters from South Dakota and New Windsor shared the symbols of their congregations.
                        
The participants spent the day in conversation on the topics that form the content of the Assembly. These topics included the choice of an IPA global issue, how IPA could become financially self sustaining, strategic planning, and clarifying the roles of the Justice Contacts and the Leadership in IPA.

The day concluded with planning for the Field Experiences on the following day.

Reflections by Participants:

Catherine Cleary, New Windsor, USA: “Filled with your Spirit, how will you grow? The IPA participants took the verse of the morning hymn to heart as they listened to one another’s reflections and each other’s hopes, excitement and challenges around the proposed next steps on IPA’s journey. Listening, reflecting, clarifying and discussing resulted in a deepening of the issues we need to address if IPA is to engage the global Presentation community of Sisters and Associates. Our day ended with three issues that must be addressed: 1) What is the global issue(s) IPA will focus on for the future? 2) How will we finance the IPA? 3) What role descriptions in IPA need to be clarified?”

Kaye Bryan, Wagga Wagga, Australia: “Today began for me at 6.30am with a shared directed meditation under a mango tree. Work began in earnest at 8.30am. It was a well conducted program that demanded concentration as we shared with individuals and our ‘home’ group thoughts and feelings on the content of the Assembly. Sharing in the general Assembly came later in the day. It was a day that asked of us honesty, openness and trust in one another. I felt proud to belong to a group with such integrity. Our final act was to choose our field experience for tomorrow. There is much to look forward to.”

Trinita Laffan, South East Province, Ireland: “At 6.30am the Assembly participants began today’s search for God through breaking Eucharistic bread together or through eco-meditation. At 8.30am a creative approach to reflecting on “Jesus our Gospel Model for Ministry” enabled us together to assemble a face of Jesus gazing in compassion at our world. Yesterday’s work continued. There was a freshness and an energy around multiple brief conversations on the key issues emerging. Sharing the fruits of these one-on-one conversations at a “visitor table”, at our “home table” and for the whole Assembly gave us a deep sense of the burning issues emerging. The day was contemplative as we took quiet time or song time to “listen to the voice of the earth and the voice of the poor” knowing that while “the voices are different, the song is the same”. Tomorrow’s speaker Medha Patkar and field experiences later among Bangalore’s most deprived (courtesy of NGOs) will hopefully lead us into a still deeper place of listening.”

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