Romania: Jesuits meet to discern about the future of the mission

An important moment of encounter took place for all the Jesuits who are from Romania or residing there. The meeting, held on 23 and 24 February in Cluj, had a twofold objective: to bring to completion the process of unification of the Euro-Mediterranean Province and to discern about a new apostolic work that the Province would like to launch in this region.

The process had already been formalized by Fr. General’s decree of 2017 and the discernment about the new work had reached a turning point last September. “I wanted to continue together the two processes of discernment carried out in the last four years thanks to the accompaniment of Fr Michael Bugeja, delegate for Romania,” the Provincial, Fr Roberto Del Riccio highlighted. “We have experienced together the discernment concerning the future apostolates in Romania starting from the three proposals already discussed in September: the church and young people, a school, a rotating team of Jesuits for the Spiritual Exercises”.

Present also for the meeting were the consultors and the assistant of Father General Cipriano Diaz, the CIS director Fr Paolo Monaco and the director of the Jesuit Education Foundation Fr. Jimmy Bartolo. To mark the complete entry of the Romanian region within the EUM Province, a celebration took place on 24 February presided by the assistant of the General Fr. Diaz. The first day of discernment and prayer was followed by a spiritual retreat, which focused on Fr. General’s letter about the vow of poverty, to experience this moment of transition in prayer and thanksgiving.