More Chapter People

Here are some more people pictures from the General Chapter.

This picture, taken in the Chapter Hall, shows (front row from the left) Father Michael Ogweno, one of the African delegates (who is Kenyan and lives in Botswana); Father Paul Zilonka, delegate from the US Eastern Province; Brother Jose Antonio Zubillaga, brother delegate from the Iberian Peninsula; and (in the back row) Father Miguel Angel Villanueva from Mexico, who works in the General Curia and was one of the Communications group during the General Chapter, being a computer whizz kidd.

Father Lucas Ahon (left), a delegate from Indonesia, and I were contemporaries in Rome as post-graduate students; he studied Missiology at the Salesianum. He is now a parish priest in Borneo. Here he is in the Sacristy of Saints John and Paul with Father Harry Gielen, a delegate from Flanders and one of the founders of Stauros, which describes itself as “An International Association founded to promote the study of the Gospel of Jesus’ Passion and to investigate the Challenge of Human Suffering”. Every two years, Stauros publishes a bibliography, listing recent publications in various languages on the Passion of Christ and Human Suffering. Much of this bibliography is now available online at the Stauros website.

The other delegate from Indonesia was Father Antonius Janga, who is Director of Students for the Indonesian Province; in that role, he has more religious under his care than some provincials, but he doesn’t look too worried about it.

This picture was taken after the closing Mass of the General Chapter. Father Giuseppe Martinelli, the provincial in northern Italy, has a quick cup of coffee before driving back to La Basella, his provincial house, near Bergamo.

During the General Chapter, a lot of hard work was done by the students of the STIP, the Italian inter-provincial student community for professed Passionist students who are preparing for ordination. As well as attending their various universities, they also worked in the kitchen, served in the refectory, help with the sacristy and the liturgy, and generally gave good example to the old people who were taking part in the Chapter. Here is Confratel Luigi, from the Presentation Province (Rome, Lazio, Tuscany) looking busy in the refectory.

Here are Brother Marcianus, an Indonesian who takes care of some of the sick religious at Saints John and Paul, and Father Lawrence Rywalt from the US Eastern Province, who was working on translations, sometimes into the early (and even not so early) hours of the morning. To the right is Father Floriano De Fabiis, who is Secretary General of the Congregation.

The last picture in this set shows Father Mirek Lesiecki from Poland, a Laus Crucis reader, who is Rector of Saints John and Paul, and who served in the refectory every day during the Chapter, giving other rectors an example which we would do well to follow!