| Spiritual retreat and Continental Meeting in North America |
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The spiritual retreat for the Pallottines in North America was held at San Alphonso Retreat House, New Jersey, a beautiful house situated by the Atlantic ocean, from 25-28 July 2011. The retreat preacher was our confrere, Fr. Eamonn Monson, member of the Mother of Divine Love Province, Ireland. This spiritual event was attended by about 45 Pallottines belonging to the different Pallottine entities present in USA and Canada. The Rector General, Fr. Jacob Nampudakam, who is also the person responsible for the North American Continental grupping participated in the retreat. Following the main theme of the XX General Assembly, "To revive faith and rekindle charity: Apostles of Jesus in a changing world", this retreat is to be seen as a significant initiative for living the spirit of our charism, first of all, among ourselves. The confreres experienced also a great sense of fraternity besides the spiritual nourishment. Thanks to Fr. Eamonn Monson as well as Fr. Peter Sticco and all the members of the Immaculate Conception Province for providing the opportunity to gather together as one family for such an important spiritual and communitarian event.
The spiritual retreat was followed by the North American Continental Meeting, starting after lunch on 28th July and ending at noon on the 29th July 2011. The agenda consisted mainly of three points: 1) Setting up the Ad Hoc Committee to study the current situation of the Pallottines in the USA (cfr. Final Document of the XX General Assembly, recommendation, n. 10); 2) Establishing the North American Continental Meeting according to the norms approved by the XX General Assembly (cfr. Final Document of the XX General Assembly, Decree n. 2); 3) Presentation of the Document on Vocation Promotion. The spiritual retreat together with the Continental meeting will certainly strengthen the spirit of a common mission and collaboration among the Pallottines in North America.
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