From Rome February 28, 1998 

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North American vocation directors meet

During the recent meeting of North American superiors & provincial councils in Toronto, Canada (February 16,17, 1998) the vocations directors from the three provinces held their semi-annual meeting to confer on ways of improving inter-province cooperation in promoting and developing vocations.

Of special interest was the decision to expand the Lenten Prayer Program used for many years in the US province to include members from all three provinces. The letter encourages individual scjs to pray for vocations, and specifically to pray for a particular scj (cf. A sample scj prayer letter, available in either French or English). Among other topics discussed was the development of new printed materials that could be shared by each province, as well as, a future web site for North American scj promotion.

The US vocation department also shared the success of a recent publication written by Pat Lloyd (US) aimed at youths preparing for the sacrament of confirmation entitled, Celebrating Confirmation: A student guide. Over 115,000 copies have been sold to parishes and other organizations requesting them.

Council movements

Tom Cassidy (CU) returned to Rome on February 28, 1998 after visits to the British-Irish Province and the three provinces in North America. Carlos Alberto da Costa Silva (CU) will return to Rome next week after visiting the provinces and region in South America.

A new web site offers some vocation ideas

Steve Pujdak (US) working in South Texas (Raymondville) has developed a homepage for the parishes in Willacy County, Texas. A part of the site is also dedicated to learning more about the scjs. Steve has included the first two chapters of the constitutions from Our Rule of Life. You can check the site out at: http://www.vsta.com/~spujdak or by going to the SCJ Link page.

A reminder to anyone who develops an scj homepage, we would appreciate hearing from you so that your site can be added to our SCJ Link page.

North American scj councils, staff and superiors meet

The provincial councils of the three North American provinces met with their provincial staffs and local superiors to discuss the ongoing dialogue taking place in North America among the three provinces. The day and a half meeting sought to expose the staff and superiors to the same process the three local councils have experiences over the last year and a half.

In addition to tasting the process the councils have engaged in, the group spent significant time looking at the proposed North American Assembly set for August 16-20, 1999. Special attention was paid to the statement approved by all three councils:

...the three North American Provincials and their Councils commit themselves to search out and develop a North American SCJ identity and mission by continuing and strengthening collaboration.