Letter from the International Leading Team (ERI)
October/November 2011
VI - Renewal Stage:Back to our Roots & Missionary Commitment
In this article, we continue our commemorative voyage recalling the gatherings held in recent years by our Movement. It seemed important to us to get ready and to prepare ourselves with an even greater sensitivity and a larger spirit of international unity for our meeting at Brasilia next summer.
Back to our Roots & Missionary Commitment: these are the characteristics of the last three gatherings held in 1988, 1994 and 2000.
This stage represented not only a real challenge for Team members, but also a strong call to commitment and fidelity to our vocation and mission. The effect of the post-Vatican II renewal is surely visible here and our Movement participated energetically. In the three gatherings post-Vatican II the same dynamism opened both doors and windows to couples in the Movement onto the realities of the world so that they could become agents of the renewal.
7th International Gathering. From September 19-23, 1988, 2660 couples and 337 priests from the Movement met in Lourdes, France. Alvaro and Mercedes Gomez-Ferrer, from the Spanish Super-Region, became the Responsible Couple of the International Leading Team.
A new ‘Pentecost' came into being in the Movement. It was a time when it stopped to catch its breathe, an ‘aggiornamento' in order to update and so came to be called ‘A Fresh Approach'.
It is important to recall-and the whole Movement studied this-that in 1987 Father Caffarel proclaimed his famous speech at Chantilly, that practically prepared this Fresh Approach. It is also important to remember that the Movement had now to move ahead without the guidance of its founder. It had to fight against habit, routine even, and had to avoid the effects of time.
In order to move ahead, it had to return to its roots. It had to avoid the monopoly of ‘giving orders' in order to learn to act collegially. It had to make sure the basic Team members were involved to become the builders of the Movement. Finally, once the needs of the time were understood, we were all stimulated to live and experience the following truths in our daily lives:
-Marriage is in the service of love and is its greatest guarantee
-Marriage and the family are the natural terrains of happiness
-Marriage is the way to holiness
Undoubtedly, the 1988 Gathering can be considered to be a major signpost on the Teams' route because the proposals it put forward then have influenced the evolution of the Movement as well as the subsequent International Gatherings right up to today.
8th International Gathering. From July 18-23, 1994, 5500 Team members participated at Fatima, Portugal. The theme topic was ‘Invited to the Wedding of Cana'.
It is important to note that the UN declared 1994 to be the International Year of the Family. And so, the central theme of the Gathering could only be the family. Indeed, the preparatory topic that had been suggested for study was entitled ‘Being a Family today in the Church and in the World.'
Once again, the accent was placed on the vocation and mission of the Teams of Our Lady in today's world, just as Father Caffarel had wished for.
Another important aspect of this Gathering was the presentation of the project entitled Evangelising Sexuality.
Also for the first time, the Responsible Couple of the International Leading Team (ERI) were Brazilian, Igar and Cidinha Fehr. Father Cristobal Sarrias joined them and became its Spiritual Counsellor.
An important idea emerged at this Gathering and was articulated by the beloved Father Olivier, Spiritual Counsellor to the International Leading Team who died a year ago. He pointed out, ‘It is the Lord who makes the wine of Eternity. But we need to bring the water, that is we need to bring our humble and faithful everyday lives. This means our lives as a couple, as a family, at work. We bring the little of which we are capable and the Lord transforms it, he illuminates it with his grace and through his love. So, Brothers and Sisters, start working! Fill the jars with water so that the Lord may transform it in to the wine of the Kingdom!'
9th International Gathering. From Fatima, we move to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where 7500 Team members met September 18-23, 2000. Marie-Christine and Gérard de Roberty, from the French Super-Region, became Responsible Couple and Monsignor François Fleischmann Spiritual Counsellor of the International Leading Team.
‘Being a Christian Couple Today in the Church and in the World' was the theme topic. Team members were presented with an itinerary that enabled them to question and think about how to change their hearts in order to be able to answer the needs of the Church and of the world. There were 3 different stages:
-Being a Person
-Being a Couple
-Being a Missionary Couple in the Church and in the World
The fundamental idea of this Gathering could be summed up as everything we received has not been given to us to keep, but to pass on and this is the reason for our hope.
If we believe we have received a lot from the Movement, that is also why the Movement, a gift from God to us, expects a commitment from us to become involved in the various services that are necessary to keep it alive. It is always the Lord who gives. It is always the Lord who calls us. It is always the Lord who awaits our reply.
International Leading Team
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