Slovak Province Congregation, 16–21 September 2019

The Provincial Assembly and Provincial Congregation 2019 of the Slovak Province was held from 16^th to 21^st September.

The meeting took place at the Jesuits´ Retreat house in Prešov. Its main purpose was to review the past 9 years and elect delegates to the GC 2020. The Provincial Congregation had been preceded by a reflection on the Message CG 2011 in the communities and prayers to the Holy Spirit for his guidance and light. Following the recommendation of the Generalate, an IBVM member, Carmel Swords from Ireland, was invited to join us at the Provincial Congregation. The facilitator of our meeting was P. Peter Dubovský SJ, Dean of the Biblical Faculty of PBI in Rome. He began by offering us a biblical reflection on a few models of solutions of crisis. After this we continued our meeting by  following the principles of generative listening and speaking with an emphasis on our inner movements. We considered together these key areas: the reality of the world around us, the reality of  life in the CJ – the worldwide CJ, the reality of  life in the CJ – in our Slovak province. This was the programme for Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday morning 19/9/2019 the participants of the PC reflected on the Criteria and qualities needed for the delegates to the GC 2020. In the afternoon, we elected the delegates in following order: Archanjela Biathová, Silvia Zábavová, Júlia Milčová. As substitutes were elected Simeona Čupová, Fides Strenková, Xénia Krainiak. We finished that day with the Taizé prayer and a guided Ignatian Examen. On Friday we discussed the demographic data referring to the Message GC 2011. The provincial assistants showed us the ppt presentations of the various CJ provinces and regions at the beginning of each session.  We could see the worldwide Congregatio Jesu as one body. The participants had time for their personal reflection on the topics, there was sharing in small groups and then in the plenary. Each day finished with a guided Examen. On the last evening we had a little celebration with time to relax together and to enjoy the good cakes and other refreshment provided by our leadership team. Let us now continue to accompany Sr. Agnesa and the elected delegates with our prayers as they represent our Slovak province at the GC 2020.