The Internal forum in Sulpician pedagogy
The General Council of St. Sulpice was happy to sponsor and organize an International Symposium during the 3 rd week of July. Held at our Casa Sacerdotal di Bogota, the conference was attended by members of the General Council, the General Secretary and General Treasurer, the Provincial Councils of Canada, France, and the United States, as well as our Sulpician rectors from our various seminaries in Colombia and Brazil. (Our only truly sad note was the absence of some of our confrères from the American and French province, due to unimaginable visa problems!). However, thanks to a team from CELAM, we were able to broadcast our conferences to those not able to be physically present.
The subject of our encounter was a theme at the very center of our Sulpician mission: the Internal Forum, an element crucial to our Sulpician pedagogy and very much under questioning if not attack, today.
We were blessed to open with Mass, presided by the Cardinal Archbishop of Bogota, his Eminence, Luis José Rueda Aparicio. During the week, we had four presenters, two from within the Company, and two experts from outside: Fr. Bernard Pitaud, PSS, “On the place of the spiritual director in the discernment of priestly vocations in the pedagogy of St. Sulpice”; Fr. Leonardo Cardenas, “Definition and canonical Reasoning of Sexual Abuse. The role of Seminary formation Councils and Spiritual Directors”; Dr. Daniela Cardona, “Current psychological Aspects in Vocational Guidance, taking into account the current culture, commitment to freedom, social and experiential heritage, to detect ‘red flags’ in formation and discernment”, and Fr. Phillip J. Brown, PSS, “Issues around the ‘internal forum’ from a canonical perspective. Particular aspects of the issues involved in the United States in relation to our PPF6, some considerations of civil law and from a spiritual and theological perspective”.
In addition to the conferences, the confrères enjoyed a time of spiritual formation together for moments of daily liturgical prayer and Eucharist, times of Adoration and Marian devotion. We also benefited from an outing together to visit the
nearby city of Zipaquira, the central plaza and historic Cathedral, as well as the famous “Salt Cathedral”, to share a meal, and to conclude with a wonderful cultural evening with our Colombian confrères! Truly ,their hospitality was beyond words!
The week was a privileged occasion to be more deeply rooted in our mission of accompaniment to our candidates, better to assist them to respond to the call of the Lord Jesus to help shepherd his disciples, as well as an opportunity to come together and know each other better as brother Sulpicians from across the world.
I am happy to say that we are working to publish the papers of the Colloquium in the not too distance future.
