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1. -2- INFORMATION Easter leads us to Newness Of Life GENERAL COUNCIL FIC It is a known fact that the resurrection of Jesus, which we celebrate at Prins Bisschopsingel 22, 6211 JX Maastricht, The Netherlands Easter, is the foundation of our Christian faith. The meaning of Easter is Jesus Christ's victory over death and symbolizes the eternal life that 2014 - No. 2 (April) is granted to all who believe in Him. Easter also symbolizes the complete verification of all that Jesus preached and taught during His three-year Dear Brothers, ministry. If He had not risen from the dead, if He had merely died and not been resurrected, He would have been considered just another teacher We present to you the second issue of IGC in 2014. or prophet. However, His resurrection changed all that and gave final In it you will find the following: and irrefutable proof that He was really the Son of God and that He had conquered death once and for all. God has therefore given us a new * Easter leads us to Newness Of Life birth into a living hope through His resurrection. Through faith we have been raised to walk in newness of life – to live the resurrected * FIC Journey 2014 life. The resurrected life is one of restoration, transformation and * Treasurers' Workshop 2014 elevation. The newness of the resurrection of Christ has as its immediate fruit the transformation of the fearful disciples into a new community * ConCon 2014 - Malawi that is the Church, the body of the risen One. * Multi-day Meeting General Council Very often, we find ourselves in prison, in the prison of fear, of * Canonical Visitation to Ghana - postponed imperfection, of blaming others, or the constant projection of an idealized image of ourselves to those around us. Sometimes the pattern of our * News from our provinces Ghana and Indonesia life constitutes a prison from which we cannot break free. We become * Joint Meeting GC and PCN prisoners like Paul and Silas (Acts 16:24), become fearful like the disciples in the upper room (John 20:19) and disillusioned like the two * Meeting FIC-CMM April 2, 2014 disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13f). * In Memoriam: Bros. Aretas Sukatja and Carlo Hillenaar But if we praise God from our prison cell, in the confidence that in spite * Special birthdays in the coming months. of our fetters we are in God's hands, then we too can experience the earth moving, the resurrection of Christ like Paul and Silas. If we have the eyes that see, we will discover the risen Lord in the ordinary events of our life. This is how we can experience the transformation, the newness Email:gencouncil@brothers-fic.org;Internet:http://www.brothers-fic.org

2. -3- -4- of life and the renewal. Resurrection happens in the very midst of our FIC Journey 2014 lives. The risen Christ walks with us on our path of life. We can recognize Him if only we have the eyes that see. Easter is both a celebration of One of the resolutions of the General Chapter 2012 is to continue the the gift of spiritual rebirth and at the same time a reminder of the constant “FIC Journey to Spiritual Enrichment” as a congregational program renewal of life here on earth. of continuing formation. It is a program of spiritual exercises, as one way of putting the stipulation of the FIC Constitutions article 115 into Jesus says to the frightened disciples, "Do not be afraid". By this, Jesus a concrete action - “… to continue developing our spiritual growth …”. offered them, as he offers us, new life, and hope for the future. Easter injects hope into our disillusioned life. Nothing brings hope back to In the elucidation of the resolution we read: life like Easter. For the Easter message gives us hope in a bewildering - A consciously programmed effort ensures intended good results. world, hope to face the uncertainties of the future. This special season - One of the great values of part of the program, the so-called OASIS, never arrives without its refreshing reminder that there is life beyond is its international character, the meeting with fellow brothers from this present one: True life, Eternal life, Glorious life. Let us all therefore other provinces, the awareness of the international character of our during this special season be open to see the resurrected Christ in our Congregation, the lived experience of the differences between us, brother/sister, let us acquire the eyes of faith that can see the resurrected etc. Christ on our path of life, and let us be disposed to the newness of life - The venue of the OASIS should preferably be in Maastricht. We have He is offering through His resurrection. experienced again and again how important it is for the participants to visit and experience, also physically, the cradle of our Congregation. Happy Easter!!! The congregational pilgrimage through the historical places of the Congregation, the places where “everything” of the Congregation started, cannot be replaced by pictures, stories, texts, and even by film or video only. The physical presence at the FIC cradle brings participants in closer contact with the spirit of the Founders. - The fact that all participants recommended that other brothers also do the FIC Journey as it had been programmed indicates the positive values of the journey. - Whatever be the case, ongoing formation for our brothers should continue. The program is now going on in all the provinces. A number of brothers are taking part in it. One (1) in The Netherlands: Bro. Wim Luiten; Seven (7) in Indonesia: Bro. Agustinus Agusono, Bro. Antonius Karyadi,

3. -5- -6- Bro. Petrus Sutimin, Bro. Antonius Hardianto, Bro. Yohanes Sugiyono, Indonesia (2): Bro. Yohanes Triwuryanto Bro. Zakharias Puji Lestariyo, and Bro. Yohanes Paryoto; three (3) Bro. Petrus Anjar Trihartono in Malawi: Bro. Lawrence Nkonde, Bro. Emmanuel Mtegha and Bro. Malawi (2): Bro. Ivo Heatubun Pascal Mtuwana; two (2) in Chile: Bro Patricio Guentelican and Bro. Bro. Joe Banda Eustachius Ekowijayanto; and five (5) in Ghana: Bro. Fidelis Gyireh, The Netherlands (2): Bro. Frans Turkenburg Bro. Alpitio Kog, Bro. Amatus Taalo, Bro. Martin Balangtaa, and Bro. Mr. Johan Steuten Didas Toogumo. General Council: Bro. Martinus Handoko (partly) Bro. Guido Sukarman (partly) Part of the program, that is called OASIS, will be held from November Bro. Raphael Besigrinee (partly) 20 through December 18, 2014 at Arnold Janssen Klooster, Wahlwiller, Bro. Theodorus Suwaryanto (fully) NETHERLANDS. General Treasury: Bro. Remy Nyukorong Bro. Lo Koeleman Let us trust and hope that this program will be of a good help especially Experts: Mr. Frank Pijpers to the participating brothers in their becoming more and more the person Mr. Frank van der Gun (ING) God desires them to be. Mr. Ton Raaijmakers Staff: Mr. Willy Bastiaens Guido Sukarman, fic ConCon 2014 - Malawi Treasurers' Workshop 2014 This year the customary Congregational Conference is scheduled to As was published in the February issue of the IGC, there will be a take place from 19 - 29 August 2014 in Malawi. The venue will be our workshop for all FIC treasurers in Maastricht from 3 - 13 June 2014. brothers' house: Bethel community. The participants of such a meeting Here we publish the names of the participants of the workshop. Let are the Provincial Superiors and the General Council. Also in attendance us all pray that the Lord will inspire them as they prepare towards it this time will be our General Treasurer, Bro. Remy Nyukorong. His and that their encounter will be truly rewarding for the fruitful financial task will be to give a report to the meeting on the present financial administration of our congregation. situation of the congregation and also brief the Provincial Superiors on the forthcoming treasurers' workshop planned for June 2014. Chile (1): Bro. Lucio Torres Martin Ghana (2): Bro. Clement Nangpiire The whole conference will be in two parts; the first part will be reflective, Bro. Joseph Kyoore and will be centered on "Servant Leadership", a topic we deliberated on last year but could not exhaust. This will cover the first three days.

4. -7- -8- It is meant to help deepen the quality of our leadership functioning at Preparation towards the coming Treasurer's Workshop also received both general and provincial levels, and will be facilitated by Bro. Guido. our attention. The General Treasurer, Bro. Remy Nyukorong, who was invited to join us in one of the sessions, briefed the meeting on the The second will consist of the usual business section and will cover ongoing preparations towards this workshop and also to present the a number of topics, most of which are the follow up of the Provincial financial statements for the 2013 financial year. and General Chapter resolutions. These include, among others, the resolutions on formation. We shall also find room on the time table Meetings with other congregations and bodies have always received for the Ghana/Malawi formation teams to evaluate the joint formation our attention. In view of this, we planned agenda items for our meetings program. The Provincial Superior of Ghana will therefore be going with with the Provincial Council of The Netherlands and the CMM brothers. some formators to Malawi for this purpose. Issues on communication also received a lot of our attention during the meeting. The ongoing reconstruction of the FIC website was Other topics tabled for discussion include the preventing of sexual abuse extensively discussed and the first issue of the FIC Magazine given of minors, FIC website, FIC magazine, the OASIS gathering in serious attention. November/December 2014, and financial issues. Apart from that, the Even though the agenda was quite loaded, we were able to cover all FIC congregation will be 175 years old in 2015. Therefore, the General the items within two days, even without getting too tired. The meeting Council will give some information on how this event will be celebrated was judged as comprehensive and satisfactory due to the pleasant and in The Netherlands, and this will be followed by sharing of information friendly atmosphere that characterized the discussions. on how our provinces will mark the year, especially Ghana which will be celebrating 50 years of FIC presence in the country. Multi-day Meeting General Council From 24 - 25 March 2014 the GC held its first multi-day meeting of the year in Wahlwiller. The meeting came this late due to the over two months' absence of three of the GC members from office. Brothers Martinus and Theodorus were in Indonesia for canonical visitation while Bro. Guido was on home leave. By the middle of March, the GC was complete again. The meeting was used to do a distant preparation for the Congregational Conference in Malawi and the visitation of General Council members to the provinces of Ghana, Malawi and Chile.

5. -9- -10- and that it would bear fruits for them as individuals, the Province and Canonical Visitation to Ghana - postponed the entire Congregation. In the February issue of the IGC we indicated, as part of the GC schedule, Bro. Albert on behalf of his assistant expressed their joy and readiness that the canonical visitation to Ghana was scheduled to take place from to journey with the participants. He pleaded for prayerful support for 6 April to 11 May 2014. This plan has failed. This is because the visitors one another in this journey and urged them to declare their intention up to now (15 April) are still waiting for their residence permit to be to their community members and solicit their support. He also stressed renewed. Without this document, they are not permitted to enter The that this journey is a lifelong event and does not just end with the Oasis Netherlands again once they find themselves outside. The visit will stage in Holland as some participants might think. be rescheduled as soon as their documents are regularized. We thank Ghana province for their patience and understanding. Bro Albert then led participants through a prayer service. Articles 15 and 55 of our Constitutions as well as a reading from the Gospel of Matthew (13:10-17) were referred to as choices of reading. In News from our provinces commissioning them, the participants took turns to read aloud the text of commitment. Ghana During the business session, Bro. Albert gave a brief history of the spiritual journey from its beginning, pointing out the challenges and successes. Afterwards, the documents sent by the General Council FIC Journey to Spiritual Enrichment, 2014 concerning the concept, form and content of the exercise, and also the The commissioning ceremony of the FIC Journey to Spiritual Enrichment suggested time frame for the journey as a whole in addition to the took place at the Provincial House - Wa on 8February, 2014. In guidelines for the FIC Journey to Spiritual Enrichment, were discussed. attendance were the Provincial Superior, Bro. Seregious Dery, the For a start, participants were asked to implement the following: keep animator Bro. Albert Ketelaars and his assistant Bro. Peter Agbozo, a spiritual journey diary, communicate effectively with community and all the participants, namely Bros Didas Toogumo, Amatus Taalo, members and have a spiritual director. Martin Balangtaa, Fidelis Gyireh and Alpitio Kog. Following this, participants shared experiences of their encounters with In his welcome address, the Provincial Superior thanked participants previous participants of this journey as they were assigned to do before for accepting this challenge and emphasized that the individual effort this meeting. From the sharing it was clear that though the program and interest is paramount to the success of the program and thus pleaded appears to be quite demanding, it would certainly be beneficial to the for their cooperation. He hoped that everyone would enjoy the program individual participants. The animator led participants to prepare a schedule for the subsequent meetings to facilitate the journey process.

6. -11- -12- We gave them the opportunity to get a loan from this Credit Union with low interest rate. Indonesia Fr. Fredi Rante Taruk, from the Economic Empowerment Committee of Indonesian Bishops Conference, gave a session on “Financial Literacy” Workshop and yearly meeting of Pangudi Luhur Credit Union with the title “360 degrees skill of finance for the members of Credit “KASIH” Union”. This session made the participants more aware of their This meeting/workshop was held from 13 - 15 February 2014, at Wisma commitment to the development of Pangudi Luhur Credit Union. On Eden in Kaliurang, Yogyakarta. The participants numbered about 106, the last day, Bro. Frans Sugi officially accepted and approved the yearly including the adviser, Pangudi Luhur Credit Union Board, Management plan 2014 and financial report of 2013. We hope that Pangudi Luhur staff of Pangudi Luhur Credit Union “Kasih”, Consultants, and the Credit Union “Kasih” will grow and develop both in the quantity and Brothers FIC. The brothers who took part in this event were more than quality aspects, for the sake of the welfare of its members. 15 including Frans Sugi, Gregorius Bambang, Hans Gendut (YPL foundation), Petrus Sutimin, Heribertus Iriyanto, Yohanes Hartoko, and Petrus Anjar and others from our schools and institutions. Joint Meeting GC and PCN The Pangudi Luhur Credit Union “Kasih” On 27 March 2014, the General Council met with the Provincial Council was established in of The Netherlands at Prins Bisschopsingel to discuss several issues 2010, when Bro. of common interest. Among others we discussed the developments Theodorus was the concerning De Beyart and the celebration of the 175th Anniversary head of YPL Office of the FIC Congregation. center in Semarang. Most of the members For some time now, the management of De Beyart has been in the hands are our co-workers and of a foundation. In view of this shift in management, a few changes their families. At the are emerging that are likely to affect the religious atmosphere within end of 2013 the which the brothers are living. The PCN is taking steps to ensure that, members were about in spite of the unavoidable restructuring of our dear mother house, the 2000, including 148 interest of the brothers is maintained. brothers. A lot of the students put their pocket money in this Credit Union account. We encouraged our co-workers and their families, and For the celebration of the 175th anniversary of the Congregation, the also the students to save their money for their welfare in the future. planning committee, in the persons of brothers Wim Swüste, Frans Turkenburg and Lo Koeleman, has decided on the theme: Our Story

7. -13- -14- Continues. They still maintain the earlier plan of having a Eucharistic Meeting FIC - CMM April 2, 2014 celebration, an exhibition and a reception. As part of the celebration, the committee is thinking of a suitable “project” to mark the Jubilee. The collaboration between FIC and the Brothers of Our Lady Mother They think that such a project should involve not only our FIC provinces, of Mercy (CMM) through joint fraternal meetings continues. This time, but also other people in The Netherlands. However, this idea still needs the meeting of the two councils, which took place in the CMM Generalate to be developed further. Due to practical difficulties, the PCN is not in Tilburg, was a concluding encounter, as the current CMM General able to invite brothers from other provinces for the celebration. Board will conclude their term of office in June this year. As far as our cooperation is concerned, we always have some experiences and inspirations to share. One topic that engaged our attention was the International Vincentian Family meeting that took place in Paris at the beginning of this year. Since the two councils were represented, both shared experiences on the meeting, as the spirituality of St. Vincent de Paul is identical to our common mission of evangelization. After this FIC gave some impressions on the canonical visitation to our largest province (Indonesia) from December 2013 to March 2014. The visit was described as inspiring and fulfilling. We also briefed the CMM on the ongoing preparations towards the Congregational Conference in Malawi scheduled for August this year, and the OASIS gathering in Wahlwiller at the end of the year. The PCN is also considering a lay person in the Provincial Council to replace Bro. Maarten Bouw who asked and was granted to be relieved FIC General of the assignment. Council and CMM General The General Council on its part briefed the meeting on the preparations Board after so far made towards the OASIS gathering in November/December this the meeting year. One brother from The Netherlands province is preparing towards it. Another point of discussion was the Treasurers' Workshop that is planned for June this year. The General Council also briefed the house on the preparations so far made. The meeting was relaxing as it was fulfilling.

8. -15- -16- CMM General Board has been engaged with the preparation towards S P E C I A L their General Chapter scheduled for May 23 to June 7, 2014. They B I R T H D A Y S updated us on the state of their preparations which they say are almost at the final stage. Owing to this engagement, no significant visitations were made. They asked for our prayerful support for their General Chapter. We concluded our fraternal encounter with an extended and recreational dinner. May 11 Lambert Dorsana Batogbee (50) - Accra In Memoriam 24 Anacletus Tinper (50) - Damongo 26 Ans van der Geest (85) - Maastricht-Xaverius Brother Aretas Sukatja FIC Bernardus June He was born on August 22, 1936 in Blitar, East Java, Indonesia. On July 2, 1957 he made his 06 Petrus Heru Nugroho (70) - Surakarta first profession in the Congregation of the 21 Aloysius Porekuu (60) - Kaleo Brothers of the Immaculate Conception. 25 Petrus Paijan (60) - Bekasi-Delta Mas He passed away on March 5, 2014 at the St. Elisabeth Hospital in Semarang, Indonesia. July Brother Carlo Hillenaar FIC 04 Petrus Ponidi (60) - Bekasi-Delta Mas Martinus Johannes (Jan) He was born on 23 October 1925 in Vlaardingen. By making his religious vows he committed himself to the Congregation of the Brothers of Maastricht (FIC) on 15 August 1946. Equipped with the Anointing of the Sick, he passed away on 10 April 2014 at the Academical Hospital in Maastricht.