General Canonical Visitation
Province Latin America and the Caribbean
The Canonical Visitation to the Province of St. John
of God of Latin America and the Caribbean reached its conclusion on 20 March.
This Visitation had been conducted by two councillors: Brother Dairon Meneses
and Brother José Augusto Gaspar, and the Prior General, given the extensiveness
of the Province, making it difficult for only two people to perform a
visitation.
The Canonical Visitation was inspired by the motto
chosen for the Sexennium "Go forth with passion to promote
Hospitality". Brothers and collaborators from all the Houses were
urged to go forth and to reach out beyond the boundaries raised by all the
problems and difficulties they are facing on a daily basis, both in relation to
the situation in Latin America itself or to the process of consolidating the
Province following the amalgamation that took place at the Unification Assembly
on 26 January 2021.
Our Prior General, Father Jesús Etayo, visited the
communities in Cuba, Argentina and Chile; Brother Dairon Meneses visited the
communities in Mexico, Honduras, Colombia and Venezuela, while Brother José
Augusto visited the communities in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. The Province comprises a total of 22
communities and 39 apostolic centres; these are accompanied by 93 Brothers,
7,733 co-workers and 580 volunteers.
The Province's Centres and facilities are delivering a
significant amount of care, with professionalism and quality, while also
highlighting the humanisation which characterises their service in accordance
with the principles and values of our Order; both our guests and their families
voiced their satisfaction with the warmth and responsiveness with which they
are being cared for. The Brothers and Co-workers were encouraged to press on
with their efforts to ensure that Our Founder's spirit of Hospitality will live
on forever.
On the whole, the Province is well on the way to
consolidating itself following unification, and one of the first fruits of this
union has been the organisation and management of the Province, as well as the
strengthening of the communities by endeavouring to ensure that there are
Houses with a minimum of four Brothers, helping to improve communications,
dialogue and fraternal mutual relations.
The Brothers and Co-workers were invited to continue
journeying together, especially along the lines of work planned for the
sexennium, caring for our common home and protecting children and vulnerable
people. The Visitors expressed their appreciation of the apostolic vitality of
the Province and its reorganisationto to ensure its ability to continue to
improve.
The three Brother Visitors were happy with their work,
and were satisfied that the purpose of the Canonical Visitation had been
achieved.