I shall begin with a resounding “Viva, Italia”! Yes,
that’s how much I loved my first visit to Rome. I was
warmly greeted at the city’s Da Vinci airport on Friday,
September 28, 2007, by Frs. Miguel Miró, prior, and Javier
Echarri, general procurator, of the Curia residence. The friars
wasted no time in giving me a quick run-through of the scenery
that Rome had to offer on the highway as we headed toward the Curia. Upon
arrival there, I immediately ran into (literally!) Fr. Jesús
Suela, secretary general. It was good to finally match a face
with the man whom I had been in regular e-mail correspondence with
over the past few months. It was just about time to begin
midday prayer, so I reached into my carry-on piece of luggage and
pulled out my Spanish breviary. Fr. Sammy quickly responded
with “You won’t be needing that, Michael. We pray
the office in Italian.” Now was the moment to see if
my in-flight reading material, “Italian for Dummies,” would
have any positive results! The weekend preceding the secretaries’ conference
was just what I expected, and hoped for. I had always loved
the house schedule that Monteagudo followed, which I experienced
as a novice, and was delighted to see that the Curia followed the
same schedule. That huge lunch is as popular (and delicious!)
in Italy as it is in Spain. Everybody made my weekend before
the conference a wonderful remembrance.
Our conference began Monday morning, October 1, 2007,
and ended the following Saturday. Father General was present for each
of the daily meetings. On the first day, he warmly welcomed
all of us to the Curia. We introduced ourselves next. It
was also good to match a face with each of the seven other
secretaries: Frs. Rodrigo Díez, Province of Saint Nicholas;
William Muñoz Prada, Province of La Candelaria; Simón
Puertas, Province of Saint Thomas; Juan Manuel Torrecilla, Province
of Saint Joseph; Domingos Sergio Gusson, Province of Saint Rita;
Miguel Ángel Yanguas, Province of La Consolación;
and José Fortunato “Larry” Garces, Province
of Saint Ezekiel.
Each day of the conference included excellent dialogue, attempting
to fine-tune all the ideas we had previously submitted, with the
hope to find procedures that would keep our work going smoothly. Among
the ideas presented by General Secretary Jesús Suela were: how
to properly record and submit each province’s annual report; how
to update sufficiently (by means of the best software technology)
the profiles of each religious in the Order; how
to most efficiently record and submit all protocol correspondences; how
to best send news of the provinces (whether via regular mail, electronic
mail, or both); whether we can sufficiently send future
correspondences by fax; how to best update the records
of esteemed friends and benefactors of the Order; and many
other thoughts and suggestions were shared throughout the conference. Mostly,
it was a week to get to know one another better. For me, that
was the experience that I treasured the most. It was so rewarding
to make new friends, especially among fellow religious. The
camaraderie was very special. Coincidentally, the first day
of the conference happened to be my birthday. Our Father Provincial
made no secret that he sent an e-mail notifying the Curia of that
fact. I am glad that he did. I got the usual fun treatment
of song and food and cake and even some champagne. The nuns
prepared a real feast, complete with dining-room decorations on
the walls and tables. It was a terrific day.
Wednesday, October 3rd was a very special day. The majority
of the community of the Curia and all of the secretaries went to
the Vatican for a morning audience with the Holy Father. There
were thousands of people there. I was happy to see Fr. Luis
Ramírez attend as well. Luis was staying at Via Sistina
for the week-long inter-vocational conference that was taking place
there.
Rome is a beautiful city. I want to thank Frs. Fredric Abiera,
Sammy Silloríquez, Larry Garces, and Br. Eric Crelencia. They
made the best tour guides. I think I did more walking over
those days than I ever had. I especially wish to thank Fr.
Suela for taking such interest in seeing that the secretaries gather
to share their personal experiences together. Fr. Miguel Miró,
too, was a most gracious prior. Until my next trip to Rome,
I say to all, “Arrivederci!” God bless you.
Fr. Michael Rafferty, OAR
