13th VISAYAS-VIETNAM CLUSTER ASSEMBLY (August 26-28, 2022)

The 13th VISAYAS-VIETNAM CLUSTER ASSEMBLY adopting the General Chapter theme: “Reimagining Spaces for the Charism, in Synodality, Committed to the Emerging Reality”, was held on August 26 to 28, 2022 at Silay City. It was attended by 19 Cluster Members from the Communities-Taller Silay, Iloilo, Cebu with the Community-Taller Vietnam and a member of C-T Silay participating online. The Provincial Team members, Yolanda Aurora Pugal and Jennifer Uy were also present virtually while Marcelina Sta. Cruz joined the assembly face to face.

Day 1

The day’s host, C-T Silay, led the Morning Liturgy that set the atmosphere for active listening to the presence of God in our midst, after which Victoria C. Terrenate, the Cluster Coordinator, formally opened the Cluster Assembly accentuated by her warm welcome to the sisters as she motivated them to dispositions of openness, authentic listening from the heart, from below, in the spirit of discernment. It was followed by a review of the process of the Discernment of Presences.

As an illumination on Discernment, the sisters listened to the video presentation by Fr. Mon Bautista, SJ who expounded on the discernment of presence, of interiority and of meaning that culminate in discerning God’s will. From this illumination, significant points were highlighted in the plenum that will help each one in the discernment process in the Cluster. This was followed by the presentation of each C-T of the results of the discernment on the C-T Presence and the Summary of the Cluster’s Demography. A lively exchange of affirmative appreciation, feedforward and clarifications were expressed by the body after each CT’s report.

  

Day 2

The C-T Coordinators decided to transfer the venue in the Silay C-T House after observing some disturbances/technical problems which slowed down the whole day process and for a better quality of online communication. The Assembly started at 8:00 AM with C-T Iloilo as Facilitator and leader of the Morning Prayer. The task of the group is to continue the unfinished task of the 1st day. Then they proceeded to make realistic dreams, to visualize the future of the Cluster Visayas-Vietnam in five and ten years based on the realities presented by the different C-Ts. Small groups were organized according to the stages in formation to share and make a consensus on how they imagine the future of the Cluster. The group sharing was filled with interest and enthusiasm and each group was animated to present in the plenum the dreams they envisioned.

Day 3

The Assembly started with a Morning Prayer led by C-T Vietnam. The facilitator CT Cebu motivated the group about the day’s journey, greetings and the recap of the first two days' minutes done by Rossel and Paz were read. Then the collated visualized dreams, both for 5 years and 10 years, were presented and discussed at length until consensus on each one was reached. Also tackled during the day was the presentation of the Criteria for Discernment of V-V Cluster. After quite a long deliberation, the reformulation of the criteria according to relevance, impact and sustainability and elements such as human resources, finances, significant lay, was accomplished. The Sisters were filled with hope and zeal with the result contemplating the future of the Cluster. The last item taken up was the list of the proposals of the V-V Cluster. After some moments of review and interaction, the proposals were approved in consensus. 

The last day of the 13th Visayas-Vietnam Cluster Assembly culminated with the Eucharistic Celebration by Fr. Januarius of the Marian Missionaries, immediately followed by the message and the formal closing of the Assembly by the VV Cluster Coordinator Victoria Terrenate.   

The Assembly was characterized by a climate of prayer, as each day started with the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the Holy Eucharist. There was warmth, support, cooperation, collaboration, openness, transparency, unity, contentment, gratitude and the spirit of discernment, as indicated by sharing of tasks, opinions, observations, and the consensus reached after every discussion, as well as in both formal and informal moments during the entire process. The practice of appreciative inquiry, affirmation and reflection was helpful and was palpable. God’s presence was felt and His hand was evidently working in the Visayas-Vietnam Cluster,

giving us the festive atmosphere within and outside the Assembly as each one rejoiced at the celebration of the birthday of Lourdes Tacpalan, enjoyed the parade of Students, Faculty and Staff as Sta. Theresita Academy commemorate the “Day of the National Language” and a group of teachers treated us with the ethnic dance. We also had the chance to glimpse and interact with the trainees at the St. Bonifacia Skills Training Center (SBSTC), an outreach program of the school for out-of-school youth and women/men for skills training in the areas of sewing, cooking, beauty enhancement and spa massage.

God is, indeed, good; we rejoice and are grateful for all the blessings heaped on us and on all our collaborators and partners!