associate notes april 13
REGIONAL UPDATES
Online Group
Brother Jerry O’Leary, Chris Spahr, Chris Roberson, Greg Mason, and Chris Irr met on Google+ Hangouts (a web-based video chat platform) for prayer and discussion on February 23rd between 9 and 11 AM. Jonathan Dohanich, who unfortunately was unable to join the group that morning (he had worked three consecutive overnight-shifts in the ER), prepared the prayer and discussion. Jonathan had, a couple weeks prior to the scheduled meeting, created a program that included prayer and discussion questions for the group. The associates discussed making time for personal daily prayer, humility in prayer and in our relationship to God, and notions of inner peace as it related specifically to the sacraments. The group is planning to meet again on June 1st.
 
South Carolina
Paul Cullen & Jack Walsh 12-13-2012
Associate John Walsh and Brother Paul Cullen met in Orangeburg, South Carolina on March 6th. John periodically travels to see Brother Paul at his home in Orangeburg to catch up and share in prayer. The two are pictured above during one such meeting in December (Br. Paul on left, Jack on right).
 
NYC
Brooklyn Associates meet March 12th for prayer and faith sharing at Xaverian HS. The program for this gathering centered around prayer. All were grateful for the Lenten prayer provided by the congregation and much discussion centered on our individual prayer, it’s up and downs, suggestions and personal practices.
We meet again for an extended period on Saturday, April 27th at St. Agnes Parish, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.
Much missed was Brother Bonaventure!
– Bill Gorman
 
Maryland
Maryland Associates Ann Nichols, Peg Weidner, Jeannette Suflita, Michael Buckley, Chuck Ehrman, with Brothers Jerry O’Leary, Tom Murphy, and Cornie Hubbuch met at the Xaverian Generalate on Sunday, April 14. The group began with socializing over coffee at 10:00 and then participated in a prayer service that featured a reflection by Ronald Rolheiser, OMI, on ARE WE STANDING WHERE WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE STANDING. After some private time for reflection, the group then spent some time sharing their reflections. Rolheiser’s reflection offered a way of looking at ORDINARINESS, which has emerged as a major aspect of the Xaverian charism. The group ended their time together over a leisurely lunch. During the lunch a suggestion was proposed in a very general way that perhaps the Associates as a total group could adopt a particular issue as a way to connect with the poor and the marginalized. The particular suggestion centered around the Immigration issue. The group hopes to prepare a specific proposal to the other groups to see if there is interest in this.
– Br. Cornie Hubbuch
 

A NOTE REGARDING MEETING REFLECTIONS:  We’d love to collect one such reflection from each group, after each of the Associate meetings. Perhaps, as the meeting closes we can pick one person to submit a reflection to Chris Irr (cirr@xaverianbrothers.org), so that he can include the thoughts in the Associate Notes. As a reflector, take a couple of days to see what from the meeting has remained with you, and reflect upon that which moved or challenged you during the meeting. Or perhaps, you’ll wish to share some insights on what being an Associate has come to mean for you. We hope these reflections can help build the Associate community through communication of our experiences to those other groups sharing in our commitment to the Brothers.
 
 

A NEW DRAFT OF THE ASSOCIATES CHARISM STATEMENT

Dear Associates,
On April 10th I had a conference call with the Associates Committee (an advisory committee made up of associates and Brothers: Bill Gorman, Gail Dennig, Mike McGeehin, Barbara Ives, Mike Buckley, Bros. Paul Murray, Cornie Hubbuch, and Cosmas Rubencamp [chair]). We discussed several items, one of which was revisions to the original draft of Associate’s charism statement. If you recall, on January 23rd, I sent an email (“Charism Description Reflection”) asking that regional groups take time to reflect upon and discuss the original draft of the Associate’s charism description and make recommendations for revision, where necessary. The Associates Committee reviewed those revisions and have affirmed a new draft of “A Description of the Xaverian Charism as Lived by Xaverian Associates.” CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE STATEMENT.
Thank you to all those who contributed their thoughts and reflections. And a special thanks to Associate Gail Dennig, who authored this new draft based largely on the original, but also on many suggestions for revision and addition. I hope that individually and as a group we are able to continue our reflection on the charism description to the extent that it contributes to our identity as Associates and our experience of communion with each other and with the Xaverian Brothers.
As always, I encourage any thoughts in response to the statement. If you are so moved, I’d encourage folks to submit a brief written reflection on the new charism description that I can share, either through the next Newsletter or via the Living the Charism site.
Thank you,
Chris Irr
 

Associate announcements
COMMITMENT WEEKEND
The Commitment Weekend is July 5th – 7th and all associates are invited to attend. We hope you’re able to make it. Please refer to the email sent on Wednesday, April 24th for more details about RSVPing or email Chris Irr (cirr@xaverianbrothers.org). We will have the full schedule out soon.
 
BROTHER INTERVIEWS
A series of interviews with Brothers have been posting to our YouTube Channel, Facebook page, and Living the Charism site. They are short clips, that will hopefully introduce you to some of our Brothers in Africa, as well as some familiar (or new) faces in the States. The two most recent are Brother Trésor on Working with youth groups and Brother Edmond on Art & Prayer. New videos will go up every Thursday.
 
 

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