From 28 May to 26 June, Brother Pascal
Ahodegnon, General Councillor, conducted the General Canonical Visitation to
the Province of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Holy Spirit (Viet Nam) and held
personal and group meetings with the all the communities, formation centres,
guests and the teams working in the Centres, and with other friends and
supporters of the Order.
The closure of the Visitation was celebrated
at the Provincial Curia headquarters (Bien Hoa) under the presidency of Brother
Jesús Etayo Arrondo, the Superior General, on 20-26 June, attended by a large
group of Brothers, climaxing on Thursday 22nd.
Some 700 Pastoral care of the sick workers
and/or sick visitors from 5 dioceses who had been animated in given formation
by the Brothers, were invited to attend on 23 June,. At the Mass, a large
number of them were given accreditation as members of the pastoral care teams
and thereby became Members of the Saint John of God Hospitaller Family.
The Superior General and the Brothers
accompanying him were given the opportunity to visit the formation centres and
a number of communities near Tan Bien: Than Son, and Ho Chi Ming City, as well as the
Sisters Hospitallers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at Vung Tau. He also went to
greet the Management Team of the public hospital adjacent to the Centre which
had previously had been the property of the Hospitaller order, and with which
the Order still has cordial relations.
On Saturday 24th there was a
very special event, for this was day on which the foundation stone was laid for
Hospitality House, a project which this Province had been eagerly advocating
for so long, and for which the preparations had begun thanks to the support
given as a result of the 2008 General Curia Campaign, but had been waiting
since then in order to complete all the formalities.
This new facility will be Hospitality
House (with 150 beds and refectory for 200 people) to accommodate poor patients
and their carers, coming from afar and needing physical rehabilitation
treatment during comparatively long periods of time. This will also make it
possible to set up a number of new consulting rooms to support the work of the
Centre which stands on this land around the tomb of the Venerable William
Gagnon (+ 16 May 1972) who pioneered the
establishment of the Brothers in Viet Nam and who is lovingly remembered by the
local Vietnamese Church and people.
