Aesop, the Greek philosopher and writer of the 6th century BC, wrote the fable of “The Hare and the Tortoise,” a story universally popular with children of every era and country. Aesop often used the number five as a symbol of good luck and fortune for the characters in his many fables, such as “The Ants and the Grasshopper” and “The Dog and the Wolf”.
On 4 September, the Center for Ignatian Spirituality (CIS) of the Jesuit Vietnamese Province celebrated its fifth year of service with a Mass and welcome ceremony at the Peter Favre Retreat Center in Ho Nai. The fifth-year event provided a prayerful and joyful start to the new academic year, and we hope it will be a year of good fortune!
Attending the opening were 40 new participants in the two multi-month programmes, which are at the core of CIS’s service to the Vietnamese Church. For some dioceses, such as the Diocese of Thai Binh, it is their first time to send participants to CIS. Also present at the event were Bishop Joseph Tran Van Toan of Long Xuyen Diocese, Bishop Joseph Nguyen Tan Tuoc of Phu Cuong Diocese, and the superiors of various male and female religious communities.
We aim to strike a balance between male and female participants in each of the programmes. The first programme, Spiritual Accompaniment and Giving of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, consists of 20 participants, including seven priests from five dioceses and 13 nuns from 10 congregations, while the other programme, Ongoing Formation for Formators, also has 20 participants, comprising seven priests from five dioceses, two priests from a congregation, one layman from Focolare Movement, and 10 nuns from 10 congregations.
The Spiritual Accompaniment and Giving of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises programme runs for eight months, while the Ongoing Formation for Formation runs for four months. Both are full-time and held at Dac Lo Center. Participants of both programmes live together in Saigon throughout their time at CIS.
Fr Nguyễn Đức Hanh SJ is the Director of the Center for Ignatian Spirituality (CIS) of the Vietnamese Province.