FINAL MESSAGE
The Annual Meeting of the General Coordination Council
of the Union of Catholic Apostolate – UAC
22 – 24 September 2021
Dear Brothers and Sisters
Greetings from the General Coordination Council of the UAC, united for the annual meeting, to all the communities, members and your families. Again, this year we had to meet and work via Zoom due to the pandemic.
The meeting was officially declared open by Donatella Acerbi, the President of the Union. In her report, among other things, she spoke about the meeting organized by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life on 16 September 2021, in which she participated together with Fr. Roque Gonsalves SAC, the General Secretary of the Union. She shared the thoughts of Pope Francis which concern our Pallottine Family and which give impetus to our common reflection:
“The charism to which we belong, must be deepened for the good, always reflecting together to incarnate it in the new situations we live. To do this, great docility is required of us, great humility, in order to recognize our limits and accept to change outdated ways of doing and thinking, or methods of apostolate that are no longer effective, or forms of organizing internal life that have proved inadequate or even harmful…” (Address of the Holy Father Francis to the participants in the meeting of the associations of the faithful, ecclesial movements and new communities, 16 September 2021)
Listening to the different reports of the GCC members, we were pleased to know how much the NCC and LCC members did in reaching out to people in need during the pandemic. In this time, we have been called to discover new ways to be close to all people in their concrete situations and revive faith and rekindle charity by bringing them Christ through our charism. We express our deep gratitude to all and extend our support to continue the works of charity.
The members’ reports also brought to light that there is an urgent need to devote our apostolic efforts in attracting young and new people to join the Union, according to their availability and vocations. We feel the need to have new strength, ideas and passions to continue the mission of the Union. We also feel the necessity to intensify our efforts to deepen the Pallottine spirituality and missionary commitment, always in communion with the members of the Pallottine Family.
A heartfelt thanks to the NCC and LCC for the formation of the members rooted in the Statutes of the Union which all the members need to know and live in their daily lives.
The Union, being an International Public Association of the Faithful, has been invited by Cardinal Mario Grech, the General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, to participate and give our contribution as the Union of Catholic Apostolate to the consultation process in view of the next Synod of Bishops scheduled to be held in 2023 on the theme: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission”.
Fr. Derry Murphy SAC and Maria Domke are accepted by the General Secretariat of the Synod as contact persons on behalf of the Union. Very shortly we will be sending to you an official letter, which will explain and accompany, how to live and contribute towards the synodal journey in our NCC, LCC, Communities and Groups.
Donatella Acerbi, the President of the Union and Fr. Jacob Nampudakam, SAC, the Ecclesiastical Assistant of the Union expressed in their reports great appreciation and gratitude felt by the Pallottine Family for two recently deceased members, Fr. Hubert Socha from the German province of SAC and Mgr. Henryk Hoser SAC from Poland, for their great commitment and contribution to the life of the Union. It was a great loss for all of us and for the entire Church.
Finally, due to coronavirus, it was decided in the meeting to reschedule the UAC General Assembly to facilitate physical presence of the delegates. The new dates are: 13-20 March 2022.
With fraternal greetings and prayers,
The Members of the General Coordination Council of the Union of Catholic Apostolate
Rome, 24 September 2021
