Fe y Alegría’s Extraordinary Assembly in Sao Paulo

Between October 25 and 28, the International Federation of Fe y Alegría met in Sao Paulo, Brazil for an extraordinary Assembly to elect a terna for the renewal of its General Coordination and to update on the latest developments and work of its global educational mission.

During three days, the National Directors, the delegates and the federative team shared experiences and achievements according to the Federative Priorities Plan. It was also possible to deepen the reality of the work of Fe y Alegría and the Society of Jesus in Brazil and specifically on the theme of the Amazon and the work with the indigenous apostolate.

Renovación misional

There are currently 22 Fe y Alegrías in the world that are part of the Federation and 4 others (Nepal, Cambodia, Angola and Conakry) that already exist and are in the process of Federation. During the meeting, it was also possible to deepen in two of the most complex realities of the movement: Haiti and Nicaragua. There was also time to discuss the internationalization strategy and the renewal of statutes that the Federation wants to adapt little by little to its new reality, which is increasingly global and supra Latin American.

Election of the terna

The main task of the Assembly was a process of discernment led by Fr. Carlos Cervantes, in which through times of prayer, dialogues and murmurings the assembly was able to approach the question of what is the call of the Spirit on the Fe y Alegría movement in these years and what kind of profile we need as General Coordinator for the coming years.

One of the key moments of the assembly was the dialogue with Fr. General Arturo Sosa, a connoisseur of Fe y Alegría, who in his speech insisted on the three main challenges that the movement has to address in the coming years: (1) the great challenge of quality education in the post-pandemic period within the framework of the global educational pact, (2) the call to the globality of the movement and its openness to new frontiers, cultures and contexts, and (3) the linkage and alignment with the universal apostolic preferences of the Society of Jesus.

When asked about the profile of the Coordinator, Father General pointed out four main characteristics:

• Global vision, so that he/she is not conditioned by a single way of seeing things, someone capable of sustaining and dialoguing with a complex vision of reality.
• Great capacity for listening and learning, given the growing internal diversity of the movement, since no one knows all situations from the outset.
• Good capacity to animate, given the complex situations and contexts where the mission of Fe y Alegría develops.
• Clear identity of the movement, not only clear on paper, but someone who lives it, who has a deep experience and embodies what FyA proposes as its own identity.

Indicators and evaluation

In addition to the process of discernment and election, the team that animates the federation’s management in planning and monitoring the initiatives presented the map of actions and progress.

Robby Ospina, from planning, and Gerardo Lombardi, from the executive secretary, showed the implementation indicators of the Priorities Plan, based on the work carried out by the axes and initiatives from March to October.

Likewise, the coordinator of the popular education axis, Lucila Cerrillo, developed a presentation in which the map of relationships established by the countries through the federative initiatives was shown, and also reviewed the elements that make Fe y Alegría a movement of popular education and transformation.

Next Face-to-Face Appointment in Honduras

The extraordinary assembly was held in person for the national directorates and virtually for the delegates and work teams, who remained connected for more than eight hours a day. Even the election was carried out in a hybrid way with great success in terms of technology and connectivity logistics that allowed for an optimal development of the conversations and work. Once the terna of three candidates has been chosen, it is in the hands of CPAL and its President, Roberto Jaramillo, the concrete appointment of the next Coordination.

During these same days, two meetings of the Board of Directors were held, before and after the assembly and a meeting of National Directorates in which to continue advancing with the executive agenda of the federation. The next assembly will be in December in digital form and the next one in person will be in March 2023 in Honduras.