March 26, 2008

The International Board and Mission Council

 

The International Board and Mission Council meeting was held in Lviv in the Ukraine in March.  Lviv is a city which has experienced foreign domination at various times in its history.  Because of this, it appears as a bridge between many different cultures.  L’Arche and Faith and Light are flourishing there and a community exists that is based on four workshops.  They hope to be able to begin a home soon.

 

Sadly neither Andrew Youmbe from Africa, nor Maria Elvira from Central and South America were able to join us because of the difficulty they experienced in obtaining visas.

 

The Board worked hard and accomplished a lot. Each day we met in faith sharing groups to start our day and then we gathered for the meeting.

 

We spent a significant amount of time working with the proposal for new International Structures, distilling the wisdom of the group, so that a clear paper, detailing the proposed changes and why they are being proposed can be sent out to communities in April.   Watch that space because it will be important that your community can think through together how you want to cast your vote in Kolkata.

 Communities 

The following projects were accepted as probationary communities

 

In Canada: L’Arche Saskatoon

In the Ukraine L’Arche Kovtcheh

In India: Asha Niketan Asansol

 

The following communities were accepted as permanent communities

 

In France L’Arche le Sycamore

In Germany L’Arche Ravensburg

 

L’Arche Mexico has moved from permanent status to probationary status

 Finances 

L’Arche International has enough finances.  It is hoped that the increase in costs this year expected as a result of the planned General Assemblyin Kolkata will be met through donations.

 Kolkata 2008 

Further planning was done towards this event.  Information packs/DVD’s  will be forwarded to each community to assist them in their preparation.

 Mission Council 

At the Mission Council, among other things, work was done to further progress the proposal for a change in our structures.   A paper detailing principles for Salary Policies was finalized and a session was held reflecting on Membership and Commitment

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