 DIFFERENT WAY OF ORGANIZING ANNUAL PROVINCE MEETING
OF OUR PROVINCE- A REFLECTION
Fr. Jacob Peenickaparambil
I have been participating in the annual province meeting for the last eight years without fail. I consider it as a privilege to participate in the Annual Province Meeting (APM) and I don’t want to miss it. While evaluating the APM 2009 I asked a question “Is there a different way of organizing the APM?” A few suggestions were proposed by the participating members as an answer to the question. I had further reflection on the subject. I would like to share with the members of the province the fruit of my reflection.
The Values behind the Annual Province Meet
Some members of the province have renamed the APM as Parivar Divas, implying that it is primarily an occasion for all members of the province (Fathers, Scholastics and Aspirants) to come together for experiencing togetherness and thereby build up the community. This understanding is partially true because APM is definitely an important means for sharing with each other and appreciating each other. With this purpose we have added items like honouring and acknowledging the members of the province who have made unique or special contributions during the year. The scholastics who study in different seminaries get an opportunity to meet our Fathers who work in different places or states or countries. Hence it also does the function of filling the possible generation gap.
At the same time APM is more than catering to the emotional and psychological dimensions of community building. As I understand, the core or foundational values of an organization are Participation, Transparency and Accountability. For me these are highly spiritual values without which an individual or community cannot become genuinely spiritual. As religious, if want to fulfil our mission, I think that these values have to permeate our personal life and ministry, relationships and especially administration and governance. APM is a unique occasion for practicing these core values as a community. That is why we have included the following items as components of the APM.
 Presentation of the report of the provincial Departments by the respective members of the Provincial Council. The provincial council members who are the department heads have to explain in brief what actions they initiated in the previous year in view of realizing the vision and mission of the Congregation and what the result was. This is followed by brief clarifications and discussion.
Presentation of the detailed statement of account by the Finance Department. This is a summary of how much finance the province received in the previous year and from what sources and how the finance was utilized and what is the balance at the end of the year.
Presentation of the plan of action for the coming year along with the consolidated budget of the Province for the coming year. It is a summary and culmination of the budgetary exercise, starting from the units of the province in the month February every year.
Opportunity for the participants to question, criticize, and suggest or propose creative ideas.
Sharing by the head of the units of the province.
Conducting the Annual General Body meetings of the two registered societies: CMI Seva Sangh and St. Paul Society.
As far as I know, this is a unique process adopted by St. Paul Province Bhopal which has no parallel in the CMI Congregation. Through this process the provincial administration is made transparent and accountable to the members of the province and the members of the province actively participate in the governance of the province with the freedom to question, criticize and suggest. This is something marvellous and I am proud of our province for evolving such a wonderful process. I have been in touch with some provinces of women religious congregations for instilling professionalism in the management of institutions, particularly in financial management. I am presenting our province as a role model to these provinces in financial management.
The provincial synaxis does the above mentioned functions to some extent. But it has some serious limitations. First of all, only a few elected members, very often less than 25% of the members of the province get the chance to participate in it. But in the APM all ordained members have the right to participate. The scholastics participate only partially. Secondly the provincial council presents report and the statement of account at the end of their term in the Provincial Synaxis and there is no scope for improving performance taking feedback from the members of the province. The Provincial Plenary Assembly held once in three years also suffers from the same limitations and it is not of much use from the point of view of improving governance. On other hand if the APM is organized systematically and the Provincial Council takes action on the basis of the feedback received from the members it will definitely improve governance substantially and contribute to the realization of the vision and mission of the Congregation. Effectiveness of APM depends to a great extent on the way it is being organized.
How to Organize the Annual Province Meeting?
A pattern of organizing the APM has developed during the last 10 years. It is a three day programme: first day for the scholastics, second day for the scholastics and the priest members and the third day only for the priests. In the light of the suggestions emerged from the APM 2009 the three days’ programmes could be compressed into two days.
When? There has been a lot of discussion on the alternatives to the month of May, but the alternative proposals were found to be impractical because of two reasons. The accounts of the province will be audited in April-May and the statement of accounts will be available only at the end of May. Presentation of the statement of account is essential item without which the APM will not serve its purpose. Secondly the only time when all the scholastics can come together is at the end of May.
Where? Till a new provincial house is built St. Paul House Bhopal appears to be a suitable place because of the availability of the needed infrastructure facilities. Perhaps better arrangement for food could be made by obtaining catering service, even if it may cost a little more.
Who: The priest members of the province will participate on the second day fully and in the commemoration of departed members of the province on the third day morning. The scholastics will take part in the first day of their meeting and in the first session of the second day. The aspirants will participate only in the dinner and cultural programmes on the second day.
How? The first day could be devoted for the meeting of the scholastics. The second day could have the following programmes.
- Morning Liturgy followed by greeting the fathers who celebrate their jubilee, Shashtipoorthi and Saptati. The liturgy should be meaningful, but need not be solemn. The scholastics and the priest members will participate in the first session. Only the priest members will participate in the remaining sessions. The scholastics could utilize the afternoon time for preparing for cultural programmes to be put up after the dinner on the same day. Viewing a film is not very important because the scholastics have a lot of opportunity for viewing film. If needed film show could be arranged on the next day.
- First Session: Presentation of report by the four departments: 1) Religious life and Formation 2) Evangelization and Media Communication 3) Education 4) Social Apostolate. The presentation of reports could be for 20 to 25 minutes and 5 minutes for clarifications. The presentation of reports will have two parts: a) Activities directly initiated or implemented by the Department b) An overview of the activities under the department throughout the province. For example major developments like construction of a separate building for KG section, affiliation to CBSC etc. in a particular place should also be part of the report of the Education Department. Hence it is important for the heads of the Department to collect information from the units of the province. Power Point presentation is highly recommended but clarity and readability are more important than animation and background scenes. Before presenting the reports to the Province Community the Provincial Council has to read the report or view the Power Point Presentations and make the needed modifications. Since the presentations are going to be made before the province community, including the scholastics, it has to be professional and an excellent learning process for the younger generation. Two hours could be allotted for this session.
- Second Session: 1) Presentation of the report of the Finance Department and statement of accounts followed by clarifications. The presentation made at the 2009 meeting could be taken as a model. (45 minutes) 2) Presentation of Action Plan for the coming year and the consolidated budget of the Province (45 minutes) followed by clarifications. Total one and half hours could be made available for the second session.
- Third Session in the Afternoon: General Discussion covering all presentations. First the issues will be identified through an interactive process and discussions will be held by allotting time for each issue. Individuals who want make any particular point also should be given chance during this session. Two hours could be set apart for the General Discussion.
The practice of sharing by the heads of the units of the province may not feasible in the future. At present there are 25 units in the province and the number will increase gradually. The sharing by heads of the units is done very often without any preparation and sometimes it becomes boring. Hence this practice could be discontinued. If the members of any particular unit want to raise any issue or share their unique initiatives, it could be done as a part of the general discussion. The main activities of the units of the province will be covered by the concerned department in its report. Hence there is no need of repeating them.
- Fourth Session: Annual General Body meeting of two Societies and Evaluation of the APM. Approximately one hour will be needed for the fourth session.
- Cultural programmes and honouring the members who have made special contribution could be held after dinner. The aspirants could take part in the cultural programme, but they need not participate in other programmes. About one and half hours could be allotted for cultural programmes.
Third Day: Remembering the Departed Members of the Province with Liturgy in the morning. The participants will be going back only after the remembrance of the departed members on the third day.
Preparation for the APM
At least three months in advance the provincial council has to decide the dates, the venue and programme schedule of the APM and communicate it to all the units of the province and the members staying alone. Fr. Provincial may send a personal e-mail to all members of the province encouraging them to participate in the APM. Fr. Provincial also may ask the members working in India to inform him in case they are not able to participate in the APM due to some serious reasons.
I have prepared this write up in order to initiate a process of discussion in the province as a result of which many more creative ideas may emerge. Let us all make APM a memorable and inspiring event through which each member of the province contributes to the qualitative growth of our province. | 
