Japan: Servant-Leaders for the Caritas Sisters

TOKYO: 16th March 2005 -- Four days of intense listening and reflection were set aside by the Caritas Sisters at their General House in Igusa, Tokyo, from March 10-15, 2005. It was their attempt to form themselves into servant-leaders for the Third Millennium right from the highest levels. The 7 members of the General Council were joined by 6 Provincials from Japan, Korea, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, and Europe and 2 Vice Provincials from Japan and Korea.

    Bishop Mizobe began the series of learning experiences with the celebration of the Eucharist and his keynote talk on servant-leadership. His peculiarly kind and humble personality was itself a powerful message on the theme. In addition, he drew from his own experience as a bishop and insisted on the need for better skills in organizing and communicating.

    The sisters then went deeper into the theme of servant-leadership, as presented in the Gospels, in the letter of the Pope on the Third Millennium, and on a modern author, Robert Greenleaf. At the end of the day, Mother General herself realized the need for personal conversion in order to become new kind of servant-leader.

     A two-day workshop followed, allowing the sisters to focus on the key ideas of ministry in the Salesian style, with special emphasis on the educative-pastoral community (EPC) and the Salesian educative-pastoral project (SEPP). The materials were presented in English, Japanese and Korean. The sisters showed high levels of interest all throughout, and assimilated the main concepts of community-building and strategic management. This was actually a foretaste of an even more intense workshop, already scheduled for October 2005. Fr. Mario Baclig of the FIN facilitated the workshop.

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