Warmest wishes by the European Team 2020!

As we Celebrate Christmas and contemplate this great mystery of the incarnation of God we marvel in this great act of humility. God who is all and sustains all takes the form of the creature He so much loves. He so much wanted to convey his message of love to us that he took on flesh so to be able to communicate with us and love us in a way we could truly feel Him. He still continues to convey his love today in our hearts and stir us, who are His people, to love like He does. Let these days of Christmas be for all of us a spark of hope and that always reminds us that nothing can hold us back from His love because His love pierces through everything and lights up the darkest darkness.

Merry Christmas to Everyone and may God’s love shine in all your hearts.

Fr. Sergio Fenech

From the 11th until the 13th the European Committee brought together 28 delegates from the National Organisations, the European Team and the International Secretariat Teams to disscuss and decide about the present and the future of the European Coordination JECI-MIEC! Even if it was online, the committee was very productive.

The European Committee elected the new European Team of 2021! The Executive Board of 2021 consists of KSJ Germany, MCE Portugal, ASTRU Cluj, represented by Anna Holtkamp, Carolina Carreira, Paul-Cristian Sopon respectively. At the position of the European Coordinator, Eirini Freri from EKNE Greece is elected for a 2nd mandate. The Team will be accompanied by Fr Sergio Fenech, the European Chaplain.

Thanks to everyone who has participated actively, to the European Team 2020 for its work, to everyone who is helping us in our everyday work and to the new team for their motivation to run and support the Coordination!

Have we found something to work upon so that we may become a better person a bettter Christian? If yes, now its time to exercise ourselves and start. Surly we wil find several obsticales in our way but God provides us help. The Sacraments, espacially Confession and the Eucharist are what sustain us in the wilderness and sufferings we face in our life in our walk towards His kingdom.
May His Blessings always empower us so that even if the roads that we are walking upon are bent; full of hills and valleys yet our gaze will remain always straight and focused towards Christ. Then he will Help us to straighten our path and lower the hills and fill the valleys.

Fr. Sergio Fenech

As we start our new Liturgical Year the Gospel urges us to stay alert and stay awake. It is easy for us to just enter the yearly routine and just start the usual celebrations of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and so on… Yet this cycle has purpose, and it does have one focal point, Christ. It is this mystery of Christ that year after year we are asked to contemplate and move deeper in this relationship with Him. So do not just dose off in the usual routine but stay vigilant and watch for what Jesus is offering you this year. Use this time so to get deeper in this relationship with Christ. This time of Advent is provided for us so to ask ourselves how are we preparing for God’s second coming? Are we prepared to enter His kingdom?

Therefore, as we are still in the start of this liturgical year try to think about what you wish to work upon this year. If there is something you wish to change in yourself or around you or if there is something in your Christian life that you wish to understand more so to be able to live it in a better way. This is how we remain vigilant, how we remain awake.

Let the Holy Spirit guide you in the stirrings of the heart so to find what is asked of you this year this present moment.

Wish you all a Blessed Time filled with Grace and Good Health!

Fr Sergio Fenech

The European Committee is the highest decision-making body of the European Coordination JECI-MIEC. This year it will take place online from the 11th to the 13th of December 2020.

At the European Committee, each National Member Organization can send up to 3 delegates to participate, share ideas and engage with leaders from other national organizations.

The call for delegates is distributed among the member organizations via email and the deadline has already expired.

If you want to participate, please contact your national movement or us at office@jecimiec.eu.

The JECI-MIEC Digital Workshop took place between the 24th and the 27th of September 2020 and gathered approximately 20 participants from the member organizations. The aim of this meeting was to bring together young Catholic Student and create the Orientation Guidelines 2021-2024.

The first day started with the welcoming part, followed by a short introduction about JECI-MIEC and about the aim of this workshop. Then the members had some icebreaking activity in order to get to know each other and after that they had the opportunity to talk about the main directions they will work on, and share their realities, their motivation and their expectations from the Orientation Guidelines.

On the second day, the participants started working in smaller teams on the four main perspectives proposed by the European Team: personal perspective, Church perspective, organizational perspective and civil society perspective. In each group, the participants were asked to brainstorm and think of concrete ideas and advice that can be useful to the organizations based on each perspective. The work in groups continued on Saturday morning, when the participants were asked to finalize their work and produce a document with their suggestions. In the evening, the participants gathered for an informal evening and presented their countries while playing. Then they had the chance to split in groups and ask questions to the European Team and the International Secretariat teams of IMCS and IYCS about their role and their work.

On Sunday, the last day, each group presented their work, which will be compiled into the final document of the Orientation Guidelines that will be voted at the European Committee. All he participants opened up, shared their experience and came up with creative ideas. Even if it was an online activity, the feeling of being next to each other was really strong and the workshop was very productive.
Thanks to everyone who made this happen.

Report by:

Teodora Capan (Astru Cluj)

Giorgio Mandoli (FUCI)

Eirini Freri (European Coordinator)

JECI-MIEC is organizing a Digital Workshop on Zoom from the 24th to the 27th of September with the theme “Designing our future”.
You can find the call for more information in pdf format.

You can register here!
Deadline for registration: 10/09/20

Looking forward to meeting you!

European Team

In the Feast of Pentecost “Air” plays a central role on all symbolisms proposed. Jesus breaths upon his Disciples. Wind fills the room in which the apostles were locked in. They all talk about this air that is being poured in and that fills the emptiness and moves out and replaces death with life, fear with courage, ignorance with knowledge. This act of breathing resonates with the same act of God when he breaths upon the clay that formed man and gave it life. Today we celebrate the new life that is being breathed upon the Apostles and through them to the rest of the Church. Even today The Father still is breathing the Holy Spirit into us so that we may partake in this New Life.

As Catholic Students we are moved by the Holy Spirit so to become this fresh air that gives new life around it. We are to call upon the Holy Spirit so that he may fill our movements and that through them he may bring about this fresh air of life. What makes this air fresh is that it is never still, it is always moving searching for new ways to bring about the Glory of God. The Holy Spirit brought about movement within the Apostles so that the stillness of the enclosed room was converted to a loud proclamation that changed hearths. We are also entrusted with this mission in our High Schools and Universities, that is to bring a change of hearth and breath in new life into all students that we encounter.

Fr. Sergio Fenech

We must acknowledge how people are easily affected by an external element no matter how small. A simple virus has stopped the world from its daily routine and impacted economies and the typical social life. This is the fact that we are facing but one should not just simply react and like water find alternate routes to bypass this boulder. We should also find the time to reflect and choose carefully and meaningfully the path we will be moving to bypass this boulder. Possibly also find the means to pass other obstacles that are hindering us or even find a deeper sense of gratitude for the fact that we can move forward.

In the moments of sharing a sense of hope was being transmitted. Even when talking about hardships one could also sense the strength and courage shown towards them. It was true that in facing such hardships many hidden fears may emerge not just of individuals but also of society. These may the take form of prejudices and unjust blame especially when one stumbles in front of his weakness or discover his ineptitude. Flaws and limits in our social structures are discovered. Things that were looked upon as powerful and indestructible structures crawled down. Means on which we based our daily life crumbled. Yet on the other hand other structures started to emerge and new means started to be created. Here we should not just realise the power of adaptability but also the fact that whatever structure we may construct we should always understand its fragility. The reality we are facing today continued to show the unbalance of resources and means, yet also paradoxically how as such these may mean nothing. Interestingly amidst this chaos nonmaterial resources found greater value. Inner talent, relationships, solidarity, prayer, and other resources that are not found in the material world but in the hearts of people. It is true that other structures and means were created but they were directed by different desires then the usual ones. Structures that emphasised connectedness, care, approachability, and search for the transcendent. It was interesting how many things that movements created as an answer to this pandemic were not directed by the need of making the movement felt in society or basic fun factor, but more by the need of coming together, giving voice to each other and finding a new source of strength to face our hardships and challenges. This is truly something to celebrate and cherish. May we also in the future give more credit to such needs rather than others (still do leave some place for fun as this is a good spice in the whole mix ?).

In conclusion now we can understand what we mean by saying to find our means to live in our hearts. May we have experienced charity, solidarity, faith, and hope in these hard times so that we may continue to live them throughout the rest of our life good and bad. May we have also understood the source of such experiences so that when we feel lacking, we may know where to look or better for whom we need to look in our hearts.

May God Bless us and Keep us

Fr Sergio Fenech
European Chaplain