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LinkThis is the on-line version of Link, the bimonthly newsletter of Fimcap.Edition June 2001
Fimcap National Chaplains’ Meeting in RomeWhen people meet and have the chance to share parts of their lives, wonders can happen. Every encounter brings life, challenges and can leave a positive or a negative impression. Moreover, each international meeting has another dimension: thanks to cultural diversity, borderlines are softened and opinions rectified. Each Fimcap meeting goes even further, because there is deep respect and solidarity. All this was experienced at the first Fimcap Chaplains’ meeting. Two continents (Africa and Europe) - eight countries (Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Ghana, South Africa, Spain, Belgium, Norway) - eight souls - met in warm Italy. As national chaplains of youth movements, we all share the same fate. We do the same job, experience the same challenges and difficulties; we notice that we are rather lonely in the ecclesiastic structure, dealing with the same spiritual and pastoral strands of ideas. In fact, young people in the various countries are not so different after all. These days in Rome were really interesting. We shared our concerns, we thought about our task. We shared tensions, joy and grief. It made us stronger. Fimcap gives people the possibility to go deeper in their own religious conviction and even more, to encounter Jesus and our loving Father. We didn’t take lots of resolutions, only this: we really enjoyed this encounter. It was a true training we all shared together and it should happen more often. Johan Cottyn, International Chaplain of Fimcap 
Fimcap National Chaplains’ Meeting DAY BY DAY7-11 May 2001, 8 national chaplains coming from different Fimcap organisations met in Rome. Visa problems made it impossible for four others to join the meeting, many others were excused. This was all a sign that there was a lot of interest. The chaplains from the following countries were present: Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Catalonia (Spain), Flanders (Belgium) and Norway. The project of such a meeting had been adopted by the last General Assembly in Durban, South Africa, and it coincided with the triannual visit of the Fimcap president and Chaplain to the Holy See. After the arrival of the participants on Monday, the meeting started at noon with an official welcome and continued with a presentation of the programme, a presentation of the people and organisations present and the opening celebration. On Tuesday and Wednesday the participants worked on the theme "being a national youth chaplain" under the direction of Johan Cottyn, the International Chaplain of Fimcap. They shared their experiences, talked about the expectations and the challenges they deal with. Wednesday afternoon was free. On Thursday morning they met the CPPL, the Council of Laity. Rev. Fr. Francis Kohn, Director of the Youth Section, and his assistants, welcomed them. After a presentation of the youth section, their work and the upcoming World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto, they met Mrs. Lucienne Sallé, who is responsible for the International Catholic Organisations in the Council of Laity. The afternoon was devoted to a guided visit to the historical places in Rome like Saint Peter’s Cathedral and Place. On Friday morning Prof. Mario Pollo from the Salesian University gave a conference on the results of the inquiry about the youth today. He was an excellent speaker with a very interesting speech. In the afternoon we ended with a last work session, followed by the evaluation, thanks and the closing celebration. Bert van den Bossche New Fimcap promotion materialWe have new Fimcap promotion material: leaflets, booklets, and an electronic presentation in PowerPoint and overhead presentation sheets. The leaflets give a brief introduction into Fimcap, its activities and a list of the member organisations. The booklet contains the leaflet presentation plus the Fimcap statutes, a map showing the locations of the Fimcap members and the Fimcap song. The booklet is available in English, French and Spanish. The electronic PowerPoint 1.00 presentation (PowerPoint 97, Office 97) is in English and gives an overview of all Fimcap organisations per continent and country, presenting their logo or symbol as well as the Fimcap structure, activities and the newsletter Link, etc.
The material is free and available at the Fimcap secretariat by post or E-mail. The electronic edition of the booklets and leaflets will be sent in PDF format, and your computer needs the Acrobat reader programme to print the material. Bert Van den Bossche News from Kiro CongoDear friends, We are very pleased to give some news from Kiro Congo, after a rather long period of silence. The Kiro Congo family is still well functioning and organises lots of activities. We will soon have summer holidays and the regions are preparing the summer training camps and sessions. We are also preparing two big national activities this summer: a meeting for the Kiro children, in Sodimico, which is about 100 km from Lubumbashi. This place was chosen to encourage the Kiro groups in the parishes and the rural missions. We also have to inform you that our national secretary Jef Lumande had to abandon his function for health reasons. For the moment the other members of the secretariat have taken over the current affairs. On my initiative and after consultation of the secretariat members, the diocesan chief of Lubumbashi, César Bamwepela, and the deanery chief of Lubumbashi, Didier Tshikung, will support us in the meanwhile. The National Council will choose a new national secretary. We are very pleased to inform you that we have obtained a large room in the Lyceum of Twendele thanks to the intervention of the Archbishop of Lubumbashi who really appreciates the work done by the Kiro Movement. We intend to share it among a meeting room, two offices and two rooms for the computer project, a project of selfreliance for Kiro Congo. We really want the Kiro family to live on its own money once.Thank you for your support and good wishes, For the National Secretariat, 
Two weeks with Jupach and NippacDuring the first two weeks of April I met our friends in Chile and in Paraguay. This is a short report of my "warm" Easter holiday. We also dealt with big dreams: publishing a game booklet, strengthening groups through regional training sessions, trying to convince the official Church to become more involved in Jupach’s youth work. Concerning the last point we had a promising talk with the Secretary of the Chilean Bishop’s conference, Mgr Manuel Camilo Vial. He firmly promised us to invite Jupach to a meeting of the Conference. The bishops could then meet Jupach and they would have the possibility to present their work better. According to him, it might be possible that the Church would support Jupach financially. I then travelled to Paraguay where I had intense contacts with Nippac, their movement and the school. We talked about dreams and the future, thought about appointing a permanent worker, tried to outline the difference between the school and the movement to reinforce them both, had a multitude of contacts to empower people doing this admirable task for many years. A meeting with one of the founders of Nippac, Mgr Medina, was a precious and marvellous moment in the series of contacts. We demanded stronger support from the Church for Nippac’s work, also financially. This is not an obvious demand in a country where the Church is suffering too because of the economic crisis. Johan Cottyn 
European Bureau meeting in ZurichThe June Bureau meeting was hosted by Switzerland’s Fimcap member Blauring und Jungwacht (JUBLA). We expected was a Bureau meeting running like a Swiss watch; but we didn’t expect the rainy weather we had from Friday evening until Sunday noon... On Saturday morning, we started with a tour around the table where every organisation presented its most important news. It was good to hear a lot of positive information, especially on group exchanges between Fimcap members. Then we dealt with the past activities like the chaplains meeting and the Euroforum, both in Italy (see other article). These activities were evaluated as positive, too. Moreover, the European organisations expressed their support for another chaplains’ meeting in the next years. In the afternoon, the floor was given to the working group on spirituality. In 3 little groups we started working on a story and the values it discussed, the values that we felt being important for our Fimcap work. It was interesting to see how we found complementary values that we could range under human values and typical Christian values, but it was not an easy exercise. The working group will use the outcome for further work. After the coffee break, Susanne Brenner, spiritual assistant from Jubla presented their new theme for the next working year (see other article). It deals with the 5th principle upon which Jubla is based: belief and faith. She showed that belief and faith are becoming secondary issues in the organisation, and how they want to underline the importance of faith in youth work. It was a very good example that might inspire us for the work in our own organisations. After the presentation we prepared the celebration for that evening in groups: a group on the gospel, a group on the songs, a group on the surrounding elements. We ended Mass with a typical Namibian dance, taught by some Jubla girls who have been to Namibia in the scope of their partnership. On Sunday we worked on the topics left: General Assembly, Eurocontact, Roundabout exchanges, the next Bureau meetings, Euroforum 2002, ... We also worked in working groups and presented the work done. We concluded that meeting each other is the best guarantee for doing a good job. This is of course the strength of our other activities: meeting each other for a lively Fimcap. Unfortunately, we also had to say goodbye to some representatives: Peter Dörrenbächer from KJG, Roberto Cagnoli (and Marco Simonini, even though he was not present) from FOI and Didier Urbain from Patro. We feel grateful for what they have shared with us all during their years of work in Fimcap. And to friends we never say goodbye forever... Thanks to Jubla, thanks to all delegates for another nice Bureau meeting - one that ended perfectly in time as you might expect from a Swiss Bureau meeting! Kurt Van der Herten Euroforum in ItalyFrom May 24 to 27 about 150 young people from all over Europe -Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, Malta, Catalonia Switzerland- met for the Euroforum in Cesenatico (Italy). It was my 6th Euroforum since ‘96. And I had just one question in mind: is a Euroforum like a happy family meeting or a training course for leaders? And I knew that the answer would not be easy as we were hosted at the Adriatic Sea in Italy, near Rimini that is known for sun, fun and sea... The Forum Oratori Italia was the host organisation and this was clear from the start: a warm welcome with colourful FOI and Fimcap flags everywhere. We were hosted in 2 large houses, one for the participants and one for the staff. I met a fully motivated staff organising lots of things for the participants. After having learned the Euroforum 2001 dance, we started the programme with a fantastic game on the beach at night, illuminated by hundreds of candles. The atmosphere was just great... On Friday and Saturday, there was a work session in the working groups around the theme Three Trees True with a final presentation of the results on Saturday evening. The theme was not easy, and the working groups sometimes had quite serious work to do. It was a nice feeling to see how people are able to communicate, even without speaking the same language. On Friday afternoon we had a special workshop: the participants were free to participate in workshops organised by a community of former drug and alcohol addicts and ex-prostitutes. A lot of these people came to Cesenatico and as far as I know it was a very new methodology ever since I participated in a Euroforum. Moreover I believe this was an extremely interesting experience for all of us, and probably for many the first contact with people from this background. The day ended with a long common outdoor celebration, lead by the community’s priest, followed by dinner. Great experience! Even though I felt that sun, fun and sea were elements that make a Euroforum very attractive, FOI showed us that profound exchanges on the beach are possible. Therefore I would like to thank all Italian organisers and staff for this wonderful Euroforum. See you all again at the Euroforum 2002 in Sweden!!! Kurt Van der Herten Jungwacht/Blauring Switzerland"Ja! und", a project of Blauring & Jungwacht will start in Advent 2001 and last a year. It will deal with faith and belief. There have been long discussions about this theme and they are still going on. The official Church has been asking them why they don’t deal with faith more in their groups. What does Christian belief mean to group leaders today, what influence does it have on life and work, especially in Jungwacht Blauring? How can faith develop from a child’s belief to an adult’s belief? What is the meaning of life? Where can one find answers to these questions? Aims:
Events and media planned
I hope we will have a good time with interesting discussions and special events. Hopefully, many leaders will use the opportunities offered by this project. Susanne Brenner, Renzo MaggiWe are very sorry to tell you that our Italian friend (Federazione Oratori Milanese) and great Fimcap supporter Renzo Maggi, aged 76, died on the 27the of June 2001. We will remember him as a very sympathetic and incredibly creative person. His creativity and enthusiasm, his energy were legend in Fimcap. Thank you Renzo, we will miss you. Grazie tanto! 
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