The Regional Conference of the Europe Region under the motto “Living hospitality hopefully and boldly” and was held at Sorrento (Naples) on 14-18 March, 2016.

It was inaugurated with the celebration of Mass at which the Superior General, Brother Jesús Etayo, presided, and invoked the presence of the Holy Spirit to guide the deliberations of the Conference. After the welcome address by Brother Gerardo D’Auria, the Superior of the Rome Province which hosted the Conference, and some preliminary announcements from the General Councillor, Brother Rudolf Knopp, the Prior General addressed the Conference which had adopted the motto, emphasising that “our hope is grounded on God, from whom our vocation comes, and to whom our work – that is to say, the project of Hospitality according to the spirit of Saint John of God – belongs, and today we have to set in motion a process of discernment on the future of the of the Order, involving all of us”.

In this connection, all the European Provinces were given the opportunity to set out their strategy for the future, and in their language groups they were able to deliberate on the papers given by the speakers which had attracted particular interest, considering that the topics reflected the period through which our Provinces and Centres are passing. Speakers were: Fr. John Dardis SJ , President of the European Conference of Major Superiors of the Company of Jesus; Fr. Sebastiano Paciolla, O. Cist., Undersecretary other Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (Holy See); Fr. David Kinnear Glenday MCCJ,  secretary of the Union of Superiors General.

Dr Carlo Galasso, the Director of the Hospitality Europe Office, reported on the work performed by his office, which is based in Brussels, and on the results of the evaluation questionnaire carried out among the Provinces on the Office’s work.

According to the agenda, the last day of the Conference was addressed by Brother Benigno Ramos, General Councillor, on the subject of the Hospitaller Vocation Year and gave an account of the work done in the fields of Vocations Promotion and Formation; there was then a general discussion on the question of the migration crisis in Europe and the response made by the Order to address this situation of the need in our age.  

The Brothers and Co-workers attending the Conference were able to enjoy entertainment and cultural evenings, listening to the songs of the Neapolitan repertoire organised by the Rome Province.