Like many other network groups of the European Jesuit Conference, we had our annual meeting online. To be frank, we missed the discovery of a beautiful country (Slovenia), tasting delicious beers (in a bar in Ljubljana) and above all simply being together walking, sharing our projects for the mission, praying together. Yes online meetings are handy but… we miss something!

Anyway this was a great meeting, even more ‘awesome’ as would say our main invited speaker Michael Rossmann, the ‘one-minute-homely’ guy, in charge of vocation promotion for the Midwest Jesuit Province of the USA.

As my father uses to say when I start an homely: ‘Make it short, Father!’ This advice fits perfectly with online meetings. So we decided on a nice and light program. One hour of presentation and sharing per day, during 3 days. After a common prayer, we started on Tuesday by sharing the journey of a young guy until the novitiate. It was nice to see the global similarity among the presentations and also the specificities of each Provinces. Unity in diversity!

The second day we gave the microphone to Michael Rossmann, followed by a nice time of Q&A. Michael is part of a 5 Jesuits dream team (including 3 full time!) for a Province of 490 members, but covering a quarter of the USA! I was struck by the creativity, the desire to meet young people where they are, the constant question ‘Where are young dedicated catholic men, how to reach them and what are their needs?’, and finally the attention paid to the candidates, being frequently in contact with them personally and in groups.

On Thursday, we discovered the first ‘Jésuit paper ball project’... (Click here and enjoy the show!) and split in little workshops: Giving Spiritual Exercises to Young people - What content to propose for the candidates - Should we put a focus on male spirituality? Working with men only - Where do you find ‘fertile ground’ in terms of vocprom? - Using Podcasts for Vocation Promotion. At the end of the meeting we had no choice but sharing a beer, called “Apero-Zoom”.

Well, this was a great moment. But next year, definitively, we’ll be Ljubljana...