In the first half of May of this year Servitium Christi held its Amplified General Council meeting somewhere in the Netherlands, not too far from Amsterdam's international airport in a beautiful flowery landscape, for which the western part of the country is so famous. Representatives came from various European countries like the Netherlands, Great Britain, Ireland, the Czech Republic; Latin-American countries like Brazil and Chile; and Asian countries like Vietnam and the Philippines. In total the participants numbered 11, together with staff and facile-tators the total mounted up to 17. I had the pleasure of accompanying the deliberations and giving some spiritual input at the beginning.

The agenda scheduled a half-way evaluation of their last 6-years project 2007-2013 around five main issues: Signs of the times; Charism, spirituality and secularity; Formation, initial and ongoing; Community and communication; Organization and structure. These issues had been duly prepared by an inquiry among all the regions and centers of the Institute, so that a pretty filled dossier could be tabled. It was interesting to note how many concerns paralleled those found in our Congregation like: lack of new vocations in the earlier parts of the Institute, getting older and fewer; but also growth in the newer parts of the Institute with the accompanying challenges of assuring a good formation. Of course typical are the problems and challenges linked to the fact that as members of a secular institute, living on your own is the normal case, not the exception. From there the high importance of a good communication at all levels.

Special attention was given to the fact that Servitium Christi is in the process of getting the status of an institute of Pontifical Right. It had been founded as an institute of diocesan right (the diocese of Rotterdam in the Netherlands), but since the Institute is now present in a number of countries and the group in the Netherlands is dwindling, it seemed no more than normal to proceed towards another juridical status that reflects better the situation in which the Institute finds itself. This process started some years ago. A number of steps have been taken so far, Rule and General Statutes have been re-written in order to comply with the requirements of the Congre-gation for Religious Life in Rome, historical overviews and statistics have been set up and letters of recommendations from bishops in whose diocese Servitium is present have been collected. It seems that the process is coming to a close in a not too far future. That will, no doubt, boost the whole Institute and all of its members.

The atmosphere during these ten days was excellent, the celebrations very colorful, the reflections, sharings and discussions earnest and to the point. The General Council took the stock of all this in a one-day's session after the end of the meeting, trying to materialize in some conclusions what needs to be done until the next General Assembly (comparable with our General Chapter), scheduled for 2013. May Saint Peter Julian Eymard accompany them and inspire them in living out Eucharistic spirituality in the world that is ours.