From SJA (this is only a partial list and not everyone was there all the time for both meetings): Mindy, Tim, Leslie, Louise, Jenny, Katharine, Ross, Carol, Bob, Joel, Danette and Fr. George.
From TNII: Alba, Maximina, Eluvia, Indalecio, Carlos, Padre Juan Pablo and Shannon.
The first thing we did on July 9th, after opening with a prayer and doing introductions, was to make a list of agenda items. Here's what we came up with:
We went through the delegation schedule together and discussed each activity. No major changes were proposed or made to the schedule.
Eluvia read the report from the Scholarship Committee. We discussed the transfer of funds to support tuition payments and the timing of these transfers. Current transfers are about threee months behind.
The delegates expressed a desire to participate in distributing Communion. Juan Pablo will deliver the homily. There will be an introduction of the delegates early in the Mass (done by Mindy) and a presentation of a banner to SJA made by the scholarship recipients (done by Eluvia).
We began an impromptu discussion of the reactions of the delegates to the last South-to-North delegation in 2003 and this led to an extended disussion of what it means to be a "spiritual" person. There was enthusiastic discussion from all. Padre Juan Pablo talked a bit about the difference between "spirituality" and "spiritualism". He sees spirituality as a relationship with God that results in prophetic action and spiritualism as a relationship with the divine as an end in itself.
At this point we ran out of time and had to leave the rest of the agenda items for the follow-up meeting on July 16th.
After opening with prayer Alba and Eluvia led the group in a craft activity that consisted in making a tarjeta by gluing items on a piece of fabric to form a design that could be hung on the wall. This activity was a demonstration of the types of things the Women's Group at TN2 does to build community.
Alba read a report from the Women's Group. One highlight of the report was that the group has become ecumenical. There are some non-Catholic members that are participating fully. Bob expressed his gratitude that the Women's Group is so strong.
Shannon read a letter from Bernardo and Miriam addressed to the joint Sister Parish Committee.
Eluvia summarized and read parts of a report from the Sister Parish Committee at TN2. The portion of the report that described the structure of the committee and how it fits into the parish structure sparked a group discussion. the Sister Parish Committee has a representative on the TN2 "Parish Council" which is a "sub-council" of the San Marcos Parish Council. the summary included items on the scholarships, pastoral support for women, the Christmas party and finacial reports.
Carlos presented the Youth Group report which included financial information. there are indications that membership in the group has motivated some youth to move out of participation in gang related activities.
We took a break from the meeting to share with George. The delegates were very happy to get a chance to see him and he was very happy to see them. We talked about lots of memories of past delegations.
Mindy presented a summary of the SJA Sister Parish Committee working budget. We discussed how money is raised to support the South-to-North delegations.
We spent some time discussing future delegations. Money is an issue. We may be forced to reduce the number of South-to-North delegation from every other year to every third year because of rising costs. Padre Juan Pablo expressed thanks for the work of the Sister Parish group in the name of the parish of San Marcos at TN2.