MMAF General Assembly--May 2000

MMAF General Assembly 2000

Monday / 15 May 2000

Susan Weissert and Jim Petkiewicz packing the van for the departure to the Stony Point conference center, the site of the assembly. All was supposed to be packed before an 8:45 AM departure ceremony.
Affiliate Ann Carr lights a candle during the departure ceremony also attended by all the Bethany staff.

Playing MMAF History Jeopardy
As part of the first afternoon's introductory activities, Kathy Vargas and Liz Mach led us in a round of a Jeopardy-style competition focused on the history of the lay mission program. Preparing a presentation
After arriving at Stony Point, across the Hudson River from Maryknoll, we had some free time before lunch, and Susan Weissert and Gerry Lee used it to prepare their presentation on the US Area.

Tuesday / 16 May 2000

African mask dance
Part of the first week of the assembly is a report on each of the MMAF areas around the world. Africa began their report with a mask dance by Lisa Nolan (and Grace on her back) and Liz Mach. Watermelon slurping on the morning break
The weather has been wonderful during our time at Stony Point and we have had some of our breaks outside. Here Susan Weissert, Eileen Charleton, Liz Mach, and Lisa Nolan work on some watermelon.

The queca dance from Chile
Part of the presentation of the southern Latin America group was a dance which came to symbolize the disappeared people in Chile. Here Tom Henehan and Susan Weissert demonstrate the steps. A Peruvian potato ceremony
Maribeth Bathum, as part of the presentation from the Peru region, helped us participate in a traditional ceremony centered on the their staple food, potatoes.

Wednesday / 17 May 2000

Charlie presenting the Asia reality
Asia made its presentation in the morning, starting with a meditative prayer service outside in the Stony Point Center's Japanese garden. Billy Doerner, Ellen Cowhey, Pat Capuano, and Charlie Dittmeier (shown here) then presented various aspects of the Asian reality and Maryknoll's experience there. Lisa Rodriguez speaks about Venezuela
The northern tier of Latin America made their presentations in the afternoon: Venezuela, Brazil, and Mexico. Here Lisa Rodriguez presents four faces from Venezuela.

Masankho Banda dancing
At the end of each section of the day, the facilitator Masankho Banda would "synthesize" what we had seen and heard with his dance and motion to interpret a poetic summary composed by Jim Petkiewicz. Praying before supper
As part of their presentation, Mexico offered us the chance to eat a real Mexican meal prepared by some local Mexicans who have worked with Maryknoll in other capacities. Here the group says a prayer before diving into the catered dinner.

Thursday / 18 May 2000

Part of the US Area presentation
The last of the MMAF areas (continents) to present was the United States. They focused on the historical development of the lay mission program and some of the issues of the contemporary United States. A musical part of the US presentation
Susan Weissert presented the last part of the US area presentation and used a favorite folk song with added verses to which we sang a refrain.

The dining room of Stony Point Center
The food at Stony Point Center has been exceptionally good and everyone has commented on it. The whole facility is spacious and well-managed with a really friendly staff. A reflection period
The afternoon session today was billed as a synthesis of our mission focus which was the object of all the area reports. Part of the synthesis was a reflection on how what we said the last three days would be heard by people in our mission areas.

Friday / 19 May 2000

This morning morning prayer centered on the unity of earth. Representatives from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the USA lit candles to represent the four areas of MMAF spread over the world. The CCT discussing their strategy
Sheila Matthews, Vicki Armour-Hileman, and Tom Rowan, the present CCT, make last-minute adjustments to their report to the assembly on their activities of the past year.

A CCT dramatization of the complexity of their job
The CCT, as part of their report, dramatized the complexity of their job by showing how many people they must connect with for every decision. Masankho Banda celebrates the end of the first week in dance
Barbara Miller, the second week's facilitator, arrived today to oversee the transition from the reporting of the first week to next week's discussions. Then Masankho Banda concluded the first week with a story, dance, and song.

Saturday / 20 May 2000

The facilitator explaining the morning session
We worked just a half day today, and most of that time was taken up with a role-playing simulation in which assembly delegates were asked to take various roles as CCT members, department heads, resource people, etc., in order to work out a hypothetical decision about staffing. It turned out to be an enlightening exercise. Eating dinner at a mall before going to a movie
Here Billy Doerner, Vicki Armour- Hileman, and Pat Capuano eat in a mall food court before seeing a movie on our night off.

An evening restiing at home
So far our evenings have been relatively free because there was no homework connected with the area reports. That should all change on Monday! Here Alicia Butkewitz, Susan Weissert, and Liz Mach string beads to make necklaces that reflected a theme of the US Area report. A THOUGHT FROM THE ASSEMBLY DISCUSSIONS:
Membership in any organization like the MMAF has the responsibility to make the leadership successful through challenge, encouragement, support, and cooperation with those chosen as leaders.

Go to the GA2000 home page
Go to the Assembly at Bethany page
Go to the Assembly at Stony Point (Week 2) page
Go to Charlie Dittmeier's home page

Monday / 15 May 2000
Susan Weissert and Jim Petkiewicz packing the van for the departure to the Stony Point conference center, the site of the assembly. All was supposed to be packed before an 8:45 AM departure ceremony.	Affiliate Ann Carr lights a candle during the departure ceremony also attended by all the Bethany staff.
As part of the first afternoon's introductory activities, Kathy Vargas and Liz Mach led us in a round of a Jeopardy-style competition focused on the history of the lay mission program.	After arriving at Stony Point, across the Hudson River from Maryknoll, we had some free time before lunch, and Susan Weissert and Gerry Lee used it to prepare their presentation on the US Area.

Tuesday / 16 May 2000
Part of the first week of the assembly is a report on each of the MMAF areas around the world. Africa began their report with a mask dance by Lisa Nolan (and Grace on her back) and Liz Mach.	The weather has been wonderful during our time at Stony Point and we have had some of our breaks outside. Here Susan Weissert, Eileen Charleton, Liz Mach, and Lisa Nolan work on some watermelon.
Part of the presentation of the southern Latin America group was a dance which came to symbolize the disappeared people in Chile. Here Tom Henehan and Susan Weissert demonstrate the steps.	Maribeth Bathum, as part of the presentation from the Peru region, helped us participate in a traditional ceremony centered on the their staple food, potatoes.

Wednesday / 17 May 2000
Asia made its presentation in the morning, starting with a meditative prayer service outside in the Stony Point Center's Japanese garden. Billy Doerner, Ellen Cowhey, Pat Capuano, and Charlie Dittmeier (shown here) then presented various aspects of the Asian reality and Maryknoll's experience there.	The northern tier of Latin America made their presentations in the afternoon: Venezuela, Brazil, and Mexico. Here Lisa Rodriguez presents four faces from Venezuela.
At the end of each section of the day, the facilitator Masankho Banda would "synthesize" what we had seen and heard with his dance and motion to interpret a poetic summary composed by Jim Petkiewicz.	As part of their presentation, Mexico offered us the chance to eat a real Mexican meal prepared by some local Mexicans who have worked with Maryknoll in other capacities. Here the group says a prayer before diving into the catered dinner.

Thursday / 18 May 2000
The last of the MMAF areas (continents) to present was the United States. They focused on the historical development of the lay mission program and some of the issues of the contemporary United States.	Susan Weissert presented the last part of the US area presentation and used a favorite folk song with added verses to which we sang a refrain.
The food at Stony Point Center has been exceptionally good and everyone has commented on it. The whole facility is spacious and well-managed with a really friendly staff.	The afternoon session today was billed as a synthesis of our mission focus which was the object of all the area reports. Part of the synthesis was a reflection on how what we said the last three days would be heard by people in our mission areas.

Friday / 19 May 2000
This morning morning prayer centered on the unity of earth. Representatives from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the USA lit candles to represent the four areas of MMAF spread over the world.	Sheila Matthews, Vicki Armour-Hileman, and Tom Rowan, the present CCT, make last-minute adjustments to their report to the assembly on their activities of the past year.
The CCT, as part of their report, dramatized the complexity of their job by showing how many people they must connect with for every decision.	Barbara Miller, the second week's facilitator, arrived today to oversee the transition from the reporting of the first week to next week's discussions. Then Masankho Banda concluded the first week with a story, dance, and song.

Saturday / 20 May 2000
We worked just a half day today, and most of that time was taken up with a role-playing simulation in which assembly delegates were asked to take various roles as CCT members, department heads, resource people, etc., in order to work out a hypothetical decision about staffing. It turned out to be an enlightening exercise.	Here Billy Doerner, Vicki Armour- Hileman, and Pat Capuano eat in a mall food court before seeing a movie on our night off.
So far our evenings have been relatively free because there was no homework connected with the area reports. That should all change on Monday! Here Alicia Butkewitz, Susan Weissert, and Liz Mach string beads to make necklaces that reflected a theme of the US Area report.	A THOUGHT FROM THE ASSEMBLY DISCUSSIONS: Membership in any organization like the MMAF has the responsibility to make the leadership successful through challenge, encouragement, support, and cooperation with those chosen as leaders.