Dear Friends in the Lord,

Peace! Even as we are in the midst of movement towards our National Elections, we are also preparing for our own CLCP National Assembly on August 26-29 at our very own Horacio De La Costa Formation Center in Trece Martires, Cavite.

Here are the details about the NA:
Theme: Renewing the Gift of Mission
Scripture: "Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give."
(Matthew 10:8)
Grace: We beg the Lord to help us deepen our joy and intensify our disponibility for the gift of our apostolic body sharing responsibility for mission.

We are hopeful that we will be able to meet face-to-face for our National Assembly this year, but we will be making accommodations to hold it partially or completely on-line, depending on the situation with COVID-19. Nevertheless, we are already taking the necessary steps in strategizing for this very important assembly of all our communities. We will be sending monthly communications with updates and invitations in preparing for our Assembly.

For this initial communication, we would like to inform our communities of the following:

1. Membership Status - We would like to invite all current Emerging communities who desire to apply to become an Observer community and Observer communities who desire to apply to become a Full member community to please indicate your interest before from being an Observer community. Details can be found in our membership guidelines (https://drive.google.com/file/d/11hStNwHlWgtw43UfvtjvyEeFOffj6H06/view?usp=sharing) or through the community development team. Please communicate with the secretariat ([email protected]) to indicate your community's desire to apply to become an Observer or Full member community;

2. For Amendments of Statutes - If you or your community would like to propose any amendments to our statutes (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GaKaAnL5nNSj1tgeNhGl5GCMgPc-3xEn/view?usp=sharing), please send these to Lib at mike.lib@clcphilippines and the CLCP Secretariat at [email protected]. The deadline for proposed amendments to the statutes is 15 March 2022;

3. For LC Election - The official call for nominations for the nLC will be communicated in a subsequent communication. However, we would like to already encourage all FULL MEMBER communities with MEMBERS with PERMANENT COMMITMENT to begin the DSSE (Discerning, Sending, Supporting, Evaluating) process to consider whom they will mission to be available to serve in the nLC for the next three (3) years;

4. Nominations for the Core of Responsibles (CORE): The nLC would like to request nominees from our communities for the CORE. From section F of the Statutes, "The CORE shall serve as a consultative body whose principal functions shall be to provide historical perspective, counsel, and guidance to the Leadership Community and the general membership of the CLCP; help in the preservation of the life giving traditions of the CLCP and the maintenance of fidelity to the vision, mission and charism of the CLC; and in general, serve as an invaluable resource for the CLCP in its formation, membership, funding, apostolate and other activities."

The criteria to become a member of the Core is as follows:
*a permanent commitment in writing to the CLC way of life;
*at least ten (10) years of active membership in the CLCP;
*consistent service to the CLCP; and,
*experience in or exposure to international CLC activities (i.e. awareness of membership in the global community)

Please submit nominees for the CORE to the nLC through the Secretariat ([email protected]) before 1 April 2022;

5. For Delegates/Representatives - You may start discussing and praying with your community who among you will be the delegate/s and/or the representative/s for this assembly. It is important to remember that delegate/s should go through the discernment process together with their respective communities and take part in all the preparatory modules and activities leading up to the assembly. As a reminder:

The following are REQUIRED to attend the NA:
*FULL MEMBER communities, represented by two (2) delegates for the entire Assembly;
*OBSERVER communities applying for FULL MEMBER status, represented by two (2) delegates for the entire Assembly;
*EMERGING communities applying for OBSERVER community status by at least one (1) delegate for the entire Assembly
*National LC Members and National EA (Ecclesiastical Assistant);

The following are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to attend the NA:
*Regional EAs
*Group Guides
*CORE Members
*Nominees for National Leadership Community;

The following are ENCOURAGED to attend the NA:
*OBSERVER and EMERGING communities, represented by at least one (1) delegate (NOTE: delegates participate in deliberations but may not vote)
*Regional LC members; and

6. Finally, we are attaching the Grace from the 2019 National Assembly (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_Oi6kgZSEusqcmQbe0LUw6OEx57plyh_/view?usp=sharing). We would invite all communities to review the Grace from the NA 2019. We may want to recall what God called CLCP to become and do:

We work with Him in the building of the Kingdom in two ways: in the way we are called to become and in the way we are called to do.

What we are called to become
a. We are called to be loving, compassionate and brave as Christ.
b. As we become more a people of the Spiritual Exercises (SpEx), we are also called to labor with Christ by praying and acting with the Church at the Frontiers.
c. As a community, we will be stable, self-sufficient, and relevant, thus, attracting new members.

What we are called to do
a. To grow as Ignatian discerning apostolic community by strengthening and healing relationships with each other and Christ through continuing formation and effective communication with one another
b. To connect communities and to provide for the formation needs at the frontiers so that apostolic response at all levels is enhanced
C. To offer Ignatian formation to strengthen Philippine democracy through integral human development.

We continue to pray for our country and the many ways we are involved in working to strengthen our democracy and to create more dignifying and just social, political, and economic arrangements. May these journeys towards our election and our National Assembly provide us opportunities to grow in faith, hope, and love through our commitment to building the Kingdom among us.

Thank you very much. God bless us CLCP, God bless us all.


In behalf of the whole NLC,

Theody Demaisip
CLCP President