National Assembly for CLC in USA held July 25-28, 2024
Members reported that they felt the Assembly gathering was energizing and also helped to develop deeper relationships among attendees. About 175 of us gathered in Cleveland, Ohio, for this journey. Deb Flynn, Christina Kim, Deidre Vivas, and Liem Le attended the World Assembly in Amiens, France, 2023. They brought back the essence, the process of discerning how the Holy Spirit leads a community. Our charism is rooted in our spirituality. The discernment started with praying on the Incarnation and sharing increasingly deeply in the Emmaus Walk (2 persons) with a group of eight people; God’s message for our community gradually emerged in the engaging process of crystallization.
New and creative instruments were brought back and integrated into the Cleveland program, such as the U process, crystallization through spiritual conversation in three rounds of sharing, spirituality as the anchor of the frontiers, mission as the way of living as Christian – personal, apostolate, international, identity/vocation/mission, poisonous discontents, and sacred discontents, and the blessing of communal body. Saturday was the most challenging day, as the assembly had to crystallize those “paths of hope” for the community from the abundant fruits gathered by the end of Friday. The maturity of our community was evident in the sincere engagement of the entire body in the process – “to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward save that of knowing WE ARE doing God’s Will.” It is an incredible sight to witness and to be grateful for. If you were in Cleveland, you have seen the unity in seeking God’s will for our community. If you were not there, you should rejoice that CLC-USA is moving forward with the World Community. CLC is indeed our identity in the Church and the world.
Highlights of our Assembly banquet included the awards presentations and also the recognition of 54 members who have been part of CLC for over 50 years. Some of our members joined Sodality or Marian Congregations as young adults and then remained with CLC when the organization changed its name to Christian Life Community. A photo and quote from each 50-year-plus member were presented in a slide show. The Dong Hahn community also celebrated its 20 years of joining CLC. Each local or virtual community and some of the national community committees brought a poster representing each community’s pre-work. The pre-work included the use of a process both to review past and current community life.
Our CLC in USA Assembly brought together members from as far away as Alaska and California to members from the New England area, Canada, Florida, and many other states throughout the United States. The Assembly was held at John Carroll University in Cleveland. Ohio. There were ongoing group discussions that were held several times during the Assembly. We celebrated our diverse backgrounds, including Korean, Vietnamese, Polish, and Hispanic cultures and English-speaking communities. Several college-level CLC groups and some campus ministry staff were represented. Discussion groups were inclusive of our membership and designed to enhance the process of the Assembly.
