Second Latin-American Meeting

Cartagena Colombia - 27/30 November 1992 - CONCLUSIONS

Their Excellencies the Presidents of the National Associations and the Ambassadors of the Order meeting in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) for the Second Latin-American Meeting of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta,

— Express their deepest appreciation to the President of the Colombian Association who has hosted the Second Latin-American Meeting, asking him to convey the warmest gratitude of all the members of the Council, the direct collaborators and all the members of the Association.

— Express their complete satisfaction for the work carried out by the Organizing Committee, stressing its great merit in solving the difficult logistic and secretarial problems of the Meeting.

— Demonstrate their great satisfaction for the work carried out and for the conclusions reached which are set out here below:

1) Greater and renewed efforts for the decisions taken on the Order’s spirituality, with particular reference to the Knights of the Third Class, bearing in mind future changes in the Constitutional Charter of the Sovereign Order. The Standing Committee will continue the dialogue with the Latin-American Associations with the aim of proposing solutions and, consequently, changes to the Constitutional Charter and Code, to be sent before 30 April to the Committee specially set up by the Grand Magistry, and chaired by the Receiver of the Common Treasure, Count Carlo Marullo di Condojanni.

2) Establishment of a Co-ordination Centre to obtain means for distributing aid in the American continent, to be organized under the supervision of the offices of the Receiver of the Common Treasure and the Hospitaller in the premises generously offered by the American Association in Boca Raton, Florida. (Before next April the Presidency of the Centre must be established, and its Board will be elected by the Assembly of Presidents of the Latin-American National Associations for a term of two years and which members cannot be re-elected immediately so as to permit constant renewal. During the first Presidency, the procedures will be defined and internal regulations drawn up in agreement with the National Associations. The Presidency will have the particular task of setting up the Historical Archives of the American Associations. The National Associations will cooperate to the operation of the Co-ordination Centre with half of the budget. For the first two years the Grand Magistry will pay the remaining half of the expenses through AIOM (International Aid of the Order of Malta).

3) A partnership policy is recommended, according to which the heads of the Associations will help the more recently established ones.

4) Initiatives should be studied and possibly doubled with regards to the "Simelodan" projects of Maltanet, the satellite information programme for doctors, and the possibility of studying the integration of a Grand Magistry databank with the aid for civil defence.

They express the hope that in 1994 the Third Latin-American Meeting of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta will take place and that the Standing Committee will work to promote it, suggesting the host country. It is the duty of the Associations to protect the Order’s identity with regards to unrecognised associations. Likewise, the Embassies must act decisively to prevent them being established.

— The Standing Committee will co-ordinate the two previous points with the Monaco Committee and the Grand Magistry.

An archive and data bank will be created in the committee’s headquarters and will remain available for the Associations and Embassies.

— Information on the Order’s history, present status and welfare activities, as well as more specific information on the Knights and Dames, is recommended.

The Associations must prepare plans of action with short, medium and long term goals as regards both quantity and quality. When preparing these plans the aim of strengthening spirituality will also be borne in mind, both for members and volunteers, and especially the young helpers, who can become future members and thus increase the Order’s human resources and its range of action.

The co-ordination of these actions will help, in the preparation of the Latin-American programme for enabling the Committee to implement the aforesaid objectives. Once approved by the National Associations, this programme will be sent to the Grand Magistry in Rome.

The contribution of the papers presented, as well as those of the members who participated in the second meeting, will be included in these conclusions, which in turn will be published by the Grand Magistry with the co-operation of the Standing Committee and the Colombian Association. It is recommended that the Latin-American National Associations liase as closely as possible, promoting regional meetings when necessary with the aim of helping to strengthen the Order in South and Central America. It is recommended that Latin-American National Associations recruit new members who, having deeply absorbed the spirit of the Order, can become effective elements for helping it to achieve a greater social penetration and carry out duties involving the New Evangelisation, the urgency of which has been repeatedly stressed by the Holy See.

Over the next two years all the Latin-American National Associations must promote, within the range of their possibilities, courses and conferences and the dissemination of publications in general, exploiting every means available to disseminate the new catechism of the Universal Church, with the aim of sharing in the great task of the New Evangelisation which His Holiness John Paul II has asked us to carry out.