INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION FOR FAMILY LIFE PROMOTION . NEWSLETTER NO. 1

ASIA-OCEANIA ZONE, February 1978.

Dear Friends,

It is now six months since we all gathered in Cali, and as we have entered a new year 1978 I want to share with you the results of our Board meeting in Paris 14 - 19 November and zonal ideas in the planning stage.

First of all I hope you all had a Happy and Blessed Christmas and are renewed for the task of closer co-operation in 1978.  Any recipient of this letter who knows of other groups with our ideals please introduce them to IFFLP and send their names and addresses to me so I may contact them.  The success of IFFLP is mutual exchange of information and research and a world wide liaison between all zones.

CALI CONGRESS

Those of you who were fortunate to be present will have spread the news of this history-making meeting.  It brought together 47 countries (out of our membership of 51) with 175 participants and many observers for a three day scientific programme and a three day congress during which the Constitution and Bylaws were debated and passed: and the first elected Board voted in.  In/the next three years.

They are

President          Madame M.P. Doyle     Canada

Vice-President     Dr. F. Guy            France

Secretary          Dr. A. Cifuentes      Columbia

These were members of the founding board

Dr. Pierre Piat   Mauritius             Africa

Dr. Vicente Resales Dr. Nqaire Walsh

Philippines New Zealand'

Asia Oceania.

The new Board left Cali with a clear mandate for a definition of N.F. P. and to organise zonal activity and decentralization of funds. BOARD MEETING

held in Paris 14-19 November.  Unfortunately Francois Guy and Vicente Resales were unable to be present.

The first day was spent discussing our financial status and all agreed this was our most pressing need.  We must clear our Cali debt before our work can continue.  Many if not all countries will have received another appeal from our President for an interest free loan for 1978.  To many of you this may be impossible but please take this appeal seriously or any further work will have to stopped.

Annual subscriptions are now due at the rate:-

National member

Regional Member

Associates member

Individual Have you paid your 1977 subs

U.S.$100 /vote.

$ 50

$ 40

  $ 30

 

 

 

 

IFFLP. Permanent committees were established each headed by a Board member:

 

 1.   Membership               Marie Paul Doyle.

                 Our zone            Barbara Gross.          Australia.

 2.   Constitution and Bylaws

 

           Marie Paul Doyle.

                                          Father A. Zimmerman     Japan.

 3.   Ethics Committee        Armando Cifuentes

  Pierre Piat

                                        Daniel Overduin (Australia) to be approached.

 4.   Research                     Vicente Resales

  John France (New Zealand)

   M.M. Mascarenhas (India)

   John Gallagher (Australia)

                                        B. Gross (Australia)

 5.   Training        

                                      French          Francois Guy

                                      Spanish         A. Cifuentes

                                                        English         Ngaire Walsh

                            Our zone       Sister Breda Noonan (Phillipines)

          John Gallagher (Australia)

The results of the letter sent to the English speaking training committee are rapidly coming in and I shall share these with you in the next Newsletter. CALI REPORT will be ready mid 1978 English version.  Many of you will have received details from Claude Lanctot already for final checking.

 

ZONAL ACTIVITIES

Zonal funding and work

Because of factors beyond our control Vie and I have not yet been able to have a long discussion on zonal management but as things have happened I-seem to be the Pacific area and Vie the Asian.

On my way to Paris I spent a week in Tonga to run a basic training course with 48 women (three couples)— many from the outer islands. This was a very happy experience for me and I think for all participants.  I return in May for a further course and stay three weeks.  The invitation came the day I arrived home from Call, from Bishop Finau. PACIFIC CENTRAL TRAINING CENTRE OR ZONAL MEETING PLACE I. visited Suva to see Sister Lucille and Father Hurley and explained many venues for such a meeting.  Before deciding on the Fiji group I had costed out our fares from all Pacific Islands to each other and Suva is most central.  There are several sites suitable in Suva but the one which appealed most was the South Pacific Seminary.  There is plenty of accommodation, the Rector being most enthusiastic and at vacation times we would have students from each island group as translators.  The meetings would have to be in July of a year.

Before we can have such meetings we must have funds and each country must explore possibilities for funding agents.  I would be grateful for all thoughts you have on this matter - an evil necessity it seems for progress and collaboration at the present time. ASIAN TRAINING                                      

Before leaving Cali the Asian group asked Siste Breda Noonan to explore similar possibilities in Mindanao. Together with Vie she approached the U.N. representativa there for funding and they have communicated with various countries.  Since then Sister Breda has not seen Vie so no further details are known at present.

 

 

 

 

 

FUTURE BULLETINS

Will' be written after Board meetings and when there is news to be dispersed. 

If you have meetings in your area - please send a report so we can all share the experience.  The purpose of the zone is sharing and learning from each others activities.  Sister Maria Pitman - sent a report of their first National Conference where 60 people attended well done Papua - New Guinea.

Our National Meeting (New Zealand) was early July and we had Professor J. Brown and Mrs M. Ball Australia.  This year Doctor Roetzer will be with us.

FUTURE ZONAL ACTIVITIES

1.                 WOOMB Conference 10-19 February.  I am the official IFFLP delegate there.  I look forward to seeing many of you there and hope to have time to get to know you all better.  I hope to have a mini-zonal meeting - 16 February (day for clergy).

2.                 Bombay Conference for Catholic Doctors

          Vie Resales will be there.

3.       Funding Please explore all avenues.

I have in investment account $500 donated to me at Cali for zonal activity.  Every little helps.  Don't forget the story of the widow's mite.

4.       Satellite ATj-1  Link up

I have explored the possibility of the regular use of this, in the Pacific, every two-three months - to discuss specific problems or just question and answer sessions.  We had hoped to start with

Professor Tom Helgers (en route to Melbourne) but time did not permit.  I hope for the first link up in March for reactions and discussion of WOOMB Conference, and Doctor Roetzer in early July.

Islands involved are Honolulu, Fiji, Tonga, British Solomon

Islands, Niue, New Caledonia, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, and

New Zealand Cook Islands and New Hebrides.  This is a free service if educational.

 

Please react to this newsletter.  I want to know your priorities, your problems and your plans.  We have a widely spread zone with much water between small groups where one or two people are working in virtual isolation.  So the more we communicate the better the Federation will function.

Vie is still the overall co-ordinator but I have taken the liberty to write this newsletter as he was unable to attend the Paris Meeting.

Don't forget 1980 is not far away and the eyes of N.F.P. world may be on us.  If the next Congress is in the Philippines.

May we all work together with great enthusiasm in this year 1978 so that the Festive season of the Christ Child will see us as a Happy united zone.

May God be with you

Mgaire M. Walsh

P.O. Box 263,

DUNEDIN,

New Zealand