The fourth day of the Symposium was a change of pace. The previous three days were spent working as a large group. During Thursday the participants broke into five small groups to draft a vision statement for an “authentic C.PP.S. community life.” The groups were formed around the languages of the participants and included three English groups, one Spanish group, and one Italian group.

In the first session the groups were asked to identify core values and characteristics of our community life at its best. Many values and characteristics appeared in all of the groups. The common elements included such values as hospitality, authenticity, and prayer. From these values and characteristics the groups then surfaced specific concrete practices and actions that ought to be seen in our community life. The third session was devoted to actually writing a draft vision statement in each group. These were then shared and discussed in the final session of the day.

A writing committee was appointed and they worked after dinner to draft a single vision statement from the work of the small groups. This common statement will be presented to the plenary assembly on Friday for discussion and revision.