Dear Blessed Families,

Due to an overlap with the Parents WS for STF, we would like to announce, that the European Parents Matching Convocation has been moved into April. We hope this will not cause you any inconveniences and that many will still be able to attend.

The Convocation will take place in Youth Hostel Grävenwiesbach, Germany from the 25th to the 27th of April 2008. The purpose of the convocation is to support Parents in their responsibility of matching their children. TPs have given the responsibility of matching our 2nd Generation to the parents, and it is our responsibility as Blessed Families to fulfill the expectation of our True Parents and to establish a tradition of matching our children. For this difficult task we need to make our full effort and work together well, supporting each other in facing the different challenges and guiding our 2nd Generation well through the matching process and setting the right foundation for their future Blessing.

The Convocation will include some education and guidance on issues relating to the matching and Blessing. Also there will be opportunities to meet and share with other Blessed families. It will also be possible to display and see applications of matching candidates from around the world.

The Convocation is for all Parents who are in the process of matching their children or who have children that will soon be in age for matching and would like to receive information. Matching candidates should NOT attend the convocation. Only for those 2nd gen matching candidates that are over 25 (born before May 1st 1983) it is possible to attend.

For those planning to attend that have children in the matching process, please prepare the Blessing application for your child and send it to the 2nd Generation Blessing Department, so that it can be prepared in advance. For details concerning the Blessing Application and for Forms, please go to the Blessing website: www.2ndgenblessing.com

Also we encourage all families to prepare beyond the application some further details about the candidate to present. This is to help other parents get to know a bit more about the candidate, about his / her character, life of faith, background, future aspirations, etc…

Invited are: All Parents of 2nd generation matching candidates, parents with upcoming matching candidates and matching candidates over 25 years old.

Dates: 25th to 27th April 2008

Arrival/Departure: by 6 pm on the 25th of April -- 2 pm on the 27th of April 2008

Place: Youth Hostel Grävenwiesbach, Germany Hasselborner Str. 20, 61279 Grävenwiesbach/Ts. www.djh-hessen.de/jh/jugendherberge-graevenwiesbach/

Cost: 80 Euros

Registration: Please register on www.bfdeu.org or with Geros Kunkel.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

Please bring: house shoes, notes, no sleeping bag necessary.

You will find further information on the European BFD website. Please also register for the meeting on the site:

www.bfdeu.org

Please feel free to contact me for further feedback or ideas. We look forward to meeting many Blessed members at the convocation.

Some people asked about the name, so here a short background. In the US they started such meetings for parents in the matching process and named them Parents Matching Convocation. As we are working close together with the US, we also adopted the name to make it compatible. For some Europeans the word Convocation may seem a bit strange.

Convocation comes from Latin convocare, to call together. So a convocation is a group that has been called together. It is used as a gathering for clergy in the Anglican Church or a group gathered for a ceremony, like a university graduation.

A convocation as a gathering usually has a sacred or religious purpose, which distinguishes it from a congregation for example, that deals rather with political or legal matters. So we understand it as a gathering of Blessed members dealing with a very important and sacred matter, the matching of our children and therefore we call together those Blessed members who are in the matching process to create a space to share and guide these people in this very important responsibility.

On Behalf of the EU-BFD; yours sincerely,

Geros Kunkel
European Blessed Family Department
European Second Generation Blessing Affairs