Report of brother Procurator General

The Provincials? Conference of Africa met in Nairobi from 12 to 20 February 2009. The Provincials had sought some days more at the MIC to take part in the first meeting of the brothers from this continent who were delegates to the next General Chapter of the Institute, which will be held in September.

One of the activities organised during this period consisted of participation in a seminar on canon law conducted by Br. Juan M. Anaya, Procurator General.

The seminar was held on the 16 and 17 February in the academic facilities of MIC. In addition to the members of the Conference, some other Major Superiors of different Congregations present in Kenya, some of diocesan right, were invited.

The topics covered in the seminar were:
? Relations with local Ordinaries (opening and closing of houses, contracts with the diocese, dependency of an Institute on the diocesan Bishop, etc.).
? Temporal goods and their administration. Acts of extraordinary administration. Procedures of ?en principio? and definitive approbation. Ceilings for expenditure, buildings, sales. Relation of the ceilings set in the proper law with the proper laws of the diocese and of the Holy See.
? Separation from the Institute (permissions of absence, exclaustrations, temporary vows, indults of withdrawal, expulsions, etc.).
? Cases of religious who abandon community without leaving indication of direction or destination, and cases of scandal.
? Collecting of proofs, formal orders, admonitions, etc.
? Requests and questions.

One evening was dedicated to an exclusive sharing with the members of the Conference, dealing with subjects relating to special situations through which some brothers may pass, and responding to questions proper to our Institute. The brothers of the Conference raised some proposals for action which Brother Procurator will transmit to the Superior General and his Council and to the other Provincials and District Superiors of the Institute.

In spite of the dryness of the subjects and the problematic situations tackled, participation and debate were very animated, assisted by the good services of the translator, Brother José Mª Ferre. The judgment, of the participants as well as of the Brother Procurator, was very positive, considering the holding of the seminar an effort well worth the trouble.