1st to 23rd September 2009
The 29th general Chapter of the Society of Mary begins on September 1st and concludes on September 23rd, 2009. The Chapter will be held at the Salesianum, the General House of the Salesian Fathers and Brothers, on the outskirts of Rome city. There will be 41 members of the Chapter. These include the ex-officio members (Superior General, General Administration, former Superior General JoaquĂn Fernández, and all the major superiors), along with the elected dele-gates from each of the 11 units of the Society.
This Chapters representation reflects the significant changes that have taken place in the Society over the last 8 years. First, the member-ship has decreased in number, and secondly the seven formerly independent provinces of Europe have now formed one province, as have the two former provinces of Atlanta and Boston, who have formed one province of the United States of America.
A pre-Chapter Committee has been constituted: René Iturbe [chairman], Tony Corcoran [secretary], Hubert Bonnet-Eymard, Paul Frechette, Marcello Pregno and Susitino Sionepoe. The duty of this Committee is to draw up a provisional agenda for the opening days of the chapter and to make whatever other immediate preparations are necessary. These preparations include the task of collating the submissions presented to the General Chapter.
A significant number of submissions were received from provincial and district chapters. A summary which can be found on the chapter website. Individual Marists have also been sending in postulates for consideration by the Chapter.
These submissions have been gathered under the headings of: Government and Authority; Mission; Religious Life, Marist identity and Renewal. Forma-
This Chapter will be preceded by four days of preparation for delegates, allowing them to overcome travel fatigue, to get to know each other and to connect as a body of men gathered for a task of faith.
Within the Chapter itself there will be two special events. One is a meeting with some members of the Marist Laity who will spend an afternoon and evening with the Chapter to discuss the Laity in the Societys mission. A second special event will be the gathering of all branches of the Marist Family on September 12th.
There is a Chapter Website which contains all relevant in-formation on the General: www.smchap2009.org.