2016-09-20
GENERAL HOUSE
4th meeting of the Preparatory Commission for the 22nd General Chapter
During its meeting at the General House from September 5- 9, the Preparatory Commission for the 22nd General Chapter met to finish off the material for the Chapter. It will be sent to the Provinces and Districts for distribution to all Marist communities to help them enter a process to prepare for the forthcoming Chapter.
“We have just finished creating the material so that brothers and laity, in the local communities, can prepare and contribute to the General Chapter. The aim is to engage the whole Institute to face, in new ways, the world that is emerging to detect where the energy and the potential of our Marist charism lie, and what we might need to let go of to allow this charism to develop”, stated Brother Pau Fornells, secretary of the Preparatory Commission to the General House Press Office, on September 13.
The Commission has prepared material to help local Marist communities prepare for the Chapter in three different phases, using fraternal contemplative dialogue.
- The focus of the first phase, which communities will work on from October to February in three gatherings, is entitled “Creating New Conversations”.
- The second phase, which they will work on from February to May next year, is focused around “Immersion Encounters” and will involve moving out of our comfort zone and entering new territory, opening our minds and hearts to some of the realities that are shaping our world and that we may not be aware of.
- The third phase, from May to August of next year, will involve communities coming together, at Provincial or local level, with the capitulants and those invited to the Chapter in their Province to harvest the sharing of the conversations and the immersion encounters so that this can be taken to the General Chapter.
As well as receiving contributions from the Laity and the Brothers, the capitulants will also hear from the youth group REMAR from Colombia at some point during the General Chapter to listen to the dreams and hopes of young people today for the future of Marist life
The commission will meet again from December 5-9, at the General House, while a subsequent meeting is planned for April 18-22 in Colombia.
The members of the Preparatory Commission for the 22nd General Chapter areBrothers Joseph McKee, Eugène Kabanguka (presently on sick leave), Carlos Huidobro, Ben Consigli, João Gutemberg, Álvaro Sepúlveda, Vincent Kouassi, Juan Carlos Fuertes, Rajakumar Soosai Manickam, Darren Burge and Pau Fornells. The commission is helped by a facilitator, Mr. Matthieu Daum, from France.