Meeting of the Preparatory Commission for the XXIII General Chapter in Tagaytay
The Preparatory Commission for the 23rd General Chapter held its meeting at the place where the meeting will be held from September 8 to October 8, 2025, in Tagaytay, Philippines. The third meeting of the commission was from 11 to 15 November 2024.
Throughout this week the members of the commission have made progress in the preparation of the General Chapter. The work has focused especially on the possibilities offered by the place where it will be held, on continuing the organization of the discernment process to be carried out during the Chapter and on proposing the necessary equipment for the functioning of the Chapter (technology, liturgy, secretariat, translation, etc.).
The place where the XXIII General Chapter will take place is the CCT retreat and training center located in Tagaytay City, 70 km south of Manila. The center has all the conditions needed for an international meeting such as the Chapter.
Juliano Burkert and Jocemir Bornholdt, two computer technicians from the Brasil Centro-Sul Province, participated in the meeting throughout the week. They checked the technical conditions of the house and elaborated a proposal for improvement to have the necessary means at the technological level.
Brothers Allan de Castro and Ador Santiago, from the Province of East Asia, were present at the commission meetings since this Province will be taking care of all the details of the reception and logistics during the time of the Chapter. They have already been working on different aspects such as visas for the participants, translation system, medical care and food.
Jessica Joy Candelario and Estela Padilla, who will help in the facilitation service of the Chapter, have also participated. The Commission discussed with them – with the motto “Home for all, river of Life” – what this moment means for the Institute. From what was heard, the members of the team elaborated a draft of the discernment process in three parts: coming home (initial retreat), opening windows (listening to the reality of the world) and tracing rivers of Life (detecting God’s calls for the Institute today).
Along with this, the Commission has also designed the consultation of the Brothers on the normative documents (Constitutions and Statutes, Rule of Life and Statutes of the General Chapter). This consultation is in addition to what the Institute is already experiencing with the pre-Chapter process and will serve to prepare the spirit for the Chapter, as well as to discover the calls of God in the Institute today.
The Preparatory Commission has revised the document that regulates the Chapter process (formerly called the Rules of Procedure) and has adapted it to what the capitulants will experience in September 2025, as well as the work of the first days of the Chapter.
The next and last meeting of the commission will be at Notre-Dame de l’Hermitage, May 5-10, 2025. All the work done will be handed over to the Provisional Commission, which will be appointed by the General Council and will be in charge of directing the work during the first days of the Chapter.