On the way to the General Conference – 5

In his Letter to the Provincials of April 2012, Br Emili presents the objectives of the General Conference of September 2013 and also offers some guidelines for methodology.

The General Conference, three weeks to:

• “Strengthen the unity of the  Institute, and to enable the Superiors to have direct contact with the Brother Superior General and the members of his Council” (C 137.11.1)
• Exercise our co-responsibility in the animation and government of the Institute, considered as a whole, beyond the boundaries of our administrative units
• Provide mutual support and encouragement, with the aim of strengthening our leadership in the Institute, for the good of our mission
• Become aware of where we are now, as an Institute, in relation to the calls of the XXI General Chapter
• Promote an intense and significant experience for the participants, especially for the Br Provincials and members of the General Council, in the mystical and prophetic key. We animate ourselves “from within” in order to be able to animate.
• Work out a common vision of the future that we desire for the different regions of the   Institute; formulate and explain “the promise” of more life we are hoping for, so that it impels and drives us onwards.

For this reason:

• We live the Conference in an attitude of discernment and as a time for deepening and sharing the living of the faith and the mystical dimension of our lives
• We realize the visits prior to the Conference, from January to September 2013, as an experience of insertion in another province / region of the  Institute, from the hand of the host provincial or District superior (in order to know and share not so much the houses or works, as his personal experience, from day to day)
• We recognize the “signs of the dawn” or sources of energy that there are in each one of us and in the Institute
• We look for some “points of support” that are going to help us to “move” the whole Institute
• We take note of our fears and our resistance to change
• We study possible scenarios for Marist life and mission in each region of the Institute, and we choose what we feel as the call of God, to commit ourselves to bring it to reality.

Read more about the General Conference