2016-10-03
GENERAL HOUSE
Preparatory Commission sends document to all Marists of Champagnat
More about the 22nd General Chapter
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On Oct. 1, the Preparatory Commission of the 22nd General Chapter sent the document “Pre-Chapter Process” to the superiors of all administrative units – a document which aims to engage brothers’ communities and other Marists in contemplative conversations and immersion encounters leading to the Chapter itself.
The Preparatory Commission is inviting all Marists to participate in the three-stage process outlined below:
1. From October 2016 to February 2017: Creating New Conversations
We are inviting you to three conversations where we will explore together (a) the meaning of living the La Valla experience today, (b) becoming more aware of world around us, and (c) what else may be going on in the world that we are not yet aware of – and to imagine ways to reach out to and encounter those new realities.
2. From February to May 2017: Immersion Encounter … Entering New Territory
Following the invitation of Pope Francis to be a Church that “goes out,” and that allows itself to be challenged by the geographical and existential frontiers, we are invited to go out to meet new realities, for example people or things on the margins, opening our minds and hearts to what the Spirit may wish to say to us through them.
3. From May to August 2017: Gathering the Fruits
As a prior step in our preparation for the General Chapter, the participants from each Administrative Unit will organize a time for communities or the whole Province or District to share experiences of the previous stages. This will help capitularies and those invited to the Chapter capture what has come from their administrative unit and transmit this wealth of experience to the Chapter assembly.
In the letter written to the provincials, the Commission, bearing in mind the objectives of the Pre-Chapter Process, stressed, “we are not looking for ‘Calls of the General Chapter,’ but we are rather aiming to engage at a deeper level with our reality and the reality of the world around us.
“In the process, we hope that these conversations and encounters will enable us to move into unknown territory and attain a broader, deeper awareness of the circumstances in which we live these days,” it continued. “This movement can then be the foundation from which the Chapter discerns the “Calls” at this point in history.”
Each Administrative Unit, according to the indications given by the Preparatory Commission to the superiors, will organise the pre-chapter work, which aims at being a joyful engagement with our own experience and the experience of our Marist companions.
It is a celebration of our lives and the beginnings of the passionate co-creation of our future together; it begins our process of exploring and discerning what God wants us to live and to be.
