So as to begin to appropriate its spirit
A General Chapter is a very important time for the Institute, but it also supposes that it initiates a ferment of life throughout the eight years leading up to the next one. It was in this spirit that, on Thursday 26 November, the community Animators and the members of our last Provincial Chapter came together to study five documents of the XXI General Chapter, so as to begin to appropriate its spirit.
Prepared and animated by three of our four delegates to the General Chapter (Mme Linda Corbeil having been unable to attend), the meeting brought together not less than forty participants, including seven of the nine lay delegates to the last Provincial Chapter. This provincial meeting was held at the Maison Marie-Reine-des-C?urs of Drummondville, conducted by the Montfort Fathers.
Even if the official documents of the General Chapter have not yet been published, the fall-out has been sufficient to allow serious reflection for the participants. Five documents were considered: 1) The letter from our region (Arco Norte) ? 2) The response from the Capitulants ? 3) The allocution of Brother Seán Sammon, the outgoing Superior General, at the opening of the Chapter: To see the world through the eyes of a poor child ? 4) The fundamental call of the Chapter ? 5) The final message of Brother Emili Turú, new Superior General: The cold influences the running of the fish.
Divided into five groups, each had a long time to study one of the designated texts and draw from it the ideas which concerned it more particularly. Then, following the method used at the General Chapter, the participants were regrouped into five workstreams to discuss and reach consensus on the topics most significant for the life of the Province. Each workstream then reported back to the assembly for a sharing in common with a view to discover ? or better, to become aware of ? together this new land towards which the fundamental call is sending us, in the manner of Mary.
Everything cannot be assimilated in so short a time: so it was decided to continue this work of research and reflection in the local communities and, in the near future, on the level of the participants in this meeting. It must be mentioned that for a month, Brother Bernard Beaudin has been profiting from his visits to the communities of the Province to make his confrères aware of the calls launched by the General Chapter to all the Marists of Champagnat, a name which intends to gather Brothers and laity together under the same banner.
We wish to take advantage of this report to thank Brothers Bernard Beaudin, provincial, Gaston Robert, vice-provincial, and Réal Sauvageau ? our delegates to the General Chapter ? for their involvement in this important assembly and their desire to communicate to us the enthusiasm they drew from it.
Gilles Hogue, f.m.s.
Secretary