Tuesday, 17th October
Today’s program began with voting on the first two chapters of the revised Constitutions and Statutes. The Superior General of the De La Salle Brothers shared some thoughts with the Chapter Assembly, and capitulants discussed proposals on the Statutes of the next General Chapter and the text of the ‘Rule of Life’.
Voting on Chapters 1 and 2 of the Constitutions and Statutes
The morning prayer, taking as its theme ‘gratitude’, sought to help prepare the Brothers for this important moment of the Chapter process. The entire morning was then dedicated to capitulants voting on each of the revised articles and statutes of chapters one and two of the Constitutions. An ‘on-line’ system, prepared by the technical team from the Province of Brasil Centro-Sul, was used to process the voting. Each articles or statute required a two-thirds majority for the revised text to pass. To this point, all revisions have passed. Capitulants will continue voting on chapters 3, 4 and 5 tomorrow, Tuesday.
Brother Robert Schieler, Superior of the Brothers of La Salle
Just prior to lunch, Brother Robert Schieler FSC, Superior General of the De La Salle Brothers, addressed the Chapter Assembly with shared some thoughts on the Marist General Chapter, the call to collaboration between Congregations and the future. Brother Robert thanked Brother Emili for his support and the Marists for the opportunity to share these three days. He affirmed the initiative of the Marists producing a ‘Rule of Life’. He said he hoped that existing and future collaborative projects between our two congregations will continue growing. He is of the view that the collaboration between congregations with similar charisms and mission is a sign of the times and a call from God.
In the video below you can hear his words.
All those involved with the Marist General Chapter were treated to a delicious and entertaining lunch, hosted by the De La Salle Brothers here at Rionegro. This lunch was a further sign of the friendship and close bonds of mutual collaboration that exist between our two Congregations.
Afternoon session
The afternoon session began with prayer that focused on praying for the Lavalla>200 International Communities Project. The prayer included a short video prepared by Brother Chris Wills from the International Collaboration for Mission secretariat (CMI).
Following the prayer, Brother Óscar Martín, a member of the Facilitation Commission, presented the afternoon's work. The first task was the study of the proposed Statutes for the next General Chapter, prepared by a sub-committee of the Chapter Government group. These involved some minor changes to the Statutes for this General Chapter. Capitulants had time for individual reading of the proposals, followed by table conversation. Voting to approve the Statutes will take place in coming days.
The second agenda item was further discussion on the documents presented by Secretariat of the Laity to the General Chapter concerning Marist Laity. Brother Juan Castro presented the feedback from the conversations held the previous evening. The discussion that followed highlighted the convergence of thinking between the documents and the Chapter Calls and changes to the revised Constitutions and Rule of Life. Discussions will continue.
Rule of life
The last hour of the afternoon session was dedicated to table groups continuing the work of reviewing the Rule of Life text. The session concluded with Brother Josep Maria Soteras Josep Maria Soteras presenting some proposals for how the Chapter wants the Constitutions and Rule of Life documents to be processed after the General Chapter concludes. These proposals relate to asking the General Council to be responsible for guiding the finalization of the Constitutions text through to its approbation by the Holy See and final publishing, and finalizing the drafting of the Rule of Life text. Capitulants will vote on these proposal in coming days.