It is the third day of the General Chapter. Today the capitulars had time set aside time for their conference groups (ceti) to discuss the Sexennial Report presented yesterday by the General Minister. There were three main events this morning: the opening prayer in the language groups, the discussion of the General Minister’s report within the individual ceti, the presentation in the Aula Magna of the discussions that took place in the ceti, and the Minister’s response to the questions presented.
From 6:30 a.m., according to their language group, each friar went to the appropriate chapel for Morning Prayer and the celebration of the Eucharist. Hearing and meditating on the Word of God in their own language, the place where the Spirit resonates, served as a “kick-off” for a more concrete discussion and sharing of the General Minister’s report in the ceti. There are 9 conferences in which the Order is now divided: CCB, CCH, CCMSI, CEMCap, CENEC, CONCAO, EACC, NAPCC and PACC. The two African conferences worked together as one group (ceotus). Each ceotus has their own meeting room, in which today they took time to explore the Minister’s report, to identify positive aspects in the Order, to grasp the challenges we face, propose questions for clarity as well as to share perspectives and proposals for tackling problems that are being discerned.
The richest and most anticipated happening of the morning was when the ceti secretaries shared in the Aula the feedback from the groups in a spirit of fraternity. From their reactions, almost all the conferences considered the Minister’s report a true and genuine snapshot of the Order in the present time because of its clarity, panoramic view, depth and structure. For a number of friars, the report was remarkable above all because it was sustained by a vision of faith, based on personal experience, and supported by the Minister’s love for the Order and for the friars, which shines through implicitly in the document. It is, for many, a document that can serve as a very useful tool to be deeply explored by the conferences in the future. Chapter members also appreciated that the report did not hide the difficulties caused by both the Covid-19 pandemic and the wars and conflicts that inevitably affected the Order’s activities.
In their study of the document, the conferences have identified, among several important aspects, some that would merit further deliberation, dropping them into the various contexts of our Order: the Ratio Formationis, Fraternal Collaboration, and organizational structures. The Ratio Formationis is recognized by the brothers as a foundational document for formation in the Order. It deserves to be deepened, reinterpreted and contextualized for better implementation in the various concrete situations of our Order. There has been an insistence on the training of formators, especially in those geographical areas where there is a greater growth of vocations. Meanwhile, fraternal collaboration has become an irreversible path for the Order in our present situation; this must be reexplored in its forms and objectives. An initiative was proposed of collaboration via the the generosity of circumscriptions that have more friars, generous hospitality on the part of those who receive them and serious missionary preparation for those who must “go on mission.”
Meanwhile, the reorganization of the Order’s makeup, which has affected some custodies, provinces and conferences, although difficult and sometimes painful, has become a reality with which we must learn to live. However, it is necessary for us to continue walking with these circumscriptions and conferences even after the processes of unification or transformation. In response to these and other topics, the General Minister first thanked the friars for their feedback and then focused on the questions and concerns addressed to him and tried to answer each one. Inviting the friars to recognize the developments that have taken place in much of the world where we are present, the Minister nevertheless urged the friars to learn how to accept the challenges with humility, as an opportunity for change that God offers us for living the Gospel.
