FREE DAY

THREE NEW DOCUMENTS

The Chapter Assembly has approved the reports of three Groups: “Service to the Poor”, “Spiritual Life and Consecrated Life”, and “Vocation Ministry”.

After presenting their initial reports to the Assembly, each of the groups rewrote their report, incorporating the various oral and written suggestions they received from the Chapter.

The cultural diversity that exists in the Institute has not been an obstacle in arriving at consensus. Nevertheless, the difference in meaning of concepts in different languages is something that must be carefully monitored in the final reports.

The elevated number of Capitulants participating in the new discussion of themes is evident. Given the fraternal atmosphere of the dialogue, the moderators have not had a difficult time. The simultaneous translators and the writing translators on the other hand, have had a more difficult time due to the number of texts that continue to pour in and the limited amount of time they have to translate, duplicate and distribute the texts.

YOUNG BROTHERS’ SUGGESTIONS

As a result of their shared reflection these past weeks, the young Brothers at the Chapter produced two documents for the Assembly.

The first, deals with their challenges, horizons and lines of action for the future. The other, which is more general, deals with their “hopes” and “fears” and pertains to two of the transversal themes that the Chapter has been addressing – the Identity of the Brother and Formation.

As a result, the Chapter Assembly has decided to form a working group dealing with the accompaniment of young Brothers. The results of their reflection will be made available next week. The members of this group include Brothers Edmond Precourt (USA), Juan Pablo Marín (Spain), Santiago Rodríguez (Argentina), Gerardo Castillo (Venezuela), Ivan Pinkevsky (Ecuador), Mamy Rabarone (Madagascar) and Thomas Jones (USA).