Dear Brothers,
As I shared with you a few days ago when announcing the appointment of Brother Victor Franco as General Councillor, the Council is continuing its work of reflection and organisation under three headings:

the redefining and setting up of Commissions, bearing in mind the orientations of the 43rd General Chapter, the priorities assumed by the General Council, and the study of the reports of existing services in dialogue with the Secretaries and Directors of such services;
the study of the calendar of the coming years;
the distribution amongst the Councillors of the Regions, Districts, Sub-Districts and Delegations of what will be points of liaison with the centre of the Institute.

In this letter I wish to refer to the last point. In the coming weeks at the Council level we will be looking in more detail at ways of being in touch with and accompanying the Regions, Districts, Sub-Districts and Delegations. We will make these details known to you later on. However, as of this moment I would like to offer you the following indications:

We begin with a principle: the General Councillors are councillors for the Institute as a whole.
In the name of the Brother Superior General and his Council, the General Councillors will be charged with the animation of Commissions and of certain programmes, as also with the accompaniment of Regions, Districts, Sub-Districts and Delegations.
One of the objectives which seems to us important is to assure the unity and interdependence of the Regions, fostering new relations amongst them, for example at continental level.
Brother William Mann, as Vicar General, in addition to the attributions indicated by the Rule, will be responsible for the co-ordination of all the Commissions and of the General Services, for the pastoral accompaniment of the Central Community, and for certain representative roles for the Superior General.

In order to co-ordinate our relations with yourselves, your Regions, Districts, Sub-Districts and Delegations, we have divided up the work in the following manner: