COMMUNICATION N. 3

COMMUNICATION N. 3

The focus of today’s work was the report of the General Government, the General Secretary and the General Treasurer.

Emperatriz began her report by stating that this government was asked to initiate a process of revitalization of our vocation and mission which would bring us to a reconfiguration of our life and structures so as to arrive at a “new face” and become organized as one single entity.

This task was not easy so the first action was to draw up a life project and plan for the next six years. They began by participating in communion with other Congregations in formation meetings of the International Union of Superiors General, meetings of the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation.

The General Government also found support in the Aurelia Community which consisted of two Sisters and the presence of another Sister. Marie Lemert from Pacific-USA-Asia (November 2013-2015) and Milagros Arbaizar from Spain (September 2016 -July 2017). They served as a welcoming community to the Sisters and groups that had to come to Rome for various meetings.

Animation and Accompaniment

One of the key points of the Plan of the General Government was the animation and accompaniment of the life and mission of the Congregation. Between 2015 and 2017 were the canonical visits to all the communities in the Congregation. They listened to the life of the Sisters and communities; visited the mission places. Other instances of animation was the formation of the commissions of Initial Formation, Financial solidarity and Constitutions as well as the Secular Branch in collaboration with the Brothers

Other means of communication of the General Government were INFO, letters of the Superior General and articles and contributions from the Sisters which helped to keep all informed with what was happening throughout the Congregation and promoted unity in diversity, strengthening the sense of being one body.

Process of Reconfiguration -October 2012-June 2014

The General Government paid informal visits to areas that were more fragile in order to strengthen and assure their participation in this process. They met with Congregations that had already gone through restructuration for example, The Company of Mary, the Verdun Carmelites, the Daughters of Jesus, Missionaries of Africa, etc. to gain from their experience.

They contacted Xavier Quinza,sj .who had assisted other Congregations for more than 20 years. He began work with the General Government in May 2013, He as “general consultant” asked them to form a steering committee and guided them in the process of structural change, establishing stages, deadlines and methods of inclusive co-responsible participation.

June 2014-January 2016

The Council of the Congregation was held in June 2014 at El Escorial including the Coordinators of the four Delegations. Then it was decided to involve the whole Congregation through the process of revitalization, revision of establishments and presences and models of reconfiguration.

January 2016 -September 2018

The Council of the Congregation Hawaii 2016 had as its main objective to define and approve the new configuration as a Congregation. The new structure of zones was initiated “ad experimentum” on January 28, 2017.

Other Items

The Pastoral Plan of the Congregation, the Relationship between Brothers and Sisters and the Process of Beatification of the Good mother will be presented at another point in the Chapter.

After expressing the difficulties and challenges of these six years, Emperatiz offered some recommendations and concluded by thanking God and each Sister and each community for their efforts and participation, the various Commissions, brothers of the General Government, Beatriz Montaner, secretary general and Pilar Ruiz de la Prada, general Treasurer and especially the members of her Council, Aurora Laguarda, vicar general, Mary McCloskey, Gregoria Marin, Alicia Mamani, general councilors.

Report of the Secretary General

Maria Beatriz Montaner thought that when she was first asked to be secretary general, that all she would do was file papers. However, she discovered that each document shows the “Work of God” in our sisters and witnesses to what our Congregation has achieved and is achieving since its foundation until today.

Tasks developed in these six years

Manual developed for the Secretariat, was necessary to assist future secretaries; a data base of all the Sisters and their ministries; plus keeping a record of the six years of the General Government.

Archives are now digitalized. Organized the Historic Archives, especially the documents for the Beatification of the Good Mother.

Other tasks included:

-Collecting and binding historical documents such as the Interprovincial or Continental Conferences

-PPC Asia from 1987-2007

-PPC Africa 1969-2006

-Cahiers de Spiritualite

-Five circular letters of Pat Bradley

-Councils of the Congregation

-Circular Letters of deceased Sisters

-Editions of Published Documents

-General Chapters from 1819 until 2018

Report of the General Treasurer

Pilar expressed her gratitude to all those responsible for finances in the countries and for the knowledge she gained from her task, such as:

-what numbers give about our fraternal and communitarian relationships

-how we relate to money, the importance that we give or don’t give to it,

-how we think our goods should serve us

-about the function which money should have among us.

As for the finances of the Congregation in general, the zone Europe -Africa has increased slightly, the zone Latin America has also increased slightly while the zone Pacific-USA-Asia has decreased.

Pilar closed with some financial advice for the future.

Today we celebrated the 180th anniversary of the arrival of the Sisters in Chile with Mass and with a cake at dinner!

September 2, Saturday

Our day was dedicated to the reports of the zones, presenting their statistics and areas that give life and needs to be strengthened and challenges in the areas of Woman Called, Summoned as One Body, Initial and On-Going Formation, Vocation and Youth Ministry.

Another highlight of the day was the decision of both the Brothers and Sisters Chapters, to send a letter of support to Pope Francis at this time of tension for the Church and assuring him of our prayers.

Finally, after a long week’s work we were given a free day on Sunday, to do whatever pleased us.

COMUNICACIÓN N° 3

Queridas Hermanas,

El ritmo del Capítulo avanza y con él vamos tocando la realidad de nuestra Congregación en el contexto de la nueva Configuración.

Así, el quinto día ha sido dedicado al Informe por Zonas. Cada informe ha sido elaborado siguiendo la pauta enviada por el Gobierno General, allí se han solicitado datos estadísticos sobre el número de hermanas, promedio de edad, número de comunidades, obras propias o subvencionadas, entre otros.

También se han compartido los aspectos que hay que seguir potenciando porque dan vida y los desafíos más urgentes que necesitamos seguir trabajando para seguir recreando la misión a la que Dios nos llama hoy. Todo esto teniendo en cuenta las dimensiones: Mujer Llamada, Cuerpo Convocado, Cuerpo Enviado, Formación Inicial y Permanente, Pastoral Juvenil y Vocacional. La primera presentación la hizo América Latina, continuó la Zona Europa – África, por último la Zona Pacífico/USA - Asia.

Después de cada uno de los informes, se dio tiempo para reaccionar en parejas sobre dos aspectos: Qué me ha parecido novedoso y qué preguntas tengo.

Al final de todos los informes, se agradece a cada Zona el trabajo realizado, a la vez se invita a vivir un tiempo de oración personal con la intención de encontrar dos puntos convergentes entre todos los informes, dos características propias o particularidades de cada zona y dos desafíos que encontramos en los tres informes, esto tomando como punto de partida el propio informe. Todo esto fue llevado a la plenaria con la que concluimos esta jornada.

El día domingo, dedicado al descanso, cada hermano y hermana organizó su plan para disfrutarlo de la mejor manera. Se vivió la eucaristía en la mañana, presidida por Enrique Losada sscc.

Ya el día lunes retomamos nuestro cronograma. Emperatriz Arrobo, antes de dar las indicaciones de trabajo, da la palabra a Rosa Ferreiro para hablar sobre las actas. Dos podrían ser trabajadas en conjunto con los Hermanos ya que corresponden a las jornadas que tuvimos juntos (integración y retiro) y dos ya correspondientes al trabajo nuestro. La asamblea acoge que las actas de los días que trabajamos juntos sean elaboradas en conjunto.

Emperatriz invita a la asamblea a mantener los temas de esta semana conectados. Refiere que el primer trabajo será sobre el Plan Apostólico, luego el Proceso de Nueva Configuración. Esto por considerar que la nueva organización debe estar al servicio de la vida y la misión.

Aclara Emperatriz que el Plan Apostólico es una propuesta de la Congregación al Capítulo General, como equipo de gobierno han intentado ser fieles a lo dicho por las hermanas de cada Territorio. La propuesta se ha estructurado en tres partes: Marco Situacional, Misión – Visión, Prioridades y Líneas de Acción.

Con estos presupuestos, fuimos invitadas a vivir un tiempo de trabajo personal, otro tiempo en grupos por lenguas y, finalmente a ir a la plenaria con dos aspectos para compartir: las afirmaciones que han hecho eco en nosotras y las propuestas de contenido esencial que se considera deben cambiar.

Al término de la jornada se agradece el trabajo realizado y se invita a pasar a la Adoración.

Seguimos confiando nuestros Capítulos Hermanas y Hermanos a las oraciones de todas.