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.
