General Chapter and the Laity

Father Vincenzo Ronchi sends the following information:

            “Number 191 of the Rules of Life of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Saint Charles-Scalabrinians states that: ‘The ordinary General Chapter is convoked regularly every six years for the election of the General Administration and the transaction of the affairs of the Congregation and, by way of exception, when the office of the Superior General becomes vacant for any reason before the end of the six-year term. The extraordinary Chapter is convoked to deal with matters of exceptional importance for the Congregation.’

            “In September 1998 the Scalabrinians celebrated the XI General Chapter, which elected a new General Administration and produced a new pastoral plan for the whole congregation, entitled The Scalabrinian Project at the Threshold of the Year 2000. The untimely death of the Scalabrinians’ Superior General, the Very Reverend Luigi Favero, on August 11, 2000, necessitated a new General Chapter to elect a new General Superior.  The XII General Chapter took place in Rome from January 21 to February 7, 2001. The Reverend Isaia Birollo was elected General Superior.  A  revised and updated plan was approved and entrusted to all the Scalabrinian religious communities and missions under the title The Scalabrinian Missionary Project at the Beginning of the Third Millennium.

            The Scalabrinian Lay Movement occupies a significant portion of the missionary project, in recognition to the relevance of the mission of the laity within the Scalabrinian charism.”  Excerpts from the General Chapter, in Italian and unofficial English translation, are in the next column.  Perhaps by the next issue of

the newsletter, official translations will be available in Portuguese and Spanish.

In Italian. . .

“Possiamo dire ai laici di oggi quanto Scalabrini diceva ai missionari di ieri: ‘Abbiamo appena incominciato!’  Rileviamo con soddisfazione la creatività e la diversità delle attività nelle quali i Laici Scalabriniani si stanno dedicando al servizio dei migranti, entro il comune orizzonte scalabriniano, pur nella varietà dei contesti.

            “Gli stessi laici, nel Convegno di Guaporé (RS, Brasile) celebrato durante il Giubileo 2000, hanno sottolineato che per poter approfondire la propria identità e per fare un cammino verso l’orizzonte comune, occorre tener presenti tre esigenze fondamentali: formazione, organizzazione e missione, la cui radice è la spiritualità del pellegrino e del Samaritano.”

. . . and in English

            We [of the General Chapter] can said to today’s laity what Scalabrini said to yesterday’s missionaries:  “At last we have begun!”  We survey with satisfaction the creativity and the diversity of activities through which the lay Scalabrinians have dedicated themselves to the migrants’ service, integrated with the Scalabrinians’ communal orientation yet responsive to various social contexts.

            The laity at the convention at Guaporé in the state of Rio del Sol, Brazil, celebrated during the year 2000, have emphasized that to be able to study their own identity profoundly and to move toward a communal orientation, three fundamentals must be stressed:  formation, organization, and  a mission rooted in the spirituality of the pilgrim and of the Good Samaritan.