July 27th

The New Assistants to the Master of the Order

The Provinces of Teutonia, Flanders and Holland organised the liturgy today. The socius for the Province of Flemish-Belgium, Fr. Mark De Caluwe, presided. Fr Lucio Vargas, diffinitor from the German Vicariate of Bolivia preached in Spanish. He said that we must plant, but before so doing, we need to understand the word so that seed be understood and accepted: mission and contemplation united as evangelisation and mission are united, the struggle and the feast. There was no translation of the homily in other languages, perhaps because the Gospel was proclaimed in English and Jesus himself gave the homily in the parable. There was a beautiful hymn for the communion procession: the "Ave Verum", the verses were in a combination of English and Latin.

The plenary session dealt with clerics who make solemn profession before their initial formation is finished. Do they continue on in the studentate? Do we concede the full rights of active and passive voice given in the LCO? The petitions come from the Provinces of Bohemia and Nigeria, which have many vocations still in initial formation. The commission on Vocations and Formation formulated the questions to have the opinion of the Chapter before presenting the document.

The reason for the questions is that, with all of the rights given by the LCO, they can impose their desires on the community to elect councillors, make decisions in the chapter and council, elect the prior … etc., imposing themselves on the older brethren of the so-called formation community. Are they mature enough to do this? Someone asked if the brothers older in religion were mature enough to accept what the younger brothers said. If Solemn Profession implies the maturity to give one's life to God, one must presume maturity in things not as important. Active voice is not a privilege; it is a right that emanates from profession. At times, we have two discussions: on one hand, we say that the young are the hope of the Order, an on the other hand, we fear them. The provinces have to make the effort to create a good formation community. Also in the older brothers, there are "gangs" and they "vote as a block". The LCO opens a range of possibilities to delay Solemn Profession, but, once made, it gives all rights.

Many provinces would like to have these problems. It would be a sign that there would be many students. It will be the commission to propose a solution.

The new Assistants to the Master of the Order and other nominations

The Master of the Order, after consulting the appropriate Provincials, Regional Superiors, the persons themselves and their respective Provincial, has now identified the assistants or socii to complete the General Council. They are not officially named, but, God willing, all will participate in the plenary in November.

For Spain and Portugal: Fr. Pedro Luis González, from the Holy Rosary Province.

For Latin America and the Caribbean: Fr. Joao Xerri, from the Province of Brazil.

For Asia Pacific: Fr. Quirico Pedregosa, from the Province of the Philippines.

For the United States: Fr. Gerald Stookey, from the Province of Saint Albert in the US.

For Italy and Malta: Fr. Umberto Frassinetti, from the Province of Saint Dominic in Italy.

Assistant for the Intellectual Life: Fr. Guido Vergauwen, from the Province of Flanders will continue until the end of the plenary of May, 2002.

The Procurator General is yet to be named.

If it is of intelligent government to surround one's self with capable people, Fr. Carlos has demonstrated that he is. Congratulations to all.

Other Nominations:

Director of IDI and Promoter of the Internet: Fr. Yves Bériault, from the Province of Canada.

He who writes these pages moves up one floor at Santa Sabina, although not in position. He was named the Assistant to the General Secretary.

(Translated from Spanish)