Today you could begin to feel a sense of anticipation about the more popular elements of a General Chapter, the propositions - I mean, uh, the Paths of Transformation - and the start of a discernment process about who should be the Institute's leaders for the next seven years.
At 9:00 am, we met immediately with what I call our interest groups to finalize what we would say in our report, the "We recognize that ..." section, the "We are called to ..." section, and the resulting "Commitments" section - see an early version above ... it's not the final one. Something that stood out for me is the care with which individuals thought about and adjusted thelanguage in each statement or commitment. The format might have been unfamiliar, but the content was still king, and these lifelong educators would pay attention to every word. At the end of our 50 minutes of conversation, we had put together a good set of results, and we happily took a photo of the group to commemorate our time together.
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Everyone gathered back in the Aula Magna at 10:30 for the initial report from each group. First the entire submission was read, which was followed by questions of clarification, suggestions, or comments that may help further improve it. There were seven groups, and after five groups, two hours had passed. Groups such as New Structures for Leadership and Governance led to lots of responses, questions, and well-nuanced concerns, while others garnered less input. The "new" unfamiliar group that now carried the title Integral Ecological Conversion perked people up because this was a whole new area for the Institute to consider. The challenging aspect for all groups, in my humble opinion, was providing commitments that were clear, direct, practical, and transformative. Initial verbs that began statements, like leverage, ensure, urge, empower, etc., were less direct than those that used create, develop, assign, and prioritize. You will see all of these soon enough, and they're not yet in their final form.
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Br. Jorge Sierra ended the session at 12:30 pm, before lunch, and we returned at 3:00 pm. I had become a bit tired during that morning session, and I took a short siesta after lunch, making sure to set my alarm for 2:30 pm because otherwise I'd siesta right through the afternoon. My group was the first to report at that session, and I was the secretary and the one that had to do it. When we did get back together, a new proposal was considered. It a request from the Communications Office to be allowed to have professional videographers record portions of the process for the election of the Superior General, so that the Communications Office could put together a collation of shot snippets that would help the Lasallian world know about how this process works. Some expressed their concern that "outsiders" would now be part of something that had previously been secret, without anyone in the room except for the voting capitulants. They were reassured that it would all be done discreetly, etc., and that this would really be good for the Lasallian Family. When the vote was finally taken, there were 39 in favor, 26 against, 3 abstaining, and 2 Juxta Modem. Therefore, the proposal passed. To me, there was something concerning about the proposal itself and the fact that a simple majority had changed a previously rather solemn occasion, surrounded by some traditional drama and curiosity, to a international communication event (although not to be shown "live"). And with that many members against it, was it right to go ahead?
Then it was time for my report, which was dutifully read. There were two questions, one of them regarding a mistranslated word into Spanish in one of the commitments, and another that asked why our submission used the plural "Lasallian Vocations." The question was confusing; of course there is more than one Lasallian vocation; i.e., the Brothers. I asked for one of our group's members to chime in, and Br. Jorge did so with a clear description of how "Lasallian vocations" referred to many other people who were not Brothers and shared our mission, etc. - pretty basic stuff, I had thought, but apparently not seen as such in all parts of the Institute. Then the assembly moved on to the last group and its report.
At 4:00 pm, an explanation was given as to how we would now begin a process of moving towards electing new central government for the Institute. The actual voting would begin next Wednesday, but today we would start to name names. Here were the steps:
- From 4:15 to 5:00 was personal time for prayer and reflection.
- 5:00 - Get together in language groups
- Make a list of qualities and names for the Institute's central government
- 5:45 - Go back to the Aula Magna to listen to the lists and see the names.
- 6:00 - Get together by Regional groups
- Do the same thing for the region: qualities and names for Regional Councillor. It was noted that Regional councillors need not be from the region.
- 6:30 - Back to the Aula Magna to listen to the lists and see those names.
- Vote for your top three candidates for the central government and the top three names as Regional councillors on paper ballots.
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It will not be a surprise to learn that we went way overtime, finishing at 7:15 pm. The planned 6:45 prayer in the chapel was postponed for another day, the ballots were filled in and submitted, and the Brothers went to dinner. After dinner, a small group of us went to the Irish bar located near the back gate of the property, where we had a lively conversation that included what our "dream team" of leaders might look like. No names in this blog, however, because that's just a bit too risky. But stay tuned to developments. I can let you know that our group pretty much concentrated around the same two people. We will find out next week whether the Holy Spirit agrees with us.
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