May 16, 2022 - General Chapter 46

Today's activities were very diverse in content, engagement, and character. What started out as a rather quiet, semi-predictable, due process day gradually became rather noisy, unpredictable, and celebratory. 

Each morning, we gather for prayer in the main sanctuary, which usually includes a welcome long period of meditation. There is something quietly profound about sitting together in prayer for 20+ minutes with those that you interact with for the rest of the day. It affirms De La Salle's stipulation that interior prayer is the first and most important exercise of the day.

The view from the translator booths.

After breakfast, the Paths of Transformation groups met for up to 90 minutes in order to finalize changes to their "Commitments" and other statements, since these would be presented to the assembly starting today. The capitulants would discuss and approve them (2/3 majority required). Our group's six original commitments became four commitments. One was subsumed into another, and one was moved to one of the other groups, since they had a similar commitment. The rest of the time we worked on simplifying the language of the remaining four. We had been advised by Sr. Leslie that "Less is more" and we followed that advise.

This shows you the voting system at each place.

At 10:30 am, the capitulants met in the Aula Magna. Before beginning our work, the Communications Office informed the assembly that they would not be filming the election of the Superior General on Wednesday, as had previously been requested and approved with an over 50%  vote, but with 26 people opposed. They would instead follow the protocols that are stipulated in the Manual of Procedures (some photos to be taken at the very beginning of the process). It was a wise decision and likely due to further discussion, feedback, and conversations with the central committee.

Next came the consideration of the statements and commitments of the six groups. Altogether, there would be over 30 commitments (seen and handled as "propositions" however) to listen to, consider, amend, and pass. Some took much longer than others, with Brothers proposing amendments or changes or questions of clarification about individual words or phrases. It was all rather arduous but also seen as necessary. Each group had adopted a name or title for its presentation. Group 1 was "Building a Fraternal World through Education, Evangelization and Promotion of Justice" and Group 2 was "The Pathway of Radical Availability to God." After an hour and 45 minutes, we stopped, having completed the consideration of 1.5 groups out of the six. This will take a while. The session ended with a straw vote for future members of the central government, with voting capitulants choosing three from a list of 35 names nominated - even if only by one person. These 35 were what remained after others had removed their names from consideration.

A photo from later that evening.

Work on the commitments resumed at 3:00 pm, but at a very slow pace. One person made an intervention decrying the fact that we had been urged to imagine and follow new pathways and processes but that we had devolved into the practice from previous chapters, minutely considering, amending, and voting on what amounted to "propositions". Polite silence ... then "Okay, let's move on." It is very difficult for a roomful of educational administrators from vastly different cultural backgrounds to leave their administrative comfort zone and its habits, despite declarations and good intentions to the contrary. It would be like asking the group to suddently walk on their hands; possible with training, practice, and determination, but unlikely otherwise.

It took another 45 minutes to finish the remaining commitments from Group 2. Then it was the turn of Group 3, which had the simple title of "Revised Structures", but had radically revised its original submission from last week, introducing two new very detailed commitments and retaining edited versions of three of their original ones. It was by far the most detailed and lengthy production among all the groups. It was quickly decided that we needed more time to read and consider this set, and it would therefore become the last set that we will deal with, after all the other groups. Having read through it, my guess is that we will probably need several sessions to adequately consider its commitments.

Group 4, "Integral Ecological Conversion", had five commitments and some helpful initial statements that placed this new category within the context of our mission and ministry. Caring for our common home, defending human dignity, and the protection of minors so that Lasallian institutions would be safe places were some of the areas addressed. There were several suggestions for improvements that were best dealt with by the committee itself, and so some from this set will come back to the floor later on.

Group 5 adopted the title "Association for Mission Guarantees a Bold and Prophetic Lasallian Family". The consideration of its commitments took us to 6:30 pm. However, it was the first group where all of its commitments, some amended, were eventually accepted with a 2/3 majority. It's first statement was a key one, passing the 2/3 approval vote with the slimmest of margins (46-18-4-0): "Recognize that AIMEL and CIAMEL are logical structures to advise Brother Superior and to set the direction for the Lasallian Mission, Association for Mission, Formation for Mission and a Culture of Vocations. Empower those structures so that they can animate and take further responsibility for the Mission." ("logical" could be translated into "natural" in the final version, so there may be further tweaks.)

As the moderator of the group, and the one who had to answer or field the many questions and comments, Heather did a masterful job, providing clear answers or accepting "friendly amendments" after looking around at the members of the group and seeing if they agreed. She was both advocate and example of the credibility of association; this is what it looks like. And that, as much as the text itself, helped the group's commitments to pass. At the end, when the entire set was voted on, the positive vote was very close to unanimous, followed by spontaneous applause. These developments meant that the revised commitments from Group 6 - the ones that I will be presenting on behalf of our group - will be considered at our next plenary session, which hasn't been scheduled yet.

Heather and Paco at 6:30 pm, after a very long session.

The celebratory part of the day commenced at this point. This evening, the RELAN group was hosting the PARC group in the Den for an "Apricena", which means a social with "heavy hors d'oeuvres". Pat Duffy had been at work most of the afternoon preparing the food and setting things up in the Den. But we still needed some supplies, and so I went to a local supermarket to get them instead of going to the Mass. Charity and hospitality prevailed.

Brs. David, Jorge, Luke, and Armin at the Den social.

People trickled in after Mass, but soon the room was full, noisy, and definitely happy. It was a really nice convivial atmosphere. There was very little ice because the icemaker in our Den refrigerator doesn't work, and the main kitchen's icemaker was down as well. But people didn't seem to mind. (We did "borrow" some ice from other locations in the house.) It was unfortunate that the general beer supply hadn't been replenished either, and we didn't have any on hand. People didn't seem to mind though, enjoying each other's company at the end of a very long day.

The RELAL hosted social on the roof of the Casa Generalizia.

This was also the evening when RELAL was hosting an after-dinner social on the roof. So we just went from one party to the next. This second one was much larger because everyone had been invited. Plus these were the Brothers from Central and South America, which meant a different variety of adult beverages, interesting food options, and a great sense of enjoyment of one another's company.

Some RELAF Brothers taking a break from the party inside.

Two Brothers, Nestor and Alberto, were playing guitars and leading the singing when we arrived. And the rest of us joined in with equal gusto. Even if you didn't know the words, many of them had repeated phrases that were easy enough to pick up. One song led to another, until we were doing Spanish, French, Italian, and American songs (Denver's "Country Roads"). They seemed to know the guitar chords for each or figured it out on the fly.

Brs. Esteban and Olavo took over later as guitarists.

In between is Br. Antxon, whose birthday it was.

The Brothers know how to work hard. We've seen that both in the conscientious way that they engage in the activities of the General Chapter and fulfill their individual responsibilities. They also know how to celebrate well, as was very much in evidence this evening at both socials.

Brs. Michael and Nick watching the party.

Toward the end of the evening, I also spent some time on the roof overlooking the city, with a large red moon hovering over it. The peacefulness of that scene contrasted starkly with the festive activities nearby. But they complemented one another rather than clashing. When I went to my room sometime later, there was no energy left to write this blog, which is why I'm writing it on the morning of the next day, our day of retreat, one of the more wise scheduling decisions that the prepartory committee for the Chapter had made.

Evening view from the roof, with a red moon.