Today marks one week since the opening in Rome of the XXII General Chapter, the body which represents the Congregation and exercises authority collegially on matters relating to our life and mission. In this article we give you a summary of the highlights of these special days for our entire Hospitaller Family and all those who feel Hospitaller at heart.
The big day: 24 April
On the feast of our Founder, St. Benedict Menni, we opened the 22nd General Chapter under the theme “Clothe yourselves with the bowels of mercy. Prophetic signs of hope and of God’s closeness to suffering humanity” in Rome, Italy, with the participation of the Chapter Sisters, our communities in Rome, Brothers of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God and some members of the Hospitaller Community who wished to share this event with us in person, as well as other people who accompanied us via internet transmission.
Prior to the opening ceremony, we celebrated the Eucharist presided over by Brother Jesús Etayo, Superior General of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God. You can read the homily on our website: https://www.capitulogeneralhospitalarias.org/post/eucaristia-apertura-del-xxii-cap%C3%ADtulo-general-homil%C3%ADa-hermanas-hospitalarias-del-sagrado-coraz%C3%B3n-de
Afterwards, we held the opening ceremony in which the entire Hospitaller community was able to join us via streaming. Sister Anabela Carneiro gave us some profound words in which she recalled the foundations of the event we are living: representativeness and collegiality. The representativity expresses the “congregational sense” that all the sisters who are part of this Assembly assume. Collegiality underlines the dimension of “co-responsibility in the exercise of authority” regarding the life and mission of the Congregation. Ultimately, the sisters participating in the Chapter represent in a significant way the different realities of the world where the Congregation is present. They will define the way forward on the basis of the realities present in each place and will elect the new members of the General Government. Today’s world presents us with many challenges which, from a lucid, wise and synodal discernment, call for bold and creative responses. The Spirit urges us to rediscover the beauty of our consecrated life in the Church and to enter into a process of transformation that makes us witnesses to the compassion and mercy of Jesus, in fraternal communion and in hospitable service.
In the afternoon session, we proceeded to the more functional organisation of the assembly for this period of work, and Sister Mª Carmen Martín, from the province of Spain, was elected as chapter secretary.
We also projected the desires that move us for this General Chapter: a listening with heart, which will lead us to a shared vision of the future, inspiring, mobilising and with a horizon of charismatic meaning.
Study of the Directory: April 25 to 30
On the 25th April, we began the work of reflection and dialogue on the Directory as our normative document that concretises the recently renewed Constitutions of 2022, updating our internal legislation, that of the Church itself, and the needs of today, projecting ourselves into the future with hope.
We are assisted in this process by Sister Pilar Benavente Serrano, of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, who has also been accompanying us throughout the precapitular process.
We have in mind a participative methodology, which promotes and facilitates discernment, based on personal, group and assembly reflection. Prayer, dialogue and listening are vital dynamics, from which the proposal for the renewal and updating of our internal regulations is constructed, as the generating source of life and mission that it wishes to be.
This is what we have been doing in the previous process, which has led us, as a continuous line, to this point where we find ourselves in the Chapter, fruit of the participation of the communities of sisters inserted in the diverse geographical and cultural realities of the Congregation. The same heartbeat unites us: Hospitality, following in the footsteps of the Good Samaritan.
In the following days, we continued the reflection and dialogue of the first part of the Directory. Then, we continued with the personal work, by communities of discernment and sharing in assembly. It was an experience of reflection and also of shared learning which helped us to analyse together the present and to plan the future of Hospitality.
Aitor Jiménez (cmf), currently Under-Secretary of the Dicastery for Consecrated Life, an expert canonist who has been advising on the process of revising and updating the Directory, as he did previously with the revision of the Constitutions in 2022.
Throughout this process we are creating spaces, physical and temporal, to grow as a Chapter Community, based on listening, welcoming diversity (cultural, linguistic, of experience) and the plurality of opinions. We want synodality to be not only a concept, but a practical inspiration in our Chapter.
During these days, we have read and expressed our gratitude for the messages of closeness from the entire Hospitaller Family, which have reached us by mail as well as through our web site. We invite you to continue to accompany us with your words: https://www.capitulogeneralhospitalarias.org/mensajes
