XXI General Chapter: June 14 – July 11, 2020 at Lichen, Poland
The preparations of the next General Chapter are well on course. The designated General Secretary of the Chapter is already at the Generalate since September 2019 to join the preparatory team and help the General Council in the preparations.
Functionaries
Some confreres have been contacted and requested to provide their services and expertise at the General Chapter as functionaries in specific responsibilities as moderators of the Chapter, secretariat, recorders of minutes, simultaneous and writing translators, spiritual animator, directors of communication/information and Coordinator of liturgy. Consequently, all the functionaries have been asked and have sent in their personal data to facilitate the process of a letter of invitation, needed for the purposes of obtaining a visa to Poland and for the preparations of the Information Booklet for the General Chapter.
Delegates
The process of getting delegates for this important event of our Spiritan family has started. And the names of the delegates and their substitutes will have been communicated to the Generalate before the 15th of January 2020.
At the Chapter, there will be sixty six (66) elected delegates plus members of the General Council and the secretary of the General Council (9). There will also be four (4) invited Lay Spiritans – one each from Union of Circumscriptions of North America and the Caribbean (UCNAC), of Central Africa (UCSAC), of Europe (UCE) and a member of the Spiritan Fraternity in France).
As soon as the delegates are known, each will be contacted in order to have their personal data that will facilitate the writing of the letter of invitation as well as in the preparations of the information booklet. They will also receive the necessary information pertaining to their travelling and about the Chapter itself.
Preparations at Lichen
The General Council held a number of meetings to examine the needed preparations at Lichen, the venue of the General Chapter and remains in close contact with the Provincial of Poland. On 8th November 2019, the General Bursar and the General Secretary of the Chapter visited Lichen together with the provincial of Poland to evaluate specific facilities in view of needs.
Instrumentum laboris
Early December, members of the team tasked to prepare the working document (Instrumentum Laboris) will meet at the Generalate. They will finally produce a working document, which will be the outcome of the responses of the first and second consultations. The team will therefore draw from the responses from circumscriptions and from the collective wisdom of the members of the General Council.
Important documents and translations
The Report of the Superior General and the Report of the General Bursar have been finalized and are being translated, thanks to the availability of some confreres who have volunteered to help with the work of translation.
Prayer and logo for the General Chapter
The prayer of the General Chapter has been sent to the circumscriptions to be prayed as from 2nd October 2019, the day of the Anniversary of our Founder Poullart des Places. The Logo for the Chapter has also been produced, thanks to our confrere Damasceno José Fernandes of the province of Portugal.
Explanation of the logo
The line in upward motion indicates the resurrection, rising to new life, to create again, and to allow oneself to be moved by the Holy Spirit symbolized by the dove. The double and not very linear lines denote a drawing still in creation, still in sketch… God who is creating something new in us. The red colour on a white background represents Poland.
