#538
GC25 COMMISSIONS: WORK BEGINS - SENSE OF GREAT ENERGY.
Chapter members have begun to meet in commissions which will ultimately bring recommendations on specific issues to the main assembly. The commissions are as follows:
Commission #1 – Fraternal Life,
Commission #2 – Evangelical Witness,
Commission #3 - Animating Presence Among the Young,
Commission #4 - The Director & On-going Formation –
Commission #5 - Living & Working Together
Commission #6 - Structures of the Congregation
As a starting point, commissions were assigned language choices, e.g. Commission #6 English and Italian. In fact both Ian Murdoch (AUL) and Nick Reina (SUO) find themselves in that group, along with 37 others. Members of the General Council also find themselves spread around these groups.
Again, as an example of how these commissions are working, #6 on structures of the Congregation is crucial inasmuch as it affects such things as the forthcoming elections for the General Council. The commission meets together, then in language groups (Italian, English, Spanish...). This commission has begun by determining (from interventions/contributions from the Provinces) what the needs of the provinces might be and how the General Council could respond to these. Will there continue to be 'departments', or just regional councillors? More work to be done on this sort of thing. One idea promoted by one group was departments or groupings in the General Council based on the projects to be undertaken in the six year period following the Chapter. It's easy to see that there is still much work in arriving at some sort of 'commission' consensus, then at the main assembly level. But the general assembly will have some quite concrete proposals coming in from six commissions. For those of us in far flung regions beyond the Chapter assembly, one gains a sense of great energy. We would want to congratulate the members, I am sure, and just let them know how much we appreciate this energy and the directions it can take us all.
