Webmaster (WM): Fr. John, you just returned from the General Chapter in Rome, having been elected assistant general. Congratulations!

Fr. John (FJ): Thank you. I look forward to my new responsibilities and the opportunity to serve my brothers in this capacity, on a world-wide scale now.

WM: Fr. John, could you tell us what a general chapter is?

FJ: The word “chapter” is somewhat unusual in this context. It signifies a meeting and specifically a meeting of the members of a religious community.  Its origins can be found in monastic life. Monks would come together to read a chapter of the rule that governed their life. Eventually, the room where this took place became known as the “Chapter Room.” It was in this room that important discussions would occur. Eventually, these meetings themselves were simply called chapters. In religious communities today such meetings, or chapters, take place at the level of each community once a year (local chapter), at the level of the province every three years (provincial chapter), and at the level of the entire congregation once every six years and are therefore known as ‘general’ chapters.

WM: Who attends such a general chapter?

FJ: In addition to the ex officio members, that is to say, the Superior General and his assistants and the various provincials, there are elected delegates from each province depending on the size of the province. There were 43 delegates in total this year from more than 15 countries. There were also invited guests. This year the Superior General invited an Assumptionist from Vietnam, a country where te congregation has experienced significant growth in the last six years, and, for the second time, lay men and women, twelve of them in all, representing lay associates throughout the world who are interested in sharing our Assumptionist way of life in a more public manner. Of course, the Chapter could not function without a wide variety of support staff for communications, translations, liturgy, secretarial assistance, and practical matters. In all, we were well over 60.

WM: What is the purpose of the chapter?

FJ: The chapter really has two purposes: (1) to evaluate the life of the congregation over the past six years and to set priorities for the next six years; (2) to elect or re-elect the General Council, i.e. the international leadership team, the Superior General and his assistants (who are eligible for two six-year terms).

WM: Speaking of the elections, who is on the general council with you?

FJ: The new Superior General, replacing an American, Fr. Richard Lamoureux, who had spent twelve years in the position, is Fr. Benoît Grière, from the Province of France. Fr. Benoît, a medical doctor by training who worked for many years in Africa, recently served as provincial of the largest province in the congregation, France, which includes over 250 members in some 13 countries. The vicar general, Fr. Emmanuel Kahindo, a scripture professor, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is the only assistant to be re-elected from the previous team. The new General Treasurer, Brother Didier Remiot, also a Frenchman, holds an M.A. Degree in aeronautical engineering from M.I.T. and spent many years in the aeronautical industry before assuming major responsibilities at Bayard Press, the Assumptionist international publishing house, headquartered in Paris.  The final member of the team, and the youngest, is Fr. Marcelo Marciel, a Chilean, who had been pastor of a large parish in Rengo, Chile.

WM: You mentioned that the first task of the general chapter is to review the past six years and set priorities for the next six. How does this work in practice?

FJ: What is important to remember is that the members of a religious community are called upon to update the guiding insights and intuitions of the founder, often known as the “charism” of the a congregation. In the past 10 years or so, we have had the opportunity to celebrate both the sesquicentennial of the congregation’s founding (1850-2000) and the bicentennial of the birth of the founder, Fr. Emmanuel d’Alzon (1810-2010). Both of these celebrations served to re-ignite interest in and study of the his thought, way of life, and path of holiness.

WM: How exactly do you go about re-defining the charism?

FJ: What we tried to do, in fact, was, first of all, to identify the major challenges (some, in the Assumptionist world, might call them “the great causes of God and man”) which we are facing in today’s world and then, to say, what does it mean for us to be Assumptionists vis-à-vis these challenges? How does one take the basic insights and intuitions of a man who lived 200 years ago in a specific time and place, and faced with specific challenges, and translate them to the world in which we live now?

WM: What were some of the challenges you identified in this regard?

FJ: It would impossible to give you an exhaustive list of all the issues that were cited, but there were some major ones, among them, (1) globalization; (2) the world financial crisis; (3) the secularization of the Western world and, wherever capitalism and consumerism reign,  the consequent religious indifference and ignorance; (4) the rise of Islam; (5) the threat of terrorism and violence; (6) massive migrations of peoples; (7) ecological threats; (8) the sexual abuse crisis within the Church itself.

WM: Were you able to re-define the charism in a satisfactory fashion?

FJ: It became clear to us from the outset that re-defining the charism of Fr. d’Alzon for a congregation that is located in over 30 countries and on 5 continents is not as easy tasks, to see how this charism can be applied equally in the war-torn zones of Africa, in the market-places of Western Europe and North America, in the altiplano of South America, in a Communist country like Vietnam, etc. How does a redefined charism affect our work in the press, in education, in our ecumenical endeavors , in our missions, in our parishes, etc.?

WM: This does seem like quite a challenge. So what was the result?

FJ: Actually, we took our bearings from some of the convictions expressed at the last chapter in 2005 but which were not developed at length. We focused on three elements: As disciples of Jesus Christ, Assumptionists are called to be men of faith, men of communion, and men in solidarity with the poor and the least among us. Wherever we are in the world, whatever we do, these three elements should characterize us. In a world that tries to build its foundation without reference to God, we are called to be men who propose the faith and our conviction that Jesus Christ expresses the perfection of what it means to be truly and fully human. In a world increasingly marked by conflict division, we are called to be men of communion drawing our very life from the Trinity of persons living within us. Finally, in a world that too often forgets the poor and the lowly, the forgotten and the despised, we are called, like Jesus himself, to be men in solidarity with the least among us.

WM: So, these three elements express the heart of the Assumptionist charism?

FJ: Yes, we believe that if Fr. d’Alzon were alive today, he would easily subscribe to this re-definition of his intuitions. Of course, there is a further challenge which the chapter had to address: how do these three aspects of the charism get applied to the various continents where we live and work? That is why we took a substantial period of time to reflect on the realities of each continent and identify a major challenge to be addressed, whether that be war and civil conflict in Africa, secularization in the West, inter-religious dialogue and poverty in Asia, or the rise of sects in Latin America.

WM: Fr. John, thank you for taking this time to share some of your reflections on the Chapter with us. Is there one final thought you might have?

FJ: This was the fifth chapter in a row that I have attended. I have two lasting impressions. First, what struck me more than ever was the growing sense of the international character of the congregation, not only that we are expanding into new regions of the world (especially in Asia and Africa), but that we are slowly beginning to see ourselves less as religious belonging to a particular region or province than as members of an international body, which calls us to greater interdependence and solidarity. This reality demands a conversion on our part, but we have seen that the consequences of such a consciousness are far-reaching. Second, lay people are becoming and want to become ever more a part of the Assumption Family. Their desire forces to take to heart not only Fr. d’Alzon’s original practice of collaborating closely with lay people but also the realization that if the Church officially recognizes a charism, it is because it is a gift of the Holy Spirit for the entire Church and is not the preserve of the religious members of a congregation.

WM: Once again, congratulations on your election and best wishes in your new ministry.

FJ: Thank you.