Fifteen religious and six lay delegates gathered at Assumption College in Worcester (USA) from July 5-9 to implement the decisions and orientations of the general chapter. Two invited guests also attended, Fr. Richard Lamoureux, the outgoing superior general, and Fr. John Franck, a newly elected assistant general. Fr. Miguel Díaz Ayllón (Mexico), the newly appointed provincial, presided this session of the chapter with great enthusiasm, imagination, and good humor, even if he admitted to some nervousness.

Following the logic of communion strongly encouraged by the general chapter, the members of the provincial chapter decided to abolish all regions of the province and to create simple delegations. Not only did they do so in order to lighten structures, but also to emphasize the unity of the province spread over four countries (Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, and the United States). To reflect this unity, the province will now on be known as the Province of North America-Philippines. The delegates from the four countries, together with the provincial treasurer, will make up the provincial council. Delegates have been or will be named as well for various portfolios such as formation (Richard Lamoureux), the Lay-Religious Alliance (Claude Grenache), vocations/youth ministry, Bayard, Assumption College, etc.

Some of the other highlights of the chapter included the creation of two new "offices," one entitled "Office for the Promotion of the Charism," whose principal objective is to awaken vocations and  formation for those called to the Assumption, religious or lay, and the second entitled "Mission Advancement Office" (MADO), whose major objective is the coordination of fund-raising efforts throughout the province. It should be noted that the chapter was preceded by a very productive four-day workshop on just this topic, facilitated by the director of the National Catholic Development Conference, Sr. Georgette Lehmuth, OSF (pictured below next to Fr. d'Alzon!!!) and Tomasz Kierul.

As chapter members deliberated on the three basic orientations of the general chapter, Men of Faith, Men of Communion, and Men in Solidarity with the Poor, they proposed any number of recommendations to be implemented as soon as possible, e.g. (a) that all our works be characterized by the new evangelization (in our preaching, in our outreach to those far from the Church, in our organization of programs in faith formation, in our preparation of "multipliers" of the faith, etc.); (b) that we make of our numerous international communities solid communities, alive and transparent, that can bear witness to the possibility of communion in our world; (c) that every Assumptionist community in the Province find concrete means to be in contact with the materially poor and that the province study the possibility of founding a common mission with the poor, perhaps with Hispanic immigrants in the USA.

At the end of the chapter it was clear that another session of the chapter would be needed not only to treat topics that there was no time to address adequately such as youth and vocations, but also to grasp fully the many implications of the major decisions that were taken. Therefore, a third session of the chapter will be held in the summer of 2012.