Encounter of the third kind
By Michel Kubler

This is the week of great world events. After the wedding of Prince William and the beautiful Kate on Friday at Westminster Abbey and the beatification of Pope John Paul II on Sunday at St. Peter s, comes the opening session of the General Chapter of the Assumptionists on Monday in the immense Casa of the Christian Brothers. When I brought this eloquent trilogy to the attention of one of the brothers, he immediately remarked that these three events were happening in order of progressive importance. Who would dare refute it?

All joshing aside, it must be said that the General Chapter is truly the most important event in the life of a religious family. This is true for every institute of consecrated life whenever these gatherings occur. This is especially true - it seems to me, but here I speak for myself alone – for the Assumption as the 32nd Chapter in her history is about to open. We will see during these next three weeks and according to the dossiers that will be taken up, that the tasks correspond pretty well to what a Congregation must do in order to be faithful to its origins as well as to her time – in other words, faithful to her charism.

Her origins. We know how much our major superiors wanted to place this Chapter under the patronage of our Founder, whose bicentenary of birth closes officially with this event. That is why the theme of this assembly proclaims Faithful to Emmanuel d’Alzon…for the coming of the Kingdom…May I be permitted one more wink of humor in closing. Yesterday morning, as I watched the portrait of the newly beatified Pope being unveiled on the façade of St. Peter’s, one of those viewing with me could not resist expressing a secret hope. Ah, if this were d.Alzon.

Download: ·DIARY OF THE CHAPTER - Monday, May 2, 2011, No. 1

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