Wednesday, December 29, 2010
The reflections and challenges today came from the laity.

The morning was given over to presentations by Suzanne Spino (President, Bayard Canada), Bret Thomas (President, Bayard USA) and Francesco Cesareo (President, Assumption College).  They all had the same goal:  to explain the relevance of their work for society and the Church and to make proposals to the Assumptionists in view of collaborating even more.  What struck the Chapter members, in addition to the extraordinary competence of all three, was the considerable knowledge each one had of the Assumption, its history and its charism, and their personal commitment to the mission.  Lively discussions followed each presentation.

In the afternoon, lay people from Quebec (Canada), from Mexico and from the USA addressed topics suggested to them by the Chapter preparatory committee: the relationship between their work and the Assumption charism, the way in which they were nourished by the Assumption spirituality, their expectations of this Chapter as well as particular recommendations that they might want to make.

Assumption lay people are very diverse: in terms of culture, in terms of experience, and in terms of their commitment to the Assumption. What is clear is that they are all attracted to the Assumption, and many want to deepen their understanding of the charism in order to live and work from it more fully. The exchange between lay people and capitulants was candid and courageous.  The religious were urged by the lay people to evaluate from their own point of view the progress made in the Alliance since the Chapter of 2005 and to consider ways to deepen the collaboration and better accompany the lay people in their own formation process.

The day concluded with prayer organized by the lay participants themselves.

Sent December 29,  2010
Fr Richard Lamoureux, AA