The Delegates
September
26th, 2014 -Day Unknown
26/09/2014
22:46
Writing this blog at
8:00 at night, it feels like the end of a long, hard day. A lot was accomplished
in the aula, but looking back at the day I am having a hard time remembering
everything we did, but some things stand out.
The main work of the
morning was to handle the questions coming back from ordinary procedure. That's
when four of the fourteen commissions study an issue to develop an opinion and
this opinion is delivered to the whole chapter for a vote. Typically these
issues are about the resignation of an abbot or communities with particularly
difficult situations or the transfer of paternity for a community.
Even though these votes
are public and will be available in the minutes of the chapter, it would be
appropriate to be sensitive to the communities about which the votes were
taken, and the manner in which they hear about them. It would not be good to
read on the internet that your abbot's resignation was accepted or not accepted
before you hear from the abbot himself. Additionally in presenting just the
results, the full complexity (and the discussion were complex) would be lost.
At the end of the day
we started discussing one of the main topics on our agenda, the fragility of
houses in the order. People are asking for guidelines and principles to lead us
through the process of what needs to happen as a house declines. The purpose of
such a document would be to achieve consensus and understanding, and not just a
vote of the house's conventual chapter to make a decision. Like many
discussions at the chapter, pastoral concern is the main impetus behind the
discussion.
After the end of the
afternoon sessions the delegates had a meeting to discuss their evaluation of
the chapter. Attached is a group photo of them, as well as a group of six
American capitulants sitting the back of the aula..
A group of six American capitulants
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