Comunion and Fraternity Event
XXVIII General Chapter
This year (2023), we Sisters of Charity of Saints B. Capitanio and Saints V. Gerosa, known as Sisters of Maria Bambina, are preparing to live and celebrate the XXVIII General Chapter, in Rome from 8th May to 24th June, indicted by the present Superior General: mother Annamaria Viganò.
As our Rule of Life indicates to us and in conformity with the Code of Canon Law, the General Chapter is of the highest authority in the Institute and exercises it collegially and in an extraordinary way. It is an event of communion and fraternity in which all the members of the Institute are represented.
In prayer and common reflection, it must verify and promote the Institute’s fidelity to the Gospel and to the founding charism, which it is called to express in different periods of its history, adapting it to the evolution of cultures.
An ordinary General Chapter is celebrated every six years. It is announced by the Superior General, with the consent of her council, about one year in advance and convoked six months before with the specification of its purpose, date and place of celebration. It is constituted by perpetually professed members who participate either by right or by election and is conducted according to the procedure established by the Order of the chapter itself. The president of the chapter is the Superior General.
In addition, the G.C. has to verifying the progress made by the Institute in these years, it elects the new Superior General and her assistants who will support her in her service over the next six years.
This General Chapter is decisively contextualized within the ‘process of re-planning’ that is slowly training us, always starting from the reading and re-reading of reality done ‘together’ – through the exchange of different points of view – to a shared and more objective outlook on it to grasp the evangelical newness. We are invited to look ‘together’ at the ‘features’ of our Religious family as it is today, making use of the contribution of all, so as to promote a greater co-responsibility with regard to its life and mission and arrive at a shared outlook on the whole reality of the Institute, so that we may grasp what God wants from us today and build ‘together’ a common journey.
Let us invoke the Holy Spirit daily to obtain the ‘grace’ of discernment, to grasp the changes that the Lord asks of us in this ‘epochal change’, for the benefit of all humanity.