Salesian Sisters Open Their 24th General Chapter

Salesian Sisters Open Their 24th General Chapter

(ANS – Rome – September 11, 2021) – On September 11 the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians opened their 24th General Chapter with the arrival of the chapter members at the Sisters’ Generalate in Rome. After the days of prayer “Listening to the Holy Spirit,” the chapter will officially take place from Friday, September 17, to October 24. Its theme is “‘Do whatever He tells you’ (John 2:5) - Communities that generate life in the heart of contemporaneity.”

The general chapter is a “powerful time for reflection and orientation for a community in search for the will of God” (C 135). All the FMAs, their educating communities, laity, and young people of the Salesian Family collaborate in the chapter experience with participation in prayer, study, and proposals. The purpose of the general chapter is to deal with topics relevant to the mission of the FMA Institute “for an ever more effective presence in the Church and in the world” (C 136).

The 172 participants in the chapter, coming from all continents, will be welcomed in compliance with all of Rome’s anti-Covid-19 measures and in a spirit of prudence. They will be witnesses to the charismatic journey of the 11,535 FMAs who, in the style of Don Bosco’s Preventive System, are committed to the educational, communicative, and evangelizing mission throughout the world.

Speaking of the general chapter, Mother General Yvonne Reungoat, in office for 13 years – two six-year terms plus an extraordinary year due to the postponement of the general chapter during the height of the pandemic – observed: “It is important for us that it take place in presence since being there allows us to increase the relationship, the knowledge among the FMA who participate, to walk together and to foster communion. It is an experience of faith and continuous discernment, to listen with a free and available heart to the calls of God present in history.... We feel the responsibility to build with young people the basis of the world of tomorrow.”

At the general chapter, after identifying guidelines for the 2021-2027 term, a week will be dedicated to discernment and invocation of the Holy Spirit for the election of the new Mother General and the members of the general council. “We also know that the future and the fruitfulness of the Institute greatly depend on the quality of animation and governance of the Superior General and her council,” adds Mother Reungoat.

As of 31 December 2020, the FMA are present in 97 countries:

-       in Africa, 628 in 26 countries;

-       in the Americas, 3,366 in 23 countries;

-       in Asia, 2,886 in 22 countries;

-       in Europe, 4,597 in 22 countries;

-       in Oceania, 58 in 4 countries.

The FMAs express the vitality and expansion of the Salesian charism across the globe. And the theme of 24th General Chapter makes explicit the objective that the Institute proposes: to awaken the original freshness of the vocational fruitfulness of the FMA Institute.

It will be possible to follow the GC24 online:

-       on the institutional website of the FMA Institute;

-       on Facebook;

-       in the shared space to download the materials;

-       On Flickr to see all the photos.

Also, it will be possible to view some of the most important moments via livestream. The first will be on Friday, September 17, at 7:00 a.m. (UTC + 2), featuring Mass presided over by Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime, followed by the official opening of the 24th General Chapter at 9:30 a.m.