The 31st General Chapter opened today in Ariccia, with a liturgy celebrated by Fr. Robert M. Egan, CSV, Superior General. The setting was the main chapel in Casa Divin Maestro, where they are meeting for the next three weeks.
“We Viatorians gather here in Ariccia to reflect on the future and to discern the will of the Father for our Congregation,” Fr. Egan said in his homily. “We seek the wisdom of the Spirit as we begin our gathering with a week of communal discernment, spending time in prayer, discussion and reflection, listening to the whisperings of the Spirit to each of us.”
In attendance at the General Chapter are 40 delegates from the Provinces, Regions and Foundations, along with nearly 20 support personnel. Casa Divin Maestro is set in beautiful Ariccia, on the wooded slopes of Lake Albano and in the Alban hills outside of Rome.
The first week of the Chapter will be spent in in prayer, listening, dialogue among the delegates engaged in a communal discernment process designed to hear the promptings of the Spirit. The second two weeks will be designed to allow the delegates to respond to the 26 questions that constitute the agenda of the 31st General Chapter.
“We Viatorians announce that we are sent to proclaim Jesus Christ and to raise up communities where faith is lived, deepened and celebrated,” Fr. Egan said. “We will reflect in the days ahead how we might deepen that mission and perhaps discover new ways to live out that charism in a world so in need of the Gospel message.”
While Fr. Egan welcomed everyone to the beauty and serenity of the Alban hills, he also asked that members of the worldwide Viatorian Community keep the delegates and staff in their prayers in the coming days of July.
“St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians reminding them that they were being build together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit,” he concluded. “That is our prayer today as well, confident that the Spirit will infuse in us the courage and energy to look to the future with a deep hope and trust in the collective discernment that these days will offer us. We come from across the globe to bring our experience of Viatorian life and mission together and to share the hope that the founding vision of Father Querbes will continue to grow and flourish in those places that the Lord calls us to minister and witness.”