3403 Took a little longer ...
austraLasia #3403

 

Took a little longer ...

ROME: 26 March 2014
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It would appear that the election of the Vicar was not as straightforward as it might have initially seemed, but the Holy Spirit has never promised it would be easy!

The Vicar of the Rector Major is:
Fr Francis Cereda

Meanwhile, the Rector Major, Fr Artime, has given his first homily, and given that it is the first homily, (and a brief one) it is worth offering the substance of it here.

The show moves on - the next lot of elections is for the Sector Councils, in order of C. 133: Formation (has to be a new person), youth ministry, social communication, missions, economer general

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It has been a day of surprises - perhaps for many yesterday was also a day of surprises! The Holy Spirit has really been asked to step in and blow where he wills, and quite possibly the  day to come will bring other surprises. Since everything is done by way of secret ballot and scrutiny it is obviously not possible to deal with all the ins and outs. The Chapter's voice is a powerful one and when it speaks, having called in the Holy Spirit to guide and be with it - it speaks!

The Vicar of the Rector Major is:
We congratulate him.

RM's homily

“So now Israel, give heed...
...so that you may live
to enter and occupy the land that the Lord,
the God of your ancestors...” (Dt 4:1)

My dear confreres,
I have been invited to preside at this Mass at the beginning of my service as Rector Major. I renew my thanks to the Chapter members for the great trust you have placed in me and to all of you for your affection and support.
As I said last night in the Goodnight, this is not the time for a programmatic presentation. I want to continue with the sharing of the heart,  taking up the dialogue once more between God who loves us so much, and ourselves.
1.
I feel that the Lord is saying to me yet again: “So now, my son give heed...” 
He is asking me to listen attentively, give heed to all of you, the entire Salesian Family, the cry of the young...
And he is asking me to listen together with my brothers, together with you and never without you.  Just like in our Chapter work, first of all, listening...
How could a pastor, a shepherd walk on ahead, amidst or either behind his sheep without listening? His Word and His presence amongst us is an evident sign of His love.
Don Bosco was a man who listened: he knew how to interpret the needs of his most abandoned boys. When he was a young priest, he attended courses at the Pastoral Institute (Convitto), then later he visited prisons and heard the cry of the young there and began to think of a more appropriate way to respond:
On such occasions I found out how quite a few were brought back to that place; it was because they were abandoned to their own resources. "Who knows?" I thought to myself, "if these youngsters had a friend outside who would take care of them, help them, teach them religion on feast days ... Who knows but they could be steered away from ruin, or at least the number of those who return to prison could be lessened? I talked this idea over with Fr Caffasso. With his encouragement and inspiration I began to work out in my mind how to put the idea into practice, leaving to the Lord's grace what the outcome would be. Without God's grace, all human effort is vain”
2.
Invited to listen so we will live.
Is this not the keen desire that each of us has? The keen desire of every young person? The reason for their cry? To live fully, live a high standard of Christian life, live as holy people. True men and true men of God: holiness together, community holiness because it is in the light of the Trinitarian experience.
During our pilgrimage to Don Bosco’s places at the beginning of the Chapter, we recalled Don Bosco’s first circular to the Salesians (9 June 1867):
The first aim of our Society is the sanctification of its members. Therefore let each one as he enters strip himself of any thought, any other concern”.
Our way of living out our holiness is by offering a vital and significant response to the needs of the young, especially those who are loneliest, most disadvantaged, most at risk because no one cares about them.
And certainly this is a response we experience together, as brothers at their service, as consecrated and lay, members of a vast movement of people5 who go about witnessing to the radical approach of the Gospel of this part of the Church: the Salesian Family.
3.
Finally, listening and living so we can enter and take possession of the land the Lord gives us: the land of the world of the young in all its different aspects, in the new digital world and also in the ancient and traditional places where we find them.
The land of the global playground where our Congregation dwells and expresses itself today. Entering into possession of the land does not mean being its owners but being servants, as Moses was on Sinai, taking off our sandals because the life of the young is sacred, indeed the life of the young is  really the burning bush from which the Lord speaks to us in our hearts and awaits us to encounter Him.
Listen, live, enter into the land pointed out by the Lord.
Only with the power of the Spirit manifested through us in these days, in our discernment and Chapter work can we listen with the heart, live as the Gospel wants – radically, and serve the young, our holy land, as God’s humble farmers.
May Mary our Help and our Mother accompany us along every step.

Reminder of the next steps
According to deliberation 8 of GC27 regarding the election of the Sector councillors now varies from how it was done earlier.  A reminder of deliberation 8:
The 27th General Chapter,
in reference to article 141 of the Constitutions and 126, 127 and 128 of the Regulations, regarding the way of electing the Rector Major and General Council members, considering that, in the discernment phase for electing the sector Councillors, there is a need:
- to identify the most appropriate candidates for their abilities and skills;
- encourage shared responsibility and participation by all the Regions “in choosing those responsible for government” (C. 123) at the world level;
- to involve Chapter members, meeting by regions, in a discernment process that matures through dialogue and common research;
- bring about convergence on some candidates,

decides that the election of Sector Councillors will be preceded by a discernment by Chapter members divided by Region, on the principle challenges of the sector and the profile of the candidate. This discernment process will conclude by proposing to the Assembly a candidate from one’s own Region and one from outside that Region, identified by secret vote and scrutiny. Article 127 of the Regulations will be modified accordingly.

So it will happen in the following way:

1. In regions, they begin by reading the articles of the Constitutions regarding the Sector councillor. These are: 135, 136, 137, 138, 139.
2. Then those taking part in the meeting will be asked to speak up, propose some names of people from the Region for individual sectors; and likewise, some names of confreres from other Regions. The names of current General Councillors – who may be re-elected – can be amongst the names indicated for that Region or another: this is the case for all General Councillors except the Councillor for Formation, Fr Francesco Cereda.
3. The coordinator proposes two scrutineers and a secretary. At this point they continue with a straw vote by secret scrutiny for each of the five sector councillors with names from the Region. They try to arrive at a broad consensus. Then they move to a final vote again by secret ballot. In the straw and final ballot each member of the Region should indicate but one name only.
4. After concluding the final ballot for names of sector councillors for the Region, they then begin the same process for indicating names of confreres from other Regions for sector councillor, following step 3.
5. At the end of the Regional meeting they give Fr José, who is guiding the overall discernment, the list with the name of the confrere from the Region who has received most votes for each sector. The same goes for the name of the confrere from other Regions for each sector who has received most votes. For each confrere indicated on that list handed over, the number of votes obtained and the number who voted is indicated.
6. It is up to the discernment guide, in agreement with the Rector Major, to choose how to indicate the result of the discernment by Regions. In this case deliberation 8 of GC27, approved last week is applied.