Sr. Lilia Nuesca, Sr. Charito Balancin, and Sr. Maria Elena Adre, our very own delegates to the XVII General Chapter in Rome, Italy on August 7-30, 2022 left last July 24th. Sr. Eugenia Umaclap, the 4th delegate is already in Rome since June 30 to resume her Temporary Service there. Upon arrival, they were accommodated in Don Orione convent for quarantine and subsequent swab tests. Later they will be transferred to the Chapter venue at the International Center in Ottavia, Rome. They are among the 66 participants who will elect the Congregation’s new set of leaders in the General Council and chart the future of the Institute through the resolutions and directives that will be enacted in this Chapter to “ promote renewal, discern God’s will regarding the Institute through the signs of the times, and respond adequately to the appeals of the Church and the world” (RL #84). The theme that will guide the deliberations and reflections throughout this event will be, “Women of the Word loving without measure, Reconfiguration to a life of Holiness in and for the mission today”. The meaning of the logo which was released by the Institute’s website expresses the portrait of a woman, attracted by Christ, alive and a protagonist in the Church, who knows how to read the struggles and expectations of our time. Enlightened by the Word, she listens, celebrates, and announces to everyone the message entrusted to her by the testimony of her life, in a new language. She is a ray of light, overcoming barriers and obstacles, meeting the whole world, animating it with new life. (https://www.canossian.org/blog/2022/07/20/the-logo-of-the-17th-general-chapter/)
The XVII General Chapter was supposedly celebrated last March 5, 2020, but was postponed many times due to strict safety precautions that have been in effect globally because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, that the delegates can freely travel albeit with some precautions, the obstacles to gathering in person for this momentous event in the Institute have waned.
The communities have been offering intense prayers for the delegates and the proceedings of the General Chapter so that “creative responses and new ways of service may be carried out with realism, foresight, and enthusiasm (M. Anna Maria Babbini, October 7, 2021).
May the Holy Spirit and Our Blessed Mother together with Mother Foundress and M. Bakhita accompany them throughout this event.