Roma, 24 September 2004
Prot. N° 0000 132/04
Dear Confreres,
May grace, mercy and peace be yours from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord (1 Tim 1, 2).
I am writing to inform you of an important decision taken by the General Council during our last extraordinary session, August 30 – September 6, 2004. After consulting the major superiors of the Congregation, we have selected six confreres to form the Commission for Restructuring, which was requested by the XXIII General Chapter (Orientations 11.3). You may recall from my previous letter that the General Council had opted to look for one confrere from each of the large Regions of the Congregation. The members of the Commission are:
Juan Manuel LASSO DE LA VEGA Y MIRANDA (Madrid, Region of Europe South)
Cornelius CASEY (Dublin, Region of Europe North)
Guy PILOTE (Ste-Anne de Beaupré, Region of North America)
José Ulysses DA SILVA (São Paulo, Region of Latin America)
Brendan KELLY (Cebu, Region of Asia – Oceania)
Lawrence KAUFMANN (South Africa, Region of Africa)
The General Council is very satisfied with the composition of the Commission. We feel that these confreres reflect the great diversity in our religious family while sharing a zealous appreciation for the future of our missionary work. I am grateful to each of them for their generosity in accepting the invitation to make a lasting contribution to the Congregation. It is a particular joy to note the willingness of the Superior General emeritus to bring his vast experience to this important task.
We have scheduled for December of this year a joint meeting between the General Council and the Commission for Restructuring. Several consultors are now preparing a working document to guide our work. I ask all of you to remember the Commission in your personal and community prayer.
May the Lord show us how the Congregation can be ever more faithful in our vocation to announce the Good News to the abandoned poor.
Fraternally,
Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R.
Superior General
