On 16th March 2023, Fr Rogério Gomes, the Superior General and the entire Council met with all the members of every Secretariat and Commission of the Congregation. The online meeting was held at 2 pm (Rome time) and had 71 Confreres and Lay Partners present from all the 5 Conferences of the Congregation (Europe, South America and the Caribbean, North America, Africa and Madagascar, and Asia Oceania).
Fr Rogério, after thanking the participants for accepting to be members of the Secretariats and Commissions, spelt out the vision of the General Government as the primary animating body of the Congregation for the entire Sexennium. All the Secretariats and Commissions are to work as ONE Missionary Body so that there is no duplication of work, nor fragmentation of ideas and activities but rather different institutions and organisms of the ONE Missionary Body of the Congregation animating the Vita Apostolica of the entire Congregation.
The General Council on the 15th March, the feast of St. Clement, approved the vision, objectives and plan for each Secretariat and Commission for the Sexennium. This plan will soon be taken up in the forthcoming meetings of each Secretariat and Commission, which will then spell out their plans by mid-June 2023 so that the entire group can work as One Missionary Body.
The following are the various Secretariats (Finance, Formation, Evangelisation, Spirituality, and the O.Ss.R.), and the following are the Various Commissions (Partnership for Mission, Safeguarding for Mission, RYVM, Brothers, Justice and Peace and Integrity of Creation, Communication and Media, Historical Institute and Archives, Africa and Madagascar, and the Prefecture of the Church of St. Alphonsus in Rome).
After the presentation by Fr Rogério, there was a time for questions and clarifications, and the meeting concluded with a few words of thanks and blessing from Fr Rogério Gomes. It’s time to get to work now as we animate the entire Congregation following the call from the XXVI General Chapter to be Missionaries of Hope in the Footsteps of the Redeemer.
Joseph Ivel Mendanha, C.Ss.R.
Consultor General
