The Californian Region recently had their Chapter meeting in preparation for the General Chapter later this year. Here they report on what happened:
“grace filled”, “energizing”, lifegiving”, “hopeful”, “peace-fiilled”, “moved us to action”, “got us into ‘thinking chapter’”, “time to share at meals with many sisters and contribute in small groups”, “into spirit of Chapter”.
These were some of the sisters’ comments at the end of the Regional Chapter weekend held in The Holiday Inn from January 4 to the 6th, 2013. The positive outcome was a result of the prayer, reflection and participation of each sister during the year, the careful and detailed planning by the Pre chapter Planning committee and the gentle, skilled facilitation by Sr. Joyce Meyer PBVM.
Sr. Joyce encouraged us to reflect quietly on the vision underlying all proposals, not staying with a particular one but with the heart beneath them all. Also to enter into Mother Mary Aikenhead’s vision with me for the congregation for the next six years and carrying M.M.A. within ourselves ask the question “How do proposals fit into the vision?” What do you want to look like considering the vision? Each sister was invited to commit herself to one of the four groups to help write a proposal keeping in mind the questions:
- How will it move the Congregation into our desired future?
- How does it add value to treasures already uncovered?
- How might younger members view this proposal?
To help with the format we needed to ask:
- How will the proposal help the Congregation to meet the challenges of the world in the next 6 years?
- How can it be implemented and by whom?
As we were still in the Christmas season, our liturgies called us to continue to celebrate the treasure of Christ as light and to allow this light to shine through us, opening our hearts to be more and more inclusive. The liturgies were joyfilled including song, dance, short videos and the offering of gifts of light, oil and gold by three sisters in the Mass of Epiphany. We are grateful to staff of the Holiday Inn – they bade us farewell saying, “It was a pleasure for us to serve you guys.”
