Report General Chapter, Denekamp

Saturday, 25 August 2018.

Today is the last day of the Chapter. Liturgically, 25 August was the feast of Saint Louis, therefore it was reasonable that our morning prayer focused on some letters written by Msgr. Louis H. Rutten, our Founder. We gave the theme of  our morning prayer as “Some Moments with Msgr. L.H. Rutten”. We reflected on “Passages from letters written by. Msgr. Rutten.

On the last day of our chapter we started the morning session with voting on the General Chapter Message prepared by a committee. The result of the voting was a anonymous acceptance of the message. After a short break we continued with sharing from the two outgoing members of the General Council namely Bro. Guido Sukarman and Bro. Martin Handoko. They expressed their experiences and feelings during their functioning as members of the General Council. They were  happy that they tried their best to serve the congregation as a whole. Now it is their wish to go back to their home province and continue to serve the people.

Next was the evaluation of the chapter. The agenda committee prepared some questionnaires to help us focus the evaluation on certain areas, among others venue, content, time, etc. In general most of us were very satisfied with the proceedings and the resolutions of the chapter. Even we experienced that this chapter was one of the best we ever had. Everything went as smoothly and peacefully as possible. The atmosphere was very brotherly and showed the spirit of unity, solidarity and internationality.

To conclude,  the chairman of the chapter Bro. Martinus Handoko read out article 124 of the Constitutions describing the necessary procedure to officially close the General Chapter, which can only be done after the agenda has been completed and with the permission of the absolute majority of the members. Therefore he asked the permission of the Chapter members to conclude this 35th General Chapter. All 30 Chapter members voted by hand raising that they agreed to the closure of this Chapter. The chairman then invited the General Superior elect, Bro. Augustine Kubdaar, to deliver his closing address. At 12.35 the chairman officially closed the chapter followed by lunch together.

In the afternoon we concluded the chapter in a Eucharistic celebration. This celebration was integrated with the commissioning of the chapter message and the resolutions to the brothers to all provinces and Religious House the Netherlands. Each Provincial Superior on behalf of their fellow brothers received a candle and the chapter message from the General Superior. By this Eucharistic celebration we really concluded our chapter before God and asked God to continue to bless and to guide us to be able to witnesses God’s love to people, and to continue the “Story of the FIC Congregation” whenever and wherever we are.

By: Theodorus Suwariyanto