ROME
Legionaries of Christ
Cardinal De Paolis celebrates Legionaries’ General Chapter Opening Mass
The opening Mass for the extraordinary general chapter of the Legionaries of Christ was held at 6:30 this afternoon in the chapel of the Legion’s Center of Higher Studies, located in Rome. Cardinal Velasio De Paolis presided the Mass and delivered the homily, which can be found here. 60 of the chapter fathers concelebrated, along with many other Legionary priests.
The Mass comes at the end of a novena to the Holy Spirit that all Legionaries participated in and an 8 day silent retreat in which the chapter fathers sought light and guidance from God for this important step in the life of the Legion and Regnum Christi.
Tomorrow, January 9th, the formal discussions begin. The two specific tasks of the general chapter are to approve the draft of the Legion’s constitutions and to elect a new government for the Legion.
In his homily, Cardinal De Paolis addressed each of these tasks.
Regarding the approval of the constitutions, he said: “The constitutions that you give yourselves will therefore not be simply a code of laws that unites you only externally in discipline, but the text will be an expression of a common vocation, a common ideal, a common mission, a common path to healing, an impulse to strive in common striving for the fulfillment of God’s plan for the congregation and for each of you, for the glory of God and service to the Church and to the Legion. The heart of the constitutions is the charism, or spiritual patrimony, of the Institute. The Pope, although he showed us that the main purpose of the journey undertaken and the Chapter should be the review and approval of the constitutions, also stressed that in such a work, the very charism of the Institute should be examined in depth. In fact, the constitutions must contain the vocation and identity of the Institute (that is, its charism or spiritual patrimony) and the fundamental norms for its protection, advancement and progress. This has been the concern in drafting the text, and the Chapter should have the same concern when approving the new text to be submitted to the Holy Father.”
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