IV. THE GENERAL COUNCIL

1. Composition

The Chapter decided that the Brother Econome General and the Brother Secretary General would no longer be necessarily members of the General Council, and that they would be appointed by the Brother Superior General and his Council.

It extended to two, the number of members that the General Council can coopt to the General Council.

These decisions change some of the Statutes. See further on: "The New Statutes".

2. Style of Government

Before the election of the members of the General Council, and as a preparation for the elections, the Commission for Animation and Government presented the following reflections to the Chapter.

"The members of the Commission for Animation and Government submit to the Assembly the results of their reflections on the General Council to be elected by this XIX General Chapter.

The following ideas are offered merely as a help to understanding the Commission’s proposals on the composition and election of the General Council.

The definitions given for Regionalisation and Restructuring have no bearing on the composition of the General Council to be elected.

Regionalisation is accepted as a dynamic of government and animation which is submitted to the General Council for study and any necessary action.

Restructuring is desired by the Chapter, which entrusts it to the General Council to be studied and put into practice.

In electing the General Councillors, we need to keep these three principles in mind: competence, representation, complementarity.

The Brothers Secretary General and Econome General are not necessarily Councillors. They are named by Brother Superior General, acting collegially with his Council.

Brother Superior General, Brother Vicar General and the General Councillors govern and animate the Institute in such a way as to keep alive the Charism of Father Champagnat in our time and our cultures, in the spirit of this XIX General Chapter.

Finally we would like to hope that:

—        the visits made to the various administrative units will promote greater contact with the Brothers, by seeing to the follow-up and evaluation of the time spent there. The frequency and type of visits, and the composition of the visit teams, will be determined according to the hoped-for results.

—        the themes of the XIX General Chapter will be priorities for action during the term of office of this General Council."

3. Elections

For the XIX General Chapter the procedures and methods of election of the Brother Superior General, the Brother Vicar General and of the Brothers Councillors General were as follows.

3.1 Brother Superior General and Brother Vicar General

A procedure requiring two days of discernment was adopted.

First Day: Morning

1.  Personal Prayer and Reflection

Objective. To consider this question:

What are we likely to expect from Brother Superior General and Brother Vicar General during the next eight years if we consider the spirit of this General Chapter?

2. Sharing in seven (7) inter-linguistic groups.

Afternoon (The afternoon and evening hours are a time of quiet and prayer).

3.  Personal prayer and reflection:

Discernment of names of Brother Superior General and Brother Vicar General.

4.  1600h Gather in the Chapel:

A brief ceremony during which the papers with the two names will be collected.

5.  Brothers Charles HOWARD and Basilio RUEDA make an alphabetical listing of the proposed names, without any mention of frequency; each capitulant is given a copy of the list. Brothers can personally seek information about the people who appear on the list.

Second Day. Morning: Election of Brother Superior General

Afternoon: Discernment. Election of Brother Vicar General

1800: Eucharist

3.2 Brothers Councillors General

Eight General Councillors are elected by the General Chapter.

A. Five Councillors are elected from nominations presented by the language groups, as follows:

1.         Two Councillors are elected from a list of six names presented by the Spanish language group.

2.         One Councillor is elected from a list of three names presented by the English language group.

3.         One Councillor is elected from a list of three names presented by the French language group.

4. One Councillor is elected from a list of three names presented by the Portuguese language group.

B. These four lists are presented to the Capitulants the day before the first election. The Councillors are elected one after the other in the following manner:

First stage: A period of discernment followed by the election of five Councillors, chosen from the nominations presented by the language groups.

Second stage: A period of discernment followed by open nominations. Nominations are made as follows:

1.         Each capitulant, keeping in mind the principles of competence, representation, and complementarity, nominates three Brothers for election as Councillor General.

2.         A list (in alphabetical order) of the twelve Brothers most frequently nominated, is distributed to Capitulants.

Third stage: A period of discernment followed by the election of three Councillors, elected one after the other, from the list of nominations.