PARTICIPANTS IN GC26
Dear Members of the Chapter,
A month from the beginning of the GC26, I am sending you some information regarding the calendar of the Chapter Assembly.
1. As you already know, the Pilgrimage to Turin to the places with Salesian associations begins on Saturday 23 and ends on Monday 25 February. It will help us to create the spiritual and fraternal atmosphere needed in order to live the Chapter experience with fervour. I attach the programme for these days.
2. There are some Chapter members who will be going directly to Turin with their own transport; they have already received detailed information that regards them. Others will be arriving in Rome by Friday 22 February and from here will be leaving for Turin by coach provided by the Generalate; could these, as soon as possible, please let Fr Saimy have the information regarding their arrival in Rome: the date, time, company, flight number, the name of the airport. His e-mail address is: sezhanikatt@sdb.org
3. After the return to Rome from Turin, on the mornings of Tuesday 26 and Wednesday 27 there will be reports on the Departments and the Regions presented by the respective General Councillors responsible.
4. These will be followed by the Retreat from the afternoon of Wednesday 27 February until lunch on Sunday 2 March; that Sunday afternoon will be free. The days prior to the Retreat will be useful time to get to know each other and spend time together and will make it easier to spend the special spiritual time of retreat in an atmosphere of silence and recollection.
5. On Monday morning 3 March there will be the solemn Opening of the GC26; in the afternoon the Rector Major will give his Report. In the evening there will be a musical concert to mark the opening day.
6. From 3 March until the evening of 20 March there will be two and a half weeks of work. The evening celebration “In coena Domini” on Holy Thursday 20 March will be for everyone together. From the morning of Good Friday 21 March until the evening of Easter Sunday 23 March the GC26 will be suspended. The Easter Triduum will be solemnly celebrated in the Generalate.
7. Everyone needs to be present in the Generalate on the evening of Easter Sunday 23 March, because the next morning the discernment for the elections of the Rector Major and the General Council begin. The discernment will last for almost the whole week. Following our family tradition, it will be a good thing for the Provinces to be able to offer the Rector Major on his election a gift expressing our joy and closeness.
8. On Saturday 5 April towards the end of the morning it is planned to go to the catacombs of St Callistus for Mass in remembrance of the deceased Rector Majors. In the afternoon after lunch at the catacombs, it should be possible, about 14.00, to begin guided tours of these places of the Christian martyrs.
9. A change regarding the conclusion of the Chapter needs to be mentioned. After having examined the Working Document for GC26, prepared by the Precapitular Commission; and after having studied “a manner of operation that is more streamlined” of the General Chapter (GC25 136); after having further considered the practical consequences for the calendar of the new methodology of the Chapter, the Rector Major with the General Council has decided that the conclusion of the GC26 should be on Saturday 12 April. This might perhaps mean, for some, changing the bookings of air tickets, but it has only now been possible to decide on a reduction in the number of days.
I now provide some further information regarding life during the GC26.
10. Apart from those days already mentioned above, Saturday afternoons and Sundays will be free. On these days in the Generalate there will be first vespers on Saturday evening, Masss on Sunday morning and second vespers with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on Sunday evening. For those wanting to go away for the weekend, I should mention that it would be convenient to return to the Generalate on Sunday evening.
11. The Regional Councillors have already asked some of you to give a Good Night. Could I ask you to be good enough to let me have as soon as possible the text of the Good Night in Italian as well as in your own language.
12. On weekday mornings there is personal meditation held in common in various chapels allocated to language groups. For those who normally use this time for “lectio divina”, it will be useful to bring those books or other material that are necessary. On Saturday mornings we will have community “lectio divina.”
13. For the success of the GC26 various groups of the Salesian Family have assured us of their prayers and in particular the 32 Monasteries of the Visitation Sisters in Italy. With these enclosed Sisters of the Visitation we have a special spiritual affinity, as they were founded by St Francis of Sales and St Jane Francis de Chantal.
May the Holy Spirit enlighten us and Mary Help of Christians support us in our preparations. With heartfelt greetings and wishing you every blessing for the feast of Don Bosco
Fr Francesco Cereda
| Breakfast |
|
| 05.00 | Departure from Rome - cut lunch |
| 14.00 | Arrival - fix up rooms in hotels |
| 16.30 | Visit Church of St Francis of Assisi |
| 17.00 | Mass - Church of St Francis of Assisi: RM presides |
| 19.00 | Vespers - Basilica MHC |
| 19.30 | Buffet supper |
| 20.45 | Muscial - Don Bosco; Good night by RM |
| 22.00 | Return to hotels |
| Breakfast | |
| 08.30 | Lauds - Church of St Francis de Sales |
| 09.00 | Visit to Valdocco |
| 12.00 | Mass - Basilica of MHC; RM presides |
| 13.50 | Buffet lunch |
| 14.30 | Departure for Colle Don Bosco |
| 15.30 | Visit to Salesian spots at Colle and surrounds |
| 18.45 | Vespers - in Cottage and Temple of Don Bosco |
| 19.30 | Buffet supper |
| 21.00 | Return to Turin and hotels |
| Breakfast | |
| 08.30 | Lauds - Basilica of MHC |
| 08.30 | Visit Salesian spots |
| 12.00 | Mass - Card. Severino Poletti to preside |
| 13.15 | Lunch |
| 14.00 | Depart Turin for Rome - sandwiches for supper |
| 22.00 | Arrival in Rome |