A good night’s sleep does wonders! Ready to act, everyone was ready for breakfast and, fifteen minutes before the chapter was due to begin for the day, the room was buzzing with sisters who were ready for what the day would bring. It was the turn of the Belgium province to open the chapter with a short service of prayer and reflection. The reflections ended very appropriately with these words:

Let us look back to the past with gratitude, at the present with passion and embrace the future with hope.

The first subject to be discussed was an amendment to article IX.1 of the general statutes. The current statutes state that the general council consists of five members including the superior general. A majority vote in chapter today changed the statute so that the new council will now consist of four members, including the general superior.

Following this, the chapter members offered suggestions for themes for future international meetings (ICCs). Working in groups, the sisters came up with some key themes such as human rights, globalisation, sustainability and caring for the earth, connectedness, and sisters stressed the importance of finding ways to embed the learning from meetings into daily life. It is up to the new general council to look at the many suggestions and to decide on the theme and programmes of future meetings – always (of course) in good consultation and dialogue with the sisters in the congregation.

Communication was next on the agenda and sisters were asked to have a short discussion in groups about what they saw as the strengths and weaknesses of communication in the congregation at this time and how things could be improved. There was a great deal said about communication and people very much appreciated things such as the Briefing in its current form, the renewed website, the visits which council members make to the various parts of the congregation and how these face- to-face meetings help good communication. The younger sisters want the congregation to make more use of the possibilities of things like Facebook. It was also strongly recommended that the new general council take very seriously the need to promote English as the international language of the congregation.

In the 2016 ICB, the possibility of moving the generalate to Tilburg was also discussed. The chapter has unanimously agreed that this should happen in the long term. Tilburg is the place where the congregation was founded and is therefore an historical place. Relocating cannot happen immediately. It will be one of the tasks of the new general council to discuss and plan for this move in consultation with the Dutch province.

The afternoon was devoted to the election process for the new general council. The elections will happen tomorrow and we are sure that every sister in our congregation is waiting in great anticipation to hear the results.