September 21, Feast of Saint Matthew. Both the morning prayer and the evening Eucharist were dedicated to the Evangelist. In the Communal Wisdom Prayer, the reading from James 2:14-26 was read, then each capitulant reflected on the text personally first and then in prayer groups.
Fr. Simone Volavola was the host of the day. He took care of communicating the daily housekeeping: the ordination anniversaries of Fr. Joe McGee and Fr. Herman Van Dijck, as well as the anniversary of their first vows and those of Fr. Carl Tranter, Fr. Michael Curran, and Fr. Ton Zwart.
The day marked the end of the process of discernment and of work with the documents provided by the General Administration, which were presented and commented on during the Online Pre-Chapter sessions.
- Finance: As in the previous sessions, the morning began with a personal reflection, followed by a presentation in groups. At the end, there was a plenary wherein the capitulants were able to ask direct questions to the people in charge of drafting the document: Fr. Absalon, Fr. Chris Chaplin, Ms. Sofia Amante, Fr. Benny Laisana, and Fr. Michael Huber.
- Laity: The morning ended with a presentation by Frances, facilitator, on the new role of the laity in the Church and the impulse that Pope Francis is giving them. The session was completed by the interventions and testimonies of Ms. Alison McKenzie, Secretary General of the International Council of the Lay Chevalier Family; Mr. Javier Trapero, Responsible for Communications in Spain Province; and Ms. Doris Maldonado, Deputy in the International Council of the Lay Chevalier Family and a lay missionary.
The afternoon’s work dealt with the final topics on the documents of the General Administration:
- Secretariat, Communication, Archives, and Postulation: topics that required less time for dialogue but are of utmost importance for the overall development of the congregation.
Then it was time to conclude the work on the documents provided by the General Administration, and Joe, as facilitator, encouraged the whole assembly of capitulants to have a moment of discernment and to make a synthesis of what had been discussed in these working sessions.
At the end of the day’s work, a Mass was celebrated, presided by Fr. Carl Tranter, in which he reflected on the call of St. Matthew and how his particular vocation and transformation story could resonate with our own discipleship stories.
