In January 2020, the Legionaries of Christ, the Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi and the Lay Consecrated Men of Regnum Christi will begin their General Chapters and General Assemblies in Rome, Italy. These General Chapters and Assemblies are called “Ordinary” General Chapters or Assemblies because they occur on an ordinary schedule of every six years, at the end of a general director’s term, as opposed to the “Extraordinary” General Chapters and Assemblies that occurred as special events in 2018 when the Regnum Christi Federation was canonically instituted.
129 §1. A general chapter can be ordinary or extraordinary. It is ordinary when it is convened at the established time — the end of the general director’s term. Otherwise, it is extraordinary.
130 §1. It pertains to the general chapter
1° to assess the state of the Congregation — above all from the reports of the general director and the territorial directors — and examine the most important matters proposed by the territorial assemblies or by individual members of the Congregation;
2° to elect the general director, the general councilors and the general administrator, if elections are being held;
3° to adopt the most opportune measures to safeguard the spirit of the Congregation, foster its development and appropriate renewal, promote the mission, engage the challenges and deal with the most important problems;
4° if pertinent, to make any needed modifications to the Constitutions, which will have to be presented to the Holy See for approval; to modify or approve the secondary codes of proper law that fall under the jurisdiction of the general chapter; and to issue directives in chapter decrees;
–Constitutions of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ
The General Assembly of the Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi will be held from the 19th of January to the 27th of February at their General Directorate in Rome, Italy, with 47 members from around the world participating . This includes six members of the North American Territory.
Nancy Nohrden: territorial director of the North American Territory, will participate ex-officio (Cumming, Georgia).
Betty Rivera: director of the consecrated community and section director for the RC Women’s section (Manila, Philippines).
Michelle Reiff: territorial secretary and auxiliary territorial administrator (Cumming, Georgia).
Maria Knuth: director of ECYD for North America, member of the territorial Mission Support Team and ECYD auxiliary (Cincinnati, Ohio).
Sonia Baldwin: territorial administrator (Cumming, Georgia).
Kathleen Murphy: director of the consecrated community (Chicago, Illinois).
The full list of participants is available here.
The General Chapter of the Legionaries of Christ will begin on January 20th, and will likely extend into the end of February or even the beginning of March, depending on the time needed by the chapter fathers to address the topics necessary. Of the 66 participants, eight are priests from the North American Territory.
Fr. John Connor, LC: participates ex-officio as the territorial director (Cumming, Georgia).
Fr. John Bartunek, LC: superior of the community, author and Creative Director of Product Development for the Regnum Christi Spirituality Center (Detroit, Michigan).
Fr. Shawn Aaron, LC: territorial vicar (Cumming, Georgia).
Fr. David Daly, LC: territorial counselor (Cumming, Georgia).
Fr. Kevin Meehan, LC: president & rector of the Novitiate and College of Humanities (Cheshire, Connecticut).
Fr. John Pietropaoli, LC: superior of the community, territorial counselor and territorial prefect of studies (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
Fr. Owen Kearns, LC: chaplain of the RC Men’s Section, RC Women’s Section, and community of Consecrated Women (Dallas, Texas).
Fr. Michael Brisson, LC: territorial secretary and chaplain of the Consecrated Women’s community (Cumming, Georgia).
Fr. Mark Haydu, LC, and Fr. Raymond Cosgrave, LC, were elected as substitutes in case any of the other priests are unable to participate. The complete list of priests participating in the General Chapter is available here.
The Lay Consecrated Men of Regnum Christi will hold their General Assembly from January 29th, to February 15th at their General Directorate in Rome. The 24 members participating include
José Mateos: territorial director of Mexico & North America.
Those who wish to pray for and follow along with the general events of the chapter and assemblies may do so in several ways:
- Visit the special General Chapter and General Assembly websites (Spanish) set up by the lay consecrated men, consecrated women, and the Legionaries of Christ.
- Sign up for the RC This Week and Special Announcements Email Newsletters from Regnum Christi English, which will carry periodic updates.
Follow them on Social Media @legionofchrist (English), @consecratedwomen (English), and @consagradosRC (Spanish).
