A Direct Line
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Rome – The new General Minister, Br. Roberto Genuin, presided at his first meeting of the General Council of the Order, held from November 12 to 24, 2018, at our General Curia. As we have previously reported, the recent General Chapter (August 26 to September 15), according to the our Constitutions, provided for the renewal of these roles at the highest level of the Order’s governance.
Thus, those elected, the General Minister and his ten councilors, having wrapped up their service in their respective circumscriptions, arrived at the Curia and settled in, where they have begun together their new service to the Order. As the Constitutions state, “the responsibility of the councilors is to assist the general minister in the governance of the whole Order.” (125, 7) Each councilor is assigned to a particular geographical area, according to language and where he is from. During his term, the General Minister can delegate the Councilors to preside at chapters and to carry out visitations in the circumscriptions of the Order.
The General Council meets five times a year to discuss the matters of the Order. The General Minister, assisted by the General Secretary, prepares the agenda for each meeting. Each of the councilors is invited to express his own opinion on matters under discussion, according to the agenda and the General Minister’s instructions. These include following up on previous work, discussions of chapters, and written reports prepared after visitations.
This being the first meeting of the Council for the new sexennium, the General Minister, wishing to give it a special accent, had the gathering begin with a time for prayer and retreat at the friary of Frascati outside Rome. Br. Raniero Cantalamessa, Preacher to the Papal Household, offered the Council a meditation that touched on administration in the Order. After the days of retreat the General Minister and councilors returned to the Curia, where they took up the agenda of the meeting.
As the first act of his administration, the General Minister wrote a letter to all the friars of the General Curia and houses directly dependent on him, in which he confirmed everyone’s assignments until such time as he makes some other provision.