Portugal. We begin the third day of the Chapter with the enthusiasm of Fr. Miguel Gomes who in the Morning Prayer encouraged us to be “on fire with love and to spread its flames in a Claretian way.”
According to him, this is one of the means to prevent the failures found in the “Reports” of the Province from bringing us to the “death” provoked by sin, as we reflected earlier. The only death with Claretian meaning is the “life-giving death.”
After breakfast, we resumed the work in the Chapter Hall, with the reading of the minutes and the presentation of the evaluation done by the groups.
A beautiful moment of communion came with the reading of the messages sent by persons, Organisms and institutions who are accompanying us in our Chapter.
After that, a space was opened for a debate on the state of the Province. Fr. General concluded this session with a review of the process followed till now and thanked the past Provincial Government for the work done.
In the afternoon the Moderator in-charge, Fr. Trigo, presented to the Chapter the different modalities for the election of the Provincial Superior and for the duration of his term. It was decided that the Provincial will be elected by the Chapter members and that his term will be for six years.
Then Fr. Pina Ribeiro introduced the programmatical document to be worked in groups by the Chapter members.
The day was ended with the celebration of the Eucharist, presided over by Fr. Marçal who, at the end, gave each one a neckerchief to indicate the co-responsibility in mission.
