STONY POINT, N.Y. - As the cardinal electors began the conclave in Rome I was participating in day two of a more humble, somewhat less noteworthy assemblage of ecclesiastics here in Rockland County. The Salesian's of the Eastern U.S. and Canada are holding our triennial meetings known as the Provincial Chapter. Every Salesian Province world wide are holding them at some point during this year as a way to prepare for the General Chapter taking place in Rome coming up next year. Those world wide meetings happen every six years, so that the local chapters that don't line up with them handle issues particular to the given province. The other difference between the chapter I'm on now and those "off year" chapters is that we will elect a delegate to accompany the provincial to Rome for the three months of meetings that will begin in February, 2014.
If it sounds exciting, it's not. The going can be deadly tedious. Right now is not so bad. Actually, what we're doing is pretty important. We are debating the very meaning of our life as disciples of Christ, and how we are and should be living it out as sons of Don Bosco in 2013. Today focused on our life as mystics, which always a slippery wicket. Ours is a active, apostolic congregation that sees action as a key part of our spirituality. At the same time we are being called to explore what some consider more monastic forms of spirituality in order to avoid superficiality and an activism that can blind us from remembering why we are engaging all the hard work of our everyday life. The small group discussions have been fruitful. We don't always agree with each other, but it is in the disagreements and the attempt to reconcile the differences that I believe the Spirit is often speaking to us.
The tedious part will come when the writing committee comes back with an initial draft and we have to all agree on wording. Have you ever seen 44 men argue over the placement of a comma? It's not pretty, let me tell you. Once it's done the final document is sent off to our generalate in Rome, and hopefully it will make some impact on the proceedings their next year.
These meetings will go on until Monday, the 18th. The cardinals will have done their work and elected a pope by then, or at least I hope and pray. Obviously we are in meetings all day and most evenings, so we are not glued to the TV. The advent of smart phones and tablets have made sneaking a peak at the various news feeds a bit easier. It was like March Madness today, but we were looking to see what color the smoke was coming out of the Sistine Chapel as opposed to which teams were getting knocked off our brackets.
Well, one bright spot is the nightly social we have where we get to just relax and enjoy eachother's company. So I am off, and will be back soon with more thoughts on the goings on at the Vatican and Stony Point.
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