Posted on: 06 June 2022

Author:Sister Joan Kerley

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Feast of Pentecost 5th June 2022

Dear Sisters

19th General Chapter 2023

Directive 46: “An Ordinary General Chapter is convoked by a circular letter from the Congregational Leader to every community of the Congregation, at least nine months before the Chapter is to be celebrated”

In compliance with our Constitutions and Directives, we hereby give notice that the 19th General Chapter of the Franciscan Missionaries of St Joseph is convoked today, the Feast of Pentecost 2022.

The Chapter will take place from Sunday 4th – Thursday 15th June 2023 and the venue will be Our Lady and Lancashire Martyrs Parish Hall, Little Hulton, Manchester, England.
The theme of our Chapter is “A New Vision for the Journey” and is inspired by the Scripture “Behold I make all things new” (Rev.21:5).

Since our 2017 General Chapter we have tried to listen to what God is asking us to do, to discern where He is leading us and this led us to ask you all to participate in a process to seek a new structure for the governance of the Congregation. We then invited you to help us to rewrite our Constitutions and Directives to reflect Religious Life today and for the future.

When we began to think about our Chapter we prayed about what our theme would be and what Scripture would inspire us. We had a powerful answer to prayer when all of came up with more or less the same Scripture passage and then similar themes which we then narrowed down. These reflect our desire to follow the call of Pope Francis in New Wineskins “to create structures that are truly fit to preserve the innovative richness of the Gospel and to recognise that change requires both discernment and acceptance.” (New Wineskins Para 2)

Today we are writing to you to invite you on the journey of preparation for our Chapter and we hope everyone will participate in as far as they are able and wish to do so.

We ask that the Holy Spirit will give us all the openness of heart and mind to accept the changes we have agreed for our future. As we move to the next stage of our FMSJ journey let us trust deeply in the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us, maintaining our Gospel and Franciscan values and remaining true to our Charism so that our Chapter will be a prayerful, reflective and discerning celebration.

In the near future you will receive a copy of the Chapter prayer and very soon we will begin the election of Delegates.

United in prayer,

Sister Maureen Murphy, FMSJ
Congregational Leader and the Congregational Leadership Team