Chapter 2008

July 21 – Week 2
Delegates to the Chapter
You may be asking, "Who attends a General Chapter?" The delegates are made up of ex-officio and elected members.

The ex-officio members are: the superior general, members of the central team, the secretary general, the treasurer general, the provincials, the previous superior general and a member of the international formation team.

The number of elected members must exceed that of the ex-officio members. Each province elects one member. Provinces having more than 200 members elect an additional delegate.

In order to ensure participation of younger sisters, another delegate will be elected in those provinces having 10 or more members under 51 years of age. Because of this, the United States has a third delegate.

At this chapter the United States Province will have the provincial, Kathleen Conan, and three delegates, Barbara Bowe, Carolyn Osiek, and Ellen Collesano.

Clare Pratt, Superior General of the Society of the Sacred Heart, in her opening address at the Chapter described the demographics of the group of delegates gathered in Lima, Peru in the following way:

Who are we? A community of eighty-six delegates representing forty-three countries, grouped in thirty-two provinces, districts and areas. In comparison with the statistics of the whole Society we are a "young" group. Apart from four who are over 70 and one who is under 40, about half are in their sixties, a quarter in their fifties, and a quarter in their forties. The oldest among us was professed just eight months before the opening of Vatican II and all but five were professed after 1970. So we are a group whose whole life as Christians, as Catholics and as religious has been shaped by a Council that opened the Church to listen to "the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men [and women] of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted." (Gaudium et Spes, #1)

For more information about the delegates and to hear from the United States delegates attending the chapter, simply click on one of the following audio files listed below.
KH - Who Goes to a General Chapter? MP3
Delegate: Barbara Bowe MP3
Delegate: Ellen Collesano MP3
Delegate: Kathleen Conan MP3
Delegate: Carolyn Osiek .doc

You are also invited to visit the RSCJ Chapter website at RSCJ International.