1st Day – General Chapter of Diffinitors

General Chapter of Diffinitors
1st Day
Tultenango, July 16, 2022

The General Chapter began with the celebration of the Eucharist of welcome, presided over by Friar Luis Javier Rubio Guerrero, OP, Prior Provincial of the Province of Santiago de Mexico as well as concelebrated by Friar Juan Manuel Hernández, OP, Socius of the Master for Latin America and the Caribbean; and Friar José G. Garrido, OP, superior of Casas Santo Domingo, Tultenango, seat of the General Chapter of Diffinitors. 

In his homily, Friar Luis Javier Rubio, OP, invited us to follow the example of Jesus that did not lead to confrontation but to healing and joy. In addition, Friar Luis recalled the prologue of the Acts of the General Chapter of Bologna (2016) when asking why Jesus sent his disciples, the Chapter answered: “We are sent to preach the mercy of God and our reconciliation with Him and with our brothers and sisters (cf. 2 Cor 5, 20). Dominican preaching, like Dominic’s, should sooth wounded relationships and bring peace to the world.”

After celebration of the Eucharist, the friars shared traditional food. Then, the first lecture, entitled: “Seeing the Current Reality: Cultural Change” was given by the historian Dr. Maria Luisa Aspe Armella; she used the method “see, judge, act” to present in a Dominican character the following topics: multiculturalism, plurality, migration, populism and extreme right politics, new religious panoramas, and the crisis generated by violence and corruption.

Dr. Aspe stressed the importance of recognizing what underlies the doctrine of Pope Francis, namely the discomfort of some ecclesial sectors with respect to the social thinking coming from the Pontiff. Alternatively, she emphasized that the Pontiff’s synodality is an actual inheritance from the life of the Church. She affirmed: “This concerns you, as friar preachers”. According to this scholar: “We are much more than two; this implies understanding that synergy is a greater force than individual effort”. 

Then, Dr. Aspe proposed to the capitular friars that they note certain points: the coming to terms with the world as it is and not what we want it to be, frequently those in the consecrated life want the world to be as it once was; the presence of women and their undervaluation is a challenge to recognize them and to accompany them in their reality; the experience of the youth in living an individualistic faith; the excluded of yesterday and today, victims of this world; before these realities, to give hope and testimony with preaching, being witnesses, before being teachers.

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