General Chapter of Diffinitors
6th day – General Chapter of Diffinitors
Tultenango, July 21, 2022
After praying lauds and celebrating the Eucharist, the commissions continue working, dialoguing about the different topics that have been outlined in the petitions of the Provinces and the Relatio of the Master of the Order.
This morning, during the plenary session, the Master of the Order asked for the vote of the capitulars to approve a group of friars who will write the prologue of the Acts of the General Chapter of Definitors of Tultenango, Mexico. Then Friar Armando Hector Reyes Vásquez, OP and the moderators, Friar Wenifredo V. Padilla III, OP, together with Friar Franklin Buitrago Rojas, OP, gave the indications for the day’s work.
During the last days the letters written to the Master of the Order and to the General Chapter of Definitors, full of greetings and blessings, were read:
– His Holiness, Pope Francis wrote: “This assembly is an expression of the unity of the Order and of the fraternity of the friars and sisters, called together to follow Christ ‘according to the rule of the holy Gospel’, as the beautiful definition of Saint Francis of Assisi says.” In addition to his blessing, he wrote a characteristic petition of his pontificate: “I ask the Lord that the Chapter may always be for you that space in which the community seeks the Truth with capital letters, in the following and service of God and his Church. May Jesus bless all the capitulars and the whole Dominican Family and may the Holy Virgin, Queen of the Holy Rosary, watch over you. And do not forget to pray for me”. (Rome, Saint John Lateran, July 16, 2022).
- Timothy Radcliffe, OP, former Master of the Order, givies thanks for the dispensation from attending the Chapter for health reasons, as he is recovering from surgery for cancer of the jaw. Friar Timothy recalls the words of Friar Damian Byrne, OP, former Master of the Order: “Chapters are like breathing. If they were to cease, the Order would soon disintegrate. They are the lungs of the Dominican body, oxygenating our life and mission, even if it is not always evident what they achieve. Many of the participants discover for the first time what it means to be not only a son of their Province, but a brother of the Order or a member of the Dominican Family”. Moreover, Friar Timothy shares three hopes for this Chapter: first, “Be bold”, make courageous decisions for the mission of the Order; second, “Be one!” have the vocation of passionate seekers and preachers of truth; third: “Remember those who suffer”, the inequalities aggravated by climate change, pandemic, the weakening of democracy and the war in Ukraine. (Feast of the Translation of Saint Dominic, 2022).
- Friar Carlos Alfonso Azpiroz Costa, OP, former Master of the Order, current Archbishop of Bahia Blanca, mentioned: “The Chapters of Definitors are usually the most ‘free’ because when gathering friars who – precisely – are not Provincials, they turn out to be creative, risky, free! The ‘bicameral’ system of the Order is wise and at the same time, it allows that the Definitors, as far as their power to define, justly, have the same authority or power to legislate, to decide, to propose that the Provincial Priors in the Chapter of Provincials and that the elective General Chapter (except for the task to elect the Master of the Order, proper and specific of the elective Chapter)”. Friar Carlos recalls his visit to Mexico: “I remember the landscape, the people, the closeness, an unforgettable Christmas” (Bahía Blanca, Argentina, July 20, 2022).
The letters will be published so that the Dominican Family can meditate and continue praying for this General Chapter in Tultenango, Mexico.
