The General Assembly of the Community of the Beatitudes has brought together 71 delegates – brothers, sisters and laypeople – from all 5 continents, gathering at Nouan-le-Fuzelier, France, from Saturday October 28 to Sunday November 5.
General Assemblies of the Community of the Beatitudes are normally held in two stages: one for elections and the other to reflect on general matters.
The archbishop of Toulouse, Guy de Kerimel, is the bishop responsible for the Community. On Saturday October 28, at the opening of the Assembly, he announced to the delegates that he had postponed the elections for the new government by six months. The general government includes the president, the superiors of the Brothers and Sisters Branches, and the Coordinator of the Lay Branch. This decision was taken in collaboration with the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life.
Indeed, according to the Community’s statutes, the Archbishop of Toulouse presides over the elections and must propose at least three names from the consultation of all committed members of the Community. Archbishop de Kerimel, who recently arrived in the diocese of Toulouse, preferred to postpone the elections so that he could get to know the Community better before making his proposal.
The current government will therefore remain in office until the elective assembly, which will be held around the Feast of the Ascension, 2024. The delegates welcomed this decision in a spirit of trust, dialogue and mutual listening.
The General Assembly will now continue in a synodal spirit with deliberative working sessions on important matters, in particular those of rereading the Community’s history and reflecting on the Community’s experience thus far with its structure as an Ecclesial Family.
