Deepening the conscience of being a “man of God”

From right: Fr. Enrique Sánchez G.; Fr. Ciuciulla Pietro; Bro. Simone Bauce; e Fr. Danilo Cimitan.

The General Chapter of 2009 invites the superiors of circumscription “to make the Code of Conduct known to the confreres, applying it to the local reality, availing themselves of the help of experts. In particular, they should make provision for the up-dating of the Di­rectories of the Circumscription. The Code of Conduct will be the object of study and understanding during the period of preparation for perpetual profession”. (AC 09, nº 142.3).

With the objective of fulfilling what has been stated by the Chapter that needs to be verified in the Intercapitular the application of the Deontological Code, the superior general, Fr. Enrique Sánchez, introduced the theme by keeping the spirit of the Chapter: “Superiors at all levels should animate the communities to cultiv­ate a brotherly attitude of acceptance towards all, but with special attention to confreres who are going through a difficult time. Furthermore, someone able to offer the help they need should be indicated where possible.”. (AC 09, nº 142.2).

Fr. Danilo Cimitan and Fr. Alberto Pelucchi made a contextualization of the current DC and brought up to date the Assembly on what is happening in the Church. Both stressed the importance to stay close to confreres in particular situations through an attitude which fraternal and just, but firm and decisive in clarifying and resolving the legal points of a case.

To delve more deeply into the theme time was given to group work and, in the afternoon, to a sharing and to clarification of doubts.

The second theme of the day – Total Common Fund – was presented by Fr. Claudio Lurati, general treasurer of the Institute, who clarified what the TCF is. The report presented to the assembly by Fr. Claudio states in the introduction:

“To fulfill the task assigned to him by the General Chapter, the Secretary General of the Economy prepared a draft of its norms and a document of explanation which on December 3, 2010 was distributed in order to gather opinions and observations. The text was discussed during the Continental Assemblies and, after the revision of May 2012 it was presented to the GC for approval.”

We read in this document: “After two initial paragraphs that try to define the TCF, there follow the General Norms gathered in two groups: the first four attempt to indicate which realities are part of the TCF, while the following five describe the processes of definition, revision and evaluation of budgets. The rest of the document attempts to explain and clarify those aspects that may be more problematic (e.g. activities, projects, etc.).

Fr. Claudio explained that the “TCF, even though it includes new technical aspects of the management of goods, is above all the choice of a style of life and of more evangelical options such as simplicity and sobriety, the auto-limitation in the use of goods, the choice of smaller and simpler structures more in line with the situation of the people, the search for initiatives of self-sufficiency in order to decrease the dependence from abroad.” 

Fr. Alberto Pelucchi (on the right) and Fr. Danilo Cimitan made a contextualization of the current DC
and brought up to date the Assembly on what is happening in the Church.
Both stressed the importance to stay close to confreres in particular situations through an attitude
which fraternal and just, but firm and decisive in clarifying and resolving the legal points of a case.