6 The Second Vatican Council instructed all of the institutes of consecrated life to conduct a thorough revision of their life and laws in view of a renewed faithfulness to the Gospel and the original spirit of their founders in the context of our times. As for our Congregation, this process was formally opened by the Special General Chapter celebrated in 1969-1970, and it was concluded in 1984, with the ratifi cation of our new Constitutions and Directory. The beatifi cation of Fr. Founder and the studies related to this event, as well as the documents and writings pertaining to the founding of our Congregation, which were made commonly available for the fi rst time after Vatican II, inspire us to do a new study in a climate free from any national bias of the original goals for which the community had been founded. Although this convention will be concentrating on the founding charism, this does not in any way diminish the creative contribution of Blessed George Matulaitis-Matulewicz who not only rescued Fr. Stanislaus’s work from annihilation, but enriched it in new elements and provided a new impulse and drive. We call Blessed George Matulaitis-Matulewicz’s contribution a reforming charism. We will dedicate the Year of the Jubilee of the 100th Anniversary of Renewal and Reform of our Congregation, which is about to begin, to our refl ection on it. In this way, the fruits of our refl ection on the founding charism (our present convention) and the reforming charism (the historical and theological symposium in 2009), will offer us a synthesis of our charism in the coming years. In our pursuit, we wish to be humble yet courageous. Our goal is to further strengthen our faithfulness to Jesus and the Gospel, to men and to our modern times; to the essential elements of the religious life and to the charism of our Congregation. This will be our way of following the path that the Church has indicated. We shall not exclude any motion or project, even possible changes to our Constitutions, should they lead to a more faithful realization of God’s plan, conceived for us individually and communally in this stage of our history. Everything seems to indicate that our discernment of this sign of the times, which is the beatifi cation of our Founder, will greatly infl uence our future. I warmly welcome here each one of you. I thank you for coming and preparing your speeches. Participation in a convention requires great spiritual, intellectual, and physical effort. I thank you all in advance for the toil you undertook. Let us seek the will of God and let’s not be afraid to follow any diffi cult or demanding path as long as it leads us to a greater faithfulness to Jesus, to the Gospels and to the our mission assigned by God in the Church and in the world. Rome, December 4, 2008 On the commemoration of Saint John of Damascus, Doctor of the Eastern Church who, as early as in the 7th century, gave praise to Mary as Immaculately Conceived.
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