75 Vicariates. Those delegates, along with the ex-officio members of the Chapter, exercised their authority in the decisions that the Chapter made. In his Circular Letter of December 8, 2022, Fr. General Andrzej Pakuła, MIC reflected on such decisions taken by a General Chapter. “Any decision taken in accordance with our Constitutions and subsequently approved by the Holy Father is always an expression of God’s will and an act of Divine Providence... Of course, there are times when decisions may not be in line with our expectations, perceptions, or emotions, but if they are decided by the Holy See, we ultimately recognize them as actions of Divine Providence.” We received the decree of approval from the Holy See on June 6, 2023 for the changes that we made to the Constitutions during the Chapter. It is now my duty as the Superior General, along with my General Council, to carry out the decisions of the General Chapter. Participating in the Chapter 2023 was a great blessing. At the beginning of the Chapter, we had the opportunity to make an act of entrustment of the Congregation to our Immaculate Mother and Patroness. We did this at the end of a Mass which was celebrated in the Basilica of St. Mary Major by Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko. The whole Congregation will repeat this act of entrustment of the entire Congregation and of the individual members to the Immaculate Mother of God on December 8th of this year, the conclusion of our Jubilee celebrations. During his homily at that Mass, Cardinal Ryłko called our Jubilee a special Kairos, a time of Jubilee grace. He stated that – like in a seed, everything can be found in the act of the Oblatio of our Founder. “This is the secret of the extraordinary power of the founding charism of your congregation. The founding charism of the congregation is a bottomless mine that hides a great wealth of graces and inspirations of the Holy Spirit, which each generation of members of the congregation must constantly rediscover. The charisms retain an extraordinary dynamism and spiritual potential capable of rebirth in situations where it humanly seemed to be the end. Your congregation experienced this power when it was reborn through the efforts of Blessed George Matulaitis-Matulewicz.” He went on to tell us that our congregation’s charism is our spiritual capital which we must guard carefully. We do this by living it every day. What Cardinal Ryłko said to us struck me deeply. We should ponder our charism to continue to rediscover its newness and power to give us the gift of rebirth in every generation.
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