Br. Luca Perletti,  General Secretary

I have been waiting for this General Chapter to meet old and new travelling companions with whom to generate an arena of new ideas and future scenarios  for the Order and for the Church. I imagine this time as a space of creative fraternity where the inevitable differences will be resolved in a shared wish that the spirit of Camillus will shine forth renewed and fresh in the world.

I have been awaiting this General Chapter as an arena where religious of every age and formation exchange with each other their respective gifts as a source of explosive creativity. A space where no one arrogates to himself the title of teacher but where each person directs himself to listening to others! I imagine it as a constant self-renewal of the Order through the testimony of those who have travelled down dusty roads and of those, instead, who bring the contribution of creativity and hope.

I dream of a multicoloured General Chapter where the colours come together to form a rainbow, a herald of hope for those who are waiting for us at the side of the road.

I dream of a General Chapter involving a shift: from a tradition that has seen Europe at the centre to greater representativeness, in the areas of governance as well, of new forces.

I expect a General Chapter that from a renewal of the Constitution can launch itself with renewed vigour in the Camillian Project.

I dream of not being afraid of new ideas and unexplored areas but that together we will have the courage to open up new pathways!

I am convinced that we find ourselves faced with a moment involving a shift where there are not only fewer economic resources and at which, more than ever before, new worlds claim their space, not as a benevolent right but in an awareness of having much to contribute!

I am convinced that at the next General Chapter the faces will be very different and the generational change will be almost complete. The ‘elderly’  of today have the task of accompanying the adults of tomorrow. This is epochal opportunity! For those of us who will go through it, a challenge but also a great stimulus!