General Conference: February 21 to 25, 2022

General Conference is an experience of deep communion, where representatives of all Congregation de Notre-Dame provinces and regions join the Congregation Leadership Team in several days of prayer, reflection and conversation concerning the mission of the Congregation as a whole, global reality. Each General Conference meeting is distinct in the areas of our life and mission that we contemplatively review and discuss.

The agenda for the February 2022 General Conference was largely set by the Orientation Statement of General Chapter July 2021 and the two recommendations that the chapter redirected to General Conference.

The first recommendation was “That the possibility of an international novitiate be studied.” The General Conference took sufficient time to review this important recommendation and decided to form a study committee which would include one or two members from each province and region.

The second recommendation to General Chapter came from the Canadian CND Vocation Committee. This committee has a great desire to ensure congregational participation and presence at World Youth Day 2023, Lisbon, Portugal. The theme of WYD is “Mary rose and went in haste.” Lk 1:39. This theme obviously has a direct connection to our Visitation charism and is an opportunity for Congregation de Notre-Dame to witness this charism as a lived vocational expression. Members of General Conference were unanimous in their endorsement of this recommendation and affirmed the suggestion that a planning committee be set up.

We ask you to keep these projects in your prayers as we continue to live into the calls of General Chapter 2021. In this way, we will embody the reality that truly we are “Together for the Life of the World.”