September 19th: Day Nine
19/09/2014 19:14
The USA Region led the celebration of the Eucharist this morning with Dom Damian of Spencer presiding and Fr Simeon as cantor. The entrance hymn enjoined us to “Praise the Lord all the earth” and with the whole earth's representatives of the Cistercian world, it seemed like something that was happening right within the room.
As requested in the last General Chapter and in order to remedy difficulties in a timely manner, we are having periodic evaluations of our meeting. The fourteen commissions each read a ten line summary of their evaluation, however the translations were not available beforehand and so translations were made on the spot. Some of the comments about to be listed may have been mis-heard.
In general all the commissions started by saying how well the chapter is going and by expressing appreciation for how it has been put together. Additionally, most commissions felt like the atmosphere of the chapter was good, open and pastoral.
Having that generally pleasant feeling as the background, commissions did focus on a number of issues that they either were concerned about or had experienced some frustration. Most of the concerns focused on the use of time.
Many thought that we had spent a disproportionate amount of time on issues like the votes on the delegated power of commissions and the pastoral concerns about Maria Zvijesda. Some mentioned that discussions went around in circles and sometimes went off-track. Others suggested solutions like having an allotted time to talk about an issue, bringing in an outside facilitator, or removing items from the agenda. Still others mentioned the pressure that they felt because of the short time and the many serious issues that need to be discussed, and hopefully resolved. Behind all these was the fear that we would come to the end of the chapter and important issues would be rushed, not given the time they deserved, or worst of all, left unresolved until the next chapter.
Some of the other comments were mentioned only once, but they may give readers a feeling of the atmosphere at the chapter:
· The food is good (hopefully the topic of a future posting)
· The fragility of the order is quintessential.
· We need a break.
· Did the new people ever have the orientation they were promised?
· The Abbot General speaks well and this makes up for his silence in the last year.
· The sacristans have been efficient. Please listen to their instructions.
· Maybe regions could handle regional problems before the chapter.
· Are some people attending mass elsewhere?
· Please make an effort start the sessions on time.
· We are please that sessions start on time.
Beyond the work of the commissions, the delegates had also done an evaluation, a project which went long beyond its scheduled meeting time, and yet this report and perspective was somehow forgotten. Hopefully this oversight will be remedied in the future.