General Chapters – A Guide for Facilitators, Planners and Participants
Dairne McHenry RSCJ
In collaboration with
Mary Harrington SUSC and
Gabrielle Stuart RSM
This Guide offers practical information regarding general chapters of religious congregations.
It will be of interest not only to facilitators but also to congregational leadership teams and to those responsible for the planning and preparation of chapters.
It will be of interest also to those who take part in chapters as either participants or staff.
The Guide is both factual and creative.
Discernment is the underlying principle of the step-by-step instructions for the main stages of a chapter, beginning with chapter preparation.
The Guide includes various processes and dynamics and a range of resources to promote effective participation by all members at a chapter.
Over many years, the co-authors have had wide experience of facilitation of general chapters in different parts of the world. Through GLOIR, an agency sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy and the Holy Union Sisters and devoted to providing education and training in leadership and group work, they collaborated in giving workshops in East Africa for the training of general chapter facilitators. This Guide contains material used in these Workshops. As a result of this training, there is now a pool of East African women religious available for general chapter facilitation.
In the interests of making the Guide available to as many readers as possible particularly on the African continent, the co-authors have waived their right to royalties. However, to offset the many pages used in photocopying materials during the training workshops,readers of the Guide are invited to make a donation to a tree-planting project of their choice or to one or other of the following sponsors of such projects:
Society of the Sacred Heart, Province of Uganda-Kenya: prov.econ@rscjugk.org
Sisters of Mercy, Province of Kenya: province@sistersofmercykenya.org.ke
Holy Union Sisters, Tanzania: farrell.annette@gmail.com