Joe Kamis and I arrived here in Rome on Saturday morning, July 7. Many of the delegates were already here by that time...except for our Indian Brothers (Fr. Sudhir Kujur and Bro. Darwin Joseph) who were stranded in Chicago, then in Frankfurt. To make matters worse, their luggage didn't make it to Rome until Monday evening!

We began the Chapter in earnest on Monday morning and are spending today, Tuesday, on retreat. This is probably the smallest General Chapter in many, many decades. We are 32 delegates. The oldest is Fr. Jose-Maria Arnaiz from Chile who has attended seven previous General Chapters. The youngest delegate is Fr. Bob Jones who is attending his first. The average age of the delegates is 58.9 years; the mean age is 57.  See the General Chapter composite. 

Please pray for the work of the General Chapter. It seems that few province communities committed to specific days of prayer that was requested in Bulletin #3. Th e list of those praying is less important than you regularly remembering the work of the General Chapter in prayer these days.

And, we are also praying for you.

Elections

Materials for the final election of area representatives to the Provincial Chapter for Hawaii, California and Missouri will go out this week. Brothers who may be away from their community will have the materials sent to them by their directors. You can return the ballots to Bro. Joe  Kamis at the West Pine address in a blank envelope that is placed inside another envelope that is addressed to Bro. Joe. Please take care of this by the end of the month. Thanks for your participation in this important election.

Marianists Serving At Our Sponsored Ministries

As the Office of Education does periodically, we are in the process of updating the chart that indicates Marianists serving in Marianist sponsored ministries and on their boards. The last draft was done in March, but there have been changes since then. I have recently revised the chart, but would like to get your input in case I have missed anything. 

In creating  last week's Notes, an error was made in placing the copy for Bro. Tom Giardino's section. The following is the correct copy as originally submitted by Bro. Tom: "As you know, along with research and programming, NACMS publishes both digital and print materials. Below is the revised NACMS policy regarding print materials, which has been approved by the Provincial Council."

Marianist Partners in Urban Leadership, Service and Education (PULSE) will welcome eight year-long volunteers in early August. The five women and three men come from Marianist universities and high schools, the Marianist LIFE program and/or the Cape May Marianist Family Retreat Center. Please join us for their Commissioning Mass on Friday, August 3rd at 7:00 p.m. at Queen of Apostles. Read the list of new PULSErs.