Assumptionists

Every year on December 12, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, commemorating the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Saint Juan Diego in 1531 on Tepeyac Hill, near present-day Mexico City. This feast is one of the most significant Marian celebrations in the world, drawing millions of pilgrims and faithful who come together to honor Mary as Mother, Protector, and source of hope.

San Andrés Parish in Mexico City marked the Feast of St. Andrew, their patron saint, with profound devotion. The celebration was preceded by a nine-day novena in which the community decorated the entire church with flowers and gathered each evening for Mass. This shared period of prayer prepared everyone spiritually for the feast on November 30.

Welcome to this edition of our newsletter, now bearing a new name BANAAG. Meaning ‘glimmer’ or ‘first light of dawn,’ it aims to shine a light on the life, mission, charism, and stories of our Assumptionist community.

On this penultimate day of our PGC, the Secretary General gives us feedback on the meeting of provincial secretaries held at the General House last October. This meeting was a first in the memory of the religious and was very fruitful in everyone’s opinion!
The second part of the day was devoted to the work planned to update the congregation’s own liturgical calendar and publish supplements to the missal and the liturgy of the hours—proper of the congregation—in our three official languages.

Early on Sunday morning, a delegation of nine PGC members flew to Namur (Belgium) to testify to our Assumptionist fraternity to Bishop Fabien Lejeusne on the day of his episcopal ordination. Indeed, if he had not been appointed bishop by the Holy Father, Fr. Fabien would have been in Rome with us these days, like all the Provincial Superiors of the Congregation.

The morning of this fifth day of the PGC was devoted to questions of formation, beginning with the report of the Secretary General for Formation (SGF).
Since the last General Chapter, the General Secretariat for Formation (made up of the SGF, the (vice)provincial formators, and usually extended to include the formators of the vicariates) has been meeting regularly by videoconference.