GENERAL CHAPTER: ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST & ST. CATHERINE RELIGIOUS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 18, 2002 (VIS) - Today a message was made public from the Pope to Reverend Mother Maria Floriana Pasqualetto, superior general of the Congregation of the Religious of St. John the Baptist and St. Catherine of Siena who are celebrating their general chapter this month. The theme of the chapter is: "From the structure, the Institute's new vitality for the good of the Church and of society in the present and future."

John Paul II writes in the message, dated July 11, that the religious, "reflecting on the enthusiasm with which their order was founded, want to reaffirm their interior energy in order to project brave new missionary goals."

The foundress of the congregation, Medea Ghiglino Patellani, "set out to translate the great 'lesson' of the exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola into everyday life. ... Communion lived integrally and the education of young people, considering the human person in his entirety, constituted since then the center of your charisma." And he adds: "I am sure that the general chapter" will help the religious family "to take the next step, adapting natural law to the demands of our time, without betraying its substance."

The Holy Father urged the religious to take care, above all, of "communion, a central element, and at the same time, the synthesis of your charisma. The apostolic service," he concluded, "in which the glory of God shines, comes from communion really lived out."

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