Organisms
The Congregation of Saint Joseph, a community
of brothers in faith that is integrated in history, express itself in organizational
forms, seen as an instrument for promoting the personal and communitarian
religious life and, through the responsible commitment of the single confreres,
the apostolic activity of the Congregation.
The service of authority is the
soul of the organization, lived in the imitation of Christ and in the
spirit of Murialdo: all the confreres exercise it participating responsibly to
the Congregation’s life and action, according to each one’s task and
competencies.
The local community, called to form a well united family, is presided by
the local superior, first responsible and animator of the community life
and activity; he is helped in his service by the family council, expression of the co-responsibility of all
the confreres.
The province gathers in broader community diverse local communities. It
is governed by the superior provincial with the provincial council.
The Congregation recognises in the superior general the successor
of Murialdo and the sign of its unity. He is helped, in the exercise of his
authority over the entire Congregation, by the general council.
The communion of life and apostolic activity of the Congregation is especially manifested
in the confreres’ assemblies, at the various levels, called chapters:
local, provincial, and general. In them the community, the province and the
whole Congregation, under the guidance of the Spirit and attentive to the signs
of the times, verify and pursue their fidelity to the Gospel and the Charisma.
Another moment expressing the co-responsibility in the service of authority at the
general level is the inter-provincial meeting; it is attended by the
superiors of the provinces with the superior general and his council.
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