Dates: 21st – 29th January, 2024.

Arrival 20th – lunch 21st January, departure after lunch 29th January.

Planning Committee arrival 20^th January.

General Assembly theme:

One in heart in caring for our common home

 General Assembly scripture: The Good Samaritan. Luke 10:25-37

Synopsis of General Assembly theme

This General Assembly, scheduled for January 2024 will occur in the midst of troubled times. These times will be viewed through the lens of Spirituality of the Heart as the remedy for the ills of our time.

The shared experiences of 2024 may well include:

• the consequences of a global pandemic that may or may not yet be controlled;
• an urgent imperative to find ways to live sustainably on the earth and justly for the earth’s peoples;
• a loss of hope in the face of inequality, injustice, violence, over-consumption and greed.
• and more …

The reality of the pain and suffering of the world at that time and the possibility of hope and healing  that can come through Spirituality of the Heart will be woven into the Assembly program.  Our hope is that participants go home  more deeply formed in Spirituality of the Heart and better able to be the Heart of Christ in their  own communities as a result of the Assembly.

The phrases that make up our Assembly theme are drawn from  Pope Francis' encyclicals ‘Laudato Si’ and ‘Fratelli Tutti’,  which together offer a road-map for humanity to face the challenges of these times. The Assembly content will draw upon these two important documents. One in Heart reminds us that we are one in the Heart of Christ. This oneness does not happen automatically, it must be worked towards. The content of the General Assembly must allow for the diversity of experiences of life and of church and a variety of understandings and expressions of Spirituality of the Heart.  We begin as separate hearts and leave ‘Heart-Bonded’ as One Heart to carry out our mission to care for our common home.

Heart, in Spirituality of the Heart,  draws us to our belief in Jesus’ compassionate Heart that reveals God’s unconditional love for every human being and all of creation. Belief in, or an experience of God’s unconditional love is what transforms our own hearts and is the remedy for the ills of society.  Our prayer is that God’s loving presence will draw each person deeper into their own hearts, in an encounter with our God of love that offers renewal and transformation.

The mission of the  laity is to live our lives undertaking our obligations, while at the same time, looking for every opportunity to go beyond those commitments to be a source of kindness, understanding, compassion,  mutual forgiveness, gentleness, humility and simplicity to those we encounter.  In other words, the mark of our lives is to try to live our whole life in a spirit of family, and thus, to be a source of hope and healing to the world. This is our shared mission and what we hope to go home with hearts burning to offer.

Dom Bosco Retreat House, Cebu

Debbie Mellijor – Chair, Philippines Organising Committee

Who are the Laity of the Chevalier Family?

The Laity of the Chevalier Family is a very large group of men and women from every walk of life, living in many countries and cultures spread around the globe. At its most basic level, to be a member of the Laity of the Chevalier Family requires a commitment to live a life of love, as best we can, wherever we find ourselves in our family, professional and community lives.

To deepen and live more fully that life of love, we draw on a particular focus on Jesus we call Spirituality of the Heart. We believe, and have experienced for ourselves, that Jesus’ compassionate heart reveals God’s unconditional love for every human being, especially those who are poor, excluded or treated unjustly. This love extends to all creation. We know that it is this love that has made a difference in our own lives, adding deeper meaning and purpose, and can potentially make a difference to the pain and suffering of the rest of the world.

And so, we live our lives undertaking our obligations, while at the same time, looking for every opportunity to go beyond those commitments to be a source of kindness, understanding, compassion, forgiveness, gentleness, humility and simplicity to those we encounter.  In other words, the mark of our lives is to try to live our whole life in a spirit of family.

From the very beginning, Jules Chevalier had a vision of professed members and lay people working together to undertake our shared mission of offering the Sacred Heart of Jesus to others.

The Chevalier Family is comprised of professed members of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the Daughters of our Lady of the Sacred Heart and the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, and many thousands of lay people. Together we form one family and as such, we are interdependent.

Formal membership is organised around a local, national and international structure that is strongly aligned to the three Chevalier Family Congregations.

Each member country has their own network of local groups aligned with one or more of the professed branches of the Family. Ideally, where there is more than one professed branch in a country the local groups will be integrated or in close contact with each other.

National Councils

Ideally, local groups will be organised and supported by a National Council. This model of governance is still emerging in some member countries. National Councils work closely with the leadership of the Chevalier Family Congregations in each country in an autonomous but interdependent relationship. National Councils are authorised by the Provincial Councils of the country and ought to consist of representatives of all branches of the Family including professed and lay. National Councils are accompanied and supported by a professed member.

The International Council

The International Council is the international coordinating body of the Laity of the Chevalier Family. Members are elected and appointed at the six yearly international gathering termed an Assembly of the Laity.

In principle, the International Council is required to have a representative from each continent. The current International Council is the first such Council and is working towards such representation.

The tasks of the International Council are to promote unity-in-diversity among the various lay groups around the world, to ensure effective communication and exchange of information and to offer suitable formation resources to local groups through their National Councils. The International Council also assists in the planning of each International Assembly.

The Trigeneralate

The close relationship between professed and lay members is also reflected in the support and commitment given to laity by the three General Administrations. The International Council works in close collaboration with the General Administrations of each professed branch and has a support person from those General Administrations to accompany  them, along with a Religious Companion who sits on the Council.

The foundation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and the Laity of the Chevalier Family.

As a priest, Chevalier first served as curate in three different parishes in quick succession. Then, at the age of thirty he was sent to Issoudun, which was regarded as the most de-christianised town in the whole region. The other curate in the parish was Fr Emile Maugenest, one of a small group of his companions in the seminary.

Photo: Issoudun township – Philip Fitzgerald
(used with permission)

Fr Maugenest shared Chevalier’s vision about the evils that they believed were destroying society: indifference and egoism. The remedy of these evils they found in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, ‘which is all love and charity’.

Image: Fr Chevalier and Fr Maugenest
(used with permission, MSC General Administration)

At Issoudun, the two priests became determined to found a religious congregation to be named Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. However, aware that they could be deluding themselves Chevalier and Maugenest sought a clear sign that this was what God wanted. Over a period of nine days, before 8^th December 1854; the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, they prayed asking Our Lady to intercede for them in having God provide this sign. On the last day of the Novena a gentleman approached Fr Chevalier at the presbytery with a letter announcing a gift of 20,000 francs from an anonymous donor. The donor's preference was for a house of missionaries to be established in the area with the approval of the Archbishop. The Archbishop agreed as long as they had some means of financial independence and support. Another period of prayer resulted in another anonymous benefactor promising to give an annual gift of 1,000 francs, which was enough for them both to live on. They now had the sign and the means to begin the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Fr Chevalier considered 8^th December 1854 to be the official beginning of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

Image: Fr Jules Chevalier
(used with permission, MSC General Administration)

With the original 20,000 francs Chevalier and Maugenest  purchased a rundown vineyard with a sound house and tumble-down barn in Issoudun. The house became their first community house and the barn was renovated as the first chapel, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This was in 1855.

In 1859, construction began on the site of the old barn  of the church of the Sacred Heart, which became the Basilica of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in 1874.

View of the courtyard  and Basilica of the building constructed by Fr Chevalier in Issoudun. Photo: Alishya Summers (used with permission)

From these simple beginnings has come a whole family of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart - priests, brothers, sisters and laity.  Jules Chevalier also founded the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart as the sister congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. The Daughters were founded in Issoudun on 30^th  August 1874 and Chevalier personally guided the congregation in its first years of existence.  In 1882, the first Superior General, Mother Marie Louise Hartzer, FDNSC joined the young congregation and she continued to faithfully pass on to the early sisters the charism and spirituality of the founder.

Photo: Mother Marie Louise Hartzer  FDNSC (used with permission, FDNSC General Administration)

Later, because of national tensions in colonial regions where missionaries worked, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart were co-founded by Fr Hubert Linckens MSC with the approval of Jules Chevalier, whom they also regard as their spiritual founder. The formal foundation of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart was 25^th March 1900.

 Photo: Fr Hubert Linckens MSC
(used with permission, MSC Sisters General Administration)

After some difficult years of persecution in France and being forced to move to other parts of Europe, the new congregations began to grow and, at a very early stage, accepted responsibility for the Missions of Oceania. It was as a direct result of this decision that the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart came to Australia at the end of the 19^th century. Within twenty-five years of their small beginnings, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart had spread in Europe and to North America. Before his death, Fr Jules Chevalier was to see his 'family' working in Europe, North America, Australia, the Pacific Islands and Indonesia.  

Icon depicting the early expansion of the Chevalier Family to Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands
(used with permission, Australian MSC Provincial)

The Basilica and accompanying buildings have been used as a place of pilgrimage and formation (Cor Novum) for many years and still have a very important place in the hearts of the entire Chevalier Family.

Inside the Basilica  Photo: Alishya Summers (used with permission)

Outside the Basilica  Photo: Alishya Summers
(used with permission)