From 17th to 27th October 2025, the Sisters Faithful Companions of Jesus will be holding their General Chapter at the Franciscan Centre Ladywell Goldaming, England. Ex-officio members and elected delegates will gather together to pray and to discuss ‘matters of greater importance’, identified in the months preceding the Chapter by means of consultation with all the sisters across the Society, as directed by the FCJ Constitutions. The sisters will gather on 8th October for a retreat in preparation for the Chapter.
The purpose of the Chapter is to plan the Society’s future directions and to elect the General Superior and General Assistants. Sr Bonnie Moser formally convoked the General Chapter in October 2024. The theme chosen is ‘In God alone’, taken from the FCJ Constitutions.
Our foundress Marie Madeleine d’Houët lived and ministered in a time where the Cross was a contemporary reality in her life, as it is in our own time. She inspires us and witnesses in her life that her hope was in God alone. Part X of our Constitutions speaks of the preservation and development of the body of our FCJ Society:
In God alone must be placed the hope that he will preserve and carry forward what he deigned to begin for his service and praise and for the aid of his people.
Constitutions 351
Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the FCJ Society will take an honest look at itself and be ready to face certain questions, some of them uncomfortable: What is God asking of us today? Are we faithful to our mission? Are we being asked to change, and if so, how? Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the delegates will gradually gain insight into the direction the Society needs to take.
We are living through ever changing realities and important decisions will need to be made at this Chapter. As we read the signs of the times, we remember Marie Madeleine’s faith and courage to trust ‘in God alone’.
Sr Bonnie Moser, fcJ, General Superior
An important part of the work of the General Chapter will be to translate their insights into specific directives for the whole Society in order to inspire an even deeper living of the FCJ vocation. Amid the profound and rapid cultural change which we are experiencing today, religious institutes can, through their General Chapters, bring to society their reading of human situations such as, for example, the massive displacement of peoples, the ever-widening gap between rich and poor people, the encounters of cultures and religions, and the devastation of the environment. The directives offered will encourage the sisters in their present ministries, and may inspire involvement in new projects related to some of these situations.
