Thy Kingdom Come!
NA-FRC 03-2019
Class. II.3.A.1
Class. II.3.A.1
September 19, 2019
To the members of Regnum Christi,
It is with great joy that we announce the long-awaited inauguration of the Regnum Christi Federation in this territory.
On September 17th, the members of the General Directive College issued a communication announcing the formal beginning of the Regnum Christi Federation. Among other things, they announced the membership of the Territorial Directive College for the North American territory: Fr. John Connor (Territorial Director, Legionaries of Christ), Fr. Shawn Aaron (Territorial Vicar, Legionaries of Christ), Nancy Nohrden (Territorial Director, Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi) and Naoise Johnston (Territorial Vicar, Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi).
Today, the Territorial Directive College held its first meeting and officially enacted its first decisions, including the following appointments:
- Charlie Bradley (Men’s Section Director - Cincinnati) and Melissa Foley (Women’s Section Director - Atlanta) are appointed to serve as associated lay faithful representatives on the Territorial Directive College for a three-year term.
- Cathie Zentner (Calgary) is appointed as Territorial Secretary for the Regnum Christi Federation for a one-year term.
- Todd Brechbill (Atlanta) is appointed as Territorial Administrator for the Federation. As a lay person, Todd’s appointment is made after receiving an exception from the General Directive College to 29 §3 of Draft Regulations of Regnum Christi Federation requiring that the territorial administrator be a member of a federated institution.
On behalf of the college, I welcome these four lay members and ask you to please pray that the Holy Spirit guide each of them as they endeavor to serve the new Regnum Christi Federation in their respective roles. Next month, I hope to send you more information about their roles and on the make-up of the work team they are assembling.
What’s next? How can you learn more about the Federation and what changes you can expect?
The full transition to the Regnum Christi Federation will take time. Our plan is to move at a gentle yet steady pace, always putting the good of the mission and our people first. As a preliminary step, we have prepared a number of tools which we hope will help you to begin the process of understanding and assimilating the meaning behind and implications of the transition. As we hear back from you and learn from our experience, we will continue to develop and adapt more tools as needed.
- For your reference, a copy of the Statutes of the Regnum Christi Federation,Rules of the Regnum Christi Federation, and the Rule of Life of the Lay Faithful Associated to the Regnum Christi Federation are available at these links.
- The RC local directors are gathering in Kentucky at the end of the month for their annual workshop. During that workshop, we will share with them the key implications for a locality transitioning to a Federation. Our primary message to them, which we share with all of you, is that this transition is an invitation from the Holy Spirit to live our calling to Regnum Christi with a greater commitment to our evangelizing mission by living and giving witness to authentic communion. Any changes to structure, while secondary, are meant to be a sign of and witness to that communion in mission.
- Fr. John Bartunek, LC, and the RC Spirituality Center recently published an RC Essay entitled What is Regnum Christi?: A Regnum Christi Essay Introducing the Statutes of the RC Federation and the Rule of Life for Lay Members which is available at Amazon.com. We are also publishing a study guide to accompany the essay. Each of you are encouraged to take the time to read it and renew your understanding of where we are at and where Our Lord is leading us.
- Over the next months, we’ll be working closely with the general government to update and publish new RC member materials (RC Handbook, RC Prayer Book). We hope to let you know when you can expect these to be available.
It is hard to believe that the challenging work of the process of institutional renewal is largely behind us. We have learned that renewal will always be necessary, and also that a new chapter lies open before us. Just as our charism calls us to reveal Christ’s love to people, to form them as apostles, and to launch them in their God-given mission to help build the Church, I see in retrospect how through these past five years, our Lord has revealed himself to us in a new, more intimate way, has formed our hearts through an experience of suffering and communion, and is now launching us to go out and share this experience of love with others. We share a great sense of hope as we move forward together as one Regnum Christi family. I thank you for the patience, perseverance and commitment to Regnum Christi you have shown these past years. God has blessed us and will continue to bless us as we seek to remain faithful to this profound gift which is Regnum Christi.
May God bless you,
Fr. John Connor, LC
President, Territorial Directive College
Territorial Director, Legionaries of Christ
North American Territory
President, Territorial Directive College
Territorial Director, Legionaries of Christ
North American Territory
cc: Members of the Territorial Directive College