Dear brothers and sisters in Prado:

It is with great joy and hope that we wish to share with you our experiences in Limonest (Lyon) during our institute’s General Assembly. Six years have passed since the 2019 General Assembly. Six years of hard work and commitment to our Prado vocation and to our local churches.

Once again, we held our Annual General Meeting, convened by the Chief Executive, Armando Pasqualotto, and his Board, from Tuesday 1 July to Tuesday 15 July, on the theme «Since the Spirit gives us life, let yourselves be led by the Spirit» (Gal 5:25). We give thanks to God for the service they have rendered over the years and for his work in spreading the Gospel to the poor.

There were sixty of us from Prado, hailing from 20 countries and representing the entire Institute worldwide. From the very first day, there was an atmosphere of prayer, fraternity and attentiveness to what the Holy Spirit might be suggesting to us at this historic moment for our Prado, our churches and our world, marked by poverty, war, abuse, a lack of meaning, secularisation, interculturality, listening to the cry of the earth and numerous other challenges.

We have been able to listen to one another and challenge one another in a synodal spirit, always seeking the best way to live as members of the Prado community under the guidance of Blessed Antoine Chevrier. «To know Jesus Christ and to make him known is everything» (VD 113, 225, 103; cf. Letters 105, 129), remains our primary task. This shapes everything we experience and do (cf. Phil 3:8–11).

Whilst it is true that the primary task of our assembly is the election of the General Superior and his council, we are by no means neglecting our understanding of the lives of our priests and consecrated lay people of the Prado throughout the world, nor the various challenges that lie ahead of us over the next six years.

With this in mind, guided by prayer, the study of the Gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit, we have elected Diego Martín Peñas as General Leader; together with his assistants and the General Council, he will guide us in the years to come.

Before ascending to the right hand of the Father, the Lord Jesus had promised that he would never leave us alone and that the Spirit of truth, whom he would send to us, would gradually teach us to know the whole truth and the things to come (cf. Jn 14:26; 16:13). It was in this spirit of truth that a celebration of «spiritual reparation» concerning abuses of authority, power and sexual assault brought to a close a long period of work on this subject.

To draw up recommendations to be taken into account in the coming years, we have set up six working groups on the finances of our Institute; collaboration between the different continents; the need to promote the Prado charism (vocations ministry); the formation of priests and formators (initial formation, seminary); the formation of missionary disciples (laypeople, catechists, etc.); communication; the adaptation of the Prado charism to new challenges; and, finally, the spiritual family (Path of the Covenant, Limonest).

Listening to and getting to know the entire Prado Spiritual Family (Prado priests and consecrated laypeople; the Prado Women’s Institute, the Prado Sisters, lay associates, Deacons and their wives, and «Prado Education» in France) – whose introduction aroused great interest prior to the celebration of the Eucharist in the presence of the Archbishop of Lyon, Mgr Olivier de Germay.

An Assembly cannot solve everything, just as a Prado Council cannot manage everything without the help of the rest of the Prado residents. This is the major task that lies ahead of us over the next six years.

Diego Martín Peñas and the General Assembly