Seven Questions on the General Chapter (2)

The General Chapter is composed of 41 members designated according to precise rules; all the priests of the Society are not called to participate.

Some of the members are designated by the Statutes of the Society approved by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre: the outgoing Superior General and his two Assistants, the bishops of the Society, the former Superior Generals, the Secretary General and General Bursar, the directors of the major seminaries, the District Superiors, and the Superiors of autonomous houses.

This makes 31 members designated by the Statutes.

An additional number of priests (one third of the number of the members ex officio or designated by the Statutes­) is also designated. Ten of the oldest members of the Society, who have made their final engagement, are thus chosen to participate in the Chapter.

This second way of designating members will apply until the Society has over one thousand priestly members (Statutes, 5.3).

Coming next: How does the General Chapter begin?