Our Shared Mission: Laity of the Chevalier Family

Following the second Vatican Council, when religious orders were asked to go back to the source of their charism, the original vision of Jules Chevalier for three branches, the third being laity was rediscovered and embraced by the leaders of the time. The European laity began to develop autonomous structures enabling them to live the vision of Fr Chevalier as a third branch alongside the professed. The emergence of the laity as a movement in its own right has truly been a shared mission between visionary and committed laity and religious men and women and the following text outlines the work of those great pioneers and captures their names in honour of their work.

They undertook much of the initial work involved in bringing to birth the vision of an International Family of Laity and in 1995, including organising the first international ‘lay meeting’ in Issoudun, France. This meeting had limited participation of people from outside of Europe and was organised at the joint request of Fr Michael Curran, then MSC Superior General, and the Franco-Swiss MSC Provincial Fr Rouff. That meeting led to the formation in 1997 of the steering committee of the Council of Laity of the Franco-Swiss MSC Province, with Louis Joly as co-ordinator.

In 1999, the European Council invited the laity to attend another international gathering in Issoudun – this time it was a truly international event with participants from many parts of the world, and this gathering is regarded as the first of the International Assemblies where a global alliance of members of the laity was formed.

One aim of that meeting was to form an International Leadership Team. In order to limit costs, membership was limited to European lay members from Belgium, France, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, England, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Spain. There were seven founding lay members, as well as a representative from the three Congregations and a representative from Cor Novum, Issoudun. The names of the founding members were:
Louis JOLY, president and treasurer (France)
Marie-Blanche CORDONIER, secretary (Switzerland)
Sue KIMBERLEY (England)
Mimi van POPPEL (The Netherlands)
Angeles FONDEVILA (Spain)
Sr Stephani ORLOWSKI MSC (Germany)
Rita CLEUREN (Belgium)
Sr Suzanne BEIGNON FDNSC, General Council representative (France)
Sylvie Barghon

From 2000 onwards, the European Committee met twice each year in Lyon, France. The Committee recognised that it had an international mission and worked hard to stay in touch with members and to create the collegial and structural foundation for future development of the movement. Louis undertook the roles of Secretary General and Treasurer from 1999 to 2007 when Rita Cleuren from Belgium succeeded Louis. The official headquarters of the international Association of Laity moved to Brussels in 2016. The Franco-Swiss lay organisation had allocated considerable funds for the formation of their laity, and they donated the entirety of these funds to the European Council of Laity. Administrative and accommodation costs for meetings were paid from this fund and the travel expenses to and from Lyon were borne by the European countries.

During this period, groups were also forming all around the globe and national and regional structures were beginning to develop, particularly in Southern and Central America.

The European Lay Council recognised the diversity that existed (and still exists) amongst a membership that comes from most continents and many, many countries and it saw the need to organise another international meeting outside of Issoudun, and thus, the second International Assembly was held in 2008 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. One of the goals of that meeting was to establish a fully-fledged International Lay Council. While significant progress was made towards the achievement of that goal, it was not fully realised until the third Assembly in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2017.

It was around this time that the name of the Laity of the Chevalier Family was added to the wall plaque of the Basilica of Notre Dame of the Sacred Heart in Issoudun, alongside the MSC men and women and the Daughters of our Laity of the Sacred Heart.

Following the 2008 Assembly, the European Lay Council continued to work towards the goal of a truly international and representative Council of the Laity of the Chevalier Family. The connections between Europe and the wider global family grew stronger through visits to many parts of the world, funded by European laity and religious. Jozefa Meys, Hannie Jansen and Rita Cleuren were key figures in the work that occurred between 2008 and 2017, and the global family owes these tireless pioneers a great debt of gratitude.

Others who contributed were Sara Nash from England who succeeded Sue Kimberley, Sylvie Barghon from France who succeeded Marie-Blanche Cordonier from Switzerland, Helen Gabcova from Slovakia, Elena Cedrola and Anna Mazzonzelli from Italy.

Throughout those early days the laity were accompanied by dedicated professed men and women who attended meetings in Miribel, Paris and Lyon. In particular, we thank:
MSC: Michael Curran, Mark McDonald, Nick Harnan, Fransiskus Wahyudi
FDNSC: Relida Gumur, Merle Salazar, Madeleine Ngoy
MSC Sisters: Barbara Winkler, Nicola Sprenger

… a movement of people who understood their place in the Family as a third branch as envisaged by Jules Chevalier.

The third International Assembly was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2017 and this meeting proved to be the turning point in the development of the lay movement. A document of Guiding Principles and Developmental Statutes was accepted as the foundational organisational directions of the Laity of the Chevalier Family and an election was held for an International Council:Alison McKenzie (Australia) was elected as General Secretary and Doris Machado (Brazil) as the Deputy. Rita Cleuren was invited to join the committee and Fr Hans Kwakman MSC continued as the Spiritual Companion to the Council. Later, Peter Cheong from Korea was invited to join as a member of the Council. That Council did not share a language and was assisted in translation by Fr Richard, msc and Maria-Olimpia Stottrop Klose.

That Council undertook much of the foundational work required to create a truly international organisation. One of its main tasks was to expand the understanding of laity beyond a group who were dependent on their religious companions to a movement of people who understood their place in the Family as a third branch as envisaged by Jules Chevalier.

International writing teams were formed. They drew on the writing of E Cuskelly. H Kwakman, D Murphy among others and began to develop documents about the distinctiveness of our shared spirituality when lived by lay people. The International Council farewelled Fr Hans Kwakman as Spiritual Companion and welcomed Sr Merle Salazar to the role.

The fourth international Assembly was held in Cebu, Philippines in 2024. The theme of that Assembly was One in Heart in Caring for our Common Home.

Close to 30 different nationalities were represented at that Assembly and a second International Council was appointed with Alison McKenzie (Australia) as General Secretary, Petrus Maringka (Indonesia) responsible for Formation, Aidan Johnson (Australia) responsible for Information Technology, Patricia Rivas Molina (Guatemala) responsible for Finance. Dorothy Pion (Papua New Guinea) was a part of the Council for a short while replaced by Doreen Hendriks (Namibia)

The current Council is formalising the connections with our more than 40 member countries and is utilising a variety of digital and print communication processes to connect the global family more deeply and to foster bonds of friendship and collegiality. The Council has developed the role of Regional Coordinators to create stronger regional bonds that draw the membership together. Succession planning is very important to enable future growth and development.

We laity are so grateful to be able to contribute to the shared mission of making Jesus’ Sacred Heart known and loved everywhere.

Alison McKenzie, LCF