International Commission “Lay-Religious Alliance”

We have just celebrated the 180th anniversary of our foundation, and we thank God for the charism passed on to us by the venerable Father Emmanuel d’Alzon, which continues to live on in the Church. From the outset, Father d’Alzon wanted to fully involve the laity in the Assumption’s mission, which is why we need the laity to remain faithful to our vocation, that is, to our way of being and living at the heart of the Church and at the heart of humanity.

Indeed, we live surrounded by a great diversity of lay people in the life and mission of the Assumption. We have friends, associates, collaborators, and we have lay Assumptionists, those who are part of the Lay-Religious Assumptionist Alliance (CG 2005). We recognize in this complementarity of specific vocations a single path: the path of holiness that we travel together, passionate about the Kingdom of God.

A lay Assumptionist “is a person who commits himself to live his baptismal vocation and the mission that flows from it, in the Assumption, in the Church and in society” (GC 2011, no. 142).

This is why he formally commits himself to living with us the “Way of Life” (GC 2017, no. 113), inspired by the spirit of the Assumption, whose fundamental dimensions are: life in fraternal community (in the family, at work, between lay people and religious); apostolic life (in privileged areas such as youth and vocations ministry, solidarity with the poor, the promotion of justice and peace, evangelization, the family, parishes, education and communication) ; life according to the Spirit (living in the spirit of the Evangelical Counsels and the Beatitudes); prayer life (nourished daily, personally, as a family and shared with one’s group and a religious community).

We continue to develop and concretize the Formation Plan, promoting “common times of formation” (celebrations, assemblies, retreats, meetings, etc.), valuing and organizing the “sharing of skills” (spiritual accompaniment, business, language learning, participation in youth formation, etc.), consolidating “participation in Chapters” at various levels (local, provincial and general)”, welcoming the calls of the Spirit and discerning together so that, in the light of our charisma and our mission, we may be able to “share our experience”.), consolidating “participation in Chapters” at various levels (local, provincial and general)”, welcoming the Spirit’s calls and discerning together so that, in the light of our charism and spirituality, we can foster the “realization of common projects” (family ministry, youth and vocations, volunteering, pilgrimages, issues of justice and peace, etc.) that make us more witnesses to the “nearness of the Kingdom” (GC 2023, nos. 29-32) in the different realities of our missionary settlements.

At the Assumption, we form a religious family centered on Jesus Christ and open to the diversity of peoples and cultures, languages, social conditions and levels of education. We want to journey together, in a synodal spirit, towards a culture of justice, peace and reconciliation: ADVENIAT REGNUM TUUM

Current projects :

• Joint work with provincial tandems ;
• Training meetings by language zone (French-speaking, English-speaking, Spanish-speaking) ;
• Common formation plan for lay people and religious ;
• Preparing for the Rencontre internationale de Nîmes 2027 ;

– P. João GOMES DA SILVA, Assistant General, Commission Coordinator
– Fr. Pascal GABIAM
– Fr. Jacques NIEUVIARTS
– Mr. Éric PALUKU KIHUNDU
– Ms Monica RAMIREZ
– Ms Agnès VOLOLONIANA