JULIA MARTÍN, new Secretary General

The Superior General, Maria Inez Furtado FI, has just appointed Julia Martin Villar FI as Secretary General of our Congregation. In her last circular letter, Maria Inez Furtado communicates that she will join the General Curia house in September and that “Ana Baeza FI and she will work together for some months”. According to our Constitutions, the Secretary General is near the Superior General, “being like her memory and hands in what ought to be written and dealt with,[she] may help her in all that she wishes to entrust to her for the welfare of the Congregation, realizing that, to a certain extend, except for her authority, she carries the weight of the General’s office upon her shoulders. The Secretary will be responsible for preparing the agenda for the General Council meetings, and writing the minutes of the same as well as taking care of official correspondence and of all communications to the Congregation and to other persons or bodies connected with it” (CFI 298). Among the characteristics of a secretary general our Constitutions (CFI 299) indicate that “she ought to be diligent, discreet and if possible learned, endowed with qualities for communicating in word and in writing whenever necessary according to persons and circumstances, while adapting herself to proper ways and customs. Above all she ought to be a person in whom confidence can be placed, reserved in the matters entrusted to her and one who knows and loves the Congregation, so that the Superior General may be better aided by her for divine glory”.