The service of authority for the whole community of nuns is exercised first and foremost by the General Chapter. It is from the Chapter that the Prioress General receives her authority. The sisters who are members of the General Chapter, the Prioress General and the Sisters of the Permanent Council take care to maintain the unity of the Community of Nuns, while respecting the diversity of the monasteries. The Councils of Prioresses and the Canonical visits of the Monasteries also contribute to this service.
During the General Chapter held from 12 September to 11 October 2021 at the Monastery of Notre-Dame de la Gloire-Dieu in France, the capitulating sisters elected Sister Laure-Marie as Prioress General on the 1st October 2024.
During the same General Chapter, the Permanent Council which assists the Prioress General in her service was renewed: three Sister Councillors were elected by the Assembly and three others were appointed by Sister Laure-Marie. The Councillors are: Sister Paola (first assistant), Sister Sister Liesse-Myriam (second assistant), Sister Birgit, Sister Gratienne, Sister Mayté ans Sister Mia. Our apostolic assistant, take part in the Council. We asked also Mother Scholastique Piaget, o.s.b., abbesse emeritus of Pradine, to help us.
In each of our monasteries, the local prioress is responsible for the service of authority. She is elected by her community for a twelve-year term after a canonical visitation. The prioress is assisted in her service by two vicar sisters.
The community elects two nuns-councillors who, together with the prioress and her two vicars, constitute the local council. Together, the Prioress and the Councillors listen to the Holy Spirit in order to promote the evangelical fidelity of the community in its life of solitude and fraternal communion. The council is responsible for preparing the meetings of the monastery’s chapter and deliberating on economic and material matters for the monastery, such as approving the provisional budget.
The local Prioress and her Council are in close contact with the Prioress General and her Permanent Council.
The chapter of the monastery, made up of all perpetually professed nuns, meets regularly in order to discern the calls of the Holy Spirit for the community and to decide how to give concrete expression to them in daily life. The members of the chapter vote by secret ballot on admissions to temporary and perpetual profession. It is the responsibility of the local chapter, among other things, to create a spiritual impetus for the community with the prioress and to help make decisions to be implemented in concrete life, while being faithful to the choices made by the General Chapter.