The General Council of the Society of the Priests of Saint Sulpice finished its meeting in Paris, which was held from December 10 to 15, 2012 at the Generalate headquarters in the sixth arrondissement of Paris.
Two new members of the Council were present, Father Argiro RESTREPO and Father Joseph HO THU. Father Restrepo (third consultor) is a Colombian who currently is a faculty member at the major seminary in Montreal, Canada, and Father Ho Thu (fourth consultor) is a member of the faculty at the major seminary in Hue, Vietnam.
They recently joined the General Council to replace two members who resigned because of other duties. Mgr Timothée BODIKA, fourth consultor from Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo) resigned in July, upon becoming auxiliary bishop of Kinshasa. Father Jaime MORA, who had been second consultor, resigned in June after his election to the Provincial Council of the Canadian Province. The two new members consequently will fill out the last two years of the current term of the Council.
The other members of the Council include the Superior General, Ronald D. WITHERUP, the first consultor, Father Jean-Louis ROUILLIER, and the second consultor, Father David THAYER. Father Philippe MOLAC, General Secretary, also took part in the meeting.
For certain topics the Council was joined by the Treasurer, Father Phillip BROWN of Washington, DC, the Adjunct Treasurer, Father Christian COURTOIS, and the Archivist of the Society, Father Jean LONGÈRE, both from Paris.
Highlights of the Council meeting included a visit to the major Sulpician seminary at Issy-les-Moulineaux for an Advent Mass and dinner with the community, and a short pilgrimage to the Church of Our Lady of Virtues (Notre Dame des Vertus, pictured) in Aubervilliers, a suburb of Paris.
An article will be published later on the importance of this Church as a pilgrimage site. The Council visited it because it had been a favorite shrine for members of the French School of Spirituality, including Sulpician founder Father Jean-Jacques OLIER (1608-1657).
The next meeting of the Council will be held in March 2013 in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, where the Sulpicians of the Canadian Province operate a major seminary.
Pictured outside Notre Dame des Vertus are, from left to right: Fathers Restrepo, Witherup, Thayer, Molac, Ho Thu, Rouillier, and Brown