John Paul II has given us a precious gift: the Apostolic Letter, Novo Millennio Ineunte (NMI). It is a collection of spiritual directives and pastoral guidelines that came to maturity during the Great Jubilee of Redemption. The Pope offers them to the Church as a means to revitalize evangelization at the beginning of this new millennium. Every page of this document breathes apostolic dynamism and the missions. It articulates precious insights such as:
- "we must rekindle in ourselves the impetus of the beginnings and allow ourselves to be filled with the ardor of the apostolic preaching which followed Pentecost." (40);
- "Like those pilgrims of two thousand years ago, the men and women of our own day - often perhaps unconsciously - ask believers not only to "speak" of Christ, but in a certain sense to "show" him to them." (16);
- "Now, the Christ whom we have contemplated and loved bids us to set out once more on our journey: 'Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit' (Mt 28:19)." (58).
Our Institute too has come to the end of its double jubilee: one hundred years of life and one hundred years of ad gentes evangelization. Our commemorations were intended not just "to celebrate" this very important dates in our Family life but also to "rekindle in ourselves the impetus of the beginnings." Each celebration - wherever it took place - was an occasion to reinvigorate, proclaim and share our charism and our vocation.
We begin this report by calling to mind the jubilee celebrations that have marked these last three years. We would hope that the spirit of these celebrations will mark this present gathering which we consider so important for the journey we have undertaken. We hope too that our time together will unfold in a spirit of fraternal dialogue, close attention to one another, careful interpretation of the signs of the times in the missions and openness to the directives that come to us from the Church. We have before us the Acts of the Tenth General Chapter (XCG); they detail the Institute's efforts to understand in present-day terms the meaning of encountering Christ and proclaiming Him to those who do not know Him. We hope to go forward on our post-chapter journey, reaffirm the choices we have made and modify or correct those areas that have caused difficulty. We have "new wine" in abundance, but are our communities "new wineskins" capable of absorbing and appreciating these new ideas? Finally we hope that the three weeks we are together will reinforce not just our friendship and fraternal collaboration but those indispensable bonds of unity which must exist between the General Government and the Regions you represent. May the maternal intercession of Our Lady, the Consolata and the paternal closeness of our Founder be at our side in these endeavors.

This present report is a collegial effort and reflects the thought of the entire General Government. Although it was put together by a single individual it was studied and approved by the entire Council. The absolute need for brevity has left gaps in certain areas; to fill these gaps members of the General Government and the heads of various offices have prepared additional material that describes the work they have accomplished. This material is available for consultation by all those present. In preparing this text we have used the Acts of the Tenth General Chapter and the Program for the General Government 1999-2005 (see IMC Bulletin 88) as points of reference and guidelines.