(Rivista Internazionale - December 1994: Report of the Secretary of the Commission for Future Strategies - 2/3)

Our Commission therefore recommends that specialists involved in the Strategy studies and the Seminar be included in the preparatory work for this reform, possibly in separately identified units.

As many of you will remember, the documents of the Seminar focused on four different areas, the relationship between the Order's headquarters and its peripheral organisations, the structure of membership, the role and position of Ladies in the Order, as well as the definition of Charisma and Image in our organisation.

The first of these papers revealed the need of all the entities of the Order to achieve closer contact and communication with the central Government in Rome and its various offices and organisations. It is essential that your discussions and deliberations address this field, where much improvement is still possible and should be implemented during the forthcoming period.

Some measures in this respect may require changes in the Constitution, but many points could be approached from a practical point of view, where further discussions should be recommended, involving high level representatives of all parties concerned.

The Seminar proposals concerning Membership structures and the position of Ladies will directly affect the Constitutional Reform and, if enacted, will represent an important part of that effort. Nevertheless, where some of the suggestions concerning Spiritual Renewal are concerned, surely these could be taken into consideration by the highest authorities of the Order even before a change of the Charter and Code will be possible.

Equally, the initiative taken by those who worked on the subject of a more modern presentation of our Image and made according proposals, should not be lost again as this is a highly important area which will be essential to the future success of the Order, both in terms of the recruitment of new members, as well as an enhanced profile of our works.

Finally, I would briefly like to draw your attention to some of the comments, repeatedly made by the Camera dei Conti and reflected in the report presented to this Chapter. It is important that any new projects, approached by the Order through the various recommendations made by the Reform Groups, must always be considered under the light of administrative and financial feasibility.
As has been mentioned, the Order today finds itself in a financially healthy position.

However, its resources continue to be limited and all of us need to keep in mind that common projects must be jointly supported. Now that the Grand Priories and Associations can feel more secure about the soundness of financial management of the Order's patrimony, they should seriously reconsider how to support the Grand Magistry when it operates in their interest. In the end everyone will benefit from this approach.

To summarise, the Commission for Future Strategies would recommend that this Chapter pronounce its intent for genuine reform by calling for a special commission to propose necessary amendments to our Constitution during a future Extraordinary Chapter General. Further, to also appoint to this commission representatives who are knowledgeable on the subjects raised by the Malta Seminar.

In addition to this, we recommend that the Reform work be also supported on a practical level by encouraging the continuing activity of the already existing international boards, especially recommending that the Communications group continue with regular meetings also to involve the questions of Charisma and Image.

Furthermore we recommend that high level contacts be established between the Government and representatives of the entities to further elaborate on the practical aspects of the proposals presented by Group 1 of the Malta Seminar.

Winfried Henckel Donnersmarck
Knight of Honour and Devotion

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