20 April 2022


Dear CLC Family,

A blessed Easter to all!

As the whole nation faces the National Election in May this year, we as one CLCP community will also elect our new National Leadership Community (NLC) as the 3-year term of our current leaders comes to an end in August this year.

Our National Leadership Community members are permanently committed CLC members who will guide and shepherd our National Community. The roles, functions and responsibilities of the NLC are attached with this letter (CLCP Statutes, paragraphs 20-31), along with Annex A and B of the CLCP Statutes which discuss the nomination process and criteria for candidates to guide your community in their discernment of whom to nominate.

Amidst the election fever, may we request particularly ALL FULL MEMBER communities to spend time discussing as early as now the members whom you would like to nominate to serve as members of the National Leadership Community and also to consider these two invitations:
 1. Who would you like to nominate and mission from your own community?
 2. Who would you like to nominate from other communities?

While only Full Member communities are allowed to nominate members for the National Leadership Community, we ask all communities to pray for the generous availability of our permanently committed members to serve in the nLC as part of their apostolic life.

Upon considering whom you would like to nominate, we ask you to submit their names to the COMELEC and the SECRETARIAT team who will then verify their commitment and community membership status. Those who are eligible to serve will be invited to discern if they will accept the nomination. They will have 1 month to discern with their local community whether or not they will make themselves available for service to the National Community.

When your community has identified your nominees, please send an email endorsing the candidates to [email protected]. You may also mail the list of names to the Secretariat, [email protected] c/o Joy Asajar.

Please make sure the following are included in your email or letter:
~NOMINEE NAME, COMMUNITY and REGION
~YOUR NAME and the COMMUNITY NAME

If you are unsure of the status or availability of someone you would like to nominate, please nominate them anyway. The COMELEC and Secretariat will take care of verifying the status of all those who are nominated. We are including the list of names of the CLC who have made their Permanent Commitment to help you consider those you may wish to nominate.

Thank you very much for your kind attention to this important matter. We continue to enjoin everyone to pray for the success of our National Assembly 2022 as well as for a clean and honest Elections in the next few weeks. May we be truly able to respond to the call of mission to bring about the presence of the Risen Christ to our Filipino brothers and sisters wherever we are.

God bless us all!

On behalf of Comelec,


Theody Demaisip
President

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Leadership Community
20. The Leadership Community is responsible for the ordinary government of the Community. It is made up of up to seven (7) elected members, two ex-officio members (the Ecclesiastical Assistant and the Executive Secretary) and all other members who are co-opted and appointed by the Leadership Community.

(As amended October 28, 2016)
21. a) The seven (7) members of the Leadership Community shall be elected by the members during the National Assembly and shall serve for a term of three (3) years. They may be re-elected to the same office for up to one (1) additional consecutive term for a maximum period of six (6) consecutive years. Upon their election, the newly elected members of the Leadership Community shall elect from among themselves the President, the Vice-President, the Secretary, the Treasurer, and the three (3) Consultors who shall serve as such up to the end of the three (3) year term for which they were elected as LC members.

(As amended October 19, 2013)
b) The Ecclesiastical Assistant and the Executive Secretary shall be Ex-Officio members of the Leadership Community.
c) The Leadership Community may, if it wishes, coopt one or more additional consultors. It may also appoint as members of the LC, heads of important committees/ apostolates.
d) Except for the national ecclesiastical assistant who shall be appointed by the Jesuit Provincial upon the recommendation of the Leadership Community, the other appointed and coopted members shall be appointed by the Leadership Community.

22.The Leadership Community is responsible for:
a. Promoting the implementation of the General Principles, General Norms and the National Statutes.
b. Implementing the policies and decisions taken at the National Assemblies.
c. Fostering regional and local communities, stimulating their mutual assistance and collaboration, and promoting their active participation in the world mission of CLC.
d.Assuring CLCP representation in programs of international cooperation wherever it may be opportune for example in collaboration with the Conference of International Catholic Organizations.
e. Promoting the implementation of the teachings of the Church, especially that of Vatican Council II, PCP II and their further development.
f. Encouraging the fuller sharing, by local and regional communities, between each other and the national as well as with the World Community, of their documentation, experiences, personnel and material resources.
g. Promoting and encouraging specific projects particularly in accordance with norms 10 and 11.
h. Encouraging and creating initiatives necessary to fulfill all these tasks

23. The Leadership Community meets at least four times a year. It informs all local communities of its activities.

24. In the Leadership Community, decisions are taken in a spirit of discernment by consensus providing a quorum is present. A quorum consists of 50% + 1 of all the members.

25. The Leadership Community maintains a National Secretariat for carrying out its policies and decisions.

26. The Executive Secretary is appointed by the Leadership Community, which determines the rights and responsibilities of the office.

27. For all official communications the address of the National Secretariat is to be considered as the address of the Leadership Community.

28. Nominations for all elected members of the Leadership Community are to be proposed to the Leadership Community in writing at least four months before the meeting of the National Assembly at which elections are to take place. Nominations are submitted by each local community through the National Secretariat.

29. The Guidelines for the Nominations of Candidates (ANNEX A), the Criteria for Candidates to the Leadership Community (ANNEX B), and the CLCP Election Procedures (ANNEX C) are hereto attached and made integral parts of these Statutes. These ANNEXES A, B and C may be changed or amended by the Leadership Community upon the recommendation of the Committee on Elections or at its own initiative and any and all such changes shall be duly reported by the LC to the National Assembly.

30. The Christian Life Community of the Philippines is comprised of the Local Communities in the various regional groupings designated for their better mutual assistance and coordination.

31. The establishment of a new full member community is first approved by the Leadership Community upon the favorable recommendation of its Membership Committee for confirmation by the National Assembly. Such confirmation by the National Assembly makes the newly established community eligible henceforth for all the rights and obligations of membership. The procedures for recognition and acceptance of new full member and observer communities shall be adopted by the Leadership Community for confirmation of the National Assembly.

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ANNEX "A"
CHRISTIAN LIFE COMMUNITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
GUIDELINES FOR NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES

1. All local communities with full membership status may nominate candidates for election to the Leadership Community.

2. Nominees may be selected from among the members of one's own community or from other communities that are full members.

3. The qualifications of prospective nominees are to be evaluated in the light of the criteria for candidates.

4. Local communities may nominate as many persons as they think qualified for membership in the Leadership Community.

5. Nomination must be done with the use of a prayerful discernment process.

6. Nominations must be proposed in writing to the National Secretariat with the use of the attached nomination form.

What happens after all the nomination forms have been received at the National Secretariat?

1. The Secretariat informs all the nominees of their nomination.

2. The nominees are given a month's time to decide - with the help of their respective communities - to accept or decline the nomination. They are to notify the Secretariat of their response. The prayerful discernment process must take place at two levels in the acceptance of the nomination by a nominee - first at the level of the person accepting the nomination, and, second, at the level of the community of the nominee accepting the nomination. The discernment process at the community level must be accompanied and certified by the group guide of the community.

3. Nominees who accept their nomination are given information sheets that will help draw up their personal profiles. These sheets are to be sent back to the Secretariat.

4. The Secretariat collates all the information sheets and sends them to all full member communities to provide them with preparatory data which can serve as partial basis of their final choices.

5. At the National Assembly, in the days preceding the election, the delegates of the local communities make use of the opportunity to get to know the candidates as thoroughly as possible.

6. On the election day, the participating local communities, through their delegates, make their final choices and cast their ballots.

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ANNEX "B"

CHRISTIAN LIFE COMMUNITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
ELECTION OF LC MEMBERS - CRITERIA FOR CANDIDATES

Candidates for membership in the Leadership Community must:
1. have full experience of the Spiritual Exercises, and a profound knowledge and deep experience of the CLC way of life.

2. be a regular member of a stable Full Member Community of the CLCP for, at least, two consecutive years.

3. have made a permanent commitment to the CLC way of life.

4. have exercised and assumed responsibility and leadership in the CLC, at least, on the local level.

5. have time and physical capability to carry out the duties and responsibilities attached to the position.

6. be discerning and deeply committed to the growth and development of the CLC movement as a national and world community.

7. have sufficient grasp and feel of the vision/mission, strengths and weaknesses of the whole movement in relation to the Philippines and to the world and church situations.

8. be aware of and concerned about the Philippine situation and is actively involved in efforts geared towards responding to the needs of the country.

9. be supported and commissioned by his/her local community in his/her intention to serve as LC member.

PDF: 2022 NA Communication #2 -  Call for nLC Nominations

PDF: CLC Members with Permanent Commitment

CLCP 2022 National Assembly Communications