Statutes and Interior Rule

The Statutes of the St. Francis de Sales Association set out in general terms the nature, purpose and organization of our association. The statutes have two parts. The first part is the same for both the lay (St. Francis de Sales Association) and religious (Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate) branches of the Society of the Daughters of Saint Francis de Sales. The second part pertains only to the lay branch, our association. Any changes to the first part of the statutes must be agreed by both branches and submitted for approval to the Dicastery of the Laity, Family and Life as well as to the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life. Any changes to the second part of the statutes must be approved by the General Assembly of the association and by the Dicastery of the Laity, Family and Life.

The Interior Rule (or by-laws as they would be commonly be called in the USA) is intended to supplement the points not detailed in the statutes and which may be subject to more frequent modifications concerning the operating procedures of the association. Any changes must be drawn up by the General Council and submitted to the General Assembly for approval. They do not need to be submitted to Rome.

Example:

Paragraph 11 of the Statutes says, The Associates have a Rule of Life … The Interior Rule defines the ways this Rule of Life is to be practiced.

Paragraphs 8 and 9 of the Interior Rule describe the details and refer back to Paragraph 11 of the Statutes.

Full Text of our Statutes and Interior Rule

• Statutes
• Interior Rule

History of our Statutes

• Approved by the General Assembly of the association in 2003.
• Approved by the Pontifical Council for the Laity Rome in April 2007.
• Changes approved by the General Assembly of the association in May 2009 and by the Pontifical Council for the Laity in September 2009.
• Changes were approved by the General Assembly of the association in May 2022 and are pending approval by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life.

Our Interior Rule

The Interior Rule can be modified by a vote of the General Assembly without approval by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life.

• The General Assembly of May 2015 approved changes to Articles 14, 83 and 84.
• Changes were approved by the General Assembly of the association in May 2022.