'austraLasia' #556
FR. LUC IS BACK, ALBEIT 'GENTLY', IN BUSINESS
Fr. Luc Van Looy is now to be seen around the Generalate and in the Chapter hall again, and that's good news. He has to take it gently and has not as yet resumed his full role as president - but he is there!
FR. MARACCANI'S MOTHER HAS DIED - R.I.P.
MAKING SENSE OF IT ALL AT THE HALFWAY MARK!
The comments on the floor of the assembly are coming thick and fast and certainly the 'anglofoni' who correspond in this direction are bemused and bewildered by the very heavy process in place - but still ready to marvel at the cameraderie, and to hope in the ability of the Spirit to make sense of it all. 'nuf sed on that!
THE RECTOR AND THE COMMUNITY (COMMISSION #4)
This seems pretty much at the heart of our everyday experience - how we function in community vis-a-vis that person designated as 'direttore' - so again, here's a smorgasboard of reflections from all over the Congregation as the Assembly tries to sort the matter through:
* The Rector must be seen as part of all the commissions. To have a separate commission just working on this role would neither benefit the community nor the person of the Rector.
* Every confrere in the community has the responsibility of animation. The Rector'srole is to make that animation visible.
* The role of the Rctor has changed in the past number of years. Greater autonomy is given to the confreres, the problems of the sick and the elderly, the complexity of the work, and the integration of the laity in the work are responsibilities placed on the shoulder of one man, and this fact is impossible for one man alone to handle.
* Iin many communities in GBR the Rector is the youngest member of the community. Rather than talking about a "father" figure, there needs to be talk of a real friend, one who is kind, optimistic, and available to the confreres. This is a very Salesian concept according to the spirituality of Francis de Sales.
* The Rector needs to be a man who communicates, and who facilitates communication in his community. One of the greatest duties of the Rector is the "goodnight" in which he can share with the community in a privileged moment of on-going formation a spiritual thought or an interpretation of the day’s events.
* To the commission’s recommendation that the manual for Rectors be revised, Fr. Joaquim D’Souza noted that the Ratio and the deliberations of GC 25 would be enough, and that time should not be wasted in a new manual which would probably be obsolete by the time it is printed.
And perhaps by way of summary (From Fr. Luigi Testa, Turin): the Rector must be attentive to the needs of the confreres. He must be a human person who cares for people. He noted that Don Bosco was always concerned about the health of the Rectors of his time and even encouraged them to get at least 7 hours of sleep because their work was so demanding.
And perhaps by way of summary (From Fr. Luigi Testa, Turin): the Rector must be attentive to the needs of the confreres. He must be a human person who cares for people. He noted that Don Bosco was always concerned about the health of the Rectors of his time and even encouraged them to get at least 7 hours of sleep because their work was so demanding.
