austraLasia 1247
RM's final day in PNG: holy individuals, yes, but holy communities, please!
PORT MORESBY: 16th September 2005 -- On his final day in PNG, the 14th September, Fr Chávez had his fair share of meetings: 9.00 with the bulk of Salesians in the Delegation, including all the young confreres; Rectors and Delegation council meeting 11.00; meeting with young Salesians in formation later int he afternoon.
The first gathering, with some 40 confreres, was devoted to Religious Life today. The Rector Major drew on Vita Consecrata, the post-synodal Papal Exhortation on Religious Life, but also and especially on the World Congress on Consecrated Life in Rome last year, which celebrated the 10th anniversary of VC (the above document), focusing on the theme: passion for Christ and for humanity. The Rector Major invited his listeners to read VC and also the acts of the recent congress, especially the first talk.
In a question session that followed, Fr Chávez was asked what Don Bosco thought about consecrated life. In response the RM said his thinking was summed up in the da mihi animas - his love for God and for the young. His entire life is consecrated in those directions. He went on to say that in an evaluation of the congress (The RM is one of the central committee members), they agreed that Religious Life always has three essential elements, whatever form it takes: experience of God, fraternal community and mission. He expressed himself well satisfied with the choices of GC25 which re-emphasised such elements for Salesians. Fraternal community alone is insufficient - we need to share our experience of God with our brothers. We achieve a high standard of spiritual life by means of a life project. And we want to renew our communities not just for themselves but for the mission.
In an open forum that followed, one questioner asked about the way we live our religious life within the local church which we attempt to rejuvenate - do we lose our identity as we mix, on the one hand, or set up a parallel church on the other, separate from? In response the RM pointed out that the Major Superiors are now insisting on a new Mutuae Relationes (the document expressing agreement and cooperation between Bishops and Religious, written 35 years ago). In practice there is a new ecclesiology in action and Bishops and Religious need to sit down again together and think this through. We need a different attitude - both groups, that is.
Another question concerned community life in small communities and the difficulty if not impossibility of common timetables. The RM agreed these are trying situations and cited an example of a mission territory (Ecuador) where confreres in mission parishes stay together two days a week, then go off to their parishes. Not ideal but a step forward from earlier times when either they were all together all the time and the mission suffered or never together and community life suffered. And to a question on the radical nature of Salesian holiness in individuals today (16,000 but maybe few saints?) the RM responded by saying it is not just individual holiness he keeps stressing, though that too. But important also is the quality of community holiness, community spiritual life. He knows many holy Salesians, he said, giving an example of a particular individual who clearly draws his energy from the primacy of God in his life, but the real challenge is holy communities and we can't delegate that. The community is us!
_________________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml. If you subscribe, email this information and your name will come off the regular email list. RSS eliminates problems such as multiple mailings, viruses, email bloat. Think about it!
RM's final day in PNG: holy individuals, yes, but holy communities, please!
PORT MORESBY: 16th September 2005 -- On his final day in PNG, the 14th September, Fr Chávez had his fair share of meetings: 9.00 with the bulk of Salesians in the Delegation, including all the young confreres; Rectors and Delegation council meeting 11.00; meeting with young Salesians in formation later int he afternoon.
The first gathering, with some 40 confreres, was devoted to Religious Life today. The Rector Major drew on Vita Consecrata, the post-synodal Papal Exhortation on Religious Life, but also and especially on the World Congress on Consecrated Life in Rome last year, which celebrated the 10th anniversary of VC (the above document), focusing on the theme: passion for Christ and for humanity. The Rector Major invited his listeners to read VC and also the acts of the recent congress, especially the first talk.
In a question session that followed, Fr Chávez was asked what Don Bosco thought about consecrated life. In response the RM said his thinking was summed up in the da mihi animas - his love for God and for the young. His entire life is consecrated in those directions. He went on to say that in an evaluation of the congress (The RM is one of the central committee members), they agreed that Religious Life always has three essential elements, whatever form it takes: experience of God, fraternal community and mission. He expressed himself well satisfied with the choices of GC25 which re-emphasised such elements for Salesians. Fraternal community alone is insufficient - we need to share our experience of God with our brothers. We achieve a high standard of spiritual life by means of a life project. And we want to renew our communities not just for themselves but for the mission.
In an open forum that followed, one questioner asked about the way we live our religious life within the local church which we attempt to rejuvenate - do we lose our identity as we mix, on the one hand, or set up a parallel church on the other, separate from? In response the RM pointed out that the Major Superiors are now insisting on a new Mutuae Relationes (the document expressing agreement and cooperation between Bishops and Religious, written 35 years ago). In practice there is a new ecclesiology in action and Bishops and Religious need to sit down again together and think this through. We need a different attitude - both groups, that is.
Another question concerned community life in small communities and the difficulty if not impossibility of common timetables. The RM agreed these are trying situations and cited an example of a mission territory (Ecuador) where confreres in mission parishes stay together two days a week, then go off to their parishes. Not ideal but a step forward from earlier times when either they were all together all the time and the mission suffered or never together and community life suffered. And to a question on the radical nature of Salesian holiness in individuals today (16,000 but maybe few saints?) the RM responded by saying it is not just individual holiness he keeps stressing, though that too. But important also is the quality of community holiness, community spiritual life. He knows many holy Salesians, he said, giving an example of a particular individual who clearly draws his energy from the primacy of God in his life, but the real challenge is holy communities and we can't delegate that. The community is us!
_________________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml. If you subscribe, email this information and your name will come off the regular email list. RSS eliminates problems such as multiple mailings, viruses, email bloat. Think about it!
