austraLasia 1516
Richard the lion-heated lawyer defends his thesis
ROME: 3rd April 2006: Let's at least be historically clear - what you see above is good headline stuff, not necessarily good history. Today, 3rd April is not the feast of Richard the Lionheart , Richard I of England, but of St. Richard of Chichester. Fr Ric Fernando SDB, canon lawyer at the Direzione Generale, more commonly known as the Pisana, had no idea it would be his namesake's day when, by mutual agreement with his professors, he chose 3rd April to defend his doctoral thesis in Canon Law at the UPS. He did not realise, either, that it was also the day the head of the organisation which is subject of his doctoral investigations would be celebrating the fourth anniversary of his appointment as Rector Major of the Salesian Society, the SSJB (Salesian Society of St. John Bosco) as Ric calls it henceforth in his thesis. All of that calls for a fervent prayer! St Richard of Chichester, then, is just the man. 'Jesus Christ Superstar' immortalised Richard's very own prayer: "May I know thee more clearly, Love thee more dearly, Follow thee more nearly, Day by day".
Ric, a Filipino, has exactly the right form of this famous name, which is Germanic in origin. 'Ric', the spelling as Anglosaxon as you can get, really, means 'power, leader, ruler, braveheart'. He needs all of that today as he tackles the question of the higher organisational levels of SSJB. He looks at the governance structures of Religious Institutes with particular application to SSJB. The thesis came out of the personal experience of one trained in canon law, arriving in Rome and expecting to be appointed to a juridical office with a job description, with clear directions for action and so forth. Alas, life isn't quite like that. This was Rome, and a particular part of Rome at that. So he set too wondering about what the difference might be between a 'Casa Generalizia' and a 'Curia Generalizia', the latter having perhaps more of the accoutrements of legal setting and structure. This is not every man's favourite territory, and one has to fight one's way through the jungle of distinctions between Procurator Generals and Secretary Generals - Ric's thesis seems to suggest that these distinctions are less clearly delineated in a 'Casa' than they are in a 'Curia'!
This is qualitative research at its most interesting, especially as the thesis wrestles with balance between a central form of governance in fidelity to Don Bosco, and a style which also bespeaks familiarity, decentralisation, co-responsibility, participation....
While not calling into question of the existence of regional organisation as such, the thesis does call into question the precise links in the structure between top level (Superior General and Council) as understood across religious Institutes like ourselves, and Provinces. At the very least, coming at a time when the whole Council has gathered to think in detail of GC26, the thesis has something to offer to wider thinking about future top-level structure and how it is spelled out. It is the 'spelling out' which is a particular concern of the thesis.
Here in the Region, we are with Fr Ric as he fronts up for this culminating moment of his studies. It doesn't matter what we think of the topic - all that matters is what his professors think today! Good luck.
GLOSSARY
accoutrements: French, pure and simple, but common enough in English too: means quipment in general, but perhaps more the equipment of a soldier, so suitable in this context.
_______________________________
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
Richard the lion-heated lawyer defends his thesis
ROME: 3rd April 2006: Let's at least be historically clear - what you see above is good headline stuff, not necessarily good history. Today, 3rd April is not the feast of Richard the Lionheart , Richard I of England, but of St. Richard of Chichester. Fr Ric Fernando SDB, canon lawyer at the Direzione Generale, more commonly known as the Pisana, had no idea it would be his namesake's day when, by mutual agreement with his professors, he chose 3rd April to defend his doctoral thesis in Canon Law at the UPS. He did not realise, either, that it was also the day the head of the organisation which is subject of his doctoral investigations would be celebrating the fourth anniversary of his appointment as Rector Major of the Salesian Society, the SSJB (Salesian Society of St. John Bosco) as Ric calls it henceforth in his thesis. All of that calls for a fervent prayer! St Richard of Chichester, then, is just the man. 'Jesus Christ Superstar' immortalised Richard's very own prayer: "May I know thee more clearly, Love thee more dearly, Follow thee more nearly, Day by day".
Ric, a Filipino, has exactly the right form of this famous name, which is Germanic in origin. 'Ric', the spelling as Anglosaxon as you can get, really, means 'power, leader, ruler, braveheart'. He needs all of that today as he tackles the question of the higher organisational levels of SSJB. He looks at the governance structures of Religious Institutes with particular application to SSJB. The thesis came out of the personal experience of one trained in canon law, arriving in Rome and expecting to be appointed to a juridical office with a job description, with clear directions for action and so forth. Alas, life isn't quite like that. This was Rome, and a particular part of Rome at that. So he set too wondering about what the difference might be between a 'Casa Generalizia' and a 'Curia Generalizia', the latter having perhaps more of the accoutrements of legal setting and structure. This is not every man's favourite territory, and one has to fight one's way through the jungle of distinctions between Procurator Generals and Secretary Generals - Ric's thesis seems to suggest that these distinctions are less clearly delineated in a 'Casa' than they are in a 'Curia'!
This is qualitative research at its most interesting, especially as the thesis wrestles with balance between a central form of governance in fidelity to Don Bosco, and a style which also bespeaks familiarity, decentralisation, co-responsibility, participation....
While not calling into question of the existence of regional organisation as such, the thesis does call into question the precise links in the structure between top level (Superior General and Council) as understood across religious Institutes like ourselves, and Provinces. At the very least, coming at a time when the whole Council has gathered to think in detail of GC26, the thesis has something to offer to wider thinking about future top-level structure and how it is spelled out. It is the 'spelling out' which is a particular concern of the thesis.
Here in the Region, we are with Fr Ric as he fronts up for this culminating moment of his studies. It doesn't matter what we think of the topic - all that matters is what his professors think today! Good luck.
GLOSSARY
accoutrements: French, pure and simple, but common enough in English too: means quipment in general, but perhaps more the equipment of a soldier, so suitable in this context.
_______________________________
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
