THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY
The opening address of the Roman meeting of the SCJ formation directors was presented by Fr. Virginio Bressanelli. He also delivered the homily during the celebration of the Eucharist at the opening and at the closing of the meeting. In his opening address, which covered many topics, he spoke of the "formative choices" which lie at the basis of the general program of this six year period. We present here the central portion.
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1. The setting in which formation must take place is the Community. A local formation community is:
- A congregational entity (Province, Region, District) which agrees to place itself in a state of formation. A team of formation directors which, with a smooth rapport among them, guarantees the identical educational plan for the length of the various formational stages or steps.
- A plan or program for every step or stage, none of which should be confused with the RFG. The latter brings to light the irreplaceable elements of the religious life, the charism of the Founder and the spiritual patrimony of the Congregation. A program, developed in light of the RFG and the RFP, should be concrete, yet manage to deal with personal differences in formation as well as differences which flow from culture, history, living and working conditions, and the concrete entity in which one is enrolled.
Continuing along this line, attention should be given to the insistence of the General Administration that formation convey the sense of belonging to the Congregation, and of accepting responsibility for the Congregation's well being.
Equally, attention should be given to insisting on formation in groups; inviting those parts of the Congregation with one or two candidates to send them to another Province where they might find colleagues of the same age in order to confront and form each other in community.
2. Formation can take place only while on the road of theological faith. Its center and fundamental essence, therefore, can only be an encounter with the person of Jesus Christ, being likened to Him, with a following and commitment to the same cause He had, up to the point of sharing His Easter destiny, while living the heritage of Fr. Dehon (cf. Cst. 26).
It involves our original and common form of approaching the mystery of Christ, following in the footsteps of Fr. Dehon and the early members of the Congregation (cf. Cst. 16).
Spirituality stamps us with an identity and allows us a sense of belonging to the Congregation so that we may grow; these are fundamental aspects of getting ourselves responsibly involved in the future of our Institute and for persevering in it.
The knowledge of our Founder and our history, and the deepening of our spirituality in reference to the Gospel, are irreplaceable and essential. It is equally essential to arrange the transmission of SCJ spirituality in a well-defined and practical system which is pedagogically sound and complete. It must be expressed in a language, sign and symbol that make it visible and attractive.
By analyzing cases of departure from the Congregation one learns that the lack of identity and belonging play an obviously decisive role.
On visits to scholasticates, we have frequently met up with young religious whose SCJ formation was exclusively that received during novitiate. Without ongoing support which allows for constant and growing incorporation in our values, we are condemned to failure because our specific spirituality will settle at the level of superficiality.
3. The model for our formation should be the specific SCJ mission.
We form people for a generic consecrated life; we form them in light of the mission we have from the Church.
We are an Apostolic Congregation. Our consecration and our community life should lead us to the fundamental mission we have as Dehonians.
One can gather from this the importance of being faithful in instilling our own life style, our own way of being present, and our own choices for service and the apostolate, in keeping with the orientations we have inherited from Fr. Dehon (cf. Cst. 30-31)
In its various parts and persons, the Congregation ought to be able to achieve the kind of distinctiveness that flows from the nature that qualifies it and from its mission to reveal the human-divine Heart of Jesus in the world and the Church.
The goal of SCJ formation consists of instilling the sentiments of the Son into our young religious (cf. Vita Consecrata, 66); becoming like Him and joining in with His reparatory oblation; giving witness to His practice of mercy, compassion, and solidarity with all, especially the marginal and the least, going to the people and evangelizing the poor and the workers, being prophets of love and offering the service of reconciliation of men and of the world with Christ (cf. Cst 7).
An orientation toward our mission should be present throughout and during the entire formation period and made explicit. It should have a place in prayer, in meditation, in education, and in the activities undertaken by the formation directors and the ones being formed.
The "We, the Congregation" is meaningful to the degree in which it becomes a service for the Mission. And our mission is that of the entire Church: evangelization, but doing so with our particular trademark. To form without this aim in mind is a real handicap which leads to big mistakes and terrible delusions.
4. The irreplaceable importance of formative intervention.
Formation is a process and a journey that is not done by oneself. It involves many people who are called to counsel, enlighten, discern, propose values, witness, and bring about certain experiences that enhance religious life and that allow the heritage which is to be passed on to a new generation to be seen as attractive and understandable. Transmission like this can only be done on a person-to-person basis.
Granted that the principal agent of formation is the Holy Spirit, oftentimes the Spirit cannot act until the formative intervention takes place which prepares the good soil for its action.
We need formation directors who have a quality involvement in formation. In today's world, neither good will nor professional preparation is enough to guarantee good formational service. What is additionally and particularly needed is a human and spiritual maturity that allows the formation director to exercise a true spiritual fatherhood toward the ones being formed.
Further, we need formation directors who do not escape their duty to remain in the house of formation with our candidates and young religious; they have to see that this is their greatest apostolate even when, to all outward appearances, it seems like they are wasting their time and their talents. After the model of the Divine Master, formation directors must walk the road to Emmaus, being with, hearing, enlightening, discerning, challenging, revealing the presence of the Risen One; bringing attention to the communitarian witness, and becoming in this manner companion, master teacher, father, and shepherd of those who are committed to their care.
"The chief instrument of formation is personal dialogue, a practice of irreplaceable and commendable effectiveness which should take place regularly and with a certain frequency" (Vita Consecrata,66). This is the pastoral dialog, which Paul VI spoke of in Evangelii Nuntiandi (EN), that leads the ones to be formed along the pathways of the Gospel, encourages their efforts, raises them up when they fall, provides assistance discretely when it is needed (cf. EN, 46), "points out those obstacles which are less obvious", "discloses the beauty of following Christ and the value of the charism by which this is accomplished" (Vita Consecrata, 66).
From the outset of this journey formative intervention should guarantee clarity when presenting the goals of formation, the rules it operates by and its requirements, all according to the mind of the Church, leaving out nothing. Its principle task at every single stage of formation will be to generate those profound motives which should be the very soul of every consecrated life, and which cannot be other than that of the "greater love".
An Educational Plan for This Six-Year Period
A careful and rigorous reading of the Plan "We, the Congregation: In Service to the Mission" will result in your discovery of the educational plan that we, as General Government, wish to set in motion during this term. Fr. Umberto Chiarello will lay out its elements one-by-one, bringing them to your attention.
In obedience to the General Chapter, with our basis on the RFG and RFPs, as well as the conclusions from the General Conference on Religious Brothers (Cf. Documenta XVI; Letter from the General, Prot. 270/94), we want to move the entire Congregation in the direction of a "quality formation/education". This means an initial formation aimed at obtaining, among cleric and brother SCJ religious, that unity of interior life and apostolic service which characterized Fr. Dehon and gave origin to the expression "culture of the heart".
In this kind of formation, the only measure is love, the love of God contemplated in the pierced Heart of the Savior, actively felt in each one's heart and accordingly responded to (cf. Cst. 3-5).
This "culture of the heart" is the goal of initial formation and sets in motion the entire process of ongoing formation. It can be described as a totality of principles and values, attitudes and responsibilities which visibly translate our charism and spirituality through acquisition of the seal of actuality and cordiality.
Its most obvious expressions are: wideness of vision, a new way of being aware, a fraternal and cordial way of relating and acting, specificity in apostolic choices, social and missionary sensitivity, a way of thinking and acting that is committed, the spiritual strength to face the inevitable conflicts, joy at being a follower of Christ, passion for the Kingdom of God.
This "culture of the heart" can also be called Dehonian culture because it takes its inspiration from that absolute and ideal model of SCJ formation, the Heart of Jesus. Its historical exemplification is Fr. Dehon.
It is along this line that we need to provide care for "formational quality". We need to refer to it at this International Meeting. And now, let me set out the goals for the meeting.
Objectives of This International Meeting
There are three points: the overall goal, particular goals, and an indirect result which we look forward to.
- In a practical way, we wish to reaffirm the priority that Formation should have throughout the Congregation through reinforcement of some common choices, such as:
* A conversion to the spirit of the Plan "We, the Congregation: In Service to the Mission", with all that that implies;
* A unity of hearts and aims around the four formational points made above: formation in a communitarian context, formation as a journey of faith in the light of Dehonian spirituality, formation to the mission, formation in which the necessary "formational intervention" is secured throughout all its stages.
- The particular goals come to us from the Plan "We, the Congregation...". There are four elements that we must set in motion and achieve during this six year term:
* Completing the RFG and the RFPs with those elements that treat formation as a part of communion and internationality;
* Putting together a consistent program for the Postulancy;
* Working out a formation plan, for young religious, up to perpetual profession;
* Drafting an educational road map that pulls together and presents the values of SCJ spirituality to young people in a way that is current, systematic, attractive, and practicable.