III. The Program

a. Principal Directions of Guidance and Governance

1. THE MISSION AND THE MISSIONS

13. 1. The mission is our reason for existence in the church. The title "We, the Congregation, in Service to the Mission" calls upon us to align the life of the institute in keeping with this perspective.

By vocation and mission, we have the task of being "servants of reconciliation" as the Constitutions require (Cst. 7). This task requires every religious to be deeply conscious of what "reconciliation" means within the context of where he lives and works.
New missionary foundations should be preceded by a real discernment by the congregation, making use of these precise criteria:
it should make use of a limited number of members;
it should be able to be inserted within the pastoral ministry of the local church;
it should allow living in a fraternal community with sharing of goods;
it should allow the inculturation of our Dehonian charism and in vocational ministry as well (Cf. Report to the General Chapter, n. 85).
New projects, whether begun by an individual province or by the General Administration, should be open to international collaboration by involving the provinces of the same geographic zone and with coordination by the general government.

14. 2. Chapter Orientation

Keeping in mind our vocation to be servants of reconciliation in today's world, the 20th General Chapter requests that the General Administration, in collaboration with the provinces and regions, open new, prophetic communities over the next six years that are open to international collaboration both in the secularized world as well as in the territories of the missio ad gentes (Cf. Inf. Nuntius 2/1997, p. 28).
To make international collaboration possible and to enable the necessary interchange of personnel, the 20th General Chapter requests the provinces and regions to be disposed toward the exchange of personnel, projects, and goods throughout the entire congregation (Cf. Inf. Nuntius 2/1997, p. 29).

15. 3. Operative Choices

To establish in each geographic zone one "prophetic community" international in scope. One of these communities is that foreseen for La Capelle. As requested by the 20th General Chapter (Cf. Motion 3), the study of an apostolic project relative to this has already started.
To fortify, during the first phase of the six year term, the communities begun earlier in the Philippines and in India; to sustain those which have just started.
To be open to collaborating with other provinces for missions beyond one's borders, based on the criterion that those who have more by way of persons or goods, should give more.

2. SOCIAL COMMITMENT

16. 1. Social commitment is the expression of our reparatory spirituality and an essential element of our Dehonian mission. The experience of Fr. Dehon in the social order was a manifestation of his personal charism, but it has become our heritage, left to the congregation by his deliberate choice (Cf. Cst 31a, 32a, 36-39).

17. 2. Chapter Orientation

To look at the socio-cultural reality present in the situation where we live paying particular attention to the neo-liberal phenomenon.
To disseminate the social teaching of the church.
To support and sustain those engaged in the work of justice and solidarity.

Among the means proposed one finds the General Conference (Cf. Motion 5) and an ongoing formation program on the topic of "The Economy and the Kingdom of God" (Cf. Inf. Nuntius 2/1997, p. 31).

18. 3. Operative Choices

Prepare for the next General Conference with a study of the socio-cultural realities in which the provinces and regions are working.
Disseminate the social teaching of the church and put higher value on the writings of Fr. Dehon; to accomplish this the Centro Studi at Rome should come up with a critical edition of the social works of Fr. Dehon.
Promote the translation of the social works of Fr. Dehon from the French and disseminate them beyond the confines of the congregation.
Support the initiatives already begun in some provinces of disseminating the social teaching of the church through study programs for laity, clergy, and religious. In our journals and in the mass-media, there should be programs and treatments on the social questions.
Work out in each province a program which prepares one for social commitment and includes the teaching of Fr. Dehon.
Respond to the social sensitivity of young religious by promoting opportunities for concrete experiences.
Spread information, facts, documents, and bibliographies on topics of Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation; promote their diffusion in our provinces and regions and beyond.
Undertake an informational survey to learn of all the social activities existent in the congregation or in which one of our religious is involved, which have a helping nature or serve to promote human existence.
Give support to personal undertakings in the provinces after having made an internal discernment to check out their prophetic nature; collaborate with undertakings of other organisms whether or not they are church-related; sustain in each province some specifically social project (for/with/as poor) as a proper work.

3. INITIAL AND ONGOING FORMATION

19. 1. Formation is an educational process that lasts a lifetime and from which no one is exempt. The object of this educational process is the person and the religious community.

20. 2. Chapter Orientation

The 20th General Chapter asks that:

the General Ratio Formationis and the Provincial Ratio Formationis be completed by adding the elements that deal with formation in communion and internationality;
the general administration works out a plan of formation for young religious preparing for perpetual vows in light of "We, the Congregation" (Cf. Inf. Nuntius 2/1997, p. 30).

21. 3. Operative Choices:

Place special emphasis on the spiritual values (Sint Unum, mission, internationality, sharing, communion...) as the educational objective for this six year term.
Set interprovincial formational structures in motion in places where a sufficient number of candidates do not exist which would allow persons to live interpersonal relationships in a group.
Establish a commensurate postulancy program which conforms to what is prescribed in the Constitutions (Cst. 97) and suitable to the age and background of the candidates.
Invest preparation for perpetual profession with the mark of "international sensitivity" as the 20th General Chapter has asked; therefore, these should take place in interprovince settings or by geographical zones with cultural similarities.
Promote study specialization among young religious in international settings or outside their own province as well as the exchange of formation personnel and teachers.
Plan and establish a sabbatical year for all religious after a number of years of religious profession as some provinces already do.
Organize at Rome each year and in a different language, a semester of ongoing formation.
Set up two international courses of ongoing formation in different languages and countries.
Learn a foreign language, particularly English, as the common language of the congregation; for those who already speak English, insist they learn another language important to the congregation: Italian, French, Portuguese, or Spanish.

4. VOCATIONAL MINISTRY

22. 1. Vocational ministry should be closely connected with youth ministry for the sake of the assistance we owe the young people to guide them in faith and in discernment of the service to which they are called in the church.

Acceptance of adult vocations and the integration within one's entity of persons who are already well defined by the lives they have led is evidence of the maturity of the religious institute which knows how to make them welcome (Cf. Documenta VII, 424).

Responsibility for vocational ministry affects each religious as individual and each community (Cf. Cst 90b)
In carrying out vocational ministry concerning religious life, the vocation of religious brother must be fostered. Brothers, too, should be given the task of working in this ministry.
The plurality of methods used in the church to accomplish vocational ministry constitutes a great source of riches for us.

23. 2. Chapter Orientation

The congregation in each of its individual parts, should commit itself to fulfill a "policy for living" and not merely retrenchment; to accomplish this, vocational ministry should be looked upon as a real priority which requires personnel and means (Cf. Report to the General Chapter, 61).

24. 3. Operational Choices

Promote an international meeting in Brazil for those responsible for vocational ministry as a program of ongoing formation for them, thus sharing the programs and experiences of the congregation.
Give complete support to vocational meetings between promoters and young candidates by geographic zones as is already traditional in Europe.
In those provinces found in secularized countries, receive any candidates who may apply into interprovincial or international formation centers. In these countries as well, vocational ministry should be promoted with the help of religious SCJs from other countries.
Celebrate March 14th, birthdate of Fr. Dehon, as a day for vocations, with prayer and with concrete initiatives.
Prepare workers for youth ministry and vocations by providing them with systematic studies for these areas as their specialization.
Encourage everyone, particularly our ill or aging religious, to pray and to offer up their sufferings to the Lord that He might raise up new vocations in the congregation and for all ministries and charisms in the church.

5. DEHONIAN FAMILY

25. 1. By Dehonian Family we mean the whole made up of several components (SCJs, consecrated persons, laity) who acknowledge Fr. Dehon as the "Father" of their own spiritual life and are accepted by their brothers/sisters as participants in the same spirituality and mission.

Communion of the different vocations requires a respect for their specific and diverse natures with full and complete organizational autonomy.
Within the congregation, the first historical concretization of the charism of Fr. Dehon recognized officially by the church, our task is to make his spirituality known and to give guidance to those who are inspired by this spirituality and be guarantors of their fidelity.

26. 2. Chapter Orientation

"Considering the variety of groups that live our spirituality as lay Dehonians and considering the difficulty that some provinces have in getting such initiatives started because they have no reference points, the General Council is requested to develop a document in which in a general way the qualities that characterize lay Dehonians are laid out" (Motion 1).

27. 3. Operative Choices

Invite lay Dehonians to organize geographical meetings to define the "profile of the lay Dehonian" and to specify the "kind of relationship" to be maintained with other components, especially with the congregation.
Convoke an international meeting of the Dehonian Family, inviting all its components, to deal with the same topics.

6. FINANCIAL MATTERS

28. 1. As a core requirement, the plan "We, the Congregation, in Service to the Mission" demands financial planning at the congregational level which, from one aspect goes beyond the limits and confines of provinces and regions and from another involves the provinces themselves as co-responsible for making choices and as participants in accomplishing the choices made with their financial assistance.

The financial autonomy enjoyed by the provinces should be integrated with the needs that congregational communion has to accomplish in the development of the congregation and its works, overcoming sometimes narrow and partial perspectives.

The positive experience from our past, based as it is on substantive wealth-sharing, is a guarantee that in the future all the provinces continue to support the new international establishments and those provinces in difficulty.

29. 2. Chapter Orientations

The 20th General Chapter asks that:

all provinces ought to contribute to the General Aid Fund (Cf. Motion 2);
the contributions should be in function of the development of the congregation and its works (Cf. Motion 8);
the Norms for the Administration of Goods [NAB] should be revised (Cf. Recommendation 12).

30. 3. Operative Choices

The General Government has already constituted the General Commission for Financial Affairs. Among its duties, it should:

determine the manner of participating in the General Aid Fund [FAG] by all the provinces; these shall be presented at the next meeting of provincial and regional superiors;
do an analytic study of the costs and the ways to finance those projects that the General Government intends to establish;
help the provinces and study, even on-site, the means whereby provinces and regions arrive at self-sustenance, at least for their ordinary expenses;
propose solutions to the problems of illness and retirement for religious from those provinces where the State makes no provision for assistance;
work out a standard and common accounting system to enable the use of accounts from the provinces, regions, and territorial communities;

encourage meetings of provincial and regional treasurers at the zonal level and the training of local house treasurers. The General Treasurer together with the General Finance Commission should be available to render every kind of assistance.

7. GOVERNANCE

31. 1. The structures of our government are at the service of today's SCJ mission; the mission requires that emerging problems and situations be given adequate structures and new responses.

Operating according to the methodology of communion, any revision of governmental structures must take place by involving the entire congregation, especially affected portions, for more efficient guidance and better coordination.

32. 2. Chapter Orientation

In light of new needs and in function of the congregational plan, revise and make adequate governance structures at the general, provincial, and (geographic) zonal levels (Cf. Motion 7).
Drop the requirement having "a priest'" fulfill the function of local superior and allow any religious to be designated for this responsibility while respecting the other requirements laid out in the Constitutions (Cf. Motion 9).
Work out a juridical status suitable for new missions and international entities (Cf. Motion 6).
Update the General Directory [DG] and the Norms for the Administration of Goods [NAB] (Cf. Recommendation 12).

33. 3. Operative Choices

By way of immediate, concrete response, the General Government has already established a "Committee of Experts" to look at structures of government. Among its tasks, it should:

work out concrete proposals, and even alternatives if possible;
obtain the reflections of the interested parties (MAD, PHI, INDIA, etc....) on how they should be structured;
take a good look at the experience of other religious institutes.

These committee proposals will be evaluated at the next meeting of provincial and regional superiors at Rome.

Afterwards, such structures will be made operative ad experimentum till the next General Chapter by the General Government.

Examine the numerous topics proposed by the chapter groups and more recently by the provinces, regions, and territorial communities.

34. All these "operative choices" described in this project phase need to be planned in keeping with the objectives proposed by the General Chapter; this will take place at the opportune moment during the course of this six year term.

b. Other Topics

In addition to the tasks confided to us by the 20th General Chapter, there are other matters and undertakings requiring attention and, subsequently, guidance and the exercise of authority. We list some below:

1. AGING

35. 1. One great challenge during this six year term will be to deal with the aging of persons, works, and structures of governance in some parts of the congregation in a positive manner.

While this, in its present dimensions, may be a new factor for us, it certainly is not so for the church which has experience of this reaching far back in time.

36 .2. The chief objective here is:

to obtain a clear understanding of any limits, possibilities, and meaning for this stage of one's life;
to cherish and promote a particular and proper spirit of living out, as religious and as congregation, this particular stage which happens to both persons and to works.

37. 3. Therefore we propose:

a. For persons:

to cultivate a human, spiritual, and psychological preparation in order to face up to and live out the "third life";
to guarantee such people everywhere spiritual, medical, and social assistance;
to allow them to participate to whatever degree possible in the activities of the Institute.

b. For works:

Solicitous for their revision:

to creatively support such works that evidence meaningfulness and usefulness for the Kingdom of God;
to avoid passing on to future generations a burdensome heritage of works whose purposes are no longer serviceable; this has the effect of killing off the prophetic and evangelical thrust of the young religious.

c. For government structures:

to encourage a new administrative organization which meets real needs.

2. POLICY FOR PROMOTING SCHOLARSHIP

38. The 20th General Chapter reconfirmed the motion of the XIXth General Chapter which bears on this matter (Cf. Motion 11). We therefore encourage the provinces and regions to undertake the task of implementing a "policy for promoting scholarship understood as a choice for study which is demanding and specialized, as the development of a critical sense of what is taking place in the world, as a capacity to foster a process of inculturation and the results of learning, etc..." (Report to the General Chapter, 107.5).

We ask the provinces and regions to prepare persons with specific competencies, preferably in the theological and social sciences, in spirituality, education, and communication.

3. EDUCATION

We ask the provinces and regions to prepare persons with specific competencies, preferably in the theological and social sciences, in spirituality, education, and communication.

4. INCULTURATION

40. The inculturation of the Gospel and the Dehonian charism in the different cultures where we are found and where we work is not merely of consequence to missionary lands but also to the western world where secularization has taken place.

The presence of our native religious in missionary lands demands that the Gospel be inculturated according to the mental and cultural constructs of that particular people in harmony with the local church.

As for the Dehonian charism "we ought to be able to express the contents of our spirituality in language that is current and understandable, by means of visible signs, in articulated fashion... Our own "spiritual outlook" or "vision" comes to be truly spiritual when it leads to contemplation, to prayer, to new behaviors, to consistent apostolic works, and to understanding (Report to the General Chapter, 107.2).

The provinces and regions and territorial communities should face up to this demand on the part of our faith and our spirituality after serious and responsible examination.

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