104. Without assuming to have exhausted the analysis of the reality of the Congregation, which is very rich and complex, we have touched on only certain points, from which we can now gather certain challenges in order to predict our immediate future.

In thinking about the mission of the Congregation there are two questions which define the parameters of its internal and external challenges. And these are:

- How to be more significant?

- How to effectively evangelize in today's world?

105. The topic of "significance" or of "direction" is a question concerning our quality of life, to put it into a clear perspective of faith, because this allows us to perceive and comprehend the evangelical message and values which we seek to incarnate. It is said that the religious life is the "Memory of the Gospel". It is through a style of life, a form of presence, a means of service, a specific way of walking with the Church and of entering into the world, a choice of works and specific activities..., which render visible our practice of the Gospel according to the Dehonian charism.

106. Evangelization is the reason for being of the Church and it is therefore also the reason for being of the Congregation. We are not for ourselves but in the heart and in the mission of the Church; we are a Congregation for the world, for the Kingdom, for Christ. Evangelization is a "primary activity of the Church, essential and never concluded" (RM 31). It manifests itself in all the realities of the world; it is a challenge of the North and of the South, of the East and of the West. In the same reality of secularism, as in many other historical, social and cultural situations..., we should feel the call of Jesus who sends us (cf. Mt 28:19,20) to promote the Kingdom of God and His justice (cf. Mt 6:33).

107. In relationship to these two great complimentary and interacting parameters, we present several important challenges and prospectives which are currently in the Congregation in this particularly favorable moment of grace.

1. To revitalize our Dehonian religious life. The renewal requested by the Council is not finished. There is much to do and to improve amongst us. How can we do this so that our life will more radically express the following of Christ in prayer, in vows, in fraternity, in apostolic service, in ecclesiastical communion and in insertion into the world?

How can we be in the world - with a positive attitude, irreducibly optimistic, as was our Founder - yet not be of the world?

How can we be more creative and more attentive to the social, cultural and historic context of daily life, maintaining a unity of life and bearing witness to the perennial and prophetic values of the Gospel?

2. To re-express the contents of our spirituality in modern and comprehensible language, in visible signs and in an organic itinerary.

We need masters and directors of spirit, sages and witnesses, who will lead our urgent work to its conclusion. It is a work that not all can do, nor one person alone, but certainly it can be done by our scholars, formation directors and some other brethren. It can be a work which we all do together, as we managed to do with our Constitutions - which remain the foundation of our inspiration.

Our Congregation has charism and future, such that it is joined to a "spiritual perspective" which we introduce into the heart of the mystery of Christ. But this "VISION" reaches the point of becoming spirituality when it is translated into contemplation, into prayer, into new attitudes of life, into apostolic works which are coherent and performed in a comprehensible language.

3. To continue to reinvest in formation. In fidelity to the Church, and with responsibility for the Kingdom and the well-being of people, we should seek to give priority to initial and ongoing formation.

The quality of formation should be preferred as a direct pretext for having the Provinces have their own formation centers. In Provinces where there are few candidates, it is absolutely necessary to have interprovincial and interregional collaboration which will be discerning and determining - in a frank dialogue - regarding the position, the structure, the formative line and the composition of the community where the formation takes place.

Further more, let us be aware that it is impossible to gather, accompany and form our candidates well when we do not have the guarantee of dedicated formation directors and when we do not commit ourselves to a continual, ongoing formation.

4. To qualify our apostolic choices. Since we were not founded with a specific work or activity in view (cf. Cst 30), it is dangerous to remain without a clear definition. We have inherited certain characteristic orientations from Fr. Dehon (cf. Cst 31). Our profession in the Church finds body and expression in specific apostolic choices; these render our charism visible, actual and credible and give us identity; these delineate the face which we present to the world.

The lack of qualifications leaves many talents sleeping, talents that could otherwise be put to the service of evangelization. In addition, in a world that is evolving in such a rapid way, many people lack the stimulus to update themselves, placing themselves quickly on the margins of history.

But it is above all the very reality of the Church that has need of qualified services which are often non-existent in its local forces; it is up to us to contribute the qualifications and the specificity of our charism.

As Dehonians we can prefer a certain qualification, not only doctrinal but also spiritual and practical: in social matters, in service of the missions, in the formation of clerics, religious and laity, in school, in the field of the various means of social communication, etc. These are apostolic fields in which many provinces have already had experience.

5. With reference to the two preceding challenges we should re-envision, as a Congregation, a politics of culture which is understood as a choice of study at a necessary and specialized level, as a development of a critical sense of reality, as a capacity to promote a process of inculturation and production of culture, etc.

We do not assume that all of the S.C.J.s have arrived to the point where they are all on the same level. We do not want to make ourselves into a Congregation of intellectuals; we only wish to promote a higher level of reflection and of penetrating perception. The vitality of a Congregation greatly depends on its capacity for internal reflection; when this is lacking, impoverishment is evident.

6. To deal with the aging process and the reduction of physical capacity in a positive manner. It is not only a question of increasing the value of how we help and accompany the aged, both humanly and spiritually; it is necessary to help them to lengthen their "active" time as religious and improve their very method of living the common mission.

It is also a question of knowing how to cope with a change that has already existed for quite some time in Congregations. It is more difficult to deal with recession than with growth. Proof of this can be seen by the problems which arise in redefining works, in allowing certain now outdated methods continue. We often sacrifice the possibilities of renewal because we do not have the courage to undo methods and works which have grown heavy and have outlasted their time. We often lack the necessary foresight needed to join tradition with creativity (cf. Mt 13:52), to resist putting the new wine in old wineskins (cf. Lk 5:37) and, above all, to give new answers to new times.

7. To take a second look at our organization, both administrative and juridic, as well as the present form of government and animation (Council, Commissions, etc.). We need a reorganization of organisms in view of the promotion of our mission. The forms of government and structures should correspond to the charismatic and apostolic nature of the Congregation, to the current situations and to our real possibilities.

We have new realities in the Congregation which do not fit into the current scheme of Province and Region. We have Provinces which have little hope for the future because they have grown old and have had no generational replacement, and there are various other small Provinces which require a new form of administration and government. Because of this there is a demand for new administrative and juridic figures, ones which will give their support to these new realities and to these new situations.

8. To consolidate and reinforce the path of communion, the path of unity in diversity, and the course of international elaboration which is currently being taken by the Congregation.

The awareness of "WE AS CONGREGATION" can help us to find ways to overcome the current juridic rigidity of the Provincial structure and render it more flexible, and to do this in a such a way that the result would produce a greater co-responsibility of government, without returning to the concept of centralism.

When the common good and the mission require it, it is necessary to look beyond our own limited frontiers and favor a certain mobility of people and means in our Congregation.

We must consider the objective of the plan for a "World Wide Strategy". It is a good program in the sense that, without sacrificing the legitimate autonomy and the cultural plurality which enrich our Congregation, it could put the great lines of convergence and the operative strategies into perspective, as well as offer the means for a unified path to be followed by all of the Provinces and Regions.

9. To better define the Dehonian Family, together with the laity and with the other consecrated, in its nature, in its criteria of membership, in the role which the Congregation plays in it, and in the relationship that should tie together the various expressions or vocations of which it is comprised.

It is up to the Congregation, as the first historical realization of the charism of Fr. Dehon to be officially recognized by the Church and as big sister in the environment of the Family, to promote this work.

CONCLUSION

108. Today the Congregation is an organism which is full of life, a life which is embodied in all of its members and in all of its ages. Its configuration is changing and becoming more universal. The Spirit helps us to positively appreciate this moment of grace; it helps us to meet the new challenges and to ascertain the new answers.

ATTACHMENT 1

I. We can distinguish four categories of service for the Brethren who are responsible for the Curia:

1. Many have a role of presidency, directorship and consultancy within the Curia in specific environments:

- The Coordinator of Services of the Curia: Fr. Bernard Rosinski

- The Presidents of the General Commissions:

+ Spirituality and Apostolate: Fr. Andrea Tessarolo

+ Justice and Peace: Fr. Elio Dalla Zuanna

+ Missions: Fr. Andrew Ryder

- In charge of looking after the Dehonian Family: Fr. André Perroux

2. The members of the Studies Center for the study of the sources and the actualization of our spirituality and charism:

- Fr. André Perroux

- Fr. Egidio Driedonkx

- Fr. Alfonso Robl (living in Brazil)

- Fr. Andrea Tessarolo, Drector of Publications

3. Those who cover specific offices

- In the Curia:

+ Archivist: Fr. Otto Seidel

+ Translations and other helpful works in the secretariat: Fr. Piet Adam

+ Aide to the Fr. General and Dehoniana Informationes: Fr. João Chaves

- In the Community:

+ Superior: Fr. José Miguel Garcia Tutor

+ Treasurer: Fr. Angelico Frattini

4. Brothers who perform a great service both in the Curia and in the College

- Fr. Ruggero Verbeet

- Fr. Abbondio Riva

- Fr. Marek Skorski

II. It has become necessary to reorganize the brethren who work in Roma I, because of necessary substitutions and because of new needs in the reorganization within the Curia.

The deaths of Fr. Vassena (December 12, 1991), Fr. A. Bourgeois (November 21, 1992) and Fr. Manzoni (December 4, 1994), have removed the major exponents of the Studies Center, creating a gap not easily filled.

Fr. Silvestro Martinelli, his health beginning to fail, left us in the summer of 1993 to enter the community in Bolognano.

Fr. João Chaves, taken on by the Vatican to work in the Congregation for Cult and Sacraments, has left his position as Vice-Secretary General; in his free time he performs various secretarial services for the Fr. General.

The brethren who are responsible for the Studies Center come to Rome for an indefinite period; their presence is requested based on the type of work for which they are called. The others are nominated for a three year period which is generally renewable for one time only, except for the brothers who prolong their stay because there is an extreme need of them and an extreme difficulty in substituting them: suffice it to mention Fr. Ruggero who has been in Rome for 41 years. Currently, there is an urgent need for some religious brothers to cover the gap which has been left by Fr. Silvestro and to permit Fr. Ruggero to take his well deserved rest.

Finding people for the Curia and for Roma I has, with rare exceptions, been very difficult and has cost us far too much time. Except for some specific brethren, coming to Rome has required great sacrifices and has then left people unsatisfied regarding their expectations. We can use this knowledge to explain the coming and going which has been recorded in these years, of nominations first made and then cancelled.

While on the one hand we thank the brethren who have taken on these services, on the other we must indicate the difficulties which are emerging in the required work, above all regarding the duties in the General Curia.

We can summarize these difficulties in this way:

- the negative weight of a new role which has not yet been tested and which is of no easy theoretical definition;

- the inadequacy, or in fact lack, of experience needed to exercise that determined role;

- the adaption to and insertion in a foreign culture which is, in a certain sense, atypical.

The General Curia is an international reality, constituted of an eclectic modus vivendi, where diverse cultures live together and where each one finds only small traces of his own culture. He who is called to offer a general service must accept the death of certain personal habits, in view of a service for the entire Congregation. When receiving a request to fulfill general service, it should be accepted voluntarily. In this way one's own work can be developed with serenity, and others will also be allowed to develop their work with serenity.