A WORD FROM THE SUPERIOR GENERAL
the new Betharramite communities
One of the aims of the regionalisation of the Congregation was the formation of communities which would be fraternal, prayerful, welcoming and missionary. (General Chapter 2005, 7). We believe that the life of the Congregation flourishes in the fidelity of each Religious to his vocation and mission, and in the experience of brotherhood lived out by each community on the strength of the charism.
There was a time whencommunities were numerous and basked in the prestige of our works. Community life consisted of all doing certain things together, all foreseen in the rule book, and of having a devotional type of community prayer. The Superiors, hell-bent on an interpretation of obedience, possessed a form of authority which left little room for dialogue. For the good of the Community they were bound to give a weekly conference. This unique modal applied to all Congregations, and was monastic in form. There is no doubt that with such a style of community many Betharramites lived their vocation to the full and reached a high degree of sanctity.
Today, the style of communitylife has changed, just as the theology of the consecrated life has changed and the society in which we live. We want to live the brotherhood in community. A charism finds its expression in a mission and in an original manner of living in community. Communities today are small, a minimum of three religious according to the new Rule of Life. The core of the community is the experience of the vocation of each religious. We have been called; we have been summoned to live out our experience of God and to experience community together. We have been summoned to live out the Christian values of the charism, but also to help each other to be faithful to our consecration. We have been called, summoned, consecrated and sent to carry on the consoling and saving mission of Christ.
What adds value to the evangelical brotherhood is the sharing of life, the experience of God, sharing goods and the mission. Every priest in the Congregation is bound to the daily recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours; ever since Vatican II, and according to the orientations of the Church, we recite certain Hours in community; this is very good. But let’s remember that we are not only in community to recite the Liturgy of the Hours, but also to carry out together a mission in conformity with our charism. It would be an impoverishment to reduce our community prayer to the Liturgy of the Hours, as was the case when it was reduced to devotional prayers. The movements and the new Communities have been instrumental in proposing other ways of praying. There is no need to be ashamed of learning from them.
Today, we are more aware of the mission than of works, all the more so since there is a variety of missions and we tend to be scattered. This fact requires of those who have been called to live a vocation, consecration and mission to agree when and how they will meet for prayer, to share and live together. This is the whole idea of the apostolic community project. Then, we must be faithful to what was decided in community, while at the same time overcome the difficulties that each one may have about sharing in depth. There in lies the principal difficulty to being faithful to what has been programmed for the community and not so much the activities connected with the mission which we can easily organise. This new type of evangelical brotherhood requires of us a measure of maturity which enhances the freedom of each religious. Each one can, with the same liberty, give up his personal projects every time that the community or the mission are in question.
But this is only possible oncondition that we rediscover the role of the local superiors. After the time when superiors were the be all and end all in a community, we have gone on to the time when superiors are deemed to have no authority. It doesn’t seem right that the tiniest problem in a community requires the intervention of the Provincial Superior. If the life of the Congregation is to be found in the communities, it is there that there must be dialogue, reflexion, respect of the individual; it is there also that the potential of each religious must be recognised, that there must be signs of forgiveness and a solution to clashes inherent to life in community and the mission. St Michael Garicoits himself says the superiors will be the first to do all in their power to unite all hearts. (D.S.360). We can depend on the maturity of the religious and on their sense of responsibility. A careful reading of the Rule of Life will show that the personal pronouns most used are we, all, each one.
To be a Superior in the new communities is both a service guiding the vocation and consecration of each religious and a service of support for the brotherhood and the mission. With this in view, the Superior must revive a spirit of communion and participation in each religious. He must also encourage the drafting of the apostolic community project and its implementation by involving the whole community. The Local Superior knows that on-going formation is done in the community. In the course of a fraternal chat he will take an interest in what each religious can do on this question. At the same time, aware of what each one can bring to the discussion, he will encourage each religious to prepare and share with his brothers his experiences and skills. And as is stated in Perfectae Caritatis whenever necessary the Superior can reach a decision and order its application. (P.C. 14).
