Bétharram,
a family facing the future:
the importance of formation

Acts of the XIIth Council of the Congregation
(Chieng Mai, 31/10 - 7/11/1999)

INDEX

Directions and Decisions of the Council of the Congregation

   * The Formation Team
   * The timetable
   * Places of formation
   * Regional Meetings of formators
   * Formation in Thailand
   * Animation of communities
   * Programme of meetings for the Laity
   * Economic questions
   * Other issues

LETTER OF THE SUPERIOR GENERAL

Dear Brothers,

it is a sign of hope that after the General Chapter we witnessed an important occasion: the presbyteral ordination of the first two Thai Betharramite religious; the opening of the Council of the Congregation could not have been finer!

This solemn happening, as well as the mandate given us by the last general Chapter gave special meaning to the work undertaken in serenity, and with a single goal : the quest for the greater good of our family. "This world, we read in the Acts of the Chapter, is the way of the Kingdom In spite of tensions and contradictions, it is in all these circumstances that our strength is revealed. God is presenr in our powerlessness. He is at work in our weaknesses.We depend on Christ incarnate, even in our dificulties. The fact of being small stimulates us to a greater freedom, humility and evangelical boldness.Le us try to be the grain of salt, and let us become the yeast in the dough of humanity". What a task and what hope we have been called to!

The themes coming from the Chapter were subsumed under the general theme which we made a priority: FORMATION. This is what I said to you in the letter of presentation of the Acts of the Chapter: "…As a family facing the future let us discover in all humility that in a changing world the movement of the Incarnaton demands of us real serious permanant formaton…". The members of the Chapter, in their message sent to the whole Family expressed the same theme: "formation in all its aspects has been the centre of our attention: each religious must become truly aware that he is a cosecrated person". From this principle effectively springs all our work of analysis, deepening, evaluation and decision making, involving the whole person in the successive phases of his human christian and religious development; from this we consider people and places, in relation to formation: the People and Teams to select, form and renew, the welcoming religious communities to form and help in their search for identity, to inspire in their sense of belonging to a family so that they might be and grow more and more into a witnessing community. (We seek)a Vocations Apostolate, as a pastoral activity, not just to delegate to someone, but to be incarnate and alive in each member of the Family. (We seek) Lay Associates as a powerful force within the Betharramite Family…; (We seek) the places to be selected, to prepare, to make them suitable houses of welcome…! Inspired by these values, the Council of the Congregation has taken some directions and decisions in order that they may be adopted and put into practice by our whole religious family with faith and persistence.This task is the business of all and is for all, so that we may all become coresponsible for the faith and development of our family!

Dear brethren, all that comes to you in the content of these Acts of the Council of the Major Religious Superiors, I ask you to welcome as the expression (on their part) of a sincere attachment to Bétharram and of a common will in the search for the greater good and wellbeing of all. "Let us not be afraid to be ourselves, and to share what makes us come alive ". (Acts of the General Chapter 1999)

Always forward in the building of the Kingdom, united and strengthened by our CHARISM of INCARNATION !!!

P. Francesco Radaelli, scj.
Supérieur Général

DIRECTIONS AND DECISIONS
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CONGREGATION

The Council of the Congregation applied itself to the task of concretising the content of the Acts of the General Chapter 1999 concerning Formation, in order to put into practice the directions of the Chapter

A panoramic survey of Formation in all the countries of the Congregation revealed a picture of hope for the future of our family (our presence in Chiang Mai for the ordination to the priesthood of the first two Betharramite Thaïs was a sign of this ): there are many young people in Formation; some young religious are involved in the work of Formation and they are engaged in an encouraging way in missionary work.

We also noted some fragile situations in some countries. The Council of the Congregation set itself to envisage solutions which would put the Formation of young religious on a firm footing everywhere, and to ensure for everyone the consistency of Initial Formation.

Following this panoramic survey a few observations emerged:

1. Because of our age and our own formation we find it difficult to understand the young of today and the culture in which they live.
2. Religious Life, as experienced in the Western world today, doesn’t have the meaning for many of our contemporaries that it used to. It has difficulty in attracting young people.
3. We ourselves even contribute to this mentality: to the point of losing confidence in proposing our way of life.
4. In the Vocation project, just as in Formation projects a serious methodical approach is called for, in order to facilitate discernment.

1) THE FORMATION TEAM

The Council of the Congregation has put in place the Formation team demanded by the general Chapter (Cf. Acts, ch.2 Formation of the Formators). .

1. For its composition, it seemed important to put in place a mixture of generations, representatives of different cultures and different areas of competence.
2. We have listed the areas of competence necessary for the team:

• expertise in discernement.
• solid proven experience of religious life in authentic community.
• a sense oforganisation.
• understanding of the world of the young.
• a tried and tested sense of belonging to the betharramite family.
• Theological knowledge of the Spirituality of the Incarnation.
• up-to-date knowledge of human sciences.

3. The tasks of this team are presented in the directons of the chapter.

In particular... "to spell out the contents of the period of formation... to respond to every need for formation, information, and deepening of Betharramite Spirituality....."

The members of this team have been designated. Their acceptance is awaited.

2) THE TIMETABLE

The Council of the Congregation has established an initial calendar of sessions of formaton to be organised by the Formation Team.

1. Session for the formators: 25 june – 15 July 2000, at Bethlehem: for a revision of Formation and an evaluation of, and an appropriation of the Ratio Studiorum.
   
2. Session for final profession: June-July 2001: at Bethlehem and Bétharram, during the time of preparation for final vows (Cf. R.V. St 9). This session will take place every two years, so that the professed can participate either just before or just after final profession. Each Province will plan a year free of studies or exams, and the content to put into it.

3) PLACES OF FORMATION

• Bethlehem,

responding to the demand of the General Chapter (Cf.Acts part III, 6:4 ...), the Council of the Congregation has envisaged the forming of an international community. Its role will be to ensure the provision in our house:

• of hospitality for different sessions of Formation and for groups of young people and pilgrims;
• of advice for religious who with the consent of their Provincial, feel the need for a time of study, of in service training, or even a sabbatical year ...
• of spiritual direction/accompaniment, a sevice of discernment...
  

• Bétharram

The Council of the Congregation has considered the composition of the
"Notre-Dame Community". This will be for the service of hospitality for all.
Religious may, with the consent of their Provincial, envisage a time of renewal at this well-spring of our Betharramite family. They could also take part in the service of welcome for the pilgrims to the shrines of Bétharram.

4) REGIONAL MEETINGS OF FORMATORS

1. Such meetings already exist in Latin-America for mutual exchanges, the harmonious implementation of Formation projects and for joint cooperation. Long may this continue, and grow!
   
2. In the other regions, let this initiative be an immediate goal, and let the meeting of July 2000 be an occasion for putting it into practice.
   
3. Let there be a meeting planned at least once a year as soon as these projects of Formation are in place.

5) FORMATION IN THAILAND

As the Council of the Congregation met in Thailand, it considered in a special way, the question of Formation in Thaïland. So with the aim of putting into practice what is demanded by our Ratio Studiorum, the following decisions were taken:

1. The House of Sampran will be a house of formation for the Professed. They will be accompanied by a team of 2 or 3 religious.

2. The novitiate for all will be in India, where the presence of at least of one Thai religious will be guaranteed. The postulants will pass the first year in Mangalore, to settle down, to follow the discernment process and to better their understanding of English. The second year will be their Novitiate year proper in Bangalore.

3. For the students at Secondary School it is necessary:

1. That we do not admit any new students for the time being;
2. To ask those who are in the first two years of Secondary School to continue their studies at home; as far as possible they will be guided by the priests.
3. To ask St Joseph's Seminary in Bangkok to admit our pupils in the other classes, as boarders. They will return to Sampran for the week-ends.

4. We must continue the work of vocations promotion, to attract and accompany all those children and young people who are interested in the Betharramite religious vocation.

5. For the aspirants who have finished Secondary School outside the seminary, and who want to become Religious, a placement at Ban Betharram, Chiang Mai is envisaged. This will help to get to know them better, to better discern their vocation, to help them discover Betharram and St Michael, and begin their study of English before leaving for Mangalore.

6. The Religious of the Delegation will become more and more responsible for financially supporting the work of formation.

7. The Procurator of "The Thailand Mission" will be answerable to the General Council. He will have a particular responsibility for financing the Formation of the young religious.

6) ANIMATION OF COMMUNITIES:
FORMATION OF SUPERIORS

The Council of the Congregation emphasises that one of the first objectives of Formation is the animation of our fraternal life in community. With this in mind the Concil of the Congregation asks that the following decisions be implemented in all our provinces:

1. that the Provincial Superior will take the time to visit the communities regularly and live with them a short while; he will help them in the discernment of works, giving attention to the individual and the ways of living religious life.
   
2. that to animate the communities the provincial Superior will take care to acompany each religious in his development, working out with him his ongoing formation needs, proposing if necessary a sabbatical year. (R.V. 192).
   
3. that at the beginning of the year a meeting of the superiors will plan for themselves a timetable of gatherings (two or three a year) and their content.

That the content of these gatherings will be centred on religious life and Betharramite religious life, giving pride of place to prayer and a liturgy of reconciliation.

7) PROGRAMME OF MEETINGS FOR THE LAITY

Following the directions of the general Chapter (Cf. Acts, Ch. 4), the Council of the Congregation suggests the following programme of meetings:

In Europe:

• July 2000, on the occasion of the annual gathering of the fraternity "Me voici" at Bétharram, representatives from England and Italy will be invited;
• 2001: a regional gathering proper is proposed: Lourdes? Rome? Birmingham?
• In Latin-America:

At the ELAB meeting of 22-28 January 2000, a concrete project will be put in place.

• For everyone: international gathering at Bethlehem in 2002.

8) ECONOMIC QUESTIONS

Following the mandate given by the General Chapter (Cf. Acts, ch. 8), the Council of the Congregation :

1. Strongly underlines, "the necessity for everyone to return without delay to a serious and effective observance of certain points in the Rule of Life, with a deep attitude of conversion of heart and change of thinking" (RV 40-48).

2. For a financial and economic management that is "rigourous, transparent and unified" takes the following decisions :

1. Financial management of our communities must be definitively separated from that of our works (RV S. 95).
2. The provisional budget must be established at every level (community, provincial and general administration) and submitted to the approval of the appropriate superior authority (Council of the Province, RV S. 94, General Council , and Council of the Congregation). This provisional budget should plan and prioritise spending according to urgency and need, following the criteria established at provincial and congregational level.

3. The question of managing a unified and centralised portfolio will be put in motion, so allowing a better return on financial investments, and by this, a better redistribution.

3. Has decided, for the next two years, to continue the same level of contributions to the General Administration as that established at the Council of the Congregation at Bétharram in 1997.

4. The Council of the Congregation would like to thank among the different Provinces those places that have with a special effort made extraordinary contributions to the Congregation.

9) OTHER ISSUES

(a) LETTER OF CAMDESSUS

(a reply to the letter of the General Chapter in April)

On the 13 maiy 1999, the Superior General received from the Secretariat of M. Michel CAMPDESSUS, Director of the I.M.F. in Washington, the response to the message sent in the name of the General Chapter in support of "the cancellation of international debt". This reply contained two interesting documents, of which these are the titles:

• The Indebted Poor Countries Initiative : the response of the I.M.F. to its critics.
• This was a speech given on 22 October 18 to the Conference on the morality of international debt, at Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey.

1. In this ten page speech, M. Michel CAMDESSUS spoke firstly as an economist whose fame did not need to be proved, but also as a human being and a christian with a concern for and a real awareness of the most poor. Here are two short passages from this long speech, one at the beginning and one at the end:

"…I believe it would be useful to make two points. The first is that it seems imortant to me in strategic terms, to link the two aims- the relief of debt and the the reduction of poverty-because these two aims can mutually reinforce each other; and the Jubilee of the year 2000 offers us a unique opportunity to prioritise the alleviation of debt. Why link these two aims? Very simply , because if we limit our concern only to the alleviation of debt, we might perhaps win a battle, but we would lose the war…………… The second point that I would make, is that we must distinguish between strategies to help poor countries and strategies to help poor people! As you have noticed—churches and N.G.O.s—it seems that very often, the poor do not benefit from well intentioned programmes of structural adjustment. They even suffer from them…

The Council of the Congregation, aware of the importance of this means of communication,

-for rapid comunication

-as a simple and practical means for the transfer of documents and files

-as a window for today’s world on the contents of our rich spirituality

1. recommends its use in all parts of the Congregation;
2. Takes part in the initiative of the general Council, an associate member of Peace Communications Network (PCN), to actively help in the spread of this organisation, having as a single aim " communication and evangelisation via the internet"
3. Asks that the General Council, (the whole Congregation?)

• take every initiative to ensure the use and functioning of our existing website www.betharram.org
• uses in a more systemmatic manner both E-mail and the Website to spread news and other information which would interest our betharramite religious family

(c ) PARAGUAY

Concerning the request of the Vice-Province of Paraguay to bevome a province, the Council of the Congregation thinks it wiser that this question be studied during the course of the next visit of the Superior General to paraguay, in order to arrive at a deeper discernment; the decision will be made during the next Council of the Congregation

THE CONGREGATION:

The next Council of the Congregation will take place during the first fortnight in July 2001, in Paraguay.

Chiang Mai 7^th November 1999