Description

The XXVI General Chapter of the Congregation of Missionaries

Sons of Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 (Claretian Missionaries)

 

INTRODUCTION:

 On the 15^th of August 2021, Seventy-Eight members of the Claretian Missionaries gathered at ‘Center AD Gentes’, of the Verbitas Missionaries Congregation, in the city of Nemi, a hundred kilometer drive from Rome for their XXVI General Chapter. After ten days period of quarantine at the Green Park Hotel, for members who travelled from Asia, America and Africa.

 The XXVI General Chapter of the Claretians officially began with an inaugural mass officiated by the Father General of the Congregation VRF Matthew Vattamattam, CMF. Following the mass, we entered a three-day retreat, that was facilitated by Fr. Paulson Veliyannoor, CMF and Sr. Jolanda Kafta, The Mother General of the Claretian Sisters.  The retreat dwelt on the Lk. 24:13-32: “The Emmaus Walk or the Conversations on the Way” (Conversations on the way). This journey is a stress on the fact hat we are not alone in our journey of life; there is always an unseen companion on our journey as a Congregation or as disciples of Jesus.

 Is good to note that only one member of the delegates to the Chapter that could not make it to the Chapter Hall due to strict restriction of travellers due to the Corona Virus (Covod-19). He however, followed all the proceedings of the Chapter through online connection.

 THEME AND METHOD OF THE CHAPTER”

The Theme of the XXVI General Chapter is “ROOTED AND AUDACIOUS”. The Method used during the chapter is “SYNODAL”. The theme was inspired by the feelers from our local, zonal, provincial and continental conversations.

ROOTED: because our Claretian Spirituality has its foundation in the Scripture, Eucharist, and Cordi-Marian Spirituality. Therefore, the XXVI General Chapter is a call to deepen our “rootedness” in these fundamentals of our spirituality, our life style, our identity.

AUDACIOUS: because base on our charism as “Listeners and Servants of the Word”, we are required to proclaim the Word with courage, employing the most effective means of communication.

The methodological approach, which was synodal, gave the Chapter assembly a different look. It was completely paradigm shift from the old fashion of Celebrating Chapters in our Congregation for these following reasons:

i)                   It was a non-paper chapter; all the presentations were fed into a Tablet.

ii)                 No “Positions Papers”, as it has been in the previous Chapters, rather in the XXVI General Chapter we had “Working Ideas”.

iii)               The Working Ideas were made during our Local, Zonal, Provincial conversations, that makes it Synodal.

 The Chapter discussions followed Three Main Dimensions, known as:

i)                   The Narrative Dimension

ii)                 The Dream Dimension

iii)               The Designs Dimension

 1)     The Narrative Dimension: This dimension covers the history, activities and stories worth telling and inspiring. Under this dimension the Chapter Community listened to the reports of the General Government for the last sexennium. The members of the Chapter discussed these reports in-groups. The general opinion is that: The General Government Team did exceptionally well. From the report there are discernable sighs of vitality in the Congregation, more teamwork, more collaboration and networking among the Prefectures in the last sex years.

 This dimension underlines two main aspects of our Charismatic Identity:

a)      Seeds of Life/our strengths (What motivates us, What gives us life, Areas we have done well). We share our dreams for the Congregation and tried to design the future we as Claretian wish for the Congregation. These stories constitute what is referred to as the Narrative Dimension of the Chapter. The Chapter Assembly knit together all the dreams and ideas generated by Claretians at these levels to formulate central theme of the Chapter. With this synodal approach every contribution, every ideas were carried along so much so that the Chapter document is clearly seen as “OUR DOCUMENT’.

b)     The Weeds: by ‘weeds’ we mean our Weaknesses, our challenges, and what we have not done well. Although the Chapter appraised the work of the Government in the last sexennium positively, a number of weaknesses or weeds were also pointed out. Such as our Fraternal Life in Common. The dissatisfactory life some of us were living was frown at, at this level of discussion. As such all-major organisms at the Chapter were told to do more to facilitate community life in the organisms.

2)     The Dream Dimension: The second week of the Chapter was a week of dreams for the Congregation. The aim of this aspect was to construct and visualize the future on what we want the Congregation to be in the next Sexennium (that is the shape of the Congregation before the XXVII General Chapter.  Every member of the Chapter Community formulated an individual dream for the Congregation, the individual dreams were unified into a group dream, and the group dreams were shared and discussed at the plenary.

 Eventually, a Road Map for the Congregation was designed by the Chapter to guide the incoming General Government for the next Sexennium. The content of this Road Map were itemized at the Design phase.

 3)     The Designs Dimension: Looking at our dreams for the Congregation for the nest six years, the third dimension was devoted to making proposals and formulating commitments for the future, i.e. how we may realize those dreams for the Congregation. What was being projected at this point is the shape we want the Congregation to take by the year 2027. Following the synodal pattern we were able to design what our future will look like in the next six years. 

 Election Week:

 Before the election passing through all the three stages of discernment the Chapter Community was set to elect their leaders for the next sexennium. Before the election stage a new prefecture was created in order to keep with the challenges of our time and to starting the formation of cyber-missionaries. The new prefecture is – ‘ Bible Ministry and Communication’.

 The sounding and prayers preceded the election:

 1.       Fr. Matthew Vattamattam – re-elected as Fr. General

2.       Fr. Manuel Termago – re-elected as the General Econome

3.       Fr. Joseph Mbungo -Mutu – elected as prefect of formation

4.       Fr. Pedro Bellderrian – elected as prefect of Apostolate

5.       Fr. Carlos Sánchez - elected as prefect of Spirituality

6.       Fr. Henry Omonisaye – elected as prefect of Bible ministry and communication

7.       Br. Carlos Vegas – re-elected as prefect of Youth ministry and vocation

 Photos the members of the General Government:

 They all accepted their election, the Father General requested for our prayers and blessing before taking the oath of office.

 Some pictures.

 MAIN THESE DISCUSSES:

 

1.       Biblical Pastoral Ministry and Communication

2.       Taking the Gospel to the peripheries

3.       Interculturality

4.       Shared mission

5.       Youth ministry

 1.      BIBLICAL PASTORAL MINISTRY COMMUNICATION: The Chapter Community recognized the place of the Word of God in our Spirituality and Ministry. Therefore it projected that by 2027 each of our missionaries, communities and organisms would have read the whole Bible at least twice. The Chapter also recognized he important of the social and Communication Media to the proclamation of the Gospel. It encouraged a creative use of the modern means of communication in the proclamation of the Word so that we can reach out to more men and women of a more digitalized world. Base on the importance of the Word of God and how to communicate it, the Chapter community after much deliberations unanimously, a prefecture to take the responsibility of this ministry was created known as; ‘Biblical Pastoral Ministry Communication’. 

2.      TAKING THE GOSPEL TO THE PERIPHERIES: Fundamentally, this is the apostolate of the Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary – Claretian Missionaries. Bearing this in mind the Chapter Community projected a ‘Congregation Going Forth’, and mobilizing its missionaries to leave their comfort zones and reach out to the peripheries. It emphasized the need to reach out to young people without waiting for them to come to us. These calls resounded with intensity in the reports coming from most of the organisms and conferences, this is so because of the synodal approach the XXVI Chapter adopted.

  INTERCULTURALITY: The theme interculturality featured prominently in the Chapter. The fact that the Congregation is not a monoculture, but rather is intercultural and intercontinental, with members from diverse cultural contexts was underlined. So the need to continue to see the diversity of our culture as great richness became the priority of the Chapter. To this effect, a road-map was designed:

a)     Need to promote the formation of Missionaries that includes interculturality.

b)     Need for openness both on the part of the missionary and the receiving organism. The receiving organism also needs to be open to the missionary coming from other cultural contexts.

c)      The Chapter frowned at the tendency in some missionaries not going to their new missions with openness, i.e, they transport their bodies to the new mission but not their whole heart.

 

4.       SHARED MISSION: Another theme that was discussed by the Chapter Community is our missionary charism – shared mission and collaboration among other Organisms in the Congregation. This will enable us to best live out the design of Claret who dreamt of spreading the Gospel to the whole world. The stress on shared mission and interculturality led the call for the establishment and/or promotion of intercultural communities, where students from different countries and cultural affiliation can study other languages, especially Spanish and English (these are the official language of the Congregation). Other points raised on shared mission includes:

a) The need for availability to serve the Mission where it is most needed

b) The need to share personnel and resources among the Organisms

c) The need to prepare missionaries for the shared mission. Emphasis was placed on the integral training of our missionary students. The need to have a clear program of on-going formation was stressed. This can be done through workshops, courses, seminars, etc.

d) The need to have specific centers for the theological, biblical, pastoral and pedagogical training of evangelizers, mainly lay people, religious, catechists and animators of small Christian communities.

5.       YOUTH MINISTRY: The members of the XXVI General Chapter clearly understood that we share in the Church’s mandate to evangelize the whole humanity, including the young people where the future of the Church is. We join our voices with that of the Church to tell they young ones not to be afraid. Therefore, there is need to go out to met the young people, to walk with them and make it easier for them to hear the call of Jesus and also help them deepen their faith and vocational discernment. This was the reason of the setting up of the Prefecture of Youth and Vocations Ministry aimed at promoting projects that can help draw the Youth closer to God.

The Last Week of the Chapter:

This week was a week of formulation commitments and proposals. Over forty (40) proposals / commitments were formulated and resolved on. These are the basic highlights:

i)                   Commitment to deepen our spiritual life through devotion to the World of God, the Eucharist, and the Cordi-Marian Spirituality. 

ii)                 Commitment to deepen our rootedness in the Scriptures through a more devoted study of the Scriptures so that having been rooted in the Gospel, we may proclaim the Gospel more effectively to all human, employing the modern means of communication.

iii)               As a Congregation made up of members from different races, cultures and languages, the need to be open to intercultural lining as brothers of a common religious family was also resolved on

iv)               The need to take the Gospel to the geographical, social and cultural peripheries .

v)                 Commitment to Eucharistic adoration, thirty minutes daily, in all our communities

 

 

Audience with the Pope: Traditionally, after the election of the New Government, the new Superior General leads the Chapter Community to visit and have audience with the Holy Father. This year was not different despite the panic of the pandemic and the Pope recovery from his surgery; he was still humble enough to have audience with us.

 

Highlights of his message to us are:

 Go forth to be close to the people: He urges us to go out to the people, to be close to them in their mission, and to never forget that their only real security is in Christ. Stressing on the theme of the Chapter “Rooted and Audacious”, he said we should be fruitful in our mission by being faithful witnesses in our intimacy with the Lord and if we want to be witnesses, we can’t cease being adorers. He reminded us of our identity as it is in our Constitutions Number 9. And admonished us to be burned by the Lord, by his love, so that we can be incendiaries wherever we go with the fire of divine love. This will make us rooted and audacious in mission.

 Mission of proximity: He told us as missionary that our mission cannot be from a distance, but one of closeness proximity. In the mission you cannot be satisfied with just staring out to the window, observing with curiosity from afar. We can’t look at reality from the window but work to change it.  As such he admonished us to follow the foot-steep of our Father Founder Anthony Mary Claret and not be mere spectators.

 The Gospel to be used as a Vademecum: In an unmistakable manner, he counseled us to use the Gospel like a handbook – Vademecum, not as means to and an end, wielded like an ideology.  We should allow ourselves to be guided every moment by the options of the Gospel and by the ardent desire to follow Jesus, and imitate him in prayer, working and suffering, striving single-mindedly for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

 Focus on the essential: Bringing his discourse to a close Pope Francis expressed his hope that this XXVI General Chapter will help us to focus on Jesus Christ, and see Him as our true security.  This will lead the us to focus on the essential elements that define Consecrated Life today, consecration which enhances the relationship with God, fraternal life in community, which gives priority to the authentic relationship with the brothers; and the mission, which leads us to go out to meet others, especially the poor, in order to lead them to Jesus.

Do not loose your sense of humour: In his characteristic manner he concluded that, to promote authentic community life, we should not neglect the sense of humour. For the Pope this is a grace of Joy, for joy is a dimension of holiness. He encouraged us to Laugh when others make jokes and also learn the art of making joke, for sense of humour animates the consecrated community.

 He congratulated the newly elected government and challenges us to work closely with them.  (Photos of the Pope with the Claretians)

 CONCLUSION:

 The uniqueness of the XXVI General Chapter was not just the synodal approach or different way of interaction, but also the fraternity in the honest conversation that took place throughout the duration of the Chapter. In addition, the Chapter experience the connecting link between us and our past Superior Generals who felicitated with us and encouraged us to go deeper in our conversations and think out-side the box to see how we can live out our Claretian spirituality and commitment.

 The Chapter that started on a happy note, also had a joyful ending, Very Rev Fr. Matthew Vattamattam who declared the Chapter open on the 15^th of August 2021 was the same person who declared it closed on the 12^th of September 2021. In his closing remarks he said “let us commend ourselves and our forward journey with the discovery dreams, designs and commitments which we made during the Chapter to the Heart of our Blessed Mother who cherishes us, her sons, in the forge of her heart and accompanies us in our life and mission. We are strengthened by the intercession of our Founder, our martyr brothers and the Claretians who are called to the home of the Father. We glorify God the Father Son and the Spirit with all our lives”.