The following presentation on the Xaverian Life Form invites us to - - PDF document

1

The following presentation on the Xaverian Life Form invites us to reflect on the call to live in common.

• 0 -

Until the Second Vatican Council, there was a certain notion of “community” in religious life that was understood and accepted in a virtually universal way. It was a notion in which all the members of a congregation lived in groups – mostly big ones – composed exclusively

• f vowed members from the same religious congregation. The life in

common took place within a clearly marked area, and under the direction of an elected, if not appointed, superior. The members of such a community shared daily prayers and ate at a prescribed time and place. They did the same ministry in a place like a school or hospital attached to where they lived. For those working in a school, the horarium of the convent followed the rhythm of the school year. Convents tended to be self-contained – they had their own barbers, cobblers, tailors, bakers, and others. In such settings, religious could really feel that they are “set apart” from “the world.” Recreation periods for these religious were mandatory, but they recreated only with each other and without outsiders

• participating. Should these religious venture outside their convent, they

did so in order to be engaged in apostolates, do outside chores, have community outings, or visit physicians. In the times they went out, religious traveled as a group if not at least in twos. However, they must have first secured the explicit permission of their superior, who in turn is expected to know the whereabouts of each of them. Such is the dominant image of “community” to those who lived at the time of the Second Vatican Council and immediately after it was

• closed. Now it should be said that there were many religious who lived a

truly and integrated life while ascribing to and living this understanding

2

• f “community”. Likewise, there were many religious who were unable

to develop into self-determining individuals as a result of this way of living and understanding “community”. However it affected individual religious, forces within and outside Religious Life set into motion a re-consideration of this image of community by the middle of the 1960s. Perfectae Caritatis, the council’s decree on the adaptation and renewal of religious life, highlighted the impossibility of vowing chastity “for the sake of the Kingdom” unless candidates to the life – as well as vowed members – “possess the required psychological and emotional maturity.” (P.C. 12) This brought about a profound reckoning in religious congregations whether or not the sense of “community” that they lived and fostered has developed their members into psychologically and emotionally mature adults. In several congregations, including ours, leaderships felt that it would be best for several of their religious to live outside their convents in order for them to develop into self-determining men and women who could eventually face the day-to- day challenges of the world like most other people in their age group. Perfectae Caritatis also summoned consecrated people to see beyond their self-enclosed and self-contained convents. Early on, the decree called on religious congregations “to promote among their members an adequate knowledge of the social conditions of the times they live in and of the needs of the Church.” (P.C. 2b) To better equip religious to assess the “needs of our times”, Perfectae Caritatis further emphasized that “religious must be given suitable instruction, depending

• n their intellectual capacity and personal talent, in the currents and

attitudes of sentiment and thought prevalent in social life today.” (P.C. 18)

3

This particular call of the council came at a time of socio-political changes in the mid-60s and the “needs of the times” they were

• highlighting. It was the time of the civil rights movement in the United

States, of the full-blooming of the women’s movement, of the birth of nations in postcolonial Africa, of the spread of the peace movement and

• f the development of military juntas, of the surge in Europe and

America of student and labor demonstrations against what they perceived to be their alienation from bourgeois social values promoted by the power elites. The upsetting of established political structures and religious views in the late 1960s was mirrored in religious congregations in both Europe and the United States. The realization that sexuality is not an evil human impulse and that working for the Reign of God does not require celibacy – along with personal honesty and need for human integrity – made so many consecrated women and men to leave religious life. Of those that remained, there were many who chose to move away from large communities and form communities with a smaller number of members. For reasons of study or ministry, some religious chose – if not were forced – to live in the company of other consecrated persons who belonged to another congregation. There were also those who chose to live alone for the sake of fulfilling a ministry which they sincerely felt was the “needs of the times” to which they had to respond. Many times, however, these reconfigurations were authorized by leaderships without first taking into account the congregation’s particular Life Form as it was envisioned by the founder through the Spirit’s inspiration. This was very unfortunate since the Second Vatican Council, from the onset, has emphasized that the adaptation and renewal

• f religious congregations must always refer to the Founding inspiration.

Unfortunately, not a lot of congregations were equipped at that moment

4

in their history with either the knowledge or awareness of this aspect of their charism. Instead of paying close attention to this invitation of the Council, many congregations chose to allow their members to take on ministries

• utside their traditional work so long as they were taken in response to

the “needs of the times.” Indeed, the concerns of the world became more complex from the 1970s onward: the growing economic gap between the poor and the rich, drugs and other forms of addiction, political and economic refugees, new forms

• f

psychological and social marginalization, the aging of the population, and discovery of new

• diseases. In these and others, many religious have brought about

responses of admirable and admired dedication. There were times, however, when we unwittingly found ourselves talking about ministry – or, more straightforwardly, our work – as if it were the end-all of our religious consecration. Perhaps there was a time when we found ourselves saying, “I am celibate so I can give myself totally to my work.” Perhaps also we had found ourselves saying, “We live together so that our work would become more effective.” In cases such as these, our response to “the needs of the times” became reduced to a mere exercise of a profession or occupation, stripped of any reference to the message of Christ. In unpleasant moments, we might have seen our living in common with other brothers as an obstacle for the fulfillment of the goals and aims we have set out for our work. There is no doubt that vowed celibacy, ministry, and community are

• interrelated. The question was how the correlation of the three should be

properly established. It is true that “Community” can be understood in terms of a house where religious live together. Half a century after the Second Vatican Council, this is still how “Community” is imagined and understood by

5

• many. But most of instinctively know that community has to be more

than an area surrounded by walls and a roof where religious pray, eat, recreate, and sleep in. If the people residing in a community do not engage with each other in an authentic manner, if their conversations are limited to trivial matters, if there is no manifest care about each other’s spiritual, social, psychological, and intellectual well-being, then that “community” is nothing more than a place, a location that is not expected to be dynamic nor life-giving to its residents.

• At this point, let us pause for a while and reflect on the following

questions: 1) How has the understanding of “community” been imparted to me as a Xaverian brother? 2) Through the years, has there been a change or transformation in how I understood “community”? 3) Presently, how do I practice the call to the life in common? We will resume the presentation after you have done your personal reflection and sharing.

6

Welcome back. The Second Vatican Council rightly proposed that any work at congregational renewal should always take into consideration the spirit and special aims of the founder for the members of his congregation. It is for this reason that we will now look at Theodore James Ryken and examine his own thoughts about Xaverian Community. Years before he actually started the congregation, Ryken already understood that the Spirit was summoning him “to establish a congregation of Brothers who live under a religious rule.”1 Once he started the brotherhood in Brugge in 1839, Ryken began to welcome a diverse, if not rather simple and lackluster, band of followers to live with him in order to discern further and bring into realization what the Spirit was asking more from both him and them. In choosing to live in community, however, these men understood that they were being called to become “a band of brothers who mutually help, encourage and edify

• ne another and work together.”2

Ryken’s equally profound concern was that these men understood that they were being called to re-locate themselves within an engaging space that was much larger and more mysterious than their own personal projects and self-interests. Desiring that his band of brothers had the ability and willingness to live harmoniously with one another, Ryken imparted to them two particular understandings of the life in common. The first is that the space they would create for themselves would entail a form of engagement which would enable them to help each other to discover their inherent gifts – their personal charisms:

1 Report, par. 22. 2 Plan, §60.

7

One will try to detect every person’s character and temperament, his natural and supernatural gifts. His weaknesses should also be known so that, in a balanced manner, measures can be taken so that the profitable capacities to which he is well-inclined would be promoted

• instead. On knowing his capacities, everything should be ordered in

such a way that these may be developed so that he may successfully fulfill the tasks that are assigned to him. In so doing, the little members

• f this whole body as well as the great, the weak as well as the strong,

may act harmoniously with each other. Through this, powerful works may then be produced through this body. 3

Thus, the community idealized by Ryken was one that would become a space for individuation. Through the help, encouragement and edification of his brothers, a Xaverian would discover in the community the gifts which God had graced him, develop them well, and eventually put these into the service of God. It was an experience that Ryken hoped would happen to all the brothers so that together, as one harmonious body, they may become a witness to the graciousness of God. Developing one’s gift is a very important point because of its relationship to the call to value ordinariness in Xaverian Spirituality. As we have been tirelessly repeating over and over again, ordinariness in Xaverian Spirituality does not imply being “plain” or, worse, being “mediocre”. Rather, it signifies being “grounded,” that is, planted and nourished on the ground where God knows he would grow well. When he is at home in this ordinary ground, a Xaverian embraces the totality

• f his giftedness – both its acceptable and harder to accept features – and

acknowledge it as coming from God and make the best use of it. And for Ryken, the help, encouragement, and edification of the other brothers is extremely crucial in grounding a Xaverian in his gifts.

3 Plan, §13.

8

Ryken was however attuned to the problem of mistaking individuation for individualism. Individuation is the process by which a person discovers and hones the gifts he possesses and, in so doing, develops into the individual he could fully become. Individualism, on the other hand, is a moral stance which drives a person to promote his

• wn goals and to put primary value to his independence and self-reliance

while opposing perceived interferences from others against his project. The drive to individualism was something to which Ryken was particularly attuned, given his experience of living in the United States as a lay missionary and his conviction that it was to the frontiers of this country that the Spirit was missioning his brothers. Speaking about the problems he foresaw that his brothers would face in the American mission, Ryken highlighted the individualistic tendency of its citizens and their indifference to celibacy:

America is a large and extended country, where often missionaries are at great distances one from the other. Consequently, he who works alone is too much left to his own self. Being without any rule, superiors and confreres who look after him, he is in the greatest danger to suffer shipwreck, living among all kinds of worldly people…. Moreover, since the nation is much inclined to the matrimonial state and has no knowledge of the value of celibacy, these people detest those who remain unmarried and often urge them to marry, telling them in earnestness that this is more in agreement with reason. This is the more dangerous for spiritual persons who are not bound to God by perpetual vows the more it is covered by the mantle of something that seems to be good, since it gradually gains influence on man’s heart because of the examples and continuous temptations…. The person who is working in the missions, without the bond of obedience, is tempted to be independent and become his own master, encouraged by

9

the examples of those around him and by his own corruption, and again under the cover of something that seems to be good.4

Because of these concerns, Ryken understood that a life of public and common consecration would ensure that his brothers would attentively focus on the mission entrusted by the Spirit to them, that is “the education of the Indian (child), and also of others; to train them to become perfect Christian people, which training would include …whatever is useful for man in secular society.”5 As they would be missioned in a frontier where “independence is most highly praised under all aspects,” he warned his brothers against the temptation “to be independent and become (one’s) own master.” 6 And so Ryken counseled them:

You who are called by God to this state, we compare you to a small diamond which wonderfully glitters and is an adornment in a golden

• ring. Yet on its own and apart from the ring, it is not so much

appreciated because it is not in its properly noble place. It could easily be lost and trampled under people’s feet. In that same way, if you remain alone, outside your center, you would be little appreciated in your mission, produce little fruit, and dangerously get lost. Be incorporated into the assembly of the Brothers, for which your form was shaped and to which you are called. You will give a great light and shine wonderfully if you are in the ring of the Congregation, and you will serve as an ornament and great aid for the Church.7

Ryken understood that leadership plays a crucial role in ensuring that the common life was well-established in the heart of the brothers. It is known to all of us that once power became solely concentrated on him, “Ryken himself fell short in the implementation of the ideals he had

4 Plan, §59-60. 5 Report, par. 22. 6 Ibid., §60 7 Ibid., §69.

10

fostered.” 8 But this should not prevent us from hearing the underlying wisdom in his counsels about congregational leadership:

The superior will consider the Brothers as being like a water reservoir under a fountain. The more water is flowing into it, the more water is running out from the reservoir. Yet the reservoir remains filled with water and only gives from its own abundance. The same is true for the Brothers. According to the measure in which they themselves are filled with devotion and divine love, they will pour these out into their fellow men. For if they themselves are not afire, how will they set afire others? Further, if the reservoir is not built on solid ground, it will collapse and become unfit to give any more water. Therefore, a constantly vigilant eye will be kept on it, so that it does not collapse and does not break down; consequently, care will be taken to give it a good foundation. 9

Gradually, the brothers’ sense of living in community took on a congregational character and their sense of spatiality was colored by the shapes and practices of religious life as it was understood and lived in their day: the forms of private and communal prayer; the experience and practice of living the evangelical counsels; the forms of communal living; the understanding of ministry and mission; the forms of government and relationship to the wider Church. Like in all congregations, difficulties and conflicts ensued as the brothers tried to put into practice what they idealized. At its good moments, however, the early Xaverians understood that the giving of themselves to the community was not lopsided. They knew and felt that, for all its limitations, the congregation, through its leadership, was also giving itself to them. We can see this conviction of mutual giving in the memoranda of lifetime affiliation that brothers made in the 1880s:

8 Harold Boyle and Jan Devadder, The Xaverian Brothers: 1839-1989, (Twickenham: Xaverian Brothers Generalate, 1989), 24. 9 Plan, §38.

11

I, the undersigned, hereby testify as follows: 1) to have bound myself with my free will and full knowledge to the vows and obligations thereof in the Congregation of the Xaverian Brothers; 2) to be disposed to live up to the obligations, contained in the vows, rules, and customs of the said congregation; 3) to be willing to render all my services for the pure love of God… 4) to be ready to accept willingly any charge or office which might be assigned to me… 5) that I know that I am bound to the Congregation by virtues of my vows and the obligations thereof for life;…. 6) that I am aware that the Congregation binds herself to me and thus provide for all my necessities either in sickness or in health.10

Note that the very last provision takes on a language which we associate more with the marriage vows. What it shows is a conviction among our early brothers that there has to be an affective and reciprocal commitment between the individual brother and the Xaverian congregation. In our days, we Xaverians are faced with both the challenge and

• pportunity of finding our place in the world today – to actualize the

Community we are called to be in a manner that acknowledges the gifts and limits of our present situation, and reaffirms our commitment as Brothers to a congregation which, as a community, would follow Christ wherever He leads:

You are called to a life of constant searching. Let the developments and changes

10 These letters can be found in the individual folders of early missionary brothers assigned to the United States which are currently stored as the “CFX Xaverian Brothers Records” at the Archives of the University of Notre Dame.

12

• f your times

be a source both of confidence and challenge to you…

13

may you discover in God’s own time ways to incarnate anew the vision of Theodore James Ryken and the charism of the Brothers of Saint Francis Xavier in the life of the world. 11

The Xaverian Brother as envisioned by Ryken is called to live a common life. His attention and concern should address what is shared and held in common by all persons – their humanity, giftedness and

• sinfulness. In a particular way, he is called to share with his Brothers a

life lived in common. This common life involves not only the willingness to worship and pray together, to collaborate, to share responsibilities, to enjoy companionship with one another, but even more deeply, a desire to nurture a sense of co-responsibility and

• communion. The common life is an invitation to each Brother to offer

generously the uniqueness of his life, both its gifts and limitations, and allow it to be integrated within the life of the Congregation.

• At this point, let us pause for a while and reflect on the following

questions: 1) On looking back at the words of the Founder, what is your impression about Ryken with regard to his vision of community? 2) Given the differences between our culture and needs and those of Ryken in his times, do you think that living out his vision of community is still possible? Why or why not?

11 Fundamental Principles

14

We will resume the presentation after you have done your personal reflection and sharing. Welcome back. Living the common life for us Xaverians entails the creation of spaces where one can truly feel the help, encouragement and edification

• f other followers of Ryken. So what does this imply? Does it signify

that Xaverians should now be called to live together? Does it mean that the membership should be reconfigured to alternative forms of community living? These are questions that cannot be easily answered because of the complexities we face in the world and religious life in this third millennium. But while there are no easy answers to these questions, there may be points that we can take into consideration. We are all aware that there is a deep need for us to assess properly the way we have lived the common life as Xaverians after the Council. There are those who clamor for a way of living the common life that is more visible ourselves and those we work with. There are those who may feel that the topic should not be discussed openly as it can be taken as an indictment against those who had been living alone for years. But it is a discussion that just cannot be swept under the floor anymore because we know we are at a crucial time of Reconsideration in our congregation’s on-going story. The consecrated life calls us to live the common life – that is clear. However, community is not something that leaderships or chapters can simply legislate into being, not even with the best of intentions. People don’t just become a community by living in a place surrounded by the same walls and sheltered by the same roof. Likewise, if the motivation for individuals to live together is just to get the job entrusted to them efficiently done, then they are not living as a community but as an

15

institution, that is a gathering of people who are primarily oriented towards the fulfillment of a task. A group of individuals grow into a community if they are able to transform where they are located into a space where they can experience authenticity, acceptance, nurturance, support and friendship. This may be experienced in an immediate level by brothers who are living under

• ne roof. But this also should be experienced in the wider level, as in the

congregational level. At times our experience of community may be so nuclear that we forget that we are part of something bigger, a religious congregation, one in which we can all feel a sense of connection and belonging with other brothers whose cultures and generations are different from ours, of being sharers in the spiritual patrimony of the same Founder, of being part of a history that is nearly two-centuries old. But it should be emphasized that consecrated women and men do not form themselves into a community just because they are religious. First and foremost, all who follow Christ are called to a life in

• community. This is a precious witness dating itself to the origins of

Christianity:

“Those who accepted the message of Christ…devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking

• f the bread and to the prayers….All who believed were together and

had all things in common….The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his

• wn, but they had everything in common…. There was no needy

person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.” (Acts 2: 41-42, 44; 3:32, 34-35)

However, not all Christians, as we know, are summoned to a life of vowed celibacy. Whereas all Christians are asked to follow the will of

16

God in their lives, to embrace poverty of spirit and to be in solidarity with those who are less fortunate, the vocation to live as celibates is given only to some. And of these few celibates, there are those who are called to profess it publicly through religious vows. It would be wrong, however, to think that religious women and men vow chastity in order for them to be totally focused on a work. They vow celibacy “for the sake of the Reign of God,” not for the sake of a work for the Reign of God. This means a consecrated men and women are celibate because this is their deeper call, not because they are better than other Christians, not because they have a unique purpose in life, but simply because this is the life that they are called to embrace… period. What characterizes vowed celibates from married people and celibate singles is that they are also called to live in community with

• thers. From both theological and canonical perspectives, the two are

inseparable for baptized persons living in institutes of consecrated life. But living in common should not be seen as an end by itself. Religious do not belong to a community in order to satisfy their own or

• ne another’s emotional or affective needs, however legitimate these

may be. Nor do they belong in order to maximize economic or human resources, even if it is for the sake of the serving the poor and the

• marginalized. When perceived this way, community can turn into a

crutch for those who are afraid of being alone. Rather, vowed celibates form into a community because they are all drawn by the love of Christ, by a common attraction to the charism of a particular religious congregation, and by their commitment to the Reign of God. These are three factors that are crucial in the formation of a

• community. It does not require religious have to “click” with each other,

nor does it imply the “right” to be in a community with any other particular member. There is no question that the good of the

17

congregation and the fulfillment of its common mission have a real priority over the self-selection of community configurations. Community for us Xaverian is an invitation to appreciate the fundamental uniqueness of each brother and to challenge any movement toward exclusivity, manipulation or possessiveness. It calls us to attend to the lessons that are taught in the experience of solitude and aloneness and to the formative influences that come through the challenges, joys, and sufferings that constitute a life lived in common. A life in common invites us to listen attentively to the directives that arise in the course of

• ur ordinary, everyday lives – some within our own consciousness;

some as a result of our interactions with fellow brothers as well as

• thers; and some that emerge from the situations that we encounter and

from the world in which we live. It also invites us to appraise these directives – whether individually or communally – and to let these appraisals guide us toward decisions and actions that will promote and serve the life and mission of the Congregation. We Xaverians continually face the challenge of finding ways to have our life in common become the witness to the Gospel that we offer to those we serve. To live in solidarity and availability among those we serve, we need to live ordinary lives that share in the common elements

• f life – gifts and limitations, grace-fullness and sinfulness. We need to

actually live as Brothers in order to give an authentic witness to those we serve. The challenge of living community calls us to be explicit about some of the challenges that we face as Brothers today. In Europe and the United States we face diminishing numbers, increasing age, the diversity in understanding and practice of our ministries, the reduction in number

• f larger communities; the diminishment in opportunities for and

willingness to engage in ongoing formation. In Africa we face the

18

alternative challenge of growth and development, as well as issues of real and palpable connectedness to our common Xaverian heritage. The entire Congregation faces a serious and challenging financial situation. In many cases, our sense of communal prayer is no longer found in our religious community but in a local parish or other alternative setting. Our spirit of poverty and communal life have changed dramatically and brought to light concerns that deal with the Brother’s growing sense of autonomy, individual ownership, lack of connection and concern with the larger congregation. A centralized and efficient government structure has had an effect on our sense of fraternity, diminishing quite powerfully

• ur sense of belonging to “a band of Brothers who mutually help,

encourage and edify one another and work together.” While the need for a sense of connection among the Brothers has grown, financial constraints, the ability to travel due to age, and distances between Brothers has made it difficult to provide opportunities to experience fraternal contact and consciousness. Lacking a sense of community, a sense of home and belonging, there has grown among the Brothers problems with overwork; with concerns for family and friends, with proper life and relational boundaries. Our ministries have diversified and become less visible as shared communal ventures. Less and less do we have the experience of being Brothers who “help, encourage and edify

• ne another and who work together.” As our lives become more and

more individualized, independent and autonomous, our fraternal, communal consciousness diminishes and any request or opportunity to serve the wider Congregation is taken as an imposition and burden. All these challenges face us as a Congregation and, in the spirit of the Founding Vision, they need to be addressed in common. They are daunting challenges that involve the future of our Congregation. Still, if we are faithful to and hopeful in the call that we have been given, and to the sense of Community in our Xaverian charism, we might find

19

• urselves led to a renewed life for ourselves and those whose lives we

touch.

• We end this presentation by asking you to reflect and share on the

following questions: 1) Was there any particular point in this discussion of Community that strongly moved me – whether positively or negatively? Why am I affected by it? 2) Which of the challenges mentioned at the last part of this discussion concern me most as a challenge to our sense of Community? Why? Don’t forget to send the results of your reflection and discussion to the Coordinating Committee for the 27th General Chapter. Thank you very much for your active participation today. We hope to see you in our next presentation.