Prot.n.
20050115
Dear Brothers,
1. Introduction
1.1.
Together
with the General Council and the members of the Restructuring Commission, I
thank you for the many and positive responses you have shared with us as part
of the process of the Restructuring of the Congregation in which we are all
engaged. As you will remember, I wrote
to the whole Congregation in May 2005 requesting your prayerful, community
reflections on three questions about how we envision Passionist life in the
future. In particular: a) how do we strengthen and deepen our
commitment to the Passionist “Charism”;
b) in what new ways do we hope to see our Passionist “presence” grow; c)
what are our insights for helping to further enhance our witness to the Passion
in our “mission”.
1.2.
I
invited each Provincial Council and every community and religious of the
Congregation to respond to the previously stated three questions.
1.3.
So
far, we have received nearly 170 separate replies to these questions and they
are still arriving. As you can imagine,
they include a wide range of views and different perspectives. In fact, they reflect the different
cultures, situations and orientations of the richness of Passionist life
throughout the whole world. This was not
a scientific survey: it was not a
questionnaire that would lead us to premature conclusions or a re-definition of
the organisation of the Congregation.
1.4.
The
invitation was sent to Passionist religious, each of whom is committed and
engaged in a wide variety of situations within the 59 countries where we are
present and where we minister. The
invitation originated in the belief of the General Synod of 2004 that only with
the most extensive involvement of the religious in the process can Restructuring
be fruitful and afford new vitality for the Congregation. If not, it will be a theoretical and possibly
sterile exercise.
1.5.
The
fact that so many have responded to the questionnaire is encouraging to us. For
me and for the members of the General Council your responses demonstrate your
great love and commitment to the Congregation.
1.6.
In
one response, a Passionist quoted a poem of Charles Peguy (The portico of the mystery of the
second virtue)
in which he
uses an image of three sisters walking together, holding hands. The big sisters
are Faith and Charity and the little sister is Hope; but it is the little
child, Hope, who pulls the other two sisters along with her. This was his way of ending his response to
our questionnaire and encouraging all of us to go forward in hope for the
future of the Congregation. Problems
exist; there are numerous difficulties in the various areas and regions of the
Congregation; however, there is also great vitality, a capacity for sacrifice,
for work and for hope in the future.
2. Work of the Restructuring Commission
2.1.
As
you can see, the work of analysing and collating these 170 responses has required
a great deal of work. Father Elie
Muakasa, as secretary for the Restructuring Commission, has forwarded all your
replies to the Commission. The three
members of the Commission are working to analyse your responses so that we can
discern the shared and disparate views of the Congregation about how we should
move forward in this process.
Unfortunately, because of illness, Father Adolfo Lippi was not able to
join the Commission when it met in
2.2.
The
Restructuring Commission reported to the General Council during our meeting in
3. The
Present phase in Restructuring
3.1 It is important to remember that we are
only beginning a process that will continue through the next General Chapter
and the subsequent two Synods to the General Chapter in 2012. Thus, at this early stage, it would be a
mistake to anticipate all the subsequent phases of this process. The road will
be illuminated by our own reflections and by the steps that will emerge from
them. There are no preconceived
solutions; however, we will arrive at them by listening to the Holy Spirit who
will reveal them to us via dialogue and through the prayers of the entire
Congregation as well as by means of the sufferings of our sick religious as
well as the sick of the Passionist Family, that are offered to God for this
intention. Their suffering and their
weakness lived in faith can become a source of power for the Congregation.
3.2 In this first restructuring phase we are
seeking to engage the whole Congregation in the process of restructuring and to
move forward towards the General Chapter of 2006. We want to ensure that the
pre-Chapter preparations and the Restructuring process are two parts of one
integrated dynamic. To this end, your responses to these questionnaires are
crucial to discerning the future priorities of the Congregation.
3.3 I
have written to the Major Superiors of the Passionist nuns and Sisters to
inform them of our hopes. I am inviting them to share their wisdom with us and
to offer any support or collaboration they are able so to move forward
together.
3.4 We also intend to invite the lay members
of our Passionist Family to participate in this process. This will happen in
the ensuing stages.
4. The
2nd Step in the present restructuring phase: “Towards the General Chapter of
4.1 The essence of the work to be done
between now and the Chapter is to clarify some of the choices the Congregation
faces and to create the dialogue within which those choices can be made. Only by naming our priorities can we achieve
a deeper sense of unity of life and mission and thus create the foundation for
a Passionist future in tomorrow’s world.
4.2 The next General Chapter represents a
crucial moment in the overall Restructuring process in that it must help us
re-focus our vision for the future of our Congregation.
5. Two
immediate tasks
5.1 In order to move forward in our Chapter
Preparation, I am asking for additional help from Provincials, Vice-Provincials
and Regional Vicars. This is an invitation that I am extending to everyone,
even those who are overwhelmed with work.
Everyone should have a sense of involvement and commitment before God
and the Congregation. No one may excuse
himself from this task. Together with
this letter there is a detailed questionnaire to which the Major Superiors must
respond by next December 1.
5.2 I also ask the Major Superiors to seek
ways of encouraging the younger members of the Province or Vicariate to voice
their hopes for this restructuring process. While every individual Passionist
is concerned for the future of the Congregation, it will be the younger ones
who will bring to fruition the dreams of the Congregation.
5.3 The questions posed in the accompanying
appendix are for the Major Superiors.
However, we share them with the whole Congregation, sending them to all
the communities, in the hope of respecting the sense of transparency which we
are trying to create for the whole of the restructuring process.
5.4 May St. Michael the Archangel, whom
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Feast of
St. Michael the
P. Ottaviano D’Egidio
Superior General CP