COMMUNION IN THE CHARISMIntroductionIn this sixth circular, my brothers and partners in the mission, my intention is to underscore the importance of living out our charism and mission in communion with one another. I have chosen as my title “Communion in the Charism” patently aware, as I have explained in the previous circular, that charism is composed of the three dimensions of spirituality, brotherhood and mission. I have not, however, deemed it necessary to include the word “mission” in the title, because mission is part of charism, and in turn, charism is a gift at the service of mission.

I have likewise opted to deal with the specific theme of communion in chapters three and four. The rationale for this is that, though we brothers and our lay partners in the mission are called to live communion in relationship with one another, we nevertheless have distinct vocations; therefore, we’re speaking of communion lived out in diversity. Given that reality, it seems to me important to present these two vocations each in turn. Though both callings find their source of life in the wellspring of the Gospel, each is actualized in its own particular way.

In our fervent desire to foster this common objective of communion, our priority must be to understand and appreciate the particular value of each vocation.

In the third chapter I enter straight to the core issue, and I try to present the notion of communion and its fruit, the charismatic family, as well as the stages required to achieve this end. In the fourth chapter, I put forward the essential means to undertake the way of communion: the opening up of our local communities and the common formation of both our brothers and our partners in the mission.

Through the intercession of Father André Coindre and Venerable Brother Polycarp and of all of our forebears, may the Spirit give to us, brothers and lay partners, the grace to live out our founding charism in genuine communion, enthusiasm and generosity.

CHAPTER I. Vocation and the laity’s mission As we begin this chapter let us remember with feelings of affection, admiration and gratefulness the numerous lay people whom we have encountered on the road of life, and who continue to contribute so much to our mission and ministry. I would like to single out one of these persons, whom I met several years ago.

His name was Peter. He died peacefully and quite unexpectedly on February 23, 2006. A few days later one of his friends said of him, “Even at 77 years Peter Konder was far too young to die.”

I met Peter for the first time in Barranquilla, Colombia, on December 2, 2003. He was born in Germany. While still a child Peter had to abandon formal education because he had contracted a very serious illness. The die seemed cast against him; there seemed to be no way for him to further his education. But his positive spirit and indefatigable attitude toward life, plus the support of one of his brothers, allowed him to overcome adversity.

Peter eventually received a doctorate in mathematic in his native country and began his teaching career there. He eventually found his way to Colombia, where he taught for twelve years.

In 1968 one of his friends suggested to him, “Professor Konder, it seems to me that you would render greater service to Colombia from Germany rather than by remaining in this country.” He followed this advice, returning to his homeland and to the University of Mainz, where he continued to work until his death.

During his time in Colombia Peter had nurtured a particular love for the people of that country. From 1968 until 2005, he returned two or three times a year to give courses in mathematics at various universities within and beyond the capital, Bogota. He facilitated exchanges of professors and students between the two countries and helped numerous less fortunate young people to advance their education. To the last, he kept his lust for life and his dynamic spirit. Thanks to him a large number of young Colombians were able to complete their university studies either in Colombia or in Germany, and today they exercise their respective professions in their homeland at the service of others.

When I first met professor Konder, I was intrigued to learn where he got his “joie de vivre,” his pleasant character and demeanor, his simplicity, his spirit of service, his dynamism, and his readiness to lend a helping hand to the most deprived.

I saw him one day at Mass at the Church of the Immaculate, Barranquilla. As we were both leaving the church, I was able to exchange a few words with him, with the result that, I came to see in this man, whom I already much admired, someone of a deep and lively faith, a friend of God and of His children. I came away with the conviction that this was the wellspring from which he drank and which filled his heart to overflowing with kindness and compassion towards all, especially the littlest ones.

I am certain that each of us can remember – that is to say “relive in our hearts” – lay people who, like professor Konder, listen to the Word of God, turn towards God with all their heart, and give their entire life to doing good for others. They may be people from our own families, educators, people who have journeyed with us in our mission, parents of students, former students, as well as professionals of every sort. We have doubtless encountered many such people in our mission and in our varied ministries. We give thanks to God for such people. Their values, their generosity in the

accomplishment of their duties and responsibilities, and the witness of their lives constitute irrefutable proof of the excellence of the vocation and the mission of the laity. Let us give thanks to God for the gifts that the Spirit has sown in their hearts for the good of the Church and of society.

The Lay vocation In accord with the teachings of the Magisterium since Vatican II, I now focus on the lay vocation and its revaluation in the Church.

Affirmation of the Lay vocationIn recent decades the Church has been unwavering in its determination to give renewed importance to the vocation and mission of the laity, who have consequently taken on new responsibilities in helping to advance the mission of the Church.

What was the rationale behind the Church’s change in perspective? On the one hand both the individual human person and civil society have gained importance, to such an extent that present-day society is more horizontal. On the other hand, Vatican II promoted an ecclesiology of communion that emphasizes equal dignity among all the faithful, as well as the mutuality of the various vocations in the Church.

The council fathers dealt at length with the vocation of the laity, especially in the constitutions Lumen gentium and Gaudium et spes, as well as in the decree Apostolicam actuositatem. Other documents followed and completed the Church’s teaching on this topic. These include the apostolic exhortations Evangelii nuntiandi (1975) and Christifideles laici (1988), and within the framework of the educational mission, the documents published by the Congregation for Catholic Education, The Catholic School (1977), Lay Catholic Witness to the Faith in the School (1982), and Educating Together in the Catholic School (2007). All these documents deserve special mention.

The Ecclesiology of Communion Before the Second Vatican Council the Church saw itself as a “society of faithful Christians.” Since Vatican II the Church has defined itself as “the People of God.” 

The word “society” evokes the notion of an organized human collective, with distinct groups characterized by their differences; whereas, the word “people” expresses the fundamental and equal dignity of all the faithful and their common vocation, regardless of their respective ministries and/or functions. “People” implies that relationships take precedence over the organization.

In the ecclesiology of communion, the Church is seen essentially as the “People of God” or as a communion of the faithful united into a single body with Christ as its head. This concept is primarily founded on the revelation of God as God-Family, of a perfect communion between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Created by God in his image and likeness (cf. Gn 1:26-27), men and women are beings who find their fulfilment in their relationship with others. The document Educating Together in the Catholic School, declares: “Therefore, within the sphere of biblical anthropology, man is not an isolated individual, but a person: a being who is essentially relational. That communion to which man is called is characterized by a dual dimension: vertical (communion with God) and horizontal (communion with people).” (§ 8)

In line with this anthropology, the Christian, in the image of the God-Trinity, is called to live a life of communion in the body of Christ, which is the Church. “Communion is, therefore, the ‘essence’ of the Church, […], ‘the home and the school of communion.’ (Novo millennio ineunte, § 43); Educating Together in the Catholic School” § 10)

To say that the Church is the “home of communion” amounts to saying that communion is its natural climate and ecosystem. But Church communion is not turned in on itself. It is called to be a school of communion, to build communion among men and women of the human community – the great family of God – so that all may dwell in it as brothers and sisters, inspired by the Trinitarian communion.

In other words, the very fact of being communion stimulates the Church to build communion around itself, for “communion represents both the source and the fruit of mission: communion gives rise to mission and mission is accomplished in communion.” (Christifideles laici, § 32) Communion and mission are like opposite sides of the same coin. Thus mission consists in building communion, and living communion contributes to the fulfilment of mission.

We are, all of us, bishops, priests religious men and women, and lay people, called to live communion and to be builders of communion in the Church and society. “Every one of us, possessing charisms and ministries, diverse yet complementary, works in the one and the same vineyard of the Lord.” (Ibid., § 55)

To define Church as People of God or Communion of the Faithful – a Church of communion or a community of communities – amounts to saying that all the faithful are clothed in equal dignity, a dignity received at Baptism.

There is no state of life more perfect than another; for all, each according to his/her vocation, are called to holiness, that is to say to live out Gospel radicality by virtue of their Baptismal consecration. All the faithful, through their various ministries, share the same mission of the Church. By virtue of the sacraments of initiation, lay people are agents in evangelization and not simply its beneficiaries. The universal priesthood of the faithful and ministerial priesthood are inseparable. Everyone in the Church is a sign for the others, according to his or her charism, vocation and ministry.

In this vision of the Church the emphasis is on what unites rather than on what separates; it is a matter of the common vocation rather than of establishing distinctions between particular vocations. Understood thus, organization finds its source in community, and not vice-versa. Instead of a tendency in the first instance to highlight differences of condition and state – the hierarchy, priests, religious, lay – from the outset there is a fusion of communion and mission.

Awareness that communion is part of the deepest identity of the Church has never ceased to transform significantly the relationships among the various groups of believers and has contributed to a more comprehensible articulation of the role of each in the mission of evangelization.

The new relationship of communion and the complementarity among the various vocations at the heart of the Church, called as they are to witness together to the risen Lord in all times and in all places, constitutes an eloquent witness for the faithful and for humanity in general and will bear fruit in abundance.

In the document that deals with fraternal life we read: “Encounter and collaboration among religious men, religious women, and lay faithful are seen as an example of

ecclesial communion and, at the same time, they strengthen apostolic energies for the evangelization of the world.” (Fraternal Life in Community, § 70)

Universal call to fullness in the Christian life Earlier it was said that by virtue of our Baptismal consecration we are all called to live Gospel radicality. The fact is that as baptized children of God, we are born anew in Christ, and thus we are “called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity.” (Lumen gentium, § 40) We are all called to follow and to imitate Christ as we embrace His Beatitudes, as we listen to and meditate upon the Word of God, as we participate in the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church, as we lend ourselves to personal, family and communitarian prayer, and as we practice the commandment of love in all circumstances of life. (Cf. Christifideles laici, § 16)

In each of these states, we all share an equal dignity and the universal vocation to holiness; we are all in relationship with our brothers and sisters offering ourselves in mutual service. “The Fathers were fond of referring to the Church as a field of a pleasing and wonderful variety of herbs, plants, flowers and fruits.” (Ibid., § 55)

Vocation and the mission of the laity I offer here a few aspects of the vocation and mission of the laity.

Collaboration in the mission of the Church, which continues the work of Jesus The document Christifideles laici declares that “by virtue of this common baptismal dignity, the faithful lay person together with all ordained ministers and with religious men and women, is co-responsible for the mission of the Church.” (§ 15; cf. § 29) A little further in the text the same emphatic theme returns: “The Church's mission of salvation in the world is realized not only by the ministers in virtue of the Sacrament of Orders but also by all the lay faithful.” (§ 23)

Christ is Priest, Prophet and King. He is the High Priest who offers himself totally to the Father for the sake of His glory and for the good of all His children. He is the long-awaited Prophet, who through his life and action transmits to us the message of God Whom He presents as a Father who deeply loves His children, the women and men of this world. Jesus Christ is the King of kings who places his entire life at the service of God and humanity.

As the vine is to the branch, we are all members of the unique Body of Christ, one with Him, and we participate, each in our own way, in His life and in His mission. This participation comes to us from the infusion of the Spirit into us; it finds its root in Baptism, its growth in confirmation and its fulfilment in the Eucharist. (Cf. Christifideles laici, § 14)

Lay people, men and women, young and less young, sick or in good health, poor or rich, are not in the Church simply to be evangelized but to be evangelizers themselves. They participate in the priesthood of Christ as they witness to Him by offering to the Father their lives of prayer, work, professional activity, rest and relaxation, conjugal relations, family life, etc. They take part in His prophetic mission by proclaiming the Word especially through the witness of their lives. Equally, they participate in the royal mission of Christ by living out their friendship with God, far from sin. Finally, they proclaim the Word through their service of justice and through their love for their sisters and brothers, especially the most needy.

In response to the call of the Second Vatican Council, lay people have benefitted from an ever-increasing participation in the life and mission of the Church. Pope John Paul II gave recognition to this growing participation when he declared: “The commitment of the laity to the work of evangelization is changing ecclesial life.” (Redemptoris missio, § 2)

Spirituality, that intimate relationship with Jesus, is the source of the apostolate of the laity. Strengthened by this relationship and energized by faith and love, lay people live and grow in the spirit of joy, simplicity and mercy – the very spirit of the Beatitudes – as they strive to be pleasing to the Father in all things.

The Specific Vocation and Mission of the laityTo follow Christ is the vocation common to all Christians, be they bishops, priests, religious women and men, or lay. The diverse functions merely serve to set in relief one or another aspect of the Incarnation of Christ: his priesthood, his prophetic role, his attention to the poor, etc.

In Jesus Christ, God and the world are reconciled, the spiritual and the temporal come together. The mission of the Church and of all the faithful is to continue the saving work of Jesus as they seek the integral salvation of mankind in its spiritual and material dimension.

The temporal commitment of the Church is manifested in its effort to transform earthly realities so that in its accomplishing of the will of God the world may be permeated with the spirit of Christ, so that these realities tend to the good of all. (Cf. Lumen gentium, § 31) This material dimension is rooted in the incarnation of the Word.

If it is evident that as the faithful we are all called to live out our commitment in the midst of this earthly city, this is especially so for the lay faithful. The latter are to follow Christ as they involve themselves in a special way in the transformation of temporal realities so as to be “salt of the earth” and “light to the world.” Vatican II declared of lay people that “they are called there by God that by exercising their proper function and led by the spirit of the Gospel they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven. In this way they may make Christ known to others, especially by the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope and charity.” (Ibid., § 31)

Lay Ministries Ministries are services – diakonia in Greek – services by means of which the faithful, ordained ministers and lay people, each according to their specific and respective vocations, advance the mission of the Church. The term “ministry” draws its wealth of meaning from the warm humus of the Gospel within which the greatest is the one who makes himself the least – from the Latin minus – that is to say, one who serves. Every vocation in the Church is therefore a vocation of service.

Through the exercise of non-ordained ministries, lay people live out their vocation to holiness and contribute in a noteworthy way to the mission of the Church. These particular ministries are numerous and include common work, professional life, study and scientific research, protection of the environment, active involvement in social and political life for the service of the common good and for the enculturation of the Gospel in the world, while accepting responsibilities that flow from these ministries. They also include the affirmation of the relational and moral dimensions of culture, a

contribution to the evangelization of culture by means of social communication, a commitment “to rediscover and make others rediscover the inviolable dignity of every human person” (Christifideles laici, § 37) and to respect the “inviolability of human life” (Ibid., § 38), the practice of charity, concretized in help brought to others, especially to the most deprived; collaboration in the exercise of time-honored ministries such as those to the sick, to prisoners, to vocations, etc., and to the administration of the goods of the Church.

Some lay ministries are even more committed to the proclamation of the Word and to the sanctification of the faithful, particularly through the liturgy and the sacraments. There are those who proclaim the Word especially through catechetics, collaboration in liturgical celebrations, administration of baptism, distribution of Communion, supporting missionary projects, the establishment of families—the key units of society, the first school and school of the Faith, and privileged venue for the humanization of the person and of the domestic Church – and finally, through study, research and the teaching of theology.

At the heart of these various ministries there are those particularly well executed by women, though not limited exclusively to them, such as the promotion of the dignity of women and the underpinning of matrimonial life.

In addition to carrying out their own particular ministries, it is desirable and even necessary that lay women and men be involved in the various organs of consultation and decision-making in the local and even universal Church, whether in the preparation of pastoral documents and/or through the various and multiple initiatives undertaken with a view to realizing the mission of the Church in the world of today. Other lay persons, in response to a particular call of the Lord, become members of various associations and movements that have specific spiritual and apostolic objectives.

The Ministry of Education Our charism as Brothers of the Sacred Heart encompasses three dimensions: spiritual, fraternal and missionary. The latter implies that we “contribute as religious educators to the evangelization of the world, particularly through the education of children and youth.” (R 13) Many educators dedicate themselves to this mission in our own apostolic works, where lay persons far outnumber the brothers.

Distinctive traits which characterize every Catholic school include its professional quality, the support and formation of a genuine Christian educational community (cf. Educating Together in the Catholic School, § 12, 13), the implementation of a pedagogy of personal relationships directed toward the student, and the spiritual animation of the educational community to which they belong. (Cf. The Lay Catholic Witness to the Faith in the School, § 24)

All lay persons who are at the service of an educational work imbued with the charism of André Coindre, whether they be teachers, principals, other administrators, or ancillary staff, all are called to be true educators and to exercise the evangelizing mission. Through the witness of their faith lives and through their actions, they contribute to the integral formation of children and young people, in harmony with the concept of the Christian life. Acting thus, they assist in giving a Christian dimension to the Church’s commitment to society and help to incarnate the Christian message in society.

CHAPTER II: Identity and Mission of the Religious Brother Consecrated life, and within it the life of religious brothers, is a gift of the Spirit to the Church. It is for that reason that the pastors of the Church, treasuring it in their hearts as they do, never cease to praise and guide it, so that the life-blood of religious life may ever be renewed and that it may be able to take up the challenges which it encounters in all times and places.

His Holiness Benedict XVI appreciates the value of the life of religious brothers in the Church and the world of today; he recognizes the strengths of that life as well as its difficulties. That is why he requested that the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and of Societies of Apostolic Life (CIVCSVA) reflect upon this theme in depth. In response to the wishes of His Holiness the Congregation decided to publish a document that we will probably receive in our communities the first half of 2011.

Aware that this Church document on the topic of the identity of the religious brother was about to be published, I wondered whether or not to tackle the theme in this circular. In the end I quelled my doubts and determined to deal with this topic, reasoning that any ideas developed here may encourage us to read the coming document and perhaps help us to better understand it.

Preliminary PointsBefore presenting a few basic aspects of the identity of the religious brother, I want to provide some insights into the expression “religious brother,” the importance of this vocation, and its essence.

Religious BrothersUntil the middle of the 1990’s “lay religious” was the conventional term used to describe our vocation. This term did not, however, describe the brother’s vocation adequately because religious life is of itself neither clerical nor lay. In fact, Vatican II declared that “from the point of view of the divine and hierarchical structure of the Church, the religious state of life is not an intermediate state between the clerical and lay states. But, rather, the faithful of Christ are called by God from both these states of life so that they might enjoy this particular gift in the life of the Church and thus each in one's own way, may be of some advantage to the salvific mission of the Church.” (Lumen gentium, § 43; cf. Code of Canon Law, 588 § 1)

The term “religious brother” was used officially for the first time in the Apostolic Exhortation, Vita consecrata, published in 1996. In it the word “religious” implies bonds of relationship and unity and thus expresses the particularity of religious consecration, while the term “brother” emphasizes yet another fundamental characteristic of this way of life – distinct from other life-styles – that of fraternity.

A Signal VocationThe few pages that follow are insufficient to express the depth of richness of this vocation. That is why I am going to limit myself to merely suggesting an approach. In doing this I have a dual objective: first, to demonstrate that as brothers we must

value and love our vocation: secondly, there are many women and men within the Church who have so much to gain by knowing us better – not for them to strew flowers in our paths nor to shower us with compliments, but rather that as they come to know who we are, they may give glory to God and discover and make theirs the Gospel values that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we strive to incarnate.

Generally speaking, those with whom we engage on a regular basis value who we are and what we do. However, probably due to a lack of formation or a lack of knowledge, Catholics generally are unfamiliar with us or give little importance to our vocation in the Church. Let me give an example.

A Religious Sister once addressed one brother as “Father”. “Sister,” he replied, “I’m not a priest, I’m a brother.” “Just a brother?” “Yes, just a brother, no more and no less.”

We mustn’t rush to judge those who are either unfamiliar with brothers or have little or no notion of our calling. On the one hand the reality is that we are but a modest group of approximately fifty-five thousand in the midst of a global Catholic community numbering more than 1.3 billion. On the other hand each state of life is perhaps so focused on itself that it is blind to the preciousness of others. All must make efforts at greater openness to the gifts of the Spirit present in each person and in every unit of the Church.

Despite the fact that we are admittedly neither very numerous nor well known, we do, nevertheless, form a significant and dynamic entity at the heart of the Church community. The life of the brother has taken on and continues to take on a role of vital importance in the Church. John Paul II reminded us that religious life first saw the light of day in the form of a group of members (brothers) living in community. It appeared on the scene at the very moment of initial expansion of Christianity in the world, when the spirit of Pentecost was spreading at dizzying speed 1. Vatican II declared that, in addition to being a truly religious life, the life of the brother is authentic and complete in itself. (Cf. Perfectæ caritatis, § 10)

The brother does not choose this vocation because the doors to other states in life, possibly considered more prestigious, might, humanly speaking, have been closed to him. He chooses this way of life because he wants to identify himself with Jesus-Brother. The life of the brother echoes the value and validity of religious life itself, of which it is a very beautiful expression. In freely choosing this particular state of life the brother gives an unequivocal witness of what religious life represents 2.

Following ChristThe ecclesiology of communion presents the Church as the People of God, the great family of God, with all His children gathered around him. Such a perception underscores the truth that what unites all Christians – priests, religious men and women, and laity – is their common vocation to follow Christ. We are all called to incarnate and proclaim the Beatitudes (the Word) in our daily lives; we are to celebrate and to make present the Salvation of God in Christ, to live the love of God,

1 Cf. John-Paul II. Address to the Plenary Assembly of Congregations of Religous life and Secular Institutes, 24 January 1986.2 Cf . Commissione dei Superiore Generali degli Istituti Religiosi Laicali, Brother in lay Religious Institutes. Rome, 1991, p. 6.

and to spread it, especially through the witness of our lives and service to our sisters and brothers.

The Gospel constitutes a treasure common to all the faithful, whatever their form of Christian life. It is incumbent upon each to seek and to live out his or her Christian life as fully and as authentically as possible. Whatever differences do exist between the various states of life emanate from the particular intensity with which each strives to live out specific aspects of the Christian treasure common to all the faithful.

In other words, any differentiation that exists among the various vocations in the Church is dependent on the accent or intensity with which each of the faithful shares in the mystery of Christ and the measure in which each strives to live out the very specific aspects of their respective callings. By the very fact that we are Christians we are all called to collaborate in the mission of the Church. That is to say, we are to continue the work of Jesus in its dual dimension of the spiritual and the material.

The radicality of the Christian life, a life lived out in the spirit of the Beatitudes, dedication to the apostolate, etc. constitutes the many facets of the common Christian treasure, and are, consequently, not the exclusive domain of religious life. They are part of the responsibilities which flow from the sacraments of Christian initiation. Thus, lay persons are also called to live out these different facets in all their authenticity through varying expressions.

As will be explained later, what is exclusively specific to religious life is the particular way of living out these given facets, which include, among others, the formation of a new family, by living chastity, poverty, obedience, and communion in the mission in order to build the Kingdom.

We are not betterEnzo Bianchi, the founder and prior of a monastic community of Bose in Italy, has written a treatise on religious life entitled, We are not better. We are all called to live our Christian life fully. There are not therefore, two paths, two ways: the evangelical counsels for those who aspire to a more perfect life and the commandments for “ordinary” Christians. There are no states of perfection, no superior or inferior ways of life; there are only varying charisms.

Therefore, why should anyone become a religious? What is the point of our form of life, if a priori, it has no more value than the others? This is one possible answer: our lives find meaning in the love of God as we strive to place our special gifts and the charisms that we have received from the Spirit at the service of the Church and the world. God needs our bodies, our minds, our hearts and our souls. The Church and the world need us and expect us to be witnesses to the charismatic wealth received from the Lord, which we are called to share with those of other vocations.

The natural tendency to be condescending towards others is a very human trait. That is why there may be those religious who are disappointed when they hear it said that they are no better than other Christians. For others, appropriating to a secular vocation a position that they consider to be the rightful place of religious life may be understood as a devaluing of the religious vocation. There is absolutely no justification in trying to defend such ideas. The reality is that we religious need lay people and they need us. If we brothers live out our founding charism prophetically we will always have something original to contribute to the laity, and they for their

part will share with us the wealth there is in the living out of the charisms of their respective vocations.

Brothers, let us overcome our fears. Let us rejoice that there are many people who work side by side with us, and though they have chosen other ways of life, still seek to live the charism of André Coindre, to have an intimate relationship with God, to accept both the challenges of brotherhood and the necessary availability for a total dedication to the mission of education.

The Prophetic Nature of the Religious Brother We have seen above that the brother shares with the other faithful a common Christian vocation in its essential aspects. We are now going to see that the brother shares with other women and men religious the fundamental aspects of the consecrated life. The identity of the brother is defined especially by his experience of those elements common to other vocations, and through his particular way lives out certain of these elements. In this presentation I will try to emphasize particular aspects of our vocation as religious, without neglecting our common heritage with other vocations.

The Spirit has gifted the Church with religious life. I stated earlier that our vocation finds its raison d’être in our specific way of living out the charism we received from our Founder and which we place at the service of the Church and the world.

We religious live the charism by adopting a particular style of prophetic life. The original Hebrew word to signify a prophet is “nabi”; it literally means “called by God.” The prophet is the spokesperson, the herald, the messenger of God. He is one who gives expression to a deep experience of God. Whenever the prophet encounters a situation of need he tries to react and respond.

As they proclaim God, as they act in a way that says “God,” prophets try to draw the attention of people by the use of strikingly visible symbols. (Cf. 1 K 4:38ss; 2 K 1:8; Ho 1:1; Mt 3:4) In his desire to proclaim the supremacy of God and His Kingdom, the religious adopts a particular life style, not because he considers the world evil, but like the Apostle of the Gentiles, who having weighed all the advantages that he could draw from his situation, was prompted to say, “Because of the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, I count everything else as loss.” (Ph 3:8)

The religious follows Christ as he strives to live a prophetic way of life. His desire in doing so is to say to others among the faithful that, in his imitation of Jesus, God and neighbor are above all else; God must be the first one to be served, and accomplishing the will of God must take precedence over all else.

The religious is called to be the prophet of God as absolute, of His transcendence, of His supremacy, of His merciful and unbounded love. Guided by the Spirit, the religious gives himself fully to God, freely renouncing certain good things in life, lest they become obstacles to his union with God. In this way he bears witness to the world of his preferential love for God. And he identifies himself with Christ who lived out in a prophetic way the “God alone suffices!” and who gave himself completely to the Father and to His beloved children.

As I bring this section to a close, I dare to say that our religious life has no valid reason for existence if it is not significantly distinguishable from the life of the people around us. That is why it is good from time to time to ask ourselves a few questions about our way of life. Is our religious life truly prophetic? Do we genuinely challenge

those around us? Are we really signs of the absoluteness of God? Are we authentic disciples of Jesus? Or is there little about our way of life that is different from that of our fellow Christians?

A truly prophetic lifeWe can begin our approach to an authentically prophetic life by saying that a brother lives a truly fraternal life, altogether open to others. From the heart of his milieu he witnesses to the transcendent love of God, and he places himself at the service of the Kingdom as he contributes to the humanization of the world and to spreading the Gospel.

The Spirit stirs up from within the brother the life-giving awareness of having received from God the inestimable grace of being a son of the Father and a brother of Jesus. This conviction causes the brother’s entire existence to be pervaded by the spirit of brotherhood. Fraternal life becomes for him a gift (a mystery, a spirituality, and a consecration), a gift to be shared (fraternal communion) and a gift to be offered (mission). In the following of Christ, the brother is prepared to make of his life a total offering to God, motivated as he is by his state of son of the Father and brother of Jesus; he is ready to give body and soul for the service of the Kingdom in order to build here and now a more fraternal world, a world that proclaims eternal life for all the faithful in common union with the Trinity.

Life lived out according to the Evangelical counsels, brotherhood, and a mission to build up communion with God, with neighbor, and with all of creation constitute the three essential dimensions of the life of the brother.

This initial approach to the identity of the brother can be outlined as follows:

Community Religious Consecration Mission in the Church

The brother is a man who lives a deep fraternal life, a life open to all,

a life in which the brother witnesses at the heart of his milieu to the transcendent love of God

and commits himself to the service of the Kingdom by contributing to the humanization of the world and to the spreading of the Good News.

Brothers to one another, in mutual love,

brothers of Christ, deeply united to him, “the firstborn among many brothers” (Rm 8:29),

brothers to everyone, in their witness to Christ's love for all, especially the lowliest, the neediest. Brothers working together in the Church in the same service of what is good. (Cf. Vita consecrata, § 60)

Witnesses to a brotherhood that is possible even in a divided world,

urged on by love in the name of Jesus,

at the service of Love with all that we are and all that we do 3.

Brotherhood

3 Cf. Id., Ibid., p. 6.

“Brothers to one another, in mutual love.”

(Vita consecrata, § 60)

I begin by referring to the last sentence in the Gospel episode of the washing of the feet: “I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.” (Jn 13:15) This sentence calls to mind another one further on: “I give you a new commandment: love one another; you must love one another just as I have loved you. It is by your love for one another that everyone will recognise you as my disciples.” (Jn 13:34-35) We can translate the message of these two quotations conjointly as follows: you also are to go and do likewise in memory of me, and love one another as I have loved you.

It is significant that the words of Jesus at the end of the washing of the feet episode are virtually the same as St. Paul places in the mouth of Jesus in his account of the institution of the Eucharist: “This is my body, which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me… This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me.” (1 Co 11:24-25)

It is equally significant that in choosing the readings for Holy Thursday when the institution of the Eucharist is commemorated, of the three possible accounts of the Last Supper that the Gospel provides, the Church chose the account of the washing of the feet. The Eucharist is the memorial of the offering that Jesus makes of himself to the Father for the salvation of men and women. Love is equally the memorial of this salvation. In other words, the salvation of God is made present today in the Eucharist and in faithfulness to the commandment of brotherly love. This is an essential key to understanding the meaning of the Eucharist in the Church.

The new commandment is the supreme norm of the New Covenant for all faithful Christians and also for those who are not. Fraternal life in community, which is an essential part of all religious life, is particularly relevant for the brother. The brother is called to be, both in the Church and in the world, an “expert in brotherhood.” This is altogether understandable given that the brother’s specific vocation consists precisely in being brother, in being a living human memorial of Jesus-Brother.

The brother is especially called to be a witness of God’s plan for the communion of all of humanity, founded upon Trinitarian communion. For that reason, in community there is so much emphasis on brotherhood, the sacrament of God’s love, and a reflection of the spirit within early Christian communities.

To defend the view that brotherhood is the sacrament of God’s love amounts to saying on the one hand that love among brothers is the sign of that great love that God has for all His children, and on the other, that God loves us directly, yes, but also through the love he has for our brothers and sisters. In this way human love provides another face of God’s love and is another way for Him to be present in our lives.

Jesus knew the feeling and the reassuring conviction of experiencing God as his Father and in turn experiencing the sense of being brother to all people. Thus he is at the center of the religious community. It is a kind of commemoration of the community of the twelve gathered together around Jesus in the upper room. The religious community is a body made up of distinct cells and tissues but sharing a common heart, the heart of Jesus. The brother is first and foremost a brother reminding all the other members of the Church of the fundamental dimension of the

brotherhood of Christ. That is the brotherhood we are called to live. (Cf. Vita consecrata, § 60)

God gathers us together to send us out to mission. And we are sent in order to re-unite so as to form a more fraternal world. Fraternal life in community is “missionary” because it reveals Christ to the world and proclaims what both Christ and the Church should be. (Cf. Vita consecrata, § 72) Religious life, and in particular the life of a brother, fosters a climate of brotherhood which encourages the growth of human relationships deeply rooted in the love of Christ and is a reminder to us that participation in Trinitarian communion can transform human and ecclesial relationships, thus creating a new paradigm of solidarity and new opportunities for indispensable dialogue between people, groups and cultures. (Cf. Perfectæ caritatis, § 15; cf. Vita consecrata, §§ 41, 80)

Distinctive Contribution

In concluding, it may be said that by his radical way of living brotherhood, the brother:- helps the faithful to understand that the vocation of every woman and man

in the Church and in the world is fraternal love in the image of Trinitarian communion;

- reveals that brotherhood is the sacrament of God’s love; - reminds the faithful of the fundamental dimension of brotherhood in Christ;- reminds all religious of the communitarian dimension of religious life;- invites all the faithful in the Church to live the spirituality of communion.

Spirituality-consecration “Brothers of Christ, deeply united with him, ‘the firstborn among many brothers’”

(Rm 8:29).”(Vita consecrata, § 60)

The time for Jesus’ ultimate self-offering was drawing closer. Judas was about to deliver him over, even though in reality it was Jesus who was freely giving himself up. He gave of himself sacramentally during the Last Supper through the bread, blessed, broken and shared: his body offered for all; and through the wine: his blood shed for all. He was to deliver himself up definitively on the cross upon which would hang his body, his open side flowing with blood and water.

While He and the apostles were sharing that last supper, Jesus “got up from table, removed his outer garments and, taking a towel, wrapped it round his waist; he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing.” (Jn 13:4-5)

In the Jewish culture, to wash the feet of the master of the house was among the duties of the slave. (Cf. 1 S 25:41) The Gospel account of the washing of the feet helps us to understand that Jesus-Brother is a Jesus of humility and service, accepting even the lowliest of duties.

The slave did not belong to himself; he belonged to his master. He lived entirely for him, consecrating to him all his time and capability. In washing the feet of his disciples Jesus reveals himself to be that totally faithful servant, ready to accomplish the saving plan of the Father.

Selfish desires for possessing material goods, power, and unreserved pleasure are inherent in human nature. Abounding in love for the Father, Jesus overcomes these monopolizing desires. He holds back nothing for himself; everything is for the Father and for his well-beloved children. His style of life is that of the “new man” of the Beatitudes, who does not allow himself to be dragged down or held back by the inclinations of the “old man” whose ultimate life’s dream is to lord it over others, to accumulate wealth and seek selfish pleasures.

Three key streams spring from Jesus’ life mission. One of them is his total availability to the Father (obedience); he forsakes the temptation to power. Another is his total selflessness and detachment from material things, strengthened by his deep personal experience that the Father is the sole wealth worth possessing (poverty); he renounces material gain. The third is the experience of love agapè, a total and unconditional love for God and for all His children (consecrated celibacy); he renounces selfish pleasures.

With hearts kindled by the love of God revealed so openly in Jesus Christ, we desire to follow Jesus living out the evangelical counsels in a prophetic way. To proclaim that God must be preferred above all else, we are ready to listen to the voice of the Spirit calling us to accomplish the will of God and to be at the service of His children. By renouncing our natural inclination to lead a life of independence, we commit ourselves to discern, in communion with our brothers, what His will is, relying constantly on the mediation of our superiors (consecrated obedience.)

In order to proclaim that God is the most precious treasure, we live “poor,” detached from the goods of this world, struggling always to overcome our natural inclination to possess. United with Jesus, the poor one, we use only those material things that are indispensable to live with dignity and to advance our mission. We are available to share with our brothers without reserve any gifts we receive and place them willingly at the service of all, especially the most deprived (consecrated poverty),

To proclaim the “communion with God” dimension of our vocation we live out our intimate relationship with him in a filial love that is translated by our universal love for all persons, as we renounce our natural inclination for that exclusive human love which finds its expression in marriage and in the family unit. We acknowledge that we are persons destined for unconditional love for all and in the generous and gratuitous service of God and neighbor (consecrated celibacy).

As we come to the end of this presentation let us recall the image of Mary. She who was the first disciple of Jesus is the model of our religious consecration. She pondered all the marvellous things that God accomplished as she remained ever alert to the wishes of God. She was the pilgrim in faith, the bright star that lights the way before all consecrated people; she was the servant of the Lord, our mother and our teacher; she is perfection in consecration, and she is ever teaching us to follow in the footsteps of her Son.

Particular Contribution

Fraternal life lived out according to the evangelical counsels is common to all religious life. As brothers we add to this common denominator the following features:

- Our particular identification with Jesus-Brother and servant characterizes our humble and fraternal relationships with all, especially with the littlest, and commits us to serve them unconditionally, even in tasks that are less gratifying. In

this way we are reminded that every Christian vocation is a call to service, following in the footsteps of the One who came not to be served, but to serve.

- Our particular commitment to live out the demands of our Baptism in union with God and with humanity and in the offering of our entire lives is an invitation to the other faithful to live out their baptismal consecration and their common priesthood.

- Obedience leads us to seek the will of God together with our brothers. Poverty provides us with opportunities for fraternal sharing, especially with the most deprived. Chastity frees us to live gratuitous love.

- In consecrating ourselves to the service of God and neighbor in prayer and in work or in exercising a profession, we invite others to live their relationship with God in an incarnating, unifying and apostolic spirituality which gives life to prayer and which prepares the way for prayer in our lives.

- In exercising a profession or in whatever work we do, we are signs in the Church and in the world of the extraordinary value of work, which allows men and women to collaborate closely with God and to bring to completion the work of creation.

- The prophetic dimension of our vocation as brothers means that we are called to proclaim the equality of all believers within the Church. It means lending a supportive voice to the struggle of women who seek a more responsible role in the Church. It means placing our hope in the lay leadership of our own institutions and keeping alive Vatican II’s vision of living in a secular culture so as to make present there the lay person Jesus 4.

Mission “Brothers to everyone, in their witness to Christ's love for all, especially the lowliest, the neediest; brothers working together in the Church in the same service of what is

good.”(Vita consecrata, § 60)

“When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments again, he went back to the table. ‘Do you understand,” he said, ‘what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you must wash one another’s feet. I have given you an example that you may copy what I have done to you’.” (Jn 13:12-15)

Speaking to them in this way, Jesus was committing his disciples, and through them the whole of the Church, to continue the saving mission which had been his throughout all his life, as he had explained to the disciples of the Baptist: “Go back and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind see again, the lame walk, those suffering from virulent skin-diseases are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the good news is proclaimed to the poor; and blessed is anyone who does not find me a cause of falling.” (Lk 7:22)

Jesus established the Church as a ministerial people, commemorating and renewing the offering of Jesus that culminated in the giving of his own life. The Evangelists present us with the institution of the unique ecclesial mission by means of two 4 Cf. COUVILLION, Bernard, A Patrimony of Hope, Rome, pp. 34-35.

distinct icons: the Synoptics recount the institution of the Eucharist itself whereas St. John uses the episode of the washing of the disciples’ feet. The words “so that you too may do what I have done for you,” in John, and the words “do this in memory of me,” in Luke, show us two dimensions of the same unique mission.

On the one hand, through priestly ministry the Church remains faithful to the memory of Jesus’ offering made present in the Eucharist. On the other, the Spirit causes to arise in the Church numerous charisms to live out this communion in fraternal service, especially with regard to the littlest ones. In this way fraternal love is concretized by multiple services, many of which are institutionalized as authentic ministries. The unique mission of the Church is thus fulfilled both through the ministry of Orders and the many lay ministries 5. (Cf. Christifideles laici, § 23)

The religious brother realizes his mission through the service of human promotion in line with his founding charism. This particular service can be education, dissemination of information through the various media, health, help to indigent people, the advancement of the cause of human rights, condemnation of injustices and the restoration of justice, help for the poor, etc.

Concern for the material dimension entails a commitment to transforming temporal realities so that the world may be as God wishes it to be, that is to say, a world in which all human beings live with dignity and as brothers and sisters. If this ought to be the concern of the faithful, all the more should it be the preoccupation of brothers who are called to be salt for the earth and light to the world.

Brothers and lay faithful become sowers of hope as they give themselves to service of their brothers and sisters, dedicating themselves to building a better future for all. It is not simply a matter of being hopeful but of being hope for others. We who have received the charism of André Coindre are called to speak up for those who can not speak for themselves, to be hope for children and young people, in particular for those who are in the greatest difficulty.

The option for the poor is a duty of all Christians but moreso for “those who wish to follow the Lord more closely.” (Vita consecrata, § 82) For these latter, “the sincerity of their response to Christ's love will lead them to live a life of poverty and to embrace the cause of the poor.” (Ibid., § 82)

Equally, the mission of the brother is to promote Christian life and the formation of the Christian community. Through his ministry he sensitizes young people and adults to the notion of silence, the art of prayer, life-witness; he helps them to better understand the various aspects of liturgy that find their culmination in the Eucharist, and by so doing encourages a more faith-filled participation. There is also a sensitization to the needs of the most deprived and to a more concrete assistance, a missionary commitment that motivates Christians to build the Kingdom by manifesting, expressing, and living “what they have seen and heard.” This mission is also carried out in the preparation for receiving the sacraments, working with groups promoting human growth in the faith, family ministry, the formation of agents of pastoral activities, etc.

Service by brothers is an authentic mission and a genuine ministry for several reasons: it is rooted in the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation; it is part of the saving action of Christ; it is realized in the name of the Church, that approves the

5 Cf. BOROBIO, Dionisio. Los misterios de la Iglesia. Vocatión cristiana y ministerios, Salamanca, Sígueme, 1985, p. 121.

constitutions of their religious congregations; it fosters continuity in the exercise of their respective ministries, ministries made possible through an adequate preparation provided by their institutes. Brothers assume their ministries in communion with and under the auspices of the Church.

It is important to emphasize the extent to which, in the exercise of their ministry, a real proximity and solidarity can be established among brothers and lay people working together towards a common objective, building up the Kingdom of God. Brothers are called to render service to the Church by “stimulating the development of a responsible laity which will be able…to play its proper role in the Church’s mission,” 6 thus paving the way for lay partners in the mission to deepen the charism of consecrated life as they contribute to its growth in their particular way of reading it.

The apostolic spirit of the brother is the fruit of his spirituality (cf. Perfectæ caritatis, § 6), his intimate union with God, and the life he leads guided by the Spirit of Love. Every day he takes increased ownership of this spirituality as he drinks deeply from the wellsprings of Christian spirituality: Holy Scripture, so as to attain “the unsurpassed worth of knowing Christ” (cf. Ph 3:8), the liturgy and the Eucharist.

The spirituality of the brother is incarnate, apostolic and dynamic; and he lives out that spirituality in a unified and integral way in prayer, in worship and in life. His service goes hand in hand with his witness; the place where he gives his support is also the place where he encounters God. Throughout his religious life the brother is imbued with an apostolic spirit, and all his ministerial action is life-giving thanks to the gift of his religious spirit. (Cf. Perfectæ caritatis, § 8) In other words, the brother is at one and the same time mystic and prophet, a mystic for prophecy and a prophet in whom God dwells.

Particular Contribution

The religious brother:

- invites others, through his life, to continue the mission of Jesus: to build a world where all will be brothers and sisters;

- witnesses to Jesus-Brother as he makes His face visible to the world through his deeply fraternal life and through his relationships characterized by simplicity and compassion. At the same time he invites the faithful to be the presence of Jesus- Brother in the midst of a secular society, to live Trinitarian and ecclesial communion, and to be a sign of the presence of Jesus in the community;

- offers to the world and to the Church a truly apostolic service, constituting an authentically prophetic mission and ecclesial ministry;

- re-affirms the great dignity of all the Baptized, be they ordained or not, and promotes the affirmation of all charisms and all ministries;

- renders a great service to the Church by stimulating the laity to greater commitment; allows the laity to enrich the charisms and the various ministries of institutes of religious life by their particular way of reading and living these charisms. In this way the brother makes evident that ongoing missionary renewal is essential to the mystery of the Church and prompts lay people to commit themselves more;

6 Brother in lay Religious Institutes, 1991, p. 60.

- lends a supportive voice to the struggle of women who seek a more responsible role in the Church;

- becomes a sower of hope and helps to create a humanizing climate of apostolic work through which people may have bread to eat, benefit from good health and develop to their fullest potential, and reveals to the faithful that love is an essential dimension of the life of the Church;

- becomes a privileged sign of the extraordinary value of human work, and in the accomplishment of a work or a profession gives witness to the reality that love for Christ is intimately linked to love for men and women, and implies commitment to the building up of a more human and liveable world here and now;

- commits himself to evangelization in love and to sowing hope as he lives out lovingly and effectively his preferential option for the poor;

- exercises his evangelizing mission by his involvement in the promotion of Christian life and in the formation of increasingly more authentic Christian communities.

CHAPTER III. The communion that we desire

Dear brothers and partners in the mission, as I begin this chapter I am reminded of the invitation of the general chapter of 2006 to incarnate together in our daily pilgrimage the charism of our Founder.

“Brothers, do you love me enough,to share your charism with your partners in missionand to open your communities so that they may be

signs of my Father’s Kingdom?”[…] “Our hope is reaffirmed by the positive response of brothers and partners in

mission to their encounter with the charism of our founder.”

[…] “We commit ourselves to building stronger bonds with our partners in mission around the educational charism of André Coindre, and to becoming more convinced

that together we are signs of hope for the young.”(A Pilgrimage of Hope, p. 25)

Dear brothers and partners in the mission, love for Jesus urges us to live communion in the charism. This love invites us to identify with Him in every facet of our charism, to share fraternally the joyful experience of our daily encounters with Him, and to become generously committed in the mission in the service of the Kingdom as signs of hope for all, especially children and young people.

In the first chapter of this circular, I explained how communion is part of the Church’s deepest identity. Communion commits us brothers and partners in the mission to press forward on the path of communion in the charism. In this chapter I want to present the communion to which we are called. In the next chapter I will suggest to you a way to advance resolutely towards this objective.

To begin with I will put forward a rationale for the expression “communion in the charism.” Then I will explain how various groups of persons with differing vocations are called to live communion by sharing the same charism. Finally, I will make a brief presentation on the charismatic family which these groups constitute.

The expression “communion in the charism”The word “communion” is derived from the Latin words cum and munus, which fused together signify “to place in common the individual gifts of the many.”

In the letters of St. Paul the word “charism” signifies the gratuitous gift or gifts that the Holy Spirit grants to a person for the good of the community. The Pauline writings teach us that any charism that we share in service of the mission is a gift of the Spirit. It is the Spirit who “is the protagonist in all ecclesial missions. (Cf. Redemptoris missio, § 21; cf. Evangelii nuntiandi, § 75)

For over twenty-five years the Church has used the expression “shared mission.” In recent years such expressions as “sharing the charism” or “sharing the charism and the mission” and even of “communion in the charism” have become part of the Church’s vocabulary. For several reasons I choose the third expression on which to focus my reflections.

First, the expression “shared mission” could imply that mission is a particular task to be shared. But as heirs of André Coindre we are not simply accomplishing an educational task. Rather through that task we are carrying out a mission which is an essential element of our charism.

Secondly, the verb “to share” might be understood to mean that we religious are the “masters” of our charism, that we are its sole owners, and that we merely scatter before lay people and others around us a few crumbs of that charism. The truth is that charisms are not the property of institutes of religious life but rather of Church communion and of the Spirit who distributes them equally to lay persons and to other members of the Church.

Thirdly, “sharing” might be understood as a sharing of certain responsibilities within the framework of a particular apostolic work, regardless of any founding charism. In this latter case there would be no deep sharing of a charismatic identity but rather a functional apportioning of responsibilities (pedagogical, administrative, etc.).

Finally, we know that charism encompasses spirituality-consecration, fraternal life and mission. We cannot truly share the mission without sharing the other dimensions as well. I propose therefore that we live integrally communion in the charism.

One charism, diverse vocations The perception of the Church as communion of the faithful implies a fundamental change of relationships among religious, lay people and ordained ministers; it is no longer dependency but communion that is the hallmark of the Church. Religious congregations are no longer at the center of the structure of the Church. Communion well understood commits the brothers, their partners in the mission and others to mutual support, so that each, in keeping with his or her own vocation, may live and experience the common charism which encompasses commitment to service within a single mission. This way of understanding communion in the charism utterly shatters the preceding paradigm and introduces us to a new charismatic universe.

In the past the prevailing view was that only religious were called to live a founding charism. Today, conversely, the charism is seen as a way to live the Gospel, and it can be incorporated into other forms of Christian life. This means that though brothers, lay people, priests, etc. are persons with differing vocations, all are called to live the same charism. To a certain degree charism can be shared with believers of other religions as well and even with non-believers, for all bear within themselves the seed of the Word in keeping with their own respective beliefs and cultures; and they can reflect for us specific aspects of our charism. (cf. Ad gentes, § 11, 2; § 15, 1)

Following what was just said, this new perception of the Church as communion calls us to incarnate the charism of André Coindre not only within the limited framework of our institute but within the universe of a charismatic family made up of persons with diverse vocations.

In a certain sense we can say that the charism of André Coindre in his role as founder predates the foundation of the institute. Pieux-Secours, which we consider our original foundation, dates from 1818, whereas the institute was founded in 1821. Might we not suppose that Father André Coindre’s initial idea was that the charism was to be lived by a group of young laymen at the service of this work? One thing is

certain: three years later he founded the institute because he realized that, given the circumstances of the time, it was the best way to preserve the charism.

On May 31, 1821 Father Coindre proposed the creation of indissoluble bonds between the Pieuse-Union Association, made up almost entirely of lay women, and the Community of the Ladies of Fourvière, the initial name of the Religious of Jesus-Mary. The objective of this initiative was to foster mutual help between these two groups and to maintain the same spirit at the heart of the Association. (Cf. André Coindre, Writings and documents 4, Pieuse-Union, p. 150) Can we read in this an indication that Father Coindre’s intention was that religious women and lay women should share the same charism? If this really was his vision, might we not “blame” its non-realization on historical circumstances (financial problems, difficulties in forming teachers, etc.) plus the dominant concept of the Church of that era?

Lay persons and other collaborators are no longer called to merely fulfill pre-determined roles in apostolic works where religious are present, nor simply to take part in certain aspects of the spirituality of men and women religious. Rather are all called to share together the same charism for the service of the same mission. (Cf. Vita consacrata, § 54; cf. Starting afresh from Christ, § 31; cf. R 157)

It is evident that the call extended to both religious and lay alike to live the same charism is not an invention simply to respond to the diminishing numbers of religious men and women in certain areas. The call is valid even in those places where, happily, there is no lack of vocations to religious life.

Communion does not mean uniformity or total equality. If all were equal there would be nothing new to bring to others. We are speaking here of communion among lay persons, religious and persons with other varying vocations, a communion in which religious continue to be religious and lay persons continue to be lay, in such a way that persons from each group maintain their own identities. Working in close cooperation with one another, they support one another mutually so as to live and incarnate one and the same charism.

This close collaboration can succeed only if it exists in a climate of mutual respect for vocational and life-style differences. The religious community constitutes a reality requiring the common life, as well as times and places reserved especially for its members. Lay people too have their own needs which must be respected. (Cf. Fraternal Life in Community, § 70)

It is clear that those who live communion in the same charism of foundation commit themselves equally to the service of the same mission, given that this mission is inherent in the charism. Therefore we can say in conclusion that communion in the charism is communion in spirituality and in fraternal life at the service of a common mission.

The path toward communion in the charism We can distinguish several phases in the long process which leads to a growing communion between brothers and their partners in the mission who work side by side with them in the same apostolic works.

In the first phase, due to diminishing numbers of brothers or the growth of apostolic works, lay persons are hired as auxiliary personnel or additional staff in establishments where the majority of the personnel are brothers. Brothers hold all

administrative posts. Lay people are simply functionaries who carry out less important tasks.

In the second phase the brothers begin to entrust to lay people responsibilities of increasing importance, such as director of studies, assistant principal, heads of boarding departments, etc. Lay people begin to receive formation in the spirit of the institute, take a more active part in the institution and are increasingly recognized and appreciated for their contributions. Nevertheless, the brothers continue to be at the center of everything and maintain the most important responsibilities such as administration, finance, and campus ministry.

In the third phase lay people take on significant responsibilities in a very professional way, even if it cannot be said that they are actually living the charism of the founder in the service of the mission. There are still a few brothers who continue as guardians of the charism; they try to maintain the spirit of the institution and to a certain extent keep it within their control. Formation experiences are provided for brothers and lay persons together, with the goal of achieving communion in the charism. In summary, in this phase lay persons become “first level” collaborators in the mission. However, they are not yet considered as being on an equal level with the brothers but rather to be their assistants.

In the last phase of this evolution, brothers and their lay partners live out communion in the charism in the service of the mission on an equal basis, with both taking on indiscriminately a various range of responsibilities. It matters little who is the owner of the property, the buildings or the institution itself; it is no longer the “brothers’ school;” the institution now belongs to the Christian community. It may even happen that due to diminishing numbers, the brothers may no longer be present on campus, a situation in which there are “brothers’ schools without brothers.” To summarize, in this phase the brothers have been acting as mediators, handing on the charism to our lay collaborators. In turn, the latter have become genuine partners in the mission and on an equal basis with the brothers. They have themselves become bearers and guarantors of the charism.

In order to arrive successfully at this phase, it is essential that we brothers adopt a new mindset. It is not a matter of handing on the charism to the laity, but rather that we become mediators, allowing the Holy Spirit to infuse the charism of André Coindre into our lay partners, thus making that charism theirs as well. This mediating responsibility falls to us because the charism, which is a shared treasure, was in fact incarnated within the bosom of our institute, and this as a consequence of historical circumstances. Nevertheless, there comes a time when we must share the charism with our partners in the mission so that they too may be enabled to live it in the mission.

What does the future hold for us? Will the brothers establish groups of lay persons with the hope that as we strive to live the charism faithfully, these groups too will organize themselves autonomously with their own norms?

The Charismatic FamilyCharismatic families comprise religious communities, consecrated lay persons, priests and other lay persons, each according to his or her own specific vocation (state of life). They live out the same charism of foundation at the service of a common mission. The charismatic family is a genuine communion of communities, referred to as a religious family or evangelical family.

Members of these religious families live out a founding charism at the service of the mission in a specific way, with a few nuances and according to a particular level and commitment. Some do so in community, in a very intense and prophetic way, like experienced guides, representing or guaranteeing a charism. Others choose to do so in as intense a manner, but not in community. Others support the mission through their professional service. And finally others are involved in the mission on an as-needed basis. Members of the first group, and probably also those belonging to the second, commit themselves to the charism in a formal and public ceremony.

Until a few years ago people from Catholic countries of Europe and North America were faithful to the practices of their Christian life. Today in these countries, only a minority try to live the faith with authenticity and with commitment; the majority seem to be indifferent to the faith and pay little attention to developing the religious dimension of their lives. It is interesting to note also that in most of the recently-evangelized countries of the world, Catholics represent a minority. This reality suggests that in today’s world the faith is best lived and nurtured within a special atmosphere. In other words, the faith has left the large open ocean and now rests within a few smaller interior seas.

If we bear in mind the early Christian communities and missionary areas of mission ad gentes, we can affirm that the faith usually spreads from groups that live it intensely.

In our times, in the midst of new movements within the Church, the Spirit continues to cause many charismatic families to arise within the Church. The earliest as well as the most recent of these are called to be salt and light of the new evangelization. They are to be oases of faith and hope in a world of frenetic activity, a world in which people hardly seem to know where they are going.

Charismatic families are one of the most precious fruits in the Church in recent times. Brothers, called as we are to be experts in communion in the Church and in the world, our mission is to support the birth and the growth of the family of those who by the grace of the Holy Spirit are called to live in communion the founding charism of André Coindre.

To progress in our goal of communion that we desire among the various groups in the charismatic family, there must be a close relationship among persons, as well as welcoming and open communities; we must create opportunities for reflection and discernment together; we must discover and undertake new paths; we must provide programs of appropriate formation which reflect the evangelizing spirit and intention of our founder and the experience of those with whom we share it; and we must provide and participate in joint formative experiences of communion among brothers and lay persons.

Then, as the charismatic family gradually begins to take shape, it will be necessary to specify what is common to all groups and what is particular to each, including their mutual relationship; to determine the framework of the organization; to draft constitutions, etc. In a word, its future structure must be foreseen. All of this will be the fruit of a common discernment and experience. During my life I have known groups that hoped to see the light of day by drafting constitutions but disappeared before doing so. We should take our time, because structures should respond to lived experience.

CHAPTER IV: Undertaking new paths This chapter will offer two significant means for advancing along the path to fuller communion between brothers and our lay partners, a communion centered on the founding charism of Father André Coindre, namely, openness among the brothers and their local communities to establish relationships with our lay partners and a readiness to participate in a common formation that fosters genuine communion. I will conclude by suggesting what ought to be the contribution of each of the protagonists throughout this long journey together.

Openness of the brothers’ local communities The opening up of our local communities proposed by the general chapter is an indispensable means to help us to progress along the path towards a greater communion centred on the charism.

Over recent years a number of movements have begun in the Church; they have gathered the faithful who want to lead authentic Christian lives. Some of these movements are welcoming and tend to adapt more easily to new circumstances; others seem to be less forward-looking. But what is characteristic of the vast majority is that they are clusters of persons of differing vocations: ordinary lay people, lay people with a specific commitment, men and women religious, priests, etc. The common hallmark of these movements is their openness.

The openness of these ecclesial movements is demonstrated by the establishment of a network of relationships through which members share their life and the gifts that they have received from the Lord, which allow them to live their faith and to commit themselves to a common mission. There are many such groups benefitting from ever-increasing numbers of believers who decide to join them.

It is in relationships that life evolves; an organism lives in relationship with other living organisms within a common environment. Likewise a community’s openness to relationships and sharing is the sign of its vitality. The members of a living Christian community are people who have been seduced by the love of God and who experience an intense yearning to proclaim “what they have seen and heard.” Each member finds in relationships the true meaning of life; all find joyful serenity in the healthy image they have of themselves and of their respective communities, and in their joyful and mutual sharing of the treasure which all members bear within themselves.

The openness of a religious community is revealed principally through its sense of hospitality. All members of the community must be welcoming, not only the one in charge. Opening our communities at the urging of the chapter means allowing people outside the local community to share with the members times of prayer and reflection, times of relaxation and celebration, and times of formation for the mission. The commitment which ensues will be of appreciable help in paving the way to the future for the founding charism of André Coindre.

To be truly welcoming, the local community must enjoy a sound fraternal life. It is not merely a matter of opening the physical doors of the house but of opening the doors of the hearts in the community. However, in order to allow for the growth of each group, the demands inherent in religious life as well as those particular to the life of lay people must be respected.

Brothers, I am launching an appeal that in each of our provinces and delegations we encourage our local communities to open themselves increasingly to our lay partners in mission as well as to the outside world so that we can share our charism with them more profoundly.

Formation for communionAn appropriate formation of brothers and lay partners is essential for those who wish to advance along the road to communion in the charism. This will require periods of specific formation for both brothers and lay partners in keeping with their respective vocational identities, as well as longer periods of common formation.

Particular attention has always been given to the brothers’ formation even though at times it may been far from perfect. With regard to the formation of lay persons, the overriding concern in the past was that teachers in our apostolic works possess the necessary professional qualifications required for their assigned responsibilities. There were, nevertheless, some lay partners whose particular formation allowed them to play a significant role in the mission of evangelization.

The fruit of the formation of our lay partnersI could present here a few significant examples of real lived experiences within the institute. Given that it would be impossible to do them justice here, and so that no feels forgotten, I have chosen to continue along a different line.

It was as a result of my several forays through Africa and Madagascar that I came to better understand the important role that lay persons have played and continue to play in evangelization in that part of the world. When I visited our brothers in their mission in Dobwo, I had the opportunity to be introduced to a school for catechists. Dobwo is a village in Mali near the border with Burkina Faso, a village that lives in the past. To give you some idea of the situation, the walls of the huts are made of clay and the roofs of straw, the streets are of dirt, and there is virtually no electricity.

Quite near the village there is a mission with a parish church, schools, religious community houses, and houses for the catechists and their families with gardens and fields, etc. Each catechist lives in his own house with his wife and children; in addition to this he has a little plot of land that he cultivates to feed and to support his family.

The daily routine of these catechists basically follows the rhythm of the Benedictines’ “ora et labora”: prayers in common, Eucharist, courses, tilling the soil, family life. The program of initial formation lasts four years, with one year entirely dedicated to the apostolate in the local area. Once the formation period has been completed, each catechist returns to his own village where he exercises among his people his role of transmitting and nourishing the faith.

The early missionaries were visionary in the founding of these types of schools. Thanks to these schools, today there are many lay-catechists, totally rooted in their own language and culture and empowered to be significant protagonists in the evangelization of their continent.

I have often encountered priests, women and men religious---and among them Brothers of the Sacred Heart---who were themselves sons and daughters of such catechists. This is evidence that over the years the families of catechists have been authentic schools of faith, domestic churches, and true “houses of formation”.

The excellent formation provided by this structure in the local Church has produced admirable fruits: a holistic formation---human and spiritual, theoretical and practical---a lived experience of faith and not merely one of acquiring knowledge, a formation integrated into culture and realized in the very milieu of life where formation of the community takes pride of place.

Common formation of religious and laity “The entities will sponsor programs for the formation of partners in the charism of our

founders and in the evangelizing goal of our educational mission. They will share their experiences and the resources created for this purpose.”

(A Pilgrimage of Hope, p. 25)

Though I am well aware that in terms of communion in the charism formation must take place within the bounds of the specific vocation of religious and lay persons, I am going to deal here with the matter of a common formation.

In some places in our institute---the United States, France, Spain and Latin America---this common formation has been the practice for some time. The experience of all these entities may serve as reference points for the implementation of analogous programs in other places in the institute. Analogous does not necessarily mean exactly the same or altogether different. Any formation program must be adapted to local conditions and circumstances.

With that as an introduction, allow me to offer a few succinct and general suggestions related to the above.

Suggestions for a formation planObjective

The main goal of a common formation in the charism for brothers and lay persons is to dispose us all to the action of the Spirit so that we might further discover together the founding charism of Father André Coindre, that it may become incarnated in our personal lives and theirs, and that we may live in communion for the service of the mission.

Obviously we are speaking here of a formation to a deep identity, a formation which cannot be reduced simply to the sphere of the intellectual or the cerebral, but a formation that encompasses the heart, mind and spirit. This kind of formation affords us the opportunity to discover the true meaning of service for the sake of human advancement, an authentic mission for building up the Kingdom, something far beyond a mere humanitarian task. This formation helps every person who wishes to do so, to live in the following of Jesus, each according to his or her respective vocation, committed to living the charism in service of the mission.

Dimensions of formation

The common formation of brothers and our lay partners in mission must be all-inclusive: formation to human values, professional and pedagogical formation, moral theological, spiritual and pastoral formation, and formation in the social doctrine of the Church and in the ecclesiology of communion (cf. Educating Together in the Catholic School, §§ 22 and 26; cf. R 151).

Conscious of the importance of all these dimensions, I nevertheless emphasize the importance of spiritual formation that fosters a deep Christian life. Spiritual formation

contributes significantly to “formation of the heart”, which is acquired especially as a result of encounters with God through an intimate relationship with Jesus-Brother. Such encounters spur us on to identify with Jesus, the unparalleled teacher who instils love in us and inspires us to greater love of our neighbor (cf. Ibid., §§ 25-27).

The charism of André Coindre is the nucleus around which this formation revolves, and it is the charism which provides its essential unity. This implies a familiarity with the life of our founder so as to better appreciate the way in which he lived the Gospel, the prophetic traits of the Sacred Heart which were such an influence on him, the pressing need he experienced to care for the children and young people in his milieu, his prophetic response which took shape as mission.

Methodology

Common formation of brothers and their lay partners for communion takes place within a process which includes establishing relationships of co-responsibility, of communion in faith, and involvement in the mission through the following:

- collaboration in the designing of a plan which develops gradually, stage by stage;

- close relationships, dialogue, attentive listening and participation aimed at forming a life-community eager to collaborate on a mission in communion;

- reflection and discussion in common of proposals, with a view to renewing the mission;

- sharing life experiences among the participants for mutual enrichment;

- personal prayer and participation in events that celebrate life, community liturgical celebrations, sharing encounters with God in the sanctuary of mission;

- life witness of each of the participants;

- personal and group accompaniment in order to discern our lives in the light of the spirit;

- the use of a common vocabulary in conformity with our secular vocation;

- the discovery of the founding charism of Father Coindre through study of his life and the history of the institute and through reflection and dialogue among religious and lay persons who gain inspiration from it;

- an experience, based on a common charism, of a life of brotherhood, communion in the service of the mission, of gratuitous service to the needy, and of a universality in the mission, by forming relationships with individuals and groups from a broad spectrum of backgrounds.

Activities

The common formation plan could include activities such as meetings for reflection, congresses, assemblies, courses, celebration of events, readings, conferences, prayer groups, liturgical celebrations, etc.

Other Aspects

The formation plan must take into consideration both initial and ongoing formation. Because it is a life-long undertaking, provision must be made for short term, medium and long term formation. This formation must be holistic, including every dimension

of the charism, and well-structured; otherwise, what would be the point of a fragmentary formation made up of occasional or totally disconnected activities?

The preferred venue for effecting this common formation is where the participants are. Nevertheless, the chapter of 2006 recommended that if practicable, a pilgrimage to the foundation places of the institute would constitute an experience of extraordinary significance in awakening in the participants “a renewed sense of mission and a desire for greater lay-religious fellowship.” (A Pilgrimage of Hope, p. 25)

It is evident that every formation plan must make provision for appropriate financing, for there is little that can be done without proper funding.

Finally, the principal agents of formation are the brothers and our lay partners themselves, with the support of the respective entities of the institute. This support is obtained through the commission for the promotion of the charism, a team recently constituted by the general council.

Contribution of the brothers and the laityThe brothers and our partners in the mission need one another. Their respective contributions to creating and living communion in the charism will challenge both parties. Both do well to value the lay vocation and religious life and to remain open and available to bolster their relationships in communion in a spirit of brotherhood, both on the professional level and on the personal and spiritual levels (cf. Educating Together in the Catholic School, § 35). In keeping with their respective vocations at the heart of the same family, all are called to live communion in the charism and in mission.

To this end the specific contribution of the laity lies in their desire to be more cognizant of the work of the founder and their desire to live the charism as fully and genuinely as possible. They do this through the witness of their lives following Jesus from their vantage point at the heart of the world. They witness to Jesus through their realistic and experiential perception of the life of the world, its culture, its politics, its economy, etc.; through their specific and coherent way of living the charism within their respective families; their involvement in evangelization; their professional contribution to the humanization of society and their support for human growth in the faith; and their contribution to spiritual life in the place where they exercise their mission (cf. Ibid., § 31 and 32).

In turn, the brothers promote communion in the charism by their prophetic way of living it, striving to find their own way of imitating Jesus, desiring to be signposts, guardians, and living memorials of the charism, without however claiming exclusive ownership of this role. They foster communion by witnessing to the consecrated life (Vita Consacrata, § 33). They also witness by their intense spirituality and their dynamic missionary spirit, by their response to the cry of the poor, by their recognition of and respect for the dignity of the lay vocation, and by their positive support for lay partners as together they strive to foster communion in the mission. They promote communion by reinforcing the vocational dimension of the teaching profession; by being available to open their local communities in the hope of sharing their lives, their faith, their prayer life (cf. Educating Together in the Catholic School, § 33) and their mission; by encouraging their lay partners to live the charism; by their fraternal witness to their extended community family; by the involvement of their local communities and provincials in this animation as they welcome into their midst

members of the charismatic family; by their participation in meetings with their lay partners; by their efforts to build a religious community which will be the focal point of the charism; and by their availability for this common formation, accepting that this involves “forming themselves with” our lay partners and not simply and primarily “forming” them.

CONCLUSIONBoth the lay vocation and the religious life of a brother have meaning and extraordinary value within the context of ecclesial communion. Lay persons have their specific way of living their secular commitment to the Church, sacrament of the Kingdom, a Kingdom which will be fully realized only in the hereafter but which continues to be built in the here and now. This commitment is concretized by efforts to transform this world so that all may live in accord with their dignity as daughters and sons of God in a world that is truly one of brotherhood.

The religious brother is called to be an expert in fraternity. His vocation consists in being brother, in becoming the living human memory of Jesus-Brother. He is a living reminder that fraternity is the fundamental vocation of all the sons and daughters of God, regardless of their respective backgrounds, cultural or social situation, respective occupations or ministry. In this way, the religious brother witnesses to the Church, mystery of communion, whose mission is to instil greater communion in the world.

Brothers and partners in mission, disciples of Father André Coindre, as I come to the conclusion of this sixth circular, the last in the series entitled A Pilgrimage of Hope, I hope that I have motivated you in some measure to live more fully communion in our founding charism in the service of the mission of education and the advancement of humanity.

Because we are all charged with preparing for the forthcoming general chapter, the text will not be followed by a questionnaire for your reflection and discussion in community. Each entity will determine the appropriate means to make best use of this circular.

These circulars have been the result of a team effort, and I take this opportunity to thank the brothers who have contributed in one way or another to its preparation. I am grateful to those who read its several drafts and added their corrections and suggestions: to Brother Cristobal Calzado (ESP) for his suggestions for a better overall presentation; to the translators, Brother Roger Bosse (NE), who translated the French text into English, and Brother Jean-Baptiste Dioh (SEN), who translated the Spanish text into French. My thanks go to the members of the general council for their guidance and encouragement; to Brother Marcel Gagnon (CAN), general secretary, tireless in his efforts to make relevant suggestions to improve the text, for preparing the final draft for the printer and for coordinating the distribution of the booklets to the provinces, delegations and local communities of the institute.

Thanks to a peaceful and pleasant atmosphere that I experienced in our new mission in Amatongas in the Diocese of Chimoio in Mozambique, I was able to complete the final draft of this circular which originally was intended to reach you much earlier. But on this October 16th, feast of St. Margaret-Mary Alacoque, I bring it to a close, entrusting it and all our brothers and lay partners in the mission to the protection of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the blessed Heart of Mary, of our holy patrons, of Father Andre Coindre and Venerable Brother Polycarp, and all of our forebears. May they aid us to advance steadily along the path of communion in the charism.

Amatongas, October 16, 2010.

Brother José Ignacio Carmona Ollo, s.c.