MISSIONARIES OF THE SACRED HEART ASIA, PACIFIC ISLANDS AND AUSTRALIA - APIA INDEX - Updated 27th March 2008    MSC CONFERENCE BANGALORE   THE MISSIONARY COMMUNITY   MISSIONARIES OF THE SACRED HEART   MISSIONARY BASIC COMMUNITIES   SYRO-MALABAR CHURCH   SHOULD CASTE BE INCLUDED IN THE CENSUS OF 2001 A.D.?   INDIAN GLOBAL ECONOMY AND CULTURE   MSC APIA   MSC SPIRITUALITY: A RETURN TO THE FOUNDER - Fr. Dennis Murphy MSC   FORMATION OF MSC RELIGIOUS AS PROPHETS IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC   THE APIA MSC SPIRITUALITY SEMINAR - Fr. Dennis Murphy, MSC   PREVIOUS ARTICLES One hundred and fifty years ago the Pastor of a church in Issoudun, France, aroused the interest of his priest friends in his dream to 'convert' the countryside of Bourges Archdiocese where Issoudun is located. The priest, Jules Chevalier, gathered together a small group who proceeded to slowly spread the news that God is kind and has everyone at heart. France, which had recently experienced a terrible revolution and then under Napoleon had ravaged Europe unmercifully, was stricken with hate and indifference.  Jules Chevalier, the son of a baker, was convinced that God had room in his Heart for everyone and Jules had a compulsion to tell them this good news. His enthusiasm fired his friends to join him in this.  They too were convinced that the Jesus they found in the Gospels was a person of deep compassion and understanding. This open-hearted Jesus wants to bring hope and healing to all human beings wherever and whoever they are. Jules Chevalier and his companions were committed to firing the hearts of people with the love of God that they themselves had experienced.  It soon became clear that the "MSC," as Chevalier's group is called, were not founded, as many other religious orders were, to do any one particular apostolic work or to supply any one particular need. They were not founded just to teach, to preach, to run parishes, to go to the foreign missions, to work in hospitals or whatever. The MSC were to have one mission only and that was to make people aware of the love that there is in the Heart of Jesus for all, especially those trapped in any form of misfortune - physical, psychological or spiritual.  Jules Chevalier's Work was to relate to people - with kindness and compassion and so lead them to understand more clearly how Jesus loves and understands them. His MSC Society then and now dedicates itself to do this in whatever way is most effective, doing whatever brings them into contact with people - especially people who need help - in parishes, in schools, in missionary work, in underdeveloped countries, in hospitals, in jails, at universities, within their own families, among friends, and in the work place. Like Jesus, they love all people with all their heart.  Reflections on the Life of Jules Chevalier  The Seminarian (Part Two) - Fr Dennis Murphy MSC  Father Chevalier died on 21 October 1907. In the following year, there were 802 members in the Society: 4 bishops, 325 priests, 272 brothers and 201 scholastics. There were Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Austria, Italy, England, Ireland, Canada, the United States, Australia. Successful foreign missions had been started in Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Indonesia, the Phillipines and the Northern Territory of Australia. The Archconfraternity of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart had a multitude of members scattered throughout the world.  It was an extraordinary achievement, especially when one considers the Founder's difficulties and disappointments right from the beginnings of the Society in 1854.  As a seminarian, Jules Chevalier gave no signs of being a future, successful founder of such a worldwide organisation. Father Piperon states bluntly the opinion of those who had been seminarians with him: "Certainly his virtues suggested a holy and zealous priest, a true man of God, but neither his natural qualities nor his talents raised him above the ordinary level" (Piperon:128). "Nothing indicated what he would be in future" (Piperon: 177).  Early in October 1846, Jules entered the Major Seminary of Bourges "with a sincere desire to be good priest and to belong wholly to God" (Chevalier: 10). To belong wholly to God was partly a reaction against a youthful infatuation with another student. The friendship was "certainly quite harmless", but it was 'an attraction that engaged my heart inordinately" (Chevalier: 12).  Father Chevalier never wrote profusely about his interior life so we do not know how this change came about. He writes simply: "Towards the end of my final year (i.e. of the minor seminary) God let me understand the danger of such a friendship, and so I was impatient to enter the Major Seminary and start a new life" (Chevalier: 12).  Father Gabriel Mollevaut, the novice master of the Sulpicians in Paris, gave the retreat at the beginning of the academic year. His words strengthened the young seminarian's commitment to "belong wholly to God". Commenting on the Founder's Personal Notes, Father Bertolini writes: "This holy man had presented something of a self-portrait when he said that "the true priest is a man who is unworldly, indifferent to money and forgetful of self" (Chevalier: 54). These virtues certainly became well established in the young seminarian who listened to him.  In the retreat, Father Mollevaut also stressed "fidelity to the rule, mortification and humility". And the Founder adds: "I did all I could to practice them during the five years in the Major Seminary. Yet with what slackness and imperfection" (Chevalier: 12).  Sulpician formation aimed, above all, at deepening a seminarian's interior life - his union with God through Christ. And so, Fidelity to the rule, mortification and humility did not involve merely external conformism. "During the first three years of his priestly formation. Jules applied himself more particularly to the cultivation of the interior virtues: recollection, a spirit of faith and mental prayer" (Piperon: 127).  Father Piperon was not aware of the "slackness and imperfection" noted by the Founder who measured himself in the light of the high ideal he was striving for. However, he does give us more detail about the statement: "I did all I could". He observes that, in fact, Jules took his efforts to extremes. "He spoke little, was often silent even at recreation unless they were speaking of religious matters. He let it be too evident that he was making continuous efforts of his will to be united with God and live in habitual recollection.... Some even accused him of rigorism and openly blamed him" (Piperon: 130). Wisely Father Piperon observes that "Every beginner in the way of perfection is easily led into these noble exaggerations when they begin to try to practice the Christian virtues" (Piperon: 131).  The same is true when aspirants aim at a high degree of achievement in other skills; sport and music for example. Exaggerations can often be found also in the lives of the saints when they were taking their first serious steps to follow Christ.  Despite this, Jules Chevalier was able to gather around himself an enthusiastic group of other seminarians called "Chevaliers (Knights) of the Sacred Heart". In their meetings, "all was spontaneous" and "a spirit of joy pervaded the discussions in which charity and humility reigned" (Piperon: 130).  A remarkable change took place, however, during Jules' retreat for sub-diaconate. "Without any transition whatever, the se,minarian, who had been stiff and taciturn in his relationships, was entirely renewed and became a sub-deacon, gentle, affable, always smiling.... Still today, after more than fifty years, we find him always kind, compassionate and friendly towards all who approach him. He has made himself everything to everyone to gain all for Christ (ICor 2:23). No one leaves him without having received kind and consoling advice and encouragement to do better" (Piperon: 131).  Perhaps one can say that from this time on Jules Chevalier became once again ordinary, more human; but not in the sense of being mediocre. He was always considered to be a model seminarian. However, nothing distinguished him, at least externally, from other generous, fully committed students, and later priests and religious.  This sort of real sanctity, lived in ordinariness, appeals to us more today. It is the way of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus that has influenced deeply Christian spirituality of the twentieth centry. It is the way of Zen Buddhism: perfection is achieved when the everyday way becomes the way. In India, it is thy way of karma yoga, expounded so beautifully in the Bhagavad Gita. However, this way of life had its drawbacks in nineteenth century Catholicism.  Father Piperon was recognised as a saint both inside and outside the Society. He also had the advantage of looking like a nineteenth century saint. Father Chevalier did not. On first seeing him, pilgrims to Issoudun mistook him for a visiting country parish priest, not "the famous Father Chevalier". For many MSCs, this sort of simplicity and lack of pretentiousness is one of the more beautiful legacies our Founder left to the Society. I have had the privilege of seeing it in the lives of many MSCs who have been outstanding in pastoral work, learning, administration, and of course holiness.  Father Chevalier had human limitations and weaknesses as a seminarian and later as a priest and founder. Not even the great saints are free from that even though some of their followers later try to hide it. My own judgment, for what it may be worth, is that he continued throughout his life the commitment he made on entering the Major Seminary "to belong wholly to God" (Chevalier: 10)And he did this with a depth of faith, hope and charity that was, in my opinion, consistent and heroic. More importantly for us, however, he did this by following "the everyday way".  Dennis J. Murphy MSC  BIBLIOGRAPHY  Chevalier Jules Personal Notes translated by Sheila Lakkin FDNSC ROME 1989  Piperon, Charles, Writings on the life of the Founder, Jules Chevalier. Translated by Beeigna More and Gerarda Kennedy FDNSC ROME 1993  WORLDWIDE MSC HOMEPAGE & EMAIL: SEE MSC WORLD MAP: http://www.misacor.org  Argentina - Australia - Austria - Belgium - Brazil - Burkina Faso- Cameroun - Canada - Colombia - Curaco - Dominican Republic - Ecuador - El Salvador - England - Fiji - France - Germany - Guatemala - India - Indonesia - Ireland -Italy - Japan - Kiribati -Korea - Marshall Islands - Mexico - Namibia - Nauru -The Netherlands - Nicaragua -Papua New Guinea - Peru - Philippines - Russia - Senegal - Slovakia -South Africa - Spain - Switzerland - USA - Venezuela - Western Samoa - Zaire - (not working any more: China)  Generalate: in Rome, Italy  Return to Index

Vatican II, subsequent Vatican documents and post-Vatican II theology of the consecrated life have all stressed the essential and continuing role of founders in religious institutes. This role is not limited to research in archives; on the contrary it is a continuing activity of the Holy Spirit within an institute: the same Spirit that moved the particular founder in the first place. Eugene Cuskelly (A Man with a Mission, p 110ff) has clearly explained this interplay of past and present. It is also expressed in our new constitutions (CS 3 and 4)

Vatican Council II, in its Decree Perfectae Caritatis, mentions a return to a Founder as only one of the elements in the revitalisation of a religious institute. The Council's list is instructive.

• The following of Christ as proposed in the Gospel, which is to be considered the supreme law of every institute.

• The following of the spirit and aims of each Founder together with each institute's sound traditions.

• Sharing in the life and mission of the Church today in all its aspects.

• A requisite awareness of the world in which we live and discernment about how best to answer its needs.

• First place to be given to spiritual renewal, especially the living of the vows, as the irreplaceable basis for the mission of an institute. (Perfectate caritatis 2a, b, c, d, e)

If the return to a Founder is not kept in this wider perspective, it could easily be misleading. But, on the other hand, to concentrate on any one of these points to the exclusion of the Founder would be equally misleading. Each element merges into the others. If the return to a Founder did not result in a renewed appreciation of the other points mentioned, either the Founder has become irrelevant and therefore also the institute itself, or those researching their Founder are failing to see the Church and world of their time as their Founder would have done. This point is not only crucial for the renewal of religious institutes in general, it has important bearings on formation.

In returning to the past to discover some of the things Father Chevalier had to say about our missionary way of life, the following three principles should be kept in mind. They are simply an application of what Vatican II had to say about the appropriate renewal of religious institutes. As principles they depend on one another and cannot be taken in isolation, otherwise there will be unbalance and lack of proper perspective.

• Our return to Jules Chevalier is an act of faith in the active presence of God in the founding and in the history of our Society. Yet we find it hard to discover the presence of God in little, imperfect things - in what Father Chevalier always referred to as the little Society.

• Our charism is not merely a thing; it is the continuing presence of this creative Spirit in us specifically as MSC's. Here again our faith is often too timid, yet this very faith is clearly part of the charism of our Founder.

• The purpose of our return to the Founder is to deepen our awareness of our missionary identity, so that we may see how we can best be formed in it and help form others in it and in this way carry out our mission today. This integration of fidelity and creativity is probably one of the greatest challenges facing us.

If we accept these three principles, practical consequences emerge. Firstly, to reduce renewal to a purely natural or sociological level is not only an impoverishment, it is a serious misunderstanding. Secondly, an increased spirit of prayer and reflection is an essential ingredient of renewal. If that is absent we are building on very unsure foundations. Thirdly, if change is taking place only within the Society and not in our apostolates we are on the wrong track. A missionary spirituality cannot separate these two; both are essential.

Sociology and strict historical research are needed if we are to understand our Founder properly. It would be short sighted to underestimate them. At the same time, it would be even more dangerous to neglect the importance of faith in God's Providence. To reduce everything to a purely human level cannot do justice to all the facts. For faith in Providence is one of the facts. Throughout his life Father Chevalier had to face what seemed like insummountable obstacles. The more these were overcome, the more he became convinced that the hand of God was with him. If we neglect Father Chevalier's belief in Providence we are left with a view of the world and the Society that is completely out of harmony with his own. It would also be out of harmony with the Gospel we are called to preach.

One might perhaps ask whether a diminished sense of God's Providence would be a sign that religious are losing a sense of the special mission of their institute; a sign also perhaps that members are losing a sense of what it means even to be a religious in their institute. One might ask also whether it is a sign of an institute's approaching death. It would be far too simple of course to blame every religious institute for its demise. Probably some die simply because the purpose for which they were brought into existence is no longer needed. Groups, like individuals, also have a natural life span; with the passing of the years they lose their youthful vigour; they become not only old, but old and tired; they haven't any more the energy to continue living. But it is also possible that some die because they no longer really believe in the relevance of the mission God gave their Founder, even when that mission does in fact remain very relevant. They just don't want to be disturbed.

The historian David Knowles spent a lifetime studying English medieval monasticism. His research made him reject the Reformation myth that those living in monasteries were evil, dissolute men and women. Overall they were good, well-intentioned people. But too often the original fire, the original enthusiasm had burned out. Their"rule", embodying their way of life and mission, no longer inspired them. On the contrary, their way of life was based on the norms of their time, and not on their "rule". More often than not these worldly norms were good, even admirable, but they were not the aIternative way of life their Founders wanted for them. Today perhaps we would speak of this "rule" as their original charism.

Much today is written about the renewal of religious life. Much is also done; and done generously. Many new, admirable apostolic ventures are undertaken. And new structures are devised. And yet some of the institutes that are most outstanding in this are precisely those that are going out of existence most quickly. There is no simple answer to complex questions, whether that answer comes from the "conservatives" or "progressives" - terms that are not particularly useful because they are usually biased and hence inadequate. The sociologist Andrew Greely has admitted that, within the limits of his particular science, he can find no reason why these "renewed" institutes are not attracting many vocations rather than dying out.

One piece of historical evidence does perhaps call for reflection. In the past the most effective and vital reforms of religious life have come from a return to the original "rule" of a Founder. This involved more than a return to a "schedule". It was a determined, radical, enthusiastic return to the Founder's original concept of the institute. And it was a retum to what was clearly an alternative way of life; alternative not only to the world, but also, very often, to the main body of the institute they were setting out to reform. The retum to the original inspiration of a Founder, therefore, is not a purely academic exercise. It is a challenge to re-light the original fire that moved him and his followers. Numerous meetings, chapters, publications, plans will not bring this about. Probably the re-lighting of that fire is a grace freely given by God, just as the original fire was. We do not merit it. We can only pray for it humbly and with courage. Humbly, because we accept it will not come merely from our efforts. With courage, because it will inevitably involve sacrifice. Consequently the return to a Founder must be accompanied by a deepening of our prayer life, both individual and communal.

Today there are many admirable new forms of the consecrated life emerging in the Church, especially in lay associations like San Egidio, Emmanuel and others. We have much to learn from them. Some of the main points they stress form part also of traditional religious life asenvisaged by the older Founders, including our own. However these new groups seem to be able to carry them out with an enthusiasm that is catching, whereas a tendency in older congregations is to feel too tired to do so. At times these older groups give the impression that their inner fire has burnt out.

Sometimes we may be tempted to think that if we could return to a perfect observance of our way of life; if all, or at least the majority, of our members could be perfect; if our works were outstanding for their creativity and relevance, we would flourish again. Sometimes this involves the belief in some original golden age that we have to imitate. But our early members were, on our Founder's own admission, "neither eagles nor saints". A return to the early Church teaches us the same lesson. They were no better than we are. But there is a difference that may be important. They had a sense of freshness, of beginnings, of adventure, of relevance. There was a fire there. But as groups grow older a certain tiredness enters. Although we cannot merit the re-lighting of the original fire, we can certainly put obstacles in its way. We can become culpably blind, obstinately set in our ways, whether those ways be of the right or of the left. We can cease to be disciples: people who are ready to listen and to learn; people who are ready to pay attention to opinions that are not their own or of their own select group. The practice of genuine prayer, which should involve fearless listening, is a way out of this difficulty.

Prayer involves openness to the Spirit of God; and in this case openness to the same Spirit who lit a fire in our Founder: the Spirit who moves us to pray (Rom 8:15-16) and who pours God's love into our hearts (Rom 5:5) leading us to active compassion for others (Gal 5:22-26;1 Cor 13:1-7).Some take for granted that the charism of a Founder is to be discovered in his "spirit" and the mention of structures seems out of place. Founders, including our own, had a more integrated and realistic view. A charism is to be found just as much in an institute's structures as in its works and spirit. The three should form a whole. Consequently, it is unhelpful and even unrealistic to contrast spirit and structure. A genuine return to the Founder will integrate them in the same way as he did.

The 1969 Chapter in its Documents of Renewal declared that the local community was the basic unit of our Society. The 1974 Chapter qualified this statement by adding "as integrated into the life of the Province". In 1981, our new Constitutions clarified the statement further by adding "integrated into the life and mission of the Province." These amendments were, of course, in keeping with the intention of the 1969 Chapter; but they made clearer that we are not independent communities as in a monastic Order. Later General Chapters felt obliged to make these amendments to the Documents of Renewal because Father Chevalier clearly intended us to be essentially missionary - people who are available to be sent to evangelize everywhere as a Society, as communities, as individuals. And this missionary charism has to be embodied in our spirit, in our works - but also in our structures. We are essentially missionaries, evangelizers. To return to our Founder, therefore, we must, here and now, be open to the world in the spirit of the Gospel. We cannot realistically hope to be in harmony with Jules Chevalier unless we are trying to be missionaries today as he was in his time. We should feel moved to go to those areas where Christ is not effectively present, that is, to those who do not know him; to those who are disenchanted with religion or indifferent to it or even hostile to it; to those who suffer because others do not take the Gospel seriously - the oppressed and marginalized, the poor; to those who have lost the meaning of life; to those who thirst to deepen their love of the Lord (cf CS 24). When this is happening, there is probably more chance that the original fire be re-lit in other areas of our religious life provided we are open to it.

The Documents of Renewal not only spoke of the local community as being the basic unit of the Society, they also reversed the order of the chapters dealing with the structure of the Society.The Constitutions now started with the local community, then the province and finally the general administration. It is generally claimed that this avoids an authoritarian pyramid structure. Obviously authoritarianism has to be avoided on every level and at all costs; it is clearly against the explicit words of Jesus. But it is naive to think that it exists only at the top of a pyramid. Authoritarian pressure groups can be actively at work at the bottom as well as at the top.

It is, in fact, extremely difficult to portray adequately human relationships in a simple geometric diagram. We have to take into consideration networks of consultation, cooperation, family spirit, charity. All these must form part of any structure of authority if it is to be true to the charism of Father Chevalier. I think that he would be happy with the description of the service of authority found in our Constitutions and Statutes (CS 98104), most of which is taken from the Documents of Renewal.

One might be allowed at least to raise the question whether the order of the chapters in our present Constitutions reflects suffciently Father Chevalier's concept of missionary obedience (the availability to be sent) modelled on the pierced Christ on the cross. This is a key point in his concept of the Society. In this light, probably for him the basic unit of the Society was the Society itself.

The question, however, is rather theoretical. Independently of the order of chapters in our Constitutions, the Spirit of God is in fact moving us into wider forms of cooperation both within Provinces and between Provinces. A missionary sense of the Society as a whole seems to me to be growing. And the General Administration has become more closely involved in all of this. Probably we are only at the beginning of this development. And creative fidelity will ensure that many good things will continue to happen as we enter more deeply into the missionary charism of our Founder.

Though I am convinced that the broad outlines of Fr Founder's spirituality are clear, and will remain clear, I doubt very much whether any definitive study of his (or anyone else's) spirituality is possible. If he touched on real Gospel values, and I am convinced that he did, he touched on something that has many facets and that allows for a variety of emphasis. As a result, different people, at different times, will bring to the study of him their own legitimate interests, preconceptions and needs; they will see the same reality, but see it differently, mainly because they will come with different questions. In all this, Father Chevalier must remain clearly recognisable, because the facts cannot be changed to suit our own likes and dislikes; but the way we put these facts together, the emphasis we give them and the conclusions we draw will vary according to the sorts of questions we ask.

A genuine return to the Founder does not produce stereotypes. Fathers Chevalier, Piperon and Jouet shared the same basic concerns, but were far from being stereotypes. The return is rather an attempt to re-awaken in ourselves the inspiration and dynamism that characterised him; to make his basic concerns our concerns.

Founders, ideally speaking, are a sort of sacramental given to a congregation. History seems to prove this, because periods of renewed dynamism in religious congregations seem to involve always a return to their Founder, particularly a return to their founding "experience of the Spirit." This is especially true in times of crisis or even of stagnation.

There is much theorizing about this today, but we conveniently forget that the genuine refounding of religious institutes has normally taken on the form of a return to the "strict observance" of the original "rule." This should not be dismissed as legalism. Basically it is a realisation that a religious institute was founded as a form of "counter-culture"

Not everything Founders say or do is of equal importance.We need to distinguish their basic concerns from other points which were time-conditioned. Nevertheless, if Founders have been really raised by God as part of his plan for the Church and for the world, their basic concerns will remain a source of creativity and challenge in each new circumstance as it arises. Of course, the words an institute uses to describe these basic concerns may differ from those of a Founder; so may the means it uses to implement them; but the basic concerns should remain recognisably the same.

If a Founder's basic concerns cease to be a source of creativity, it could be a sign that the God- given lifespan of the institute has come to its end. It could also be that the Founder's basic concerns are still very relevant, but the majority of members are ignorant of them or couldn't care less. This negative attitude can, at times, be hidden under the attractive colours of some new ideology, mission or apostolate. Or even of renewal. But if the original, basic concern of the Founder is not creatively present, the institute is no longer the one he founded. It has already died.

If a return to a Founder is to be creative in our time, some hierarchy of values has to be discerned; otherwise a deceptive fundamentalism could result that would smother rather than promote the "original inspiration". No human being is perfectly consistent nor completely without flaws; consequently if we took everything a Founder said or did with equal seriousness, we could find ourselves even coming to contradictory conclusions; we could find precedents for all sorts of choices and actions.

In speaking of the danger of absolutising statements made by a Founder, we need also remember that we will be equally misled if we absolutise the needs of our own time. This can also be superficial, deceptive and selective. Sometimes parts of Constitutions written in this spirit can be already dated before the next Chapter. The fault is not the attempt to be relevant, but a lack of historical sense that fails to see a wider vision. We need to be sure that we really know and even value the good points in what we reject.

We need to keep in mind that there is a hierarchy of values in Father Chevalier's "original inspiration". Bias is always a risk in this. And so we will never arrive at a sound judgment if we do not allow for a continuing interaction between the return to the Founder, the return to the Gospel and openness to the signs of the times, all carried out in a spirit of dialogue and mutual respect. Truth is comprehensive. It is usually some steps ahead of all the participants in a search or dispute.

There is very little, if anything, in our Founder's Constitutions, Rules, Directories and writings concerning religious Life that is original. He borrowed practically everything from already existing material. This is understandable. He mentions explicitly the Sulpicians, the Society of Jesus, the Marists, the Redemptorists, the Vincentians. In other words, he followed the commonly accepted views of his time; just as we do in our time.

We need not develop an inferiority complex about Father Chevalier's lack of originality; nor should we underestimate him because of it. Even the great founders like Basil, Benedict, Dominic, Francis and Ignatius were far less original than we at times suppose. This is true also for those Founders who are singled out for their originality. Founders generally borrow heavily from traditional practice and from contemporary movements within the Church. Ignatius of Loyola, for example, would be surprised at ways in which he is exempted from this pattern today.

Father Chevalier, like other Founders, selected his sources only after mature deliberation. And he made his own what he borrowed, putting it into the context and scope of the Society he was founding.

Julius Chevalier did not feel called to become a Jesuit or a member of any other existing religious institute from which he borrowed particular details. By founding his own congregation he showed that he wanted his followers to have their own special identity and mission.

From one point of view, the origin of our Founder's ideas is unimportant. What matters is that he made them his own. Furthermore, the specific nature of a religious institute is not found primarily in its documents or in theories, but in its lived tradition and history.

All genuinely Christian groups will possess the same basic principles and values, but nevertheless each will differ, just as families differ, even though possessing the same human and religious values. Thus, even if much of the early organisation in the Formula Instituti happens to be influenced by St.Ignatius'Constitutions, this would not make us Jesuits. The same applies to borrowings from other sources. We are formed by our own particular history and shared experiences. It is there that we find our identity which, on an analogy with individuals, remains always unique.

Father Chevalier's starting point was not the Constitutions of other religious institutes. His idea about the Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was not built up like some jigsaw puzzle comprising bits and pieces taken from various sources as though he had no idea of the overall picture until all these borrowed pieces were put together.

His starting point was a deeply personal experience of the incarnate Word of the Father, Jesus Christ, in whom everything - material, human and divine - is united. And this unity, Father Chevalier saw, was the fruit of the love originating in the Trinity itself. And the revelation of this love culminated in the pierced heart of the dead Jesus who gave all out of love for his Father and for us in fidelity to his mission. The absolute abasement of the Word, symbolized in the pierced Heart, is therefore the absolute revelation of how much God loves us; indeed it reveals to us that God of his very nature is love. And this love is not merely love in general, it is a particular form of love that involves God himself being executed as a criminal, taking the side of the oppressed. The pierced Heart reminds us continually of this. That was to be the source of the life and mission to the Society Jules Chevalier founded. It would also be the touchstone for its structures.

Mary, as the Mother of Jesus, is inseparable from this vision of Father Chevalier. She is the one chosen by God to give us Jesus and his pierced Heart.

Father ChevalierÕs founding experience had three inseparable aspects: first, a deep personal conviction of the incarnation of GodÕ love for the world; and secondly, a similar awareness of the worldÕs rejection of that love; a rejection which took the concrete form of the various Òevils of the timeÓ that were ruining society; and thirdly, a conviction that this love was needed by the world.It was, in other words,similar to the experience of the prophets:an experience of God and an experience of contemporary society in the light of that experience.

Father Chevalier did not only experience God and the world; this same experience came to him as an experience of being sent by God into the world. In this, too, he resembles the prophets. His experience of God was essentially missionary. This same experience also inspired him with the desire to form groups of lay people, diocesan priests and religious (priest, brothers and sisters) who would share with him a similar experience and mission.

Consequently everything centres around what can be called Fr Chevalier's experience of being sent: his experience of sharing in Christ's own mission into the world and his organization of a group of people to share in that mission. It is absolutely essential to keep this in mind when assessing what Father Chevalier has to say about formation. Even those details which rightly seem to us quaint or even mistaken were, in his mind, geared towards forming members who would share more generously in the mission of Christ as he himself had experienced it when a seminarian,contemplating the pierced Heart of the incarnateWord and the sickness of society.

We are certainly right in changing certain structures in formation and in the Society itself that Father Chevalier drew up, but it remainsimperative that we do so only in view of attaining by other more effective means the original missionary intention that the Founder had in drawing them up in the first place. Otherwise our justified efforts at reform may well take us backwards rather than forwards. Change is not necessarily reform. Even new, laudable, apostolic ventures are not necessarily reform of what we are meant to be and to do in the Church of our time as Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

Dennis J Murphy MSC

REFLECTIONS, RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

• Globalization in Asia and its effects
• Inculturation in the Church and religious life
• Contextualization of formation programs
• Church paradigms in a changing world
• Exposure programs
• Sharing of formation programs

The input relating to Paradigms in Moral Theology alerted us that we must move to a liberative model of being so that our focus and energy can be placed more in the service of these poor and marginalized. Some of our Provinces have moved into this area already, with formation programs reflecting necessary changes. Others are still coming to terms with this new emphasis.

The following reflections are a summary of our hopes for our formation programs throughout the APIA region.

     Our formation programs should be:

• contextualized, thus being relevant to today's world and its needs
• aware of the prevailing culture and sensitively interacts in bringing our charism and spirituality to it
• biased towards the poor and the little ones
• flexible and adaptiveto needed change when necessary

    The formands should be:

• men of charity with a passion to share God's love
• exhibit the potential of becoming prophets, prepared to stand with the poor and the broken, the down-trodden, and those abused by society

RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

1. That an APIA Coordinator for formation be appointed as soon as possible. He comes from the Province/region/union/section that hosts the next conference. He is nominated/proposed by the Conference for a term of 3 years.

 
2. That the APIA Coordinator's role is to facilitate the following:
• initiate meetings of APIA formators
• take charge of an APIA Newsletter for formation (See 3 below)
• disseminate reading materials or updates on formation, inculturation and spirituality
• promote cooperation among the APIA formators
• act as liaison person to the APIA superiors
3. That an APIA Newsletter be started. Its purpose will be to share our mutual ideas and experiences in formation work. It should be published twice yearly.

 
4. That the APIA Formators' Conference be held once every three years.
5. That English be promoted and used as the APIA medium of communication
6. That the possibilities of an APIA Center for MSC Spirituality and Charism be explored in the APIA region. This Center would initially

focus on formation for formators in the areas of inculturation and contextualization in relation to formation, c.f., nos. 7 and 8.
7. That the Provincial Superiors should give priority to the continuing formation of formators by giving them opportunities to be updated on important issues, e.g., inculturation, contextualization through on-going studies, exposures, and conferences.

 
8. That spiritual directors should also be updated with skills in spiritual accompaniment by on-going studies on inculturation, contextualization and other issues related to formation.

 
9. That an exchange of formands in the APIA region, especially during the pastoral year, is seen as important but its implementation be left to each Province due to limitations of finance, etc.

 

THE APIA FORMATION COORDINATOR, THE NEXT PLACE AND DATE

• The APIA Formation Coordinator - Fr. Patrick Taval, msc
• The agreed place - Papua New Guinea
• The proposed date - sometime in July 2000 AD

Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation have emerged from the Founder's ideal of Christlike compassion for the poor and his zeal to fight the "evils of the modern world". This theme runs through the statement on Justice, and the account of the Formators' Meeting, held October 1997, by Fr. Jan Mankey MSC, General Assistant who attended it.

Justice and compassion are also recurring themes in all the Spirituality Seminars. Father Dennis Murphy MSC describes the "how and what" of the beginning of the Seminars.
 
 

When the first executive secretary of APIA, spoke with me about organising an MSC spirituality seminar for the APIA region, we both thought it would be a good idea to approach the Director of the Heart of Life Institute, Fr. Brian Gallagher for ideas and hopefully also for his involvement. From that point, the sectretary's organising ability and Brian's expertise in group work would contribute much to the laying of the foundations of the project.

There was a third factor, however, that went well beyond expectations, even though it was part of the plan from, the beginning. This was the contribution of the Philippines itself - exposure to some of its social evils.

Most of us tend to hide the social evils in our own country from foreign visitors. We are too ashamed. Our Filipino MSCs show extraordinary trust, I think, in taking us right into the thick ofthese evils. More extraordinary still is the way marginalised and oppressed people have welcomed us with incredible hospitality and joy.

The Philippine Provincial Secretary, Fr. Ben Verbene, and other members of the Philippine Province did a lot of work in organising this exposure, as did also the lay people, priests and religious who work in these areas of dire need.

When Brian explained to me his basic vision for the seminar. I doubted whether it would work. His idea was that there would be very little emphasis on input. The aim would be to promote silent reflection and sharing. In other words, the principal contribution to the seminar would come from the participants themselves. Furthermore there would be six full days of completely silent retreat.

I knew from experience that one of the main benefits of international meetings is the opportunity to share ideas, but in my experience that had always been a side-effect, not the precise purpose of meetings. I wondered whether, people would be disappointed if experts did not take up most of the time to talk to them. And as for six days on complete silence practically without any input...? I felt that for ninety percent at least of those attending the seminar, this would be an unheard-of experience that would demand too much of them.

I was convinced of the idea behind the plan, but hesitant about its practicality. The plan was not to give a purely theoretical explanation of a missionary spirituality of the heart, but to help participants experience it and then reflect on it in their own experience. In fact, they were to be led to discover how in fact they had already been living it.

The first part of the seminar was spent in reflecting on our involvement in our various apostolates and sharing this with others. Gradually we were led to examine what were the interior attitudes and dispositions that helped and hindered our involvement with others in our apostolates. This was a process of entering into our own hearts, but not in some self-centred way; it involved examining ourselves in our relationship with others.

In keeping with our Founder's approach, the second phase was direct exposure to "evils ofthe time". For most participants, this was truly a "mind-blowing" experience. It is moving enough to see poor hovels on TV. It is a different matter to spend the night in one and even enjoy the hospitality of people who live in them. For some from PNG and Kiribati the simplicity of these houses was not at all that much different to what they were used to, in some cases they were even better. But these participants were deeply moved by other things: contact with street children and with families living on and from rubbish tips; things they had not experienced before. Other exposure involved prisons, leper stations and the opportunity to speak with prostitutes.

An essential part of this exposure was not only the experience of social evils, but contact with the people who are involved in trying to cope with the various situations. This was even more inspiring when it happened to be people who were actually victims themselves.

The final phase of the process was to spend six days in complete silence with the Lord. 1 have to admit that in my experience of all of these retreats, I was deeply impressed by the seriousness with which the participants entered into this silence. I had certainly underestimated them.

The aim of the whole process was to integrate three "movements" that should be any true spirituality of the heart. They cannot be separated and are rather three aspects of one spirituality. The seminar helped us enter into our hearts, enter into the hearts of others, and enter into the heart of Jesus. And these three movements together, we came to see, formed one missionary spirituality of the heart.

I heard that a few members were not in favour of the seminar at first. The word spirituality itself seemed to some of those radically involved in social transformation to indicate a turning in on oneself rather than involvement in the world and commitment to work for the poor. Those who did the seminar, however, saw that the need for a deeper interior life stressed by the seminar was by no means a call to pull back from the world and its needs, but a call to enter into it deeply but with our hearts transformed by the heart ot Jesus himself They saw too that this requires a contemplative dimension in our life. A contemplation that will not diminish sensitivity to the evils of our time and action to set things right, but actually increase it. In fact the integration ofthese various "movements" is the essence of a spirituality of the heart that is part of our heritage.

There have been variations to the seminars since they first started. This is necessary if the starting point is the participants themselves and their experience. However, in general, I think the basic vision that started the seminars has remained intact. There is room, of course, for other forms of seminars and meetings in APIA. Some have already taken place. But it seems to me that there is still scope for this sort of spirituality seminar; especially since the MSC Sisters and Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart have started attending.

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The Major Superiors of APIA met in Bangalore for their biennial conference , August 17 - 21. The meeting was arranged by Fr. Malcolm Fyfe msc, Union Superior of India, and attended by;

• Fr. Malcolm Fyfe, India, Chairman
• Fr. Brian Gallagher, Australia
• Fr. Hans Kwakman, Indonesia
• Fr. Paul Browne, Japan
• Fr. Ray Sabio, Korea (represented by Fr. Abao)
• Fr. Steve Dives, Pacific Islands
• Fr. Ignatius Endo, Papua New Guinea
• Fr. Rudy Abao, Philippines
• Fr. Michael Curran, Superior General
• Fr. Jozef Geeurickx (Zeca), General Assistant
• Fr. T. Kevin White, APIA co ordinating Secretary

The MSC Scholasticate at Bangalore hosted the Conference with great hospitality heightened by having the Superior General present and an ordination scheduled for Saturday 22nd.

Two themes dominated the input; India and The Missionary Community.

Fr. Ambrose Pinto SJ, Director of the Indian Social Institute, New Delhi gave two papers on India; "Should Caste Be Included in the Census of 2001 A.D.?" , and, "Global Economy and Culture".

On there were two papers, one by Fr. General "Missionary Community"(included here in an updated version); and followed by a paper on "Building Basic Communities in the Indonesian Province", given by Fr. Hans Kwakman MSC. These papers are included with this report.

Copies of the Reports tabled by the eight APIA Superiors were distributed among them. They are not recorded here

DECISIONS OF THE APIA SUPERIORS:

• The APIA Statutes were left at they are without amendments.
• The APIA Secretary, Fr. White, will continue for two years.
• A new Secretary will assume office in two years time, chosen from the Indonesian Province by the Indonesian Provincial.
• The next ordinary APIA Superiors' meeting will be held in Indonesia in August 2000.
• The Incoming Chairman of the APIA Superiors will therefore be the Provincial Superior of Indonesia.
• Fr. Patrick Taval was confirmed as the Formators' co ordinator.
• Fr. Marciano de la Cruz was confirmed as the co ordinator of the Justice and Peace committee.
• Both the Formator and the Justice and Peace committees are called on to submit progress reports based on the decisions taken at their 1997 meetings. These reports are to be submitted to Fr Hans Kwakman by the end of this year 1998. Fr. Kwakman will bring the reports to the attention of the APIA Superiors at the General Chapter, Issoudun, when the APIA Group meets on 21 September 1999. A decision will then be made about the next meetings of the Formators and the Justice and Peace Groups. (The respective Co ordinators, Frs. Taval and Jun de la Cruz have been alerted about this at the beginning of September, 1998)
• The next Spirituality Seminars will take place in Manila, January to February 2000; and February to March 2000. They (2) will be conducted by the Issoudun Team. They will be open to the three congregations and the number has been increased to 30 participants for each seminar. Fr. General said that he will arrange financing for the Issoudun Team's fares. Expanding the seminar's availability was decided on as a fitting way to celebrate the beginning of the 3rd Millenium A.D.
• "APIA News" will switch from printed to electronic form on Internet. Correspondents suggested by their Superiors were; Fr. Ad van Hest; Fr.F.X. Wahyudi; Fr.C. Kavui; Fr. R. O'Neil; Fr. T. Donely.

SECRETARYS REPORT: The secretary, Fr. White, reported on the activities that had taken place in APIA particularly the Spirituality Seminar. He highlighted the debt that APIA owes to the Philippine Province in hosting these events. Attendance at the Spirituality Seminar has dropped about 20% despite the high level of input given by the facilitators. It was also observed that the target of the seminars has changed from experienced personnel to those just out of initial formation.

CONCLUSION: The Superiors meeting concluded with the attendance of the APIA Superiors and the whole Indian Union Community at the Ordination of Jaya Kumar at Kolar Gold Fields, on Saturday 22 August.

Our Constitutions begin their treatment of mission by speaking about our sharing in the mission of Christ and then they go on to speak about a Òmission in brotherhoodÓ (Chapter 3, Article 2). The community is presented as the source and mainspring of our mission in every place and in every succeeding generation. The reality of being an Òapostolic communityÓ or a Òmissionary communityÓ has been knocking at the door of our consciousness in recent years, inviting us to accept the challenge and respond more fully to this dimension of our vocation. We are also aware of counter tendencies and phenomena, so a reflection on this reality is called for. Having situated the context of the question, I will make some comments on what the Constitutions have to say about it.

1. Some Recent Documents

1.1. MSC Chapter of 1993

The Chapter recognized the difficulties we have in the area of community. Despite some experiences of Ògood functioning community structures,... there is widespread individualism and an unwillingness to become involved in any type of community organisationÓ (2.1). The way to growth in community passes through a change of heart that will enable us to respond positively to the Lord's new commandment and to the ideals set out in our Constitutions. A concrete suggestion of the Chapter was that Òcommunities should set goals for themselves and decide the steps towards achieving these goals, particularly community prayer, finding time together, forms of mutual support and other aspects of community lifeÓ (2.7.1). This suggestion has been taken up and acted upon by a number of Provinces in an attempt to incarnate the ideal of the Òmissionary communityÓ.

In his introductory talk to the Chapter, Fr. Kees Braun stated that Òwe have to try to integrate the two: to try to have really missionary communities, communities for mission and a mission clearly inspired by our religious communityÓ. I would also say, a mission that has a real impact on our community life, aware as it makes us of Lazarus, who lies at our gates, covered with sores. The urgency arises out of the intimate connection between what we say we are, what we are, how we live and what we do. The world needs to witness in our community life the evangelical values that we proclaim in words. And for these values to become a reality, we need a spirit of dialogue and mutual sharing in our communities. ÒWe badly need a culture of dialogueÓ (n.6).

1.2. Fraternal Life in Community The Vatican document entitled Fraternal Life in Community, Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor, published by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life on February 2, 1994, some months before the opening of the Synod on the Consecrated Life, takes as its point of departure the changes that have been introduced in recent years into the actual living of fraternal life in communities of men and women. These changes express both the renewed understanding of the religious life stemming from the return to its sources in the Scriptures and in the founding charisms as well as the influence on religious life of modern trends and sensibilities in society. The changes may be summarized as follows:

1. a movement away from traditional works in education and health-care in favour of smaller communities inserted into the world of the poor and marginalized, with the almost inevitable decline in time spent together in prayer and other community exercises;
2. a change in the understanding of one's work, from being a participation in the community's evangelizing mission to being simply a personal service or profession;
3. a new understanding of the person, his/her dignity, freedom and development, with the new understanding of community that results, as an area of personal relationships rather than of Ócommon lifeÓ;
4. new forms of government, with much more place given to consultation and consent, and the establishment of a new area of personal autonomy an freedom in relation to the living of the vows of religious life, along with big changes in the exercise of authority.

In three chapters, which deal with the threefold dimension of the religious life, the document speaks of this fraternal life as:

• a gift of God, who wants to enter into communion of life with human beings and does so through Christ and through the Holy Spirit in the Church, of which the religious life is a particularly apt sign and effective witness;
• a task to be worked at, the task of building fraternal communities, by means of the following: personal and common prayer, the liturgy of the hours and especially the Eucharist; fraternal love, made in the image of ChristÕs love, embodied in mutual acceptance and self-giving, to the point of sharing one another's weaknesses, problems and difficulties; various forms of communication, meetings, faith-sharing and dialogue in the local community; certain means of affective and spiritual growth in maturity, especially a warm community spirit, spiritual direction and psychotherapy; the integration of personal gifts into the common project, whereby individualism is overcome; ongoing formation in the local community, especially in the areas of the vows and the charism, which are vital for an effective, prophetic witness to the Gospel; the exercise of the superior's authority, understood as the spiritual, communitary and apostolic animation of his community; and, finally, a good balance between fraternal life and apostolic activity, so that the community may be seen as a sign of the good news proclaimed by the Church;
• the subject of mission and the place from which it springs; this is the section that has most to say about the missionary community as such, and its main points could be summed up as follows:
1. a) There are different types of religious communities: the monastic community, which above all seeks communion with God and with others through contemplation; the conventual community, which above all emphasises the common life, which in turn find expression in various apostolates; and the active community, which is decidedly oriented towards the active apostolate. This diversity of communities and the particular nature of each institute is spelled out in the various Constitutions. In the case especially of the third type of community, it is not easy to maintain a balance between community and apostolate.
2. b) The primary mission of the religious community is its presence in the local Church, giving witness to the Gospel by its style of life. The tension that arises between its peculiar charism and the demands placed upon it by the local Church can be a healthy one, giving rise to the necessity for a dialogue that respects both the identity of the religious community and the life and pastoral policies of the local Church.
3. c) Parish ministry can be so all-absorbing that religious tend to neglect their charism and their community life in favour of their insertion into the local Church. ÒUrgent pastoral needs must never lead us to forget that the best service a religious community can give to the Church is that of being faithful to its charism. This is also reflected in accepting responsibility for parishes and running them. Preference should be given to parishes which allow a community to live as community and where the religious can express their charismÓ (61).
4. d) Participation in the new ecclesial movements can be positive for religious only to the extend that the religious are faithful to their own specific identity.
5. e) The insertion of small communities into marginalized areas needs to be supported by the leadership and by the larger communities. ÒIt is therefore necessary that these communities be given a programme of life which is solid, flexible and binding, approved by the competent authority who is to ensure that the apostolate have a community dimension. This programme should be suited to the persons and demands of the mission in such a way as to promote balance between prayer and activity, between moments of community intimacy and apostolic work. It should also include regular meetings with other communities of the same institute, precisely to overcome the danger of isolation and margination from the broader community of the instituteÓ (64 c).
f) It is not normal that religious should live alone, although exceptions are possible for various reasons. ÒThe religious who lives alone, without an assignment or permission from the superior, is fleeing from the obligation to the common life. Nor is it sufficient to take part in a few meetings or celebrations to be fully a religious. Efforts must be made to bring about the progressive disappearance of these unjustified and inadmissible situations for religious men and women... Should there be institutes in which, unfortunately, the majority of members no longer live in community, such institutes would no longer be able to be considered true religious institutes. Superiors and religious are invited to reflect seriously on this sorrowful outcome and, consequently, on the importance of resuming with vigour the practice of fraternal life in commonÓ (65 c and e).

1.3. Vita Consecrata
The post-Synodal document on the Consecrated Life (VC), publilshed in 1996, sees the fraternal life as a way of fulfilling the Lord's new commandment, to love one another as he has loved us. This love demands a readiness to serve others generously, a willingness to welcome them as they are, without judging them (cf. Mt 7:1-2), and an ability to forgive up to Òseventy times sevenÓ (Mt 18:22). The members Òexperience an interior call to share everything in common: material goods and spiritual experiences, talents and inspirations, apostolic ideals and charitable service... In community life, then, it should in some way be evident that, more than an instrument for carrying our a specific mission, fraternal communion is a God-enlightened space in which to experience the hidden presence of the Risen Lord (cf. Mt 18:20). This comes about through the mutual love of all the members of the community, a love nourished by the word and by the Eucharist, purified in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and sustained by prayer for unity, the special gift of the Spirit to those who obediently listen to the GospelÓ (VC 42).

Fraternal life plays a fundamental role in the spiritual journey and apostolic effectiveness of consecrated persons. In the religious community, Òsolitude is overcome through concern for one another, communication inspires in everyone a sense of shared responsibility, wounds are healed through forgiveness, and each person's commitment to communion is strengthened. The nature of the charism in communities of this kind directs their energies, sustains their fidelity and directs the apostolic work of all towards the one missionÓ (45).

The mission of making Christ present to the world through personal witness is the primary task of the religious life. The members are in mission by their very consecration, whatever the form of their consecrated life. ÒReligious life, moreover, continues the mission of Christ with another feature specifically its own: fraternal life in community for the sake of the mission. Thus, men and women religious will be all the more committed to the apostolate the more personal their dedication to the Lord Jesus is, the more fraternal their community life, and the more ardent their involvement in the Institute's specific missionÓ (72).

2. History of the MSC Mission in Brotherhood
In practice, the MSC accepted from the beginning the possibility of living on one's own for the sake of the mission, coupled with some strong times of togetherness. There was an obvious contrast between the maximum togetherness of the members in the formation and apostolic communities in the ÒhomeÓ Provinces and the maximum dispersal of the members in the mission territories where the Ius Commissionis held sway. The sense of belonging to the Province and to the Society was strong in both the home and mission territories. There was a strong sense of family, inspired by the bonding that went on during the life of our Founder, furthered by the formation received in the apostolic schools and scholasticates, and effectively promoted by the participation of all in the original mission in Oceania.

The missionary strategy followed by Propaganda Fide was expressed in the Ius commissionis, according to which the unevangelized areas of Africa, Asia and Oceania were carved up into huge territories that were entrusted to the missionary Societies. The pastoral care of these large territories necessitated the dispersal of the missionaries in the field, with one man being placed in charge of each parish and made responsible for evangelization, development of the community and building of an infrastructure. In this system of Church organization, while the family spirit of the Society remained strong and there was a sense of identity between the Province and a certain territory (Òit is oursÓ), the differences between one religious Society and another were less apparent. The missionaries did more or less the same work in the same way everywhere. The distinction of charisms made no impact and community life practically disappeared, apart from occasional meetings. It is the kind of situation from which the Roman document Fraternal Life in Community, examined above, now wishes to organize a strategic withdrawal!

In effect, every missionary was free to organize his life and apostolate without much reference to the MSC community. Indeed, he was expected by his bishop to do so, to show initiative, to organize apostolic projects, to look for funding especially in his home country, and for the rest, to observe the liturgical laws! All the religious and missionary orders behaved in this way, so that very little in practice distinguished the life of an MSC missionary from any other missionary, whether religious or not. Nevertheless, the sense of family remained strong, the bishop was one of ÒusÓ, the apostolic prefecture was ÒoursÓ, and a great spirit of fraternity united the missionaries among themselves and with their home Provinces. That was characteristic of the time of new beginnings, one that called on all the originality of the various religious and other missionary Societies. There was a sense of its being a good time to be a missionary.

In the sixties, a change began to make its presence felt in the consciousness of people and in their external behaviour. The Apostolic Prefectures were gradually being set up as Dioceses, with clearer lines and contractual relationships being drawn between the diocesan and religious authorities. On the home front, the sense of community began to weaken with the new appreciation of individual freedom and responsibility, coming into play already before the advent of Vatican II. There were surprising and even shocking departures from the practice of the common life, whether manifested in the abandonment of common prayer or in personal initiatives, which at an earlier time would not have been compatible with peoplesÕ understanding of the vows of religious life. Rome's Fraternal Life in Community calls on us to question some of these developments, to reflect on their meaning in relation to the authenticity of our community life.

3. Missionary Community: What does it mean?
It is not easy for us to come to an agreement either in theory or in practice regarding what constitutes community life for a Missionary of the Sacred Heart. Our Constitutions provide us with a good basis for such an understanding, but they wisely do not spell out everything and they give us plenty of space for dialogue about these matters. As it is, our practice does not always fully corresponded with what is stated in the Constitutions, which enshrine many beautiful ideals, central to the core of our identity in the Church. I would like to illustrate some of these ideals from our Constitutions, with a view to promoting a reflection that will tend towards a greater consistency between what we say we are, what we really are and what we do.

3.1. Love for the Church
The mission is anterior to us, a spiritual reality incarnate in history, incarnate in the Way of Jesus and continued in the community that draws its origins and life from Jesus and from his Spirit. Our Constitutions have a strong conviction of the ecclesial nature of mission, a reality that concerns the whole Church and in which we share by a special gift of the Holy Spirit, the charism given to our Founder and to us. So it is clearly stated that "Our mission to work for the coming of GodÕs Kingdom as MSC comes to us in and through the Church. Accepting this mission as a grace and a responsibility, we wish to be united to the Church by a loyal and faithful love. We express this love and our openness to the Holy Spirit in our communion with the Pope and the Bishops and in our readiness to serve GodÕs People according to the spirit and scope of our Society" (CS 27).

This carries with it an attitude of respect and love for the Holy Father, as the Vicar of Christ and Co-ordinator of the universal mission, that we have received from our Founder. The universal missionary scope of the MSC was underlined by the motto, May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere, and by the fourth vow, whose special aim was to underline the essential gift of our charism, the readiness for mission everywhere. The fourth vow promoted the missionary goal of the Society by an additional commitment "to go anywhere on earth to procure the glory of God the moment the Supreme Pontiff or the Superior General sends them". Even though this fourth vow was eventually dropped in the 1905/1907 Constitutions, obedience to the Holy Father is still clearly expressed in the Constitutions: "Since we are dedicated in a special way to the service of God and of the universal Church, in the spirit of our Founder we accept the authority of the Holy Father, even in virtue of our vow of obedience" (CS 105 ¤2).

The mission is a reality co-extensive with the Church, in which we participate along with many other apostolic communities. Our participation in mission, with all that characterizes our particular gift of the Spirit, is "inserted" into the mission of the local Church, with the many relationships this entails, in particular the relationship to the Bishops as the Co-ordinators of the mission in the local Churches. There is no place for a self-centred understanding of mission in our Constitutions, but only for mission "inserted" into the reality and plans of the local Church: "Since the life and mission proper to the Society needs to be inserted into the local Church, we need when taking decisions to take into account the proper authority of Bishops, in keeping with our Constitutions" (CS 105, ¤3).

3.2. We are a Religious Community
Chevalier's intention was to found a religious community, with all the implications this has for the bond of relationships of the members to one another. Establishment of centres of community in Issoudun and in other places (Tilburg, Antwerp, Salzburg, Barcelona, Watertown, Kensington, Rome) offer a strong indication of this spirit of community. Family bonding went on through the apostolic schools and through the participation of all the Provinces in the mission Ad Gentes.

We find our religious identity clearly expressed in CS 2: "We are a religious Society dedicated to works of the apostolate. We become members by professing public vows of obedience, chastity and poverty in a response to a call from God. Through this consecration to the Lord, we commit ourselves to live the spirit of the Society, to take part in its mission and to share our lives together in it as brothers, faithful to these Constitutions".

Religious profession is an entering more fully into the depths of our baptismal consecration, an embracing of a more radical self-giving in imitation of Jesus, who was sent into the world on a liberating and saving mission, and who embraced a life-style that was totally at the service of that mission. Our vows are constitutive of our apostolic religious community and spirituality. Our religious profession is a gift and an invitation to the consecration of a greater love and self-giving in mission: "Religious profession consecrates us to Christ and his mission. Like him we are sent into the world to proclaim the Good News that God is a Father, who shows his concern for the poor and suffering, and who gives meaning to life by giving us his love" (CS 20).

As a deepening of our baptismal consecration, our vow of obedience is a freely undertaken engagement and pledge to seek the will of God in the context of community and to accomplish it as well as we can in collaboration with our brothers, in communion with other religious, laity and clergy in the Church. It is a particular way of sharing in the obedience of Jesus for the accomplishment of his mission: "Jesus became obedient out of love; he even gave his life to accomplish his Father's will. We profess obedience to share in his spirit of obedience, that we may serve better our brothers and share more deeply in the mission of our Society and the Church" (CS 38).

As a deepening of our baptismal consecration, our vow of celibate love is a freely undertaken engagement and pledge to love our brothers in community with that self-same love with which Jesus loves us, with a human heart, with a non-possessive love, and to love all people to whom we are sent in mission, renouncing the possibility of marriage for the sake of the mission. This vow is at the heart of our mission, as our Constitutions tell us. "Through a gift of the Spirit, we are called to follow Jesus in his mission and to live that form of love which is consecrated celibacy... By professing celibacy, we consecrate ourselves to God in order to love him with a free and undivided heart, and to love our brothers and sisters as Jesus did" (MSC 42-43).

As a deepening of our baptismal consecration, our vow of poverty is a freely undertaken engagement and pledge to choose people rather than possessions, as Jesus did, to live simply and with a preferential option for the poor, to work hard with all our heart and all our strength for the people entrusted to our care. This vow is close to the heart of our prophetic witness, the touch-stone of our liberty and joyful dedication to the cause of Jesus Christ, to the cause of justice for the poor of the earth. "By professing poverty, we determine to put ourselves and our material possessions completely at the service of God and his Kingdom, as Jesus did... At the same time, our sense of poverty will lead us to place all our talents, time and efforts at the service of the community and its mission. In order to grow in our commitment, which implies, according to the spirit of our Society, a preferential option for the poor, our life-style should always reflect a great simplicity both as individuals and communities, taking into account circumstances of time and place. We submit ourselves to the common law of work and do not look for privileges. Trusting in God, we accept dependence and even insecurity which is the lot of many people" (MSC 47).

3.3. "We are all brothers"
We need to learn to talk to one another, to share positive and negative experiences, so as to overcome hurts and crises, and to create a feeling of caring for one another. This has to do with celibate, brotherly love, with mutual support and appreciation, with dialogue about the mission in all of its ramifications. The tensions and conflicts that normally arise in community, or between the founding Provinces and their daughter communities, can be healthily faced and talked about. Experiences of internationality can help and enrich our family spirit in a world divided by excess of nationalism. We need to accept one another in all our uniqueness, with our characteristic gifts and cultures, learning to be enriched by one another.

God's will for the life of individuals and community is revealed through the active participation of the members in prayerful reflection, dialogue, and in the process of decision-making. Each member is blessed with gifts of understanding, experiences of life, wisdom, and capacity to enter into dialogue for decision-making within the community. This is a responsibility that cannot be taken lightly and is not alienated by the vow of obedience: "By professing obedience, we commit ourselves to seek and accept the will of God in the life and mission of the Society... It is in communion with our brothers that we seek to discover the will of God. We bind ourselves to live and act always within that communion and to practice obedience in mutual charity. We bring into community whatever gifts nature and grace have given us, and put them at the service of Christ and the People of God" (CS 39-40; cf. 134).

3.4. Leadership in the Missionary Community
The superior of the community is entrusted with the promotion of dialogue and creative fidelity to the charism of the Society. He is also concerned at times to lead the discussion towards a decision, in which he has a vital part to play. Sometimes the final decision may have to be taken, according to the norms of the Constitutions, where there is no unanimity among the members of the community. The superior is the guarantor of communication and unity, and finally the guarantor of effective apostolic presence and action. He can call on the allegiance of all the members, who are always ready to engage in the mission of the Society. With the help of his council, he exercises a true role of leadership, which is especially vital today, challenging his brothers to fulfil their mission according to their commitments as set out in the Constitutions (cf. CS 107; 133; 146; 199) Authority and the structures of government are understood as a service to the community, necessary for the promotion of our charism and mission. Our Constitutions also stress the ideal of the highest level of participation in the government of the Congregation. They recognize the gifts and talents of the members and defend the principles of subsidiarity, co-responsibility, and accountability (CS 98-104).

3.5. Interior Life in the Missionary Community
We need to learn to pray together, to learn again the value of the shared Eucharist, in which Christ is received, to share the "hours" of prayer that were swept away in the last quarter-century, to discover again our charism, the gift of the Spirit that is ours, and develop this in forms of prayer and apostolate. We need to discover what it means to be a Missionary of the Sacred Heart within the religious community.

Maintaining a deep interior life and fanning into flame the vitality of the community and of the individual missionary are essential dimensions of our mission. We are Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus, called into a deep personal relationship of friendship and communion of life with Jesus Christ. Union with Jesus through faith, through prayer and through love for others: this is what drives and maintains us in our mission. This is well expressed in CS 14: "As Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, we must be convinced of the necessity of a deep interior life that is open to the Holy Spirit, so that we may grow in faith and knowledge of the mystery revealed in the Heart of Christ. This will give us the strength to remain faithful to the mission and spirit of the Society" (cf. also CS 137; 145).

Our Constitutions call for the integration of contemplation and apostolic activity. This corresponds to the teaching of our Founder, who in the Formula Instituti says: "They shall carry out the works of the active life in favour of their neighbour in such a way that they never neglect the exercises of the contemplative life, by which the minister of God keeps close to his Lord" (Daily Readings, Jan.20). That integration, the key to our vocation, is achieved through the daily process of prayerful reflection, whereby our memory, our understanding, our entire life and involvement with people in their struggles and joys are transformed through our communion with the Heart of Jesus. Little by little, we have that mind in us which was also in Christ Jesus and we "put on" his dispositions in our community life and mission, living out of love. It is a wonderful ideal, but it calls for a fundamentally simple approach to the Lord in faith and love, a living spirituality of the heart.

The integration of contemplation and action is realized in a special way through our celebration of the Eucharist, the paschal sacrament, the banquet which brings us communion with Jesus in his life and passion, in the opening of his side, from which blood and water flowed out, in his death and resurrection. The Eucharist brings together our daily life and self-offering with the self-offering of Jesus in thanksgiving and loving obedience to God. It is the focal point of a spirituality of the heart, the focal point of our community lives: "In and through the Eucharist, God renews his covenant with us and we renew the gift of ourselves to him. Faithful to our tradition, we acknowledge that this sacrament is central to our life of faith. It is the source of fraternal love and of apostolic life" (CS 17). This communion can be deepened in the practice of Lectio Divina, the sharing together of what the word of God is saying to the community. It can be deepened through praying together and celebrating many other occasions of community, feast days, birthdays and the like.

3.6. Sharing in the Missionary Community
We want to share the mission together, to talk to one another about our objectives, to free ourselves from the mentality of the Ius Commissionis, which made us responsible for a huge territory (prefecture apostolic, vicariate apostolic, diocese). We want to define our objectives as a Province and as a particular community, to talk about our projects, how to follow up and build on what has been achieved.

The analogy of family is often used of the religious community. We belong to one another, we belong to the community, in a manner that goes deeper than what unites other social bodies. This sense of belonging is strengthened through many experiences of joys and sufferings borne in the process of each one's engagement with the community, in fidelity to the mission entrusted to us. Because of this sense of belonging, one does not easily abandon the community and its mission in times of trial and temptation. Because of it, one is interested not only in the welfare of one's local community, but also in that of the entire Province and of the entire Society.

The mission begins at home (cf. CS 32; 56; 118)! If we are to proclaim justice to the nations, we must practice justice in our communities. Our first witness to love is our love for one another as brothers, beyond the dividing frontiers of race, language, social class, or ministerial training. Otherwise our mission is a farce! We proclaim high ideals, but do not practice them! In this there is for us today a great challenge, in an age of privatization, exclusion, racial prejudice, exaggerated nationalism, incapacity to love. It is in the religious community that people can grow to their full stature as men and women animated by a sense of justice, dedicated to the cause of justice and peace in the world, animated by love in all their relationships. "In religious life, mission is essentially corporate. It is not primarily a matter of personal preference. Community is not only a base from which we go out on our personal mission; there is an essential community dimension to the mission itself. One, but not the only, aspect of this is the fact of being sent by the community and by its legitimate authorities" (Murphy, p.6-7). Community, as a kind of sacrament, must make present the good things we talk about in our message of evangelization. Our Constitutions do not pull back from the challenge they put before us: "The same vocation and the same mission gather us in community... We are all brothers, given to one another to live and work together for the sake of the kingdom, where justice and love will unite all people. Therefore fraternal charity will be of basic importance in community life" (CS 28.31). "Conscious of its responsibility for its life and work, the community will meet regularly to discuss community life and mission. In order to enrich fraternal communion and provide enlightenment and encouragement, each member will gladly share his apostolic experiences with his brothers" (CS 126). "To live and work together for the sake of the kingdom" must normally mean what it says, living and working together in small communities. It remains true that the exception proves the rule and there will always be some individuals for whom living on their own will be judged to be the better option. But the exception must not become so common as to make nonsense of what we are about in the Church. Again, in today's world, there will be many people involved in individual apostolates, for which they are especially gifted and trained. This does not prevent them from living together with others in community, indeed it offers the possibility for a rich sharing of different apostolic experiences in the community.

Community life presents great difficulties, mostly because of the imperfection of its members! These difficulties constitute a challenge, an opportunity to grow in the qualities of human relationships, to reach out to others in an effort of understanding and acceptance of them in their differences, to forgive and be forgiven, to open oneself up to an ever "greater love", modelled and inspired on that of Jesus Christ. The apostolic religious community presents itself as an opportunity to live the radicality of the Christian vocation to love, something possible only in community. It is in community that we learn the meaning of our vows as a radical form of love and service. This is the first mission!

"True community does not come about all at once. It grows by Godâs grace and the constant effort of each member. It needs to be built up each day into a community of faith and love, by prayer and the Eucharist, by listening to and sharing the Word of God. At the same time, it needs to be built up as a human community, knit together by fraternal relationships, where each member brings his talents and knows that he is recognized, accepted, heard, encouraged and challenged" (CS 33). "The community will strive to create an atmosphere in which each member can give himself more generously to the Lord in celibate love, for the building up of his Kingdom both within the community and among the people he serves. Community life, commitment to mission and a healthy asceticism will help us to live celibacy fruitfully and honestly" (CS 45).

The language of Fraternal Life in Community may seem at times to be a bit patronizing, advice coming from somebody who knows best! But when it says that "to be fully a religious, it is not sufficient to take part in a few meetings or celebrations" (see above 1.2.f), it is surely saying something that is clearly affirmed in our own Constitutions. We belong to a missionary community and our mission is all the richer for our living in community. In community, the individuals complement one another through their gifts, support one another in their weaknesses, challenge one another in their failings. In the community each member has better opportunities to prepare himself for a more fruitful mission and to maintain a healthy balance between the essential elements of his life (cf. CS 41; 120).

4. Conclusion:
Our understanding of the missionary community is enriched through a reflection on the charism of our Founder and through a reflection on the renewed ecclesiology ushered in by the second Vatican Council. The source of the mission is found in the contemplation of the Heart pierced and transformed by love for the world. It is Christ who unites us in a community, the source of inspiration of which comes from His love and the unity of which is given radical form in the vows of our religious profession. By our vocation, we share as a community in the mission of Christ, a mission that is continued in the Church in a wide variety of gifts of the Holy Spirit. We are incorporated into the local churches throughout the world in order to enrich them with our special charism, which is made visible in our community life. There is no mission that is not mediated through the Church and through particular basic communities, the religious community itself being one of these.

It is important that our Society return ever and again, in the course of initial and continuing formation, to the vitalizing sources of our mission, as found in the Scriptures, the founding charism, the Constitutions and the "signs" of the present times. Access to these sources has to be at a personal and community level. There are always new things to be discovered by us in this ongoing reflection on the sources of our mission and on its objectives in the world in which we live. One of these things, both ancient and new, is the ideal of the missionary community, which has a special witness to offer to our world today. We need to understand it more fully and live it more deeply, as a gift and as a challenge, as something that gives meaning to our lives as religious and as missionaries. It is a difficult reality and for that reason many religious shy away from it. But it is a reality that brings its own fulfilment, in life and mission, to those who respond to it with generosity. Bibliography Bertolini msc, Jean, Missio ad Gentes. Genesis of the Missionary Mandate of our Society (Rome 1987). Braun msc, Cornelius, "Called to be Missionary Communities", in: Acts of the General Chapter (Rome 1993). Cuskelly msc, E.J., Jules Chevalier. A Man with a Mission (Rome 1975). Larkin msc, Ronald, "MSC Religious Profession", in: Commentary on the Constitutions 3, p.3-28. Manhaeghe cicm, Eric, Mission dans la solidaritŽ en Afrique (Beernem 15-21 Juin 1997). Murphy msc, Dennis, Father Chevalier and the Mission ad Gentes (Rome 1997). Ross, Andrew C., A Vision Betrayed. The Jesuits in Japan and China 1542-1742 (Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York 10545, 1994). Schreurs msc, P.G.H., Return to Xavier's Islands. The Restoration of the Catholic Mission in the Moluccas, 1886-1960 (Manuscript 1996). Union of Superiors General, Consecrated Life Today. Charisms in the Church for the World. International Congress, Rome, 22-27 November 1993 (St Pauls1994). VergŽs msc, Xavier, Mitsinari. La biograf’a de Mons. Enrique Verius (Misioneros del Sagrado Coraz—n, Avenida P’o XII, 31, 23016 Madrid, 1991). Rome, Via Asmara, 22 October 1998 M. Curran, msc Superior General