Reconfiguration and the New Evangelization

XV CLAPVI Assembly: Concerns and Expectations
Medellin, October 20-15, 2014

by: Eli Chaves dos Santos, CM

May this Assembly be a fruitful time during which we are able to share our Vincentian ministry and deepen the bonds of friendship! May this Assembly strengthen us as a Conference, help us to seek on-going growth as Missionaries and develop greater interprovincial collaboration!

In light of my participation in the General Council, I understand that this Assembly takes places at a time when our reflection and our search for the missionary development of the Congregation is illuminated, or ought to be illuminated, by two significant themes: reconfiguration and the new evangelization. These two themes place us in a position that is in continuity with the General Assembly 2010 and at the same time enables us to engage in the process of preparing for the General Assembly 2016. These two themes also place us in the midst of a situation that is filled with challenges and new possibilities, a fundamental reality that should guide our journey as Vincentians … that should guide us now and in the coming years.

The 2010 General Assembly stated that reconfiguration is a creative response when it directs personnel and resources for more effective mission and charity thus deepening our sense of “intra”-provincial and “inter”-provincial reconfiguration. Reconfiguration is a path that enables us to concretize our creative fidelity and it is also an all-encompassing process of conversion and change that enables us to revitalize and renew every dimension and level of the life and the mission of the Congregation. Reconfiguration is an on-going and transforming interaction between the Vincentian ideal and the present challenges … an interaction that is intended to translate our charism into attitudes, ministries and structures that enable us to respond to the present day reality.

In this sense reconfiguration has a profound relationship to the proposal with regard to the New Evangelization. Pope Francis, especially in his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, describes the present social-cultural situation, the innovative dynamics and the pastoral challenges and he calls us to be a Church that reaches out to others, thus embracing a mission that becomes a paradigm for all of the Church’s activity. The Pope invites us to seek for new ways to evangelize in a joyful manner and to do so through an encounter with the Word and the present reality. The Church is called to be a poor church that serves the poor, a church that is characterized by mercy and that is present in the streets of the city and that interacts with those living on the peripheries … a church that is also characterized by communion and participation and that promotes a process of integral evangelization.

The horizon of reconfiguration and the new evangelization has been more or less present in the reflections and the initiatives that in recent years have been developed by CLAPVI, by the provinces and vice-provinces and regions of this area. Are we satisfied with the results of those efforts or are these efforts still insufficient, slow and hesitant? Do we still have to confront other difficulties? What can we do to intensify the process? We are convinced that we can always move forward along this path which demands much clarity and courage in order to discern and define the path that should be followed. As we journey along this path of innovative dynamics and difficult changes, I want to highlight some concerns and expectations that I believe are important to confront in our efforts to revitalize the Congregation in Latin America and the Caribbean.

• In our midst there are many confreres who experience a state of instability in their spiritual life and in their assimilation of the charism … that same instability often defines their sense of belonging and their perseverance. In theory no one denies the beauty and the relevance of our charism. The problem arises, however, when the charism and our spirituality are not reflected in our lifestyle or our ministries or structures or practices, when they do not provide us with a foundation that grounds our perseverance and our sense of belonging. There are many situations in which our assimilation and our identification with the charism lacks depth and consistency, for example, our lifestyle and our ministry is often inconsistent, characterized by individualism and subjectivism; we experience many difficulties in living together and ministering together; many confreres experience serious personal, affective and vocational problems and have little human and spiritual resilience and this in turn has serious implications for the mission. The confreres have a fragile sense of belonging (on the level of the worldwide Congregation 52% of the confreres who are living outside the community [legitimately or illegitimately] belong to the provinces, vice-provinces and regions of CLAPVI). We recognize, as Pope Francis states, that there is among us a heightened individualism, a crisis of identity and a cooling of fervor. The challenge is to look for the necessary changes and the means to help the Missionaries grow in their identification with Christ, evangelizer of the poor … an identification that must be grounded on solid human maturity, on an authentic quality of life that is in accord with the gospel and on a profound missionary passion for the poor.

• Most of our provinces, vice-provinces and regions live in the midst of a very fragile and precarious situation with regard to personnel and structures. In many provinces, vice-provinces and regions there is a decrease in numbers and a high median age; many ministries and provincial structures confront serious difficulties and limitations; we need to rethink and reorganize our presence in Latin America and the Caribbean. Some provinces, vice-provinces and regions are in a situation where the number of available confreres is very limited and some provinces are not open to interprovincial collaboration or international collaboration and therefore, effective solidarity is lacking. With regard to reconfiguration there is an attitude of mistrust, fear and indifference. These realties, then, invite us to engage in open dialogue, to overcome our fears and resistance and indecision, to accept reconfiguration with greater intensity and courage and to promote actions and projects that change this reality and that generate a missionary vitality. Otherwise provinces and important ministries will become asphyxiated and die as a result of anemia. Enclosing ourselves in precarious and/or outdated practices and structures will convert our initiatives and efforts into the plans of defeated generals. The Pope tells us that we cannot leave things as they presently are. Therefore, let us be realists, but without losing our joy, our boldness, and our hope-filled commitment.

• There is a concern and a dissatisfaction with the Vincentian quality of our missionary activity. Many missionaries ask: are our provinces, vice-provinces and regions identified by the people and the bishops and the clergy as being truly missionary? Are they committed to the mission and the formation of the clergy and the laity? Our pastoral activity seems to be very restricted and limited to “provincial boundaries”, to maintaining the status quo, to parish ministry that is focused on very diverse, conventional and unsatisfying activities, especially when viewed in light of the actual cries of the many men and women who are poor. Within the context of a Church that is more and more aware of its missionary vocation, we ought to be tireless in our efforts to extend the outreach of our mission, revising our pastoral ministries and methods and plans and structures. The Pope warns us: Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of missionary vigor! A decisive option for the mission within the context of a true Vincentian spirit of creativity and interprovincial collaboration is fundamental for our missionary revitalization.

The realities of reconfiguration and the new evangelization invite us to deepen our Vincentian foundational roots and places us before the theme of our next General Assembly: The Congregation of the Mission: four hundred years of fidelity to its charism and the new evangelization. We need to exert greater effort in order to clothe ourselves in new attitudes and practices that enable us to live our Vincentian vocation in a consistent and convincing manner and in order to recreate our structures and institutions. May this Assembly help CLAPVI to strengthen itself as a structure of reflection and an instrument of encouragement for our provinces as they confront the process of reconfiguration within the context of the new evangelization! A Church which goes forth in a state of missionary conversion! May our provinces, vice-provinces and regions define themselves in a more explicit and effective manner and do so within the societal and ecclesial context of Latin America and the Caribbean! Indeed, may we define ourselves as prophetic instruments of missionary service on behalf of the poor! Let us minister together to build up in Latin America and the Caribbean a Congregation reconfigured by the vitality of its vocation … a Congregation that reproduces the boldness, the creativity and the holiness of Vincent de Paul.

Translated: Charles T. Plock, CM