by Adorable Castillo, cicm 
Vicar General  

This prayer of the late Bishop Desmond Tutu that figured in the Acts of the 15th General Chapter is intended to inspire CICM confreres to continue dreaming and hoping for a mission that is pioneering, daring, and creative. Our Constitutions say that the General Chapter is held regularly “to renew the apostolic thrust of the Institute and encourage its members to be faithful to their religious missionary vocation” (Art. 110). Allow me to contribute my two cents’ worth to this ongoing reflection as we prepare the 16th General Chapter and renew our commitment to the worldwide mission of the Church.

Authentic missionary renewal presupposes a conversion, both personal and communal. As in the case of prominent biblical characters, conversion happens in many different ways, at times bizarrely, concomitant with unexpected happenings.

Jonah was called by Yahweh to preach conversion to the Ninevites, but he continuously refused and deliberately ran away. Shipwrecked and thrown into the sea, he was eventually swallowed by a whale and made a reluctant missionary inside its belly.

The frustrated, exhausted and fear-stricken Elijah was fed by ravens and a widow. And in the mountain of Horeb, the Lord appeared to him not in the strong winds, not in the earthquake, not in the fire, but in a sound of sheer silence.

Simon, the seasoned fisherman from Capharnaum, was awed by a miraculous catch and became a disciple of Jesus. And later, the proverbial cock crow reminded him (also known as “Peter the denier”) of his great sin but also of God’s great mercy.

Saul of Tarsus was a zealous Pharisee, a fanatic defender of the Torah, and an avowed persecutor of Christians. Along the way to Damascus, he suddenly fell down and a flash of light struck him blind. It was indeed a conversion experience to reckon with for it changed the course of Christianity’s history.

Bizarre happenings coupled with natural and cosmic occurrences such as flashes of lightning, miraculous catch, cock’s crow, and turbulent storms are occasions of disturbance, dissonance, and rupture that play a crucial role in any conversion experience. May this prayer lead us to conversion.

Disturb us, O Lord,

when we are too pleased with ourselves,

when our dreams have come true

because we have dreamed too little,

when we arrived safely

because we sailed too close to the shore.

At a recent occasion of the profession of perpetual vows, I addressed this message to the confreres concerned: “Does this perpetual profession mean having the inviolable rights and privileges enjoyed by all perpetually professed members of CICM? Does it mean perpetual “entitlement”? Not at all. Rather, it means perpetual service to the people of God and long-lasting commitment to the mission entrusted to us by the Lord.” Are we too pleased with ourselves when we have finally made it to the final vows and been ordained to the orders of deacon and presbyter? Have our dreams come true when we finally enjoy the inviolable rights and privileges of a perpetually professed CICM and acquired the honor and dignity of an ordained minister? Have we arrived safely, “sailing too close to the shore,” when we prefer to dwell only in our comfortable and familiar surroundings?

In Evangelii Gaudium (#20), Pope Francis exhorts us “to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the ‘peripheries’ in need of the light of the Gospel.” Our comfort zone is not just our familiar and cozy environment. It also includes being stuck with non-updated theologies, outdated missionary methods, and old “habits of the heart.”¹  We are challenged “to move from maintenance mode to a new missionary paradigm.”²  With meager resources at his disposal, Théophile Verbist dreamt “big”. He dreamt about a mission in China. He died after only 27 months in one of the most difficult missions in the hinterlands of China, without seeing the fruits of his labor. After 160 years of our existence as a missionary congregation, let us do a reality check. Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical Redemptoris Missio (#33), identifies 3 missionary situations: (1) where the Gospel is not yet known, (2) young churches that need pastoral care, and (3) “post-Christian situation,” particularly in Europe. Needless to say, more than 80 percent of our active missionary personnel are located in situation no. 2. While we do pastoral work in many local churches in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, we are barely present in situations no. 1 and no. 3. Today, the clear and present challenge for our Congregation is to move from situation no. 2 to situations no. 1 and no. 3.

Disturb us, O Lord,

when with the abundance of things we possess,

we have lost our thirst for the waters of life.

We have ceased to dream of eternity

and in our efforts to build a new earth,

we have allowed vision of the new Heaven to grow dim.

According to a recent issue of Forbes magazine, “a record number of billionaires, about one new one every 17 hours, have been created during the Covid-19 pandemic.”³  Billionaires are created in good and bad times. While 6 million people have already died and still many more millions have been suffering since the outbreak of Covid-19, particularly in many developing countries, billionaires are actually doing well during the pandemic. Our own investment portfolio has registered record high returns. “It was indeed a fantastic year.” This positive result will more or less assure us sustenance for ourselves and for our mission work for the next few years to come. While we rejoice and congratulate our investment managers for a job well done, shouldn’t we think more of sharing our resources generously and working closely with those who have been severely affected by this present pandemic?

One of the great lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic is the “globalization of solidarity”. We may not be “infected but we are all affected”. We found ourselves belonging to one species called Homo sapiens. As Homo sapiens, we are the most successful among the primate species because of our brain. However, we are also the most dangerous because as a species we are capable of murder, and even much worse, of planning genocide.⁴ Likewise, we are capable of destroying our own natural environment. Our intelligence turns out to be “our weakness.” It is the source of violence, manipulation, and self-destruction. Conversely, as a species we survive more successfully than the dinosaurs, not because of our “bigger brain” but because of our bigger “heart”. Matthew Fox⁵ once argued that the “original blessing” is “more original” than “original sin.” Human beings are “blessed” from the very beginning, because contrary to the tenet: “the survival of the fittest,”⁶ we are endowed with a “bigger heart” to care for the weakest and the most vulnerable. That is what the Bible (and the Qur’an, for that matter) teaches–to love one’s neighbor. Human beings are capable of self-giving and self-sacrifice. That is the kind of morality that allowed the fledgling community of the disciples of Jesus to survive and flourish as a community of believers amidst the domination of pagan Rome.

Two thousand years ago, Christianity was a tiny, insignificant Jewish sect on the fringes of the Roman empire. Several waves of epidemic were recorded during the heyday of the Roman empire. Thousands, possibly even millions, died of unknown infectious diseases. According to sociologist Rodney Stark⁷, many Christians also died but a considerable number survived during the epidemic. While many ran away and went to a safer haven, the Christians remained in the city, took care of the sick and buried the dead, and showed much compassion and solidarity to survivors. To say the least, survival is the by-product of the Christian values of self-sacrifice and self-negation. A good number of Christians who took care of the sick acquired a certain immunity from the disease and eventually survived. In hindsight, we can conclude that Christians survived not because they were strong, healthy, and fit; but because they cared for one another.

In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, we should be “disturbed” by both the “fantastic result” of our “gains” and the “enormous loss” of lives and economic opportunities of millions of human beings worldwide. Our missionary Institute began when the Founder embarked to found a “new Heaven and a new Earth” in the far-flung mission in China despite financial constraints and meager resources. Let us be reminded of a passage in the Acts of the 15th General Chapter:

What they lacked in financial resources, they made up for with their faith and enthusiasm. Verbist, in his letter of October 20, 1867, wrote that: “our spiritual resources must exceed by far our physical ones.” The example of Verbist and the first missionaries in China reminds us that it is precisely when we are weak, small, with limited resources that we all witness to God’s power when we do mission.⁸

The 15th General Chapter explicitly states that “the loss of pioneering spirit is a major obstacle to start something new.”⁹ Taking a cue from André De Bleeker, it is not too late to recapture our pioneering spirit:

What we need now is for CICMs to undertake what few are willing to do-to be pioneers. Pioneers abandon the status quo and create a “new normal”. Pioneers have a fire in their hearts that drives them to share the Good News in challenging and difficult situations... Our memory replays our past, but our imagination pre-plays our future. Our pioneers have energized the imaginations of thousands of confreres. May our imaginations inspire confreres to undertake pioneering work once more in this century.¹⁰

Let the memories of CICM pioneers “replay” our past. After the Founder and four companions ventured into Inner Mongolia, four confreres led by Albert Gueluy left for the mission of the Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo [DRC]) in 1888. They covered huge distances using the available means of transport through treacherous rivers, thick forests, and inhospitable terrain to preach the Gospel to the indigenous people of Central Africa. Nine CICM confreres led by Peter Dierickx landed in the Philippines in 1907 and opted to go to a vast territory in the mountainous region of Northern Luzon to preach the Gospel to the non-evangelized tribes of the Cordilleras. A good number of Dutch CICM pioneered missionary work among the Torajas in Indonesia. Jerry Galloway dedicated his whole life and his medical expertise to serving the indigenous people in the forests of Mai Ndombe, DRC. For a good number of years, CICM confreres have worked closely with the marginalized people in the United States such as the Afro-Americans, the First Americans, and Hispanic migrants. The confreres in Brazil ventured into the territories of the indigenous people in the Amazon region. In 1992, three CICM missionaries founded the Catholic mission in the vast territory of Mongolia from scratch. In Guatemala, confreres have been engaged in the missionary apostolate among the native population in Cobán and elsewhere. In Belgium, a CICM multicultural community has been doing missionary apostolate in an urban area of Deurne, Antwerp. The district of Indonesia has recently started a pastoral ministry among the indigenous people in Kalimantan. The present General Government unanimously decided to start a new missionary venture in Malawi. The first four CICM missionaries arrived there in the last quarter of 2020.

Let our imagination “pre-play” our future. Are we ready to take up the cudgels for the sake of the Batwas and other indigenous tribes in DRC? Are we prepared to work among the Dumagats of Sierra Madre, the Aetas of Central Luzon, or the Lumads in Mindanao? Are we daring enough to accept the challenge of the Prelate of Marawi (in RP) to once again involve ourselves in Muslim-Christian dialogue? Are we willing to “pitch our tent” among the secularized people in Europe? Are we bold enough to again respond to the call of Pope Francis to go to the peripheries of the Amazon in South America? Are we capable of putting into good use the new information technologies and social media for evangelization? Are we present in the new Areopagus¹¹, the cultural spaces in the post-Christian and post-secularized world that need to be permeated by the Gospel?

Perhaps, the disturbance, the rupture, and the dissonance that are made manifest in our day-to-day existence may lead us to conversion. May the Spirit of the Lord guide us in our efforts to become faithful witnesses of the Gospel in the changing world.

______________

  1 The phrase “habits of the heart”, popularized by Robert Bellah, is borrowed from Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. It simply means the sum of ideas, opinions, and notions that shape our mental habits.

  2 Acts of the 15th General Chapter, p. 14.

  3 “The magazine’s 35th annual list of the world’s wealthiest hit an unprecedented 2,755 billionaires, 660 more than a year ago, worth a total of US$13.1 trillion, up from US$8 trillion on the 2020 list. Another 63 women became billionaires, totaling 328. As a group, the women on the list are worth US$1.5 trillion, a nearly 60 percent increase over the past year.” ( www.dw.com › en › forbes-a-new-billionaire-every-17hours.)

  4 See Jared Diamond, The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee (Sta. Fe, NM: Radius, 1991).

  5 See Matthew Fox, The Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality (Santa Fe, NM: Bear, 1983).

  6 It was originally coined by Herbert Spencer in 1864 after reading Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species.

  7 See Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries (San Francisco, CA: Harper, 1997).

  8 Acts of the 15th General Chapter, p. 33.

  9 Ibid., p. 13.

10 “Pioneering Spirit in CICM: Brief History and Future Perspective,” unpublished paper delivered on November 6, 2018, in the meeting of the General Committee on Mission, p. 7.

11 See Redemptoris Missio, no. 37.

by Charles Phukuta, cicm 
Superior General  

The Convocation of the General Chapter

A few months ago, I sent a letter to all confreres introducing the theme and the process to prepare our coming 16th General Chapter. This General Chapter will be held in Rome, Italy, at the Centro Ad Gentes from June 4 to 30, 2023. In this month of February, the letter convoking the 16th General Chapter was sent out to all the Major Superiors of the Congregation. However, the preparation and the celebration of the Chapter is not a concern for them alone. We are all urged to be involved and to contribute to its success. But what is a General Chapter? Why is it so important? How is it connected to the whole Church, and what does it have to do with you? 

The Practice of Holding General Chapters in Religious Congregations

Holding general chapters in religious congregations is a long-standing and originally monastic practice. It can be traced back to the sixth century when St Benedict gathered the monks in his monastery each week to read and consider a chapter of the Benedictine Rule. Benedict held to the importance of each monk’s opinion being heard. The room where they met became known as the chapter room, and the gatherings themselves were called chapters. As the number of Benedictine monasteries increased, it became customary for representatives of the different monasteries to meet together for similar reading and discussion. By the early 13th century, church authorities declared that gathering representatives to review their lives was mandatory for all religious congregations.

In later centuries, attendance at general chapters became limited to those holding leadership positions, and it was only after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) that the style and outcome of general chapters changed significantly. In recent times, it is customary for all the members of a congregation to be involved in the preparation stages of the chapter. They have the right to send wishes and suggestions for consideration by the chapter. As one friend told me, a general chapter is like a big family meeting or a papal conclave without the white smoke. It consists of a series of meetings where representatives of a whole religious community discuss the central aspects of their way of life and make important decisions. 

The General Chapter in Our Constitutions

Article 110 of our Constitutions states: “The General Chapter seeks to renew the apostolic thrust of the Institute and to encourage its members to be faithful to their religious missionary vocation.” Our present life and mission should be animated by the power of the Holy Spirit; animated by the same ardor with which our predecessors let themselves be imbued by the original inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Without this missionary ardor and capacity for renewal, the Congregation would be unfaithful to its mission.

Accordingly, on the occasion of our 16th General Chapter, we are urged to reawaken our specific charism and take up our path with courage.1 Our Constitutions specify the framework to arrive at this goal. The General Chapter evaluates the state of the Institute. It makes an effort to recognize the missionary needs of the world (see). Considering the state of the Congregation, the Chapter makes an effort to recognize the missionary needs of the world and the concrete demands these needs impose on the Institute (judge). The General Chapter will also have the task of formulating proper guidelines and making the necessary decisions (act) based on the outcome of our discernment process.²

Thus, the whole Congregation confronts itself with the Word of God and the demands of the Gospel, our missionary goal and the challenges of the world, the expectations of the people of our time, and the aspirations of our confreres. Two attitudes are crucial in this process: availability and collaboration to bring to fruition the promptings and the projects of the Spirit.

Many of us could easily be tempted to say, “the Chapter is not my problem; it’s the concern of the Provincials and the delegates.”  However, the preparation and the success of the Chapter are not a matter for them alone. Each confrere is to be involved and to contribute to its success. The participation of all the confreres in the preparation makes the Chapter representative of the entire membership of the Congregation (Const., Art. 109).

Our Constitutions and other documents describe who we are, our mission, and how to fulfill it. However, our lived experience is not always in harmony with the ideals of our documents. Therefore, the General Chapter does not have to spend itself on analyzing our CICM vision. It must question itself based on the facts of our lived experience. In addition to essential topics such as Initial Formation, Finances, and Religious Leadership, we sent you three memos focused on some situations that merit particular attention: Spirituality and Mission, Reconciliation as a Gift from God and a Missionary Task, and Interculturality as Witnessing. Our reflection on those situations led the participants to the special meeting of the General Government to choose the theme of Witnessing to the Gospel in a Changing World for our 16th General Chapter.

The 16th General Chapter as a Spiritual Event

As I said at the beginning of this reflection and in my convocation letter, the 16th General Chapter is a spiritual event. Therefore, the first action to be activated is that of prayer: gathered around Mary, in prayer, attentive to the voice of the Spirit (Acts 1:12-14; 2:1-4). Let us allow ourselves to be inspired by the attitude of our Patroness, the Blessed Virgin Mary: trust, fraternal solidarity, and an open mind will help us attain the goal of the General Chapter: “to renew the apostolic thrust of the Institute and to encourage its members to be faithful to their religious missionary vocation” (Const., Art. 110).

The 16th General Chapter is for us a time of rekindling the fire of the original CICM charism and sincere search for God’s will for the future of our CICM mission. So, in our preparation, we should reflect honestly on how we are living out aspects of our charism, as well as our CICM spirituality and mission; how we make known God’s merciful love to our brothers and sisters to whom we are sent. In other words, the General Chapter is a time to ask ourselves: what does God ask of us CICM at this moment in the Church? What do God’s people ask of us, CICM, today? Who are the poor today? What does evangelization mean in the Church today?

As we prepare for the General Chapter, may we continue to witness to the Gospel by the integrity of our faith and the holiness of our life. As we seek the mind and heart of God, we humbly pray, through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, that our Chapter may be a profound work of the Holy Spirit and be life-changing for each one of us. 

_________________

1 Redemptoris Missio, # 66

2 CICM, Constitutions. General Directory, Roma, 1988, Art. 110.

by Silvester ASA, cicm 
General Councilor  

“Moral Imagination” has been employed in the worlds of peacebuilding and community organizing since 2005. John-Paul Lederach, a world-renowned authority on peacebuilding, defines moral imagination as the “capacity to imagine something rooted in the challenges of the real world yet capable of giving birth to that which does not yet exist.”¹ According to Lederach, an innate ability to weave a web of inclusive relationships is critical to realizing peace in a peaceful realm.²  He furthermore contends that moral imagination reveals itself in boldness and creative fidelity, which contribute significantly to the success of the peacebuilding and change processes.³  Moral imagination is also an artistry of networking and collaboration combined with optimism, patience, courage, creative fidelity, and risk-taking. Surprisingly, as an artistry, moral imagination permits serendipity to play a key part.⁴

Moral imagination is essential in establishing and maintaining peace. But, in our quest for more constructive community living, I believe we may benefit from Lederach’s marvelous work and appropriate moral imagination. One might reasonably wonder how this relates to CICM community life. To answer this topic, I propose that we look at the terms internationality and multiculturality, which have been commonly used in our everyday language for decades. The fact that we came from many nationalities and cultural groupings demonstrates that we are international and multicultural. This is stated explicitly in Article 1 of the CICM Constitutions, which states that “the Congregation is an international religious missionary Institute.” In 2010, the CICM General Government (GG) published a document titled “Guidelines for Multicultural Living in CICM,” which it hoped would become “a tool that will help all the confreres (to) live better this gift of multicultural character in our dear Congregation.”⁵  Furthermore, the 15th CICM General Chapter referred to “our universal and multicultural brotherhood” as an efficient way of vocation animation.⁶  In addition, while assigning formators to Initial Formation Communities, the current GG takes into account internationality and multiculturality. 

Internationality and multiculturality have undoubtedly become a part of our everyday life. However, the same may be true of every other place on earth. When you enter an airport like Chicago’s O’Hare, you are surrounded by international and multicultural people. Indeed, we cannot rule out the prospect of an intimate encounter taking place in such a public setting. However, without wishing to pass judgment on anyone, we might estimate that contact among people in such a space is likely to be superficial. For example, you can have a cup of cappuccino at a Starbucks at O’Hare International Airport without having to consider if the coffee beans are fair trade. The love symbol, on the other hand, is prominently visible on the surface of your cappuccino. You also do not have time to wonder if the person pouring you such a rich coffee is a Lakota or a Latin American, European, or Asian immigrant who happens to live on Chicago’s South Side, or “a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother.”⁷

But, if you do ask yourself these questions about the social location of the individuals you meet and they lead you to a whole new way of understanding reality and inspire you to behave with empathy and compassion, you may have just crossed the threshold of interculturality owing to your moral imagination. One may be living in an international and multicultural environment where everyone is striving for peaceful coexistence and conflict avoidance at all costs. Internationality and multiculturality are, after all, realities that may be taken for granted. However, in an ideal-typical intercultural setting, everyone strives to “enter a mutually enriching and challenging relationship of understanding, acceptance, and care–to the point of sharing worlds of meaning in the deepest sense–with a person of a culture different from one’s own.”⁸  Therefore, we would leave our comfort zones in intercultural living to celebrate our diversity and uniqueness and be challenged and enriched by our encounters with holy different others.

“But, if you do ask yourself these questions
about the social location of the individuals you meet
and they lead you to a whole new way
of understanding reality and inspire you
to behave with empathy and compassion,
you may have just crossed the threshold
of interculturality owing to your moral imagination.”

The story of Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24,13-35 exemplifies moral imagination in its purest form. The two despondent disciples could have just ignored the apparently curious stranger and returned to their mundane lives. However, they opted to engage fully with the stranger and let moral imagination take its course. Because of their providential encounter with a stranger on the way, Cleopas and his companion finally understood everything correctly. Whatever the case may be, the truth is undeniably apparent. Our meeting with a stranger, as well as our readiness to use our moral imagination, can help us (re) discover our true calling and deepen our relationship with the risen Lord. The outcome of such an encounter is what is so unique about it. Cleopas and his companion were re-energized by their encounter with the Stranger, who turned out to be none other than the risen Lord, and they rushed back to Jerusalem exuberantly to tell others about it.

CIFA receives the visit of two General Councilors in November 2021 (Cameroon)

Like Cleopas and his companion before their encounter with the resurrected Lord, some of us may get tired of hearing about internationality and multiculturality. But I believe many more are like Cleopas and his companion after their encounter with the risen Lord. Many of us continue to be grateful for our Congregation’s international and multicultural nature despite our flaws. This is only the beginning of the intercultural journey. The open-ended invitation remains for us to let our moral imagination flow freely and let our encounters, with the holy different others, challenge and enrich us mutually. When this time comes, I hope you have just finished your coffee at O’Hare and left a hefty tip for the person who served you. For Christmas pasalubong to your community, don’t forget a pack of andouillette or a bottle of Johnny Walker of any label. Rejoice, for when you get home, your choice of mosselen-friet or Argentinian beef served with Moutarde de Dijon or couscous and okra, complete with bangus and piri-piri sambal, will be waiting for you. 

--------------------------------------

1 John Paul Lederach, The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace (Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 29.

2  I am appropriating Eric Law’s terminology, ‘Peaceful Realm.’ Eric H.F. Law, The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb: A Spirituality for Leadership in a Multicultural Community (St. Louis: Missouri, Chalice Press, 1993), p.3.

3 Lederach, The Moral Imagination, p. 5.

4 Lederach, The Moral Imagination, p. 19.

5 CICM, Guidelines for Multicultural Living in CICM (Roma, 2010), p. 3.

6 CICM, Acts of the 15th General Chapter (Roma, 2017), p. 5.

7 Amanda Gorman, “The Hill We Climb,” Amanda Gorman’s inauguration poem, ’The Hill We Climb’ – Harvard Gazette

8  Stephen B. Bevans and Roger P. Schroeder, SVD., Prophetic Dialogue: Reflections on Christian Mission Today (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2011), p. 72.

by Jean-Gracia ETIENNE, cicm 
General Councilor  

The title chosen for our reflection is in line with the preparation of our 16th General Chapter, which will be held in Rome in June 2023. “Witnessing to the Gospel in a Changing World” is the chosen theme for this Chapter. “Spirituality and Mission” was chosen as one of three themes to inspire our reflections in the following months at the extended General Government (GG) meeting in July 2021. As religious missionaries of the CICM, let us meditate on this theme together.

Who are we? What is our Common Mission in Today’s World? What are the Demands that this Mission Places on Each of Us?

According to the confreres who wrote the Commentary on Chapter I of the CICM Constitutions, this chapter describes the Congregation’s essential characteristics. In this chapter, the elements that define the identity of CICM are described: missionary and religious vocation, tasks, and spirituality. The data that identify the Congregation and situate it in the Church and the significant difficulties that its members encounter and seek to answer as CICM religious missionaries are provided in Articles 1 and 2 of our Constitutions that introduce this chapter. Finally, Article 2 of our Constitutions provides the choices that define the CICM Congregation and the essential attitudes that each member should embody throughout their lives. Thus this article is regarded as the Congregation’s missionary manifesto.¹ Is this, however, clear to all members of the Institute? Do they all live it in the same way?

Historical Tension between the two Dimensions of our Vocation: Missionary and Religious

In the course of the Institute’s history, some members have perceived themselves to be more missionary than religious in carrying out their mission. Some have openly affirmed this. Others have demonstrated this through their daily lifestyle. General Chapters and Superiors General have made efforts to encourage all members of the Institute to obey the rules of our Constitutions. We can recall what the 13th General Chapter said regarding this topic recently. In fact, after observing some members of the Institute failure to practice their religious missionary life, the Chapter stated:

We define ourselves as religious missionaries. Yet, for many of us, the missionary aspect of our life seems to prevail over its religious dimension. At best, there is a tension. If worst comes to worst, we tend to choose one over the other. Should we choose between the two? The Chapter states that it is not a matter of choice at all. We are missionaries and religious. Religious life with its obligations is our concrete way as CICM to collaborate in the Church’s mission. Missionary commitment and religious consecration are meant to enrich each other and not to oppose each other. Both should be integrated harmoniously on the level of the individual and the community.²

Therefore, the Institute’s members were encouraged by the 13th General Chapter to improve their religious lives in order to deepen their missionary spirituality.

Observation of the Extended GG Meeting as a Preparation for the 16th General Chapter of 2023

The GG organized a meeting in Nemi, Italy, from July 19 to 24, 2021, as part of the preparations for the Institute’s 16th General Chapter. As consultants, four more confreres attended the meeting. Participants in small groups discussed the Institute’s recent past (15-20 years), current realities, and dreams for the next 15-20 years at the start of the meeting. In addition, participants considered Initial and Ongoing Formation, Leadership, and Finances in their reflections. The purpose of these exercises was to identify significant changes and transformations in the CICM mission and to discern the orientations to be given to the next General Chapter to respond more efficiently to the challenges of the present and the future.

The participants identified some beneficial outcomes that the Congregation has been able to achieve in the last 20 years to better participate in Missio Dei, thanks to the orientations of the General Chapters, the publication of important documents, the restructuring, and the commitment of the Institute members in various fields of the mission among other things. The members of the Congregation generally do their best to accomplish their mission, either Ad extra or Ad intra. As a result, in their mission fields, concerns about members’ lack of missionary zeal are uncommon.  However, we must continue to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ with renewed vigor. For, as St. John Paul II emphasized: “Proclamation is the permanent priority of mission. The Church cannot elude Christ’s explicit mandate, nor deprive men and women of the ‘Good News’ about their being loved and saved by God.”³

However, while reflecting on what needs to be changed and what has been lacking in the everyday lives of Institute members, it was noted that there was a lack of intense spiritual life, faithfulness to religious vows, and reconciliation among the members, among other things. Following this observation, the participants in the extended GG meeting felt compelled to return to the fundamentals of religious life: fidelity to vows, prayer, contemplation, reconciliation, and community life. This observation, among other challenges, inspired the theme for the next General Chapter:

Witnessing to the Gospel in a Changing World. In this context, witness entails proclamation, lifestyle, and presence because, in many cases, this

is the only way to be a missionary.4  It is also in this perspective that His Holiness Pope Paul VI declared: “It is therefore primarily by her conduct and by her life that the Church will evangelize the world, in other words, by her living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus – the witness of poverty and detachment, of freedom in the face of the powers of this world, in short, the witness of sanctity.”⁵

Since we have chosen to talk about spirituality, it seems necessary to us to define it.

What does Christian Spirituality Mean in the Catholic Context?

We choose to believe that the proper feature of spirituality is its historical incarnation, which leads us to call or define it as a tangible and visible form that every Christian offers to the action that God in Christ performs in him through the Holy Spirit. Spirituality is thus more practical; it is concerned with the experience that the Christian expresses and embodies in the unique religious sociocultural context that defines a person’s daily home. Thus, spirituality can be defined as a historical way of understanding and living the Gospel message, according to the faith and life of the Church, or as a style of living the Gospel in a given situation.⁶

More broadly, it might be regarded as a reformulation and rearrangement of key aspects of Christian life in light of “today,” concrete realities in which we must live, and concrete services we are called to provide.⁷  Furthermore, spirituality refers to the various ways of living specific to the stage of life or the religious family in which one is called to perform the Sequela Christi; it also asks us to speak of the spirituality of individual people, owing to the idea of uniqueness.⁸

Some Elements of CICM Spirituality

We limit ourselves to recalling the approach of the 14th General Chapter of the Institute on this question. In fact, in attempting to assess the quality of the personal and community religious life of the members of the Institute, the 14th General Chapter inquired: “Has our religious missionary life improved over the past few years?” The Chapter Capitulants contemplated the theme of CICM missionary spirituality in order to respond to this question. This spirituality was described as the “lifestyle of a person who is committed to live as authentically as possible all the consequences of discipleship of Jesus and membership in CICM every moment of his life and in all his relationships.”⁹

Second, the Chapter explains that the CICM missionary spirituality includes five pillars, which are based on articles 1 and 2 of our Constitutions, namely

1. dedicated to the Incarnate Word under the title and patronage of the Immaculate Heart of Mary…

 2. Sent to the nations to announce the Good News…

 3. Through the consecrated life…

 4. By being men of prayer and…

 5. In a Fraternal Communion.¹⁰

Furthermore, the Chapter acknowledges and appreciates the efforts of each confrere to sustain an ongoing personal relationship with the Lord in their daily life. It also stressed the members of the Institute’s perception of their identity as religious missionaries and encouraged them to keep their vows.¹¹ This is a whole life program that each of the Congregation’s members is called to integrate into their daily lives.

Some New Elements that Were Added to these Five Pillars of CICM Missionary Spirituality by the 15th General Chapter

The 15th General Chapter sought to examine, among other things, the charism of the Institute with a renewed vision while allowing itself to be inspired and strengthened by the missionary works of our Founder and his first companions. Thus, the Capitulants decided that “rootedness in the missionary tradition of the Church and in the original charism of our Founder, a renewed audacity and evangelical creativity, and a daring and optimistic vision of the future – will determine our missionary presence in the years to come.”¹²  However, this Chapter recognized that many obstacles hinder the process of the Institute’s members realizing their missionary goals. Furthermore, it acknowledged that one of these impediments is an exaggerated concern for the Institute’s members’ survival, work, and activities.¹³

For this reason, the Chapter expressed its desire to foster a positive attitude among Institute members in the coming years, encouraging them to see themselves favorably and be proud and grateful to God for becoming CICM missionaries.

Putting Christian, Religious, and Congregational Spirituality into Practice

We would like to emphasize the need to daily put Christian spirituality at the service of the charism of our Institute and our mission by quoting canon 673 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law: “The apostolate of all religious consists primarily in the witness of their consecrated life, which they are bound to foster through prayer and penance.” We take note of the Supreme Legislator’s link between our apostolic actions and living witness. As previously stated, we must continue to seek out and help our brothers and sisters. Meanwhile, we engage in the Church’s apostolates, focusing on the witness of our lives, which are nourished by prayer and penance. The image of a journey of building illustrates the dynamic of growth in each of our spiritual lives as we work toward full self-realization. Growth takes on the meaning of work, fatigue, and constant exercise as a journey and a building, accomplished by each in radical devotion to his being a new creation in Christ.¹⁴

For greater effectiveness and sustainability of this ongoing struggle, we must help each other in this process because canon 602 of the 1983 Code tells us that the fraternal life proper to each Institute unites all the members into, as it were, a special family in Christ. It is to be so defined that for all it proves of mutual assistance to fulfill their vocation. The fraternal union of the members, rooted and based in charity, is to be an example of universal reconciliation in Christ.

Therefore, each of the community’s members will challenge the model of a society that does not provide justice to all of its members and prevents openness to God in the name of his or her religious and community vision. In this context, our religious superiors have a vital role in their communities to foster a conducive environment for each member’s religious, human, and social development.

Furthermore, without wishing to enumerate and examine the various qualities required for the exercise of leadership in this specific context, we believe it is important to recall the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life’s luminous words in its Instruction on the service of authority and obedience:

Persons called to exercise authority must know that they will be able to do so only if they first undertake the pilgrimage that leads to seeking the will of God with intensity and righteousness [...] Persons in authority must act in such a way that the brothers or the sisters can perceive that when they give a command, they are doing so only to obey God.¹⁵

In the end, the only way to develop trustworthy relationships within our religious communities under the guidance of a Superior who sincerely aspires to serve humbly is to be open to God, others, and the future.

Finally, we must allow the Holy Spirit to guide us at all times so that we can boldly and bravely carry out our vocation and mission in the Church and in the world, which is full of challenges. In other words, regardless of our calling or mission, we can accomplish nothing without Christ. As with the vine and the branches, we must always remain connected to Him.

Let us put our complete trust in the Holy Trinity at all times and in all places. We should not be discouraged by the problems we shall face along the journey. Instead, we must renew our commitment to the Church of Christ’s spiritual and apostolic gifts. On the road to a more prosperous and brighter future!  

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1 Cf. CICM Constitutions. Commentary, Chapter I: Our Institute, second edition, Rome, 2007, p. 5

2 Acts of the 13th CICM General Chapter, Rome 2005, p. 14.

3 Encyclical letter Redemptoris Missio, #44

4 Cf. Stephen B. Bevans & Roger P. Schroeder, Constants in context. A Theology of Mission for Today, p. 353. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, 2004.

5 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, #41.

6 Cf. Carlo Laudazi, L’uomo chiamato all’unione con Dio in Cristo. Temi fondamentali di teologia spirituale, Teresianum OCD, Roma, 2013, p. 9.

7 Cf.C. Garcia, Corrientes actuales de espiritualidad, p. 7. Cité par Carlo Laudazi, L’uomo chiamato all’unione con Dio in Cristo. Temi fondamentali di teologia spirituale, p. 9.

8 Cf. Carlo Laudazi, Op. cit. p. 9.

9 William Wyndaele, quoted in the Acts of the 14th CICM General Chapter, Rome 2011, p. 8.

10 Acts of the 14th CICM General Chapter, p. 8.

11 Cf. Ibid., pp. 9–10.

12 CICM, Acts of the 15th General Chapter, Rome 2017, p. 13.

13 Ibid., pp. 11 and13.

14 Cf. Carlo Laudazi, Op. cit., p. 17.

15 Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, “The Service of Authority and Obedience. Faciem tuam, Domine, requiram. Instruction” in https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccscrlife/documents/rc_con_ccscrlife_doc_20080511_autorita-obbedienza_en.html, (october 4, 2021)