We, twenty-two CICM confreres, who completed the Initial Formation between 2010-2014 and participated in the 2022 Ongoing Formation Session organized by our General Government, at the CICM Mission Center, Maryhill, Taytay, Rizal- Philippines, from October 9 – 30, 2022, are grateful to the Congregation for:      

• Receiving us as members and allowing us to fulfill our dreams and passion to be missionaries;
• Bringing us together as confreres of the same generation to share our experiences and hopes for the future of our Congregation;
• Believing and investing in us to continue the Mission.

After three weeks of prayer, listening to speakers, sharing of experiences, self-evaluation, and reflection on our identity as men consecrated to God for mission, we have allowed ourselves to be rekindled with the fire of our original call, and we commit ourselves:

• To deepen our relationship with God through prayer, retreats, missionary Spirituality, personal devotion, and self-care;
• To generously surrender our personal securities and protections to God and rely only on his grace as Moses did when he took off his sandals in God’s presence;
• To renew our vows daily in the silence of our hearts as a way to achieving holiness;
• To keep sight of our being religious missionaries by creating boundaries for a safe environment in our communities and ministries;
• To build healthy communities through self-knowledge, storytelling, proactive conflict resolution and management;
• To witness intercultural living in a multicultural world;
• To be familiar with CICM financial systems and be good and accountable stewards of our resources;
• To be attentive to the new challenges and opportunities to do Mission in this ever-changing global world, and be responsive through new ways of evangelization in the following priorities: Youth, social media, migration, care of “our Common Home”, option for the poor, and Interreligious dialogue;
• To use the synodal process in our decision-making.

With a strong desire to give back what we have received, we count on the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary our Patroness. May her example and the courage of our Founder Théophile Verbist and his first companions give us the strength to embrace the future with renewed passion for Christ and for humanity by being joyful, passionate, and zealous CICM missionaries. May God bless our Congregation.  

Taytay, Rizal, Philippines October 29, 2022

By Frans De Ridder, cicm

We are celebrating the bicentennial of the birth of Théophile Verbist, our Founder. Our Taiwan Missionary Community held its recollection from 7 to 9 February 2022. Together we reflected on the charism of our Founder. We remembered and prayed about the two pillars of his foundational charism: The abandoned children in China and the conversion of infidels. I want to share a few words on these two aspects of our missionary priorities two hundred years after the birth of our Founder.

Abandoned Children

CICM in Taiwan was among the pioneers to introduce programs for “special children.” Schools founded and animated by CICM have Special Education Programs. Nowadays, couples expecting a child go for prenatal scanning. If the child has any unusual symptoms or is not the “gender” they want, abortion is the most “common” practice.

There are many children abandoned before they are even born. Abortion is like cancer deeply rooted in Taiwan, among the highest worldwide. It is even considered one of the down-to-earth, practical ways of family planning. Not only is abortion a difficult aspect of this society, but also many people do not want babies at all. More and more young people do not want to get married. I think that it would be a sign of faithfulness to our Founder to be “pro-life.” CICM should strongly advocate for beautiful families where children are considered a blessing in our pastoral care to couples and young people!

Conversion of Infidels

Who are the infidels today? For our Founder and his companions, I assume that the “infidels” were the non-Catholics or non-Christians. In the light of the documents of Vatican II, we believe that we must pay attention to God’s self-revelation in other religions. This calls for greater attention to Interreligious Dialogue. Reading an essay by Cardinal de Kesel of Belgium, I observed his great concern for the growing influence of Islam in Belgium. Number 16 of Lumen Gentium and Nostra Aetate give a strong impetus for us to reflect upon and take initiatives in the area of discovering God’s presence in other religions. Religions have to become partners at the service of God’s Kingdom.

Language Study

However, the point that struck me most was the awareness of how limited our Founder’s command of the Chinese Language must have been. And I do not blame him. He was already in his early forties and hadn’t had any time to learn Chinese before departing for China. Once in China, he was busy organizing the prefecture. He was writing countless letters to Belgium, among many others, for fundraising and vocation promotion so that soon more young missionaries could come to China. In a certain way, he was “lucky” that the Eucharist, the sacraments, and songs and prayers were still in Latin. Then, after hardly two years in the China Mission, our Founder died.

Théophile Verbist had no access to any Language School like us today. The MEP (Missions Étrangères de Paris) can now spend three years in language study. Reflecting upon this aspect of our Founder, I began to admire him even more for his humility and tenacity. Our Founder was almost entirely dependent upon lay helpers and Paul Splingaerd – the legendary young helper in his early twenties and a handyman with a “knack” for languages.

Even for us today, three years of full-time language study is, by far, not yet enough. One of our good friends, a member of the Missionaries of Bethlehem, who died at the age of 90, was asked what was the most challenging part of being a missionary in Taiwan after more than sixty years in the country. Without any hesitation: “the Chinese language...” he sighed.

Language study is one of the most important aspects of inculturation and respect for the “soul” of the people with whom we want to share the Good News. Language study is an essential part of Ongoing Formation. Getting along with day-to-day Chinese is not enough. Unfortunately, many of us are not familiar enough with Chinese literature or the classics of Confucius, Mencius, Zhuang Zhe, Chinese poetry, or Chinese religions.¹ Thanks to this recollection about our Founder, I made a new commitment to put in more effort and have the tenacity of our Founder to go on, no matter how little progress I can still make at my age. I turned 82 in April 2022.  

______________

1. Here, I would recommend the book BEYOND EAST AND WEST, (in Dutch, Boven Oost en West) by John Wu.

By Jonel B. Dalimag, cicm

Introduction

Why do we tend to forget the Brothers? This question was raised many years ago and is still being asked today. The General Government asked Euntes to study the issue of the brothers in the CICM in 1997. The study was not guided by the question “how” but “why”. In 1998, the Euntes Center for Ongoing Formation issued a Memo titled ‘BROTHERS IN CICM: THINKING AHEAD’.¹ As a result of the study, the 12th General Chapter of the CICM passed four recommendations in 1999.² What happened to all of these recommendations? Why do we tend to forget the brothers? After an 18-year-long break, the 15th General Chapter in 2017 expressed a desire, not a recommendation, to review the brother-questions. This wish paved the way for the organization of the first General Assembly of the CICM Brothers.

First Assembly of CICM Brothers

From August 14 to 20, 2022, seven (7) CICM Brothers gathered at Centro Ad Gentes in Nemi to discuss their vocation as religious missionaries: Louis Lokumu (KIN), Wilfried Meulemeester (BNL), Robert Dixon (US), Agustin Beya (AFA), Hector Guazon (RP), Niel Arca (RP), and Jonel Dalimag (RP). The Assembly was organized and facilitated by the General Committee on Mission (GCM). According to the 2022 Elenchus, there are only 28 brothers in the Congregation, accounting for 3.6% of the total membership. Only seven of the 28 CICM Brothers attended the Assembly to reflect on their identity, vocation, and mission. They walked through the Congregation’s history and documents to help guide their reflections.

Théophile Verbist and the CICM Brothers

During the Assembly, the ‘Magnificent Seven,’ as the GCM Chairman and Vicar General Adorable Castillo referred to them, looked back at the history of the brothers’ vocation in the CICM. They were guided by the booklet, Let the Brothers Speak³, which summarized the history of the brothers’ vocation in the CICM since its founding. The CICM’s history demonstrates explicitly that ‘From the beginning of the Institute our founder Théophile Verbist and his companions anticipated that lay-Brothers would be an essential part of the missionary venture.’⁴  Verbist did not envision a congregation for clergy only. His initial intention of going to China to care for abandoned children clearly defines his vision of establishing a missionary congregation, that is, one dedicated to serving humanity. The Founder’s missionary vision, as expressed in his many letters, opens the door for non-ordained members of the Congregation:

It is striking to read in the letters of Théophile Verbist how much he wished to have brothers . . ., i.e., brothers having a real vocation and a strong religious formation. He believed that they could render invaluable services for the material organization and the life of the mission.⁵

The Founder’s spirituality is founded on his strong sense of humanity:

Théophile Verbist did not do ‘great thing.’ He did not construct magnificent buildings, create powerful institutions, write a book or treatise on mission. He wrote simple letters of friendship and encouragement. He only spent 27 months in foreign mission and he died young. He just simply responded to the call of mission, the call of basic humanity. He took care of the abandoned children and tried to provide for the needs of the people around him. simple acts of solidarity and human kindness. This is our very own inspiration. The future of the Congregation depends on our particular response to this fundamental call of humanity.⁶

This reflection on the Founder’s personality and spirituality set the tone for the rest of the Assembly’s sharing and discussion.

The CICM Brother: Identity and Mission, A Journey from Within

The Assembly’s objectives and expectations were high: to revitalize vocations to religious brotherhood in the CICM; to formulate and recommend general principles and policies to revitalize the vocation to religious brotherhood, and present proposals and recommendations to the Congregation’s 16th General Chapter. However, it should be noted that the Assembly of CICM Brothers was not organized in preparation for the 16th General Chapter.

To meet the set objectives and expectations, the ’magnificent seven′ embarked on a journey from within, guided by the brothers’ history in CICM. The sharing and reflections were based on personal experiences as CICM brothers. What emerged from this sharing and reflection is the long-established common identity of a CICM brother:

The CICM Brother is first of all a baptized disciple of Jesus Christ. He views his baptism as a ministry to continue the mission of Jesus Christ in the world. As a religious he opted for a radical discipleship for mission. He critically returns to the roots of the Christian faith and is aware of the fact that he is called to follow the Lord very closely. His faithfulness to this call is lived through the observance of the three vows.⁷

In other words, a CICM Brother is a religious missionary in his own right. He is not just a priest’s assistant; he is not a second-rate missionary; and, most importantly, he is not someone who failed to meet the requirements for the priesthood. The identity of a CICM brother is not dependent on the identity of a religious priest. At CICM, we are all religious missionaries. If we all journey together from within and into the original spirit of our congregation, we will discover that we are all brothers in the same charism with one common vocation and mission! The CICM requires a thorough understanding of our common identity:

We should go back to the basics and seriously reflect on our identity as religious missionaries. It will not be easy to initiate such a conscientization process. Consequently, the conscientization process should focus on our common missionary and religious identity – not to be equated with the priestly identity. Hopefully, we will realize one day that we are all brothers, just missionaries.⁸

Challenges Ahead

The clerical mentality is very prevalent in the Congregation. It will be difficult to change this mentality. This is because clericalism is deeply embedded in our processes. The Congregation’s formation program is geared toward the priesthood. The element of missionary formation is missing from the Congregation’s formation program. The spirit of missionary formation pervades seminary activities such as weekend apostolates and immersions, as well as the content of the theological studies program. This gives the impression that ordination to the priesthood is the primary goal of CICM formation. Thus, when someone expresses an interest in becoming a missionary Brother, those in charge of formation are at a loss for what to do. As a result, the formation of a Brother-candidate is highly improvised. Or he simply follows the formation that leads to ordination. Worse, confreres discourage a brother-candidate from pursuing brotherhood and instead encourage him to pursue the priesthood. This was absolutely clear during the Assembly’s discussion.

The problem of embedded clericalism is not limited to formation programs. The problem is even worse in the mission. CICM brothers have no place in our Provinces, where our missionary presence is mostly in parishes with a focus on the sacraments and in ad intra ministries. In our Provinces, CICM Brothers must create their path, sometimes without the support of the Province. However, the Brothers struggle to find their own way and be effective missionaries because their formation, which is clerical in nature, does not provide them with the necessary tools. Professional training of CICM Brothers is required! This is one of the 12th General Chapter’s strong recommendations. Every year, CICM Provinces and even the General Government send confreres for studies (supposedly to meet mission needs), but professional formation or training of CICM Brothers has yet to be explored. Again, the CICM Brothers must attempt to establish their own path to become relevant to the Congregation. Is there hope for the CICM Brothers in the congregation? 

If we judge by our Documents and dig deeper into the spirit of our identity and mission, the answer to the above question is a resounding YES. Our General Guidelines for Mission state clearly that the criteria for our missionary presence, as well as the missionary attitudes required for our involvements indicate a clear path for the missionary ministries of the CICM Brothers. Nothing in the General Guidelines for Mission states that we should be in parishes and only do pastoral and sacramental work. The Guidelines simply state that as missionaries, we must respond to the missionary needs of the place where we are sent; that we must be missionaries of encounter and dialogue; and that we must be pioneers and in solidarity with the people. If our Provinces and communities honestly believe in these Guidelines, there is a good chance and hope that the vocation and mission of CICM Brothers will be revitalized, which will, in turn, restore the entire Congregation.    

“I am always of the opinion
that brothers
are needed.”⁹

___________

1. EUNTES Center for Ongoing Formation, Memo 4: Brothers in CICM, Thinking Ahead, 10/11-GG/Euntes (Kessel-Lo, August 1998). For better appreciation and understanding of the results of the recent General Assembly of CICM Brothers, it is recommended that this document be republished in the Chronica for all confreres.

2. Mission in Frontier Situations, Acts of the 12th General Chapter (Rome, 1999), pp. 30-31.

3. «Let the Brothers Speak» is a document compiled by Jonel DALIMAG which served as an instrumentum laboris of the Assembly. It is recommended that this document be also made available to all confreres.

4. Van Den Berg, Leo, “CICM Brothers” in Chronica, 66 (1996)7, pp. 257-260.

5. Nestor Pycke, “CICM: Foundation, Charism, Venture and Spirit”, in A Passion for Mission, 150 years of CICM, pp. 4-37.

6. Adorable Castillo, August 15, 2022 (Centro Ad Gentes, Nemi). Adorable Castillo animated the first day of the Assembly, which was scheduled as a recollection. He focused his reflection on the CICM Missionary Spirituality.

7. Ibid., p. 19.

8. Brothers in CICM: Thinking Ahead, 1998, pp. 21-22.

9. Letter 269. See: Verhelst Daniels and Hyacint Daniels, La Congregation du Cœur Immaculé de Marie (Scheut), édition critique des sources, Tome II A, La correspondence de Théophile Verbist et ses Companions 1865-1866 (Presses Universitaires de Louvain, 2003), p. 8.

By Rex Salvilla, cicm

Once in a while, we are given a chance to share and discuss some usual CICM topics in a group. These occasions can be the District Recollection, Retreat, preparation for the Provincial Assembly, preparation for the General Chapter, and other occasions where confreres can show their verbal skill. The usual and all too frequent topics are spirituality, community life, simple lifestyle, teamwork, frontier situation, multiculturality, and others embedded in the database of our memory. They may be quickly downloaded from our brains’ hard disk and shared with others through our vocal cords in any group sharing. When I notice these topics, for example, during the preparation of the Provincial Assembly, I could almost volunteer to anticipate and write down the results of the sharing in the Districts with reasonable accuracy. Try it. Supposing, we want to know the stand of the confreres on simple lifestyle. The regular venue would be the District recollection, and the results of the District recollection would be transmitted to a comity that will collate the results of the outcome. Try to anticipate the comity’s final paper by writing it down for each District meeting ahead of time. Your paper will be very similar to the comity’s paper, I guarantee you.

After all, we have been exposed to so many constructive sharing if only we are persuaded of what we are saying, and if only we are convinced that what we are saying applies to every one of us, and if only we are convinced that we must do what we say. Take the example of the financial situation of our Province. We are all convinced that there is a problem. Are we all convinced that we are part of the solution? Concretely, are we convinced that we have to give our income to the community where we belong? If yes, do we do it? When everything has been said and done, more has been said than done.

During the April 2011 Provincial Assembly, there was one essential proponent. That element was outright honesty when delegates were asked to identify the causes of the problems plaguing the Province. For example, on the aspect of individual members, the root causes mentioned are individual interest prevails over corporate vision; individualism; individualistic mentality; lack of personal integration; dislodgement of the Vision [of the Province]; and crisis [that led to the split of some members in 2002]. These root causes, I believe, say it all on behalf of the causes of other aspects like Community life, Leadership, Management, Formation, and others.

In September 2011, there was an extended Provincial Government Meeting where some confreres (like committee chairpersons and District coordinators) were invited to propose concrete actions on all aspects of our lives based on the April 2011 Provincial Assembly result. And we produced another paper. Yes, that is correct, another paper. In fairness to the participants that I was a part of, the sharing was profound and honest, and the result should be implemented.

Dear confreres, I hate to say it, but we all need to be convinced of our CICM vocation. We must all believe that we are all part of the solution. Our CICM vocation should be continually reinforced through deeds, not just in words. The lack of conviction of our CICM vocation is the real reason why living out of our words is usually tricky or lacking. 

We can enumerate what can weaken or lead to laxity in our vocation. Perhaps it is the lack of community support, especially when one does not attend CICM gatherings anymore. Perhaps it is the lack of spiritual nourishment when prayers, reflection, and meditation become increasingly rare. Maybe it is the presence of too many projects and activities when confreres cannot relax and recreate anymore. Maybe it is the intrinsic nature of advanced studies. I have noticed that some confreres have lost their CICM vocation during or shortly after specialized studies. Whatever the case may be, we must safeguard, nourish, and be convinced of our CICM Calling.