by Jozef Matton, cicm
 

Community life is not a fourth vow in religious life. However, when we read an article about religious life, we often see the importance placed on community life. Of course, it is a necessary part of religious life. Indeed, hermits have chosen a life of solitude. However, almost all active religious congregations have chosen a community life. Our Congregation is no exception.

Our Documents

Our Constitutions contain articles on community life. For example, article 17 states, “by following Jesus as a community of brothers, we proclaim that God is the ultimate reality of our lives and keep alive among the people hope for the Kingdom and its justice.”

Article 23 clearly states that the support of a fraternal community enables us to accept in faith the loneliness which is part of all celibate living.

Article 51 states that “as much as the nature of our apostolate permits, we live together in community. By living in community, we strengthen the bonds of unity among us. A common life program increases the witnessing power of our word and work. Our communities are characterized by cordial hospitality.”

The 2011 CICM General Chapter strongly emphasizes the importance of community life:

“This Chapter places a strong emphasis on the understanding of our identity as religious missionaries. As CICM religious missionaries, ‘Our identity and our mission are connected at the community level.’ We live in international and multicultural communities whenever and wherever possible in order to bear witness to God’s Kingdom in a world marked by conflict between different races, cultures, and nations.

Community is not just for mission in CICM; it is mission. This Chapter recognizes that when community life flourishes, religious life is consolidated. We are excited to realize our mission as a corporate commitment when we are clear about our identity and own it” (Acts of the 14th CICM General Chapter, p. 10).

Community is mission: what a task, what a responsibility!

Several other CICM Documents state that as CICM religious missionaries, we place a high value on community life. This is not an insignificant detail. Although this aspect of community life has been discussed and even questioned several times in the history of our Congregation.

What I Saw and Heard

As a CICM, I have heard many comments and statements about community life over the years. Some have amazed and surprised me. For example, a few years ago, I heard a newly ordained priest say, “I would never live in a community!”

Another confrere expressed his regret that he had never been assigned to a parish alone.

Yet, these confreres lived in a community throughout their entire Initial Formation: novitiate, philosophy, theology, and parish internship. This community life can sometimes last more than ten years.

I have also known communities—if they can be called communities—where the confreres lived under the same roof but did not pray, eat, relax, or even talk together during the day. So, living under the same roof is different from living in a community.

Why this desire to live alone? It is as if living in a community is a threat to one’s privacy.

In several Provinces, the leaders have made an effort, in accordance with article 51 of our Constitutions, to ensure that confreres do not live alone in a parish. And I am pleased to note that new confreres arriving in a Province are assigned to strengthen or create a life team in a parish rather than to start a new insertion.

Confreres who live alone are connected to a reference community for various reasons. These confreres are invited to the community’s recollections or other activities. Some of them participate enthusiastically. This is the case in BNL, for example.

Msgr. Johan Bonny, the Bishop of Antwerp, Belgium, specifically asked for an international religious community when he asked for CICM missionaries in his diocese.

A Challenge

Indeed, community life is necessary for religious and missionary life. But we must admit that creating a healthy community is difficult. During research for writing this article, I came across the Jesuit Fathers of West Africa website. I read something there that I think is not only important for Jesuits but can also give us food for thought:

To live in a community, one must cultivate the capacity for fraternal attachment, listening, respect for others, sincerity and truthfulness in relationships, attentiveness, friendship, understanding, benevolence, and mercy in oneself.

One must be able to enter into a common prayer with one’s brother, share life and apostolate, reflect, research, and discern for the benefit of all. To do this, one must silence egocentrism, individualism, or the desire to isolate oneself; one must also overcome partisanship or narrow-mindedness. . .

In short, the community dimension of our mission cannot be acquired once and for all but must be constantly renewed and strengthened.

It is obvious that living in a community far from being given is a daily challenge.

However, the use of certain means of communication is not always beneficial to community life. Therefore, let us be careful that our smartphones, tablets, computers, etc., do not replace our confreres.

At the same time, let’s be aware that we are called to mobility and, therefore, will never be members of the same community for our entire lives.

Opportunities

We all need a supportive community! In his encyclical letter, Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis writes explicitly:

“No one can face life in isolation. . . We need a community that supports and helps us, in which we can help one another to keep looking ahead. How important it is to dream together. . . By ourselves, we risk seeing mirages, things that are not there. Dreams, on the other hand, are built together” (# 8).

A solid fraternal life in a community also helps us live and remain faithful to the religious commitments we made on the day of our first profession. Undoubtedly, a good community can serve as a beneficial social control.

Experience and Commitment

We all have something in common. We have all lived in a community for at least a few years. Therefore, all of us have a history of good or bad experiences living in a community. Everyone has at least some idea of what can be positive in building a good community life and what can be an obstacle or even what can destroy it.

And we all know that good community life requires a commitment from community leaders (who bear a great deal of responsibility in this regard) and from each community member. Commitment begins primarily with oneself. We should not expect too much from others. It is both a personal and a corporate commitment.

Making time for each other, praying together, eating together, and relaxing together can all contribute to making our community life more than just living under the same roof.

Finally, as I finish my term as General Councilor in June 2023, this is the last article I will publish in the “For Our Reflection” section. I am not a writer. My “writing” grades in elementary and high school were pitiful. It’s never been one of my strengths. Thank you to everyone who helped me proofread and translate my articles. I want to thank everyone who sent me comments on my articles, which I greatly appreciated. Good luck to you all. 

by Adorable Castillo, cicm Vicar
 

We joyfully celebrated the CICM’s 160th foundation anniversary on November 28, 2022, and we will solemnly celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of Théophile Verbist, our Founder, on June 12, 2023. Allow me to make a comparison between our Congregation’s beginning and its current situation. I will only focus on one aspect, namely the availability and management of our financial resources. We are aware that some confreres have been found wanting when it comes to financial management. As it is stated in the Acts of the 15th General Chapter: “We have observed a few cases of mismanagement and financial fraud.”^[i]  Perhaps one of the causes of this unfortunate situation was the availability of sufficient, if not abundant, resources at our disposal. Some confreres failed to use them wisely. They apparently lost their moral bearing, succumbed to the temptation, and were led astray.

In a letter (#549) addressed to the Novitiate in Scheut on October 20, 1867, Verbist wrote: “All beginnings are difficult, and I know better than anyone that even with the best intentions in the world, one does not always do what one would wish to do. From the beginning, we have been faced frequently with difficult options ... Now we must build a congregation which is founded on solid virtues if we want to reach our goals ... Our spiritual resources must exceed by far our physical ones.”

Verbist made every effort to secure sufficient financial resources for the success of his missionary adventure. He received financial support from various sources, such as the Holy Childhood, the Propaganda Fide, and ordinary Catholics in Europe. He embarked on a missionary journey, of course, not without “food, bag or money” (Mk 6:8). But his greatest resource was his faith in the Divine Providence. Let me quote from some of his letters.

– My great trust in God who imposed the whole of Mongolia on me always reassured me that I would not lack the means.

– The good God preserves us from catastrophes, our Christians are permanently in the church imploring the help of the sky.

I have the confidence that He will not remain deaf to our supplications and that He will at least send us enough not to die of hunger.

– The good Lord knows fully well that, without money, there is no way to do his work. He will not refuse it to us.

Today, the challenge is how to learn a lesson from the good deeds of Verbist and his first companions, particularly how to manage and put our sufficient resources to good use. How do we maintain creative proportionality? Verbist rightly found a formula. “What they lacked in financial resources, they made up for their faith and enthusiasm.”^[ii]  When resources were scarce, faith and enthusiasm were abundant. What about us? I hope that the inverse relationship is not true. I made the following schema so that each confrere can fill in the blanks and take to heart this challenge:

Circa 1862: lack of financial resources ------ abundant faith and enthusiasm

Circa 2023: sufficient resources ------------ ________________

We have established extensive material infrastructure for the Congregation and put up enough financial resources for our ad intra and ad extra needs after more than 160 years of existence. What about our “spiritual resources”? Can we claim the same laudable endeavor as that of Verbist? Do we have enough faith to move mountains? Do we have the same missionary enthusiasm as Verbist and his first companions to face the challenges of the 21st century?

The “spiritual resources” that I am talking about are the elements of an emerging CICM missionary spirituality. It seems that spirituality simply means participating in or even multiplying spiritual exercises such as community prayers, masses, devotions, recollections, and retreats. All these activities, I believe, are necessary and essential for a religious community like ours. However, nurturing a missionary spirituality entails more than just engaging in various spiritual exercises mentioned above. As Pope Francis reiterated in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, missionary spirituality is a way of life, a host of right attitudes and dispositions, a renewed outlook of the role of the Church in the world, and a profound commitment to the missionary transformation of the whole church. A good number of confreres have already written articles and booklets on some aspects of CICM spirituality (Pierre Lefebvre, Michel Decraene, Eric Manhaeghe, Jean-Gracia Etienne, et al.) I have also tried to identify some “ingredients” of CICM mission spirituality in some of my articles in Chronica.

I will simply enumerate three and briefly describe each one of them.

Mission Ad Gentes and Ad Extra

As missionaries ad gentes, we are urged to be close to people, attentive to their needs, and in solidarity with them, particularly in situations of poverty and injustice. It is an expression of “incarnation spirituality.” As a Congregation dedicated to the Incarnate Word, we are supposed to dialogue with cultures and religions as we dedicate ourselves to first evangelization. As missionaries ad extra, we are encouraged to adopt the attitude of “mobility, availability, and de-installation” as described in the Acts of the 9th General Chapter (1981).

On the one hand, mobility is a readiness to leave behind personal comfort and set aside personal preferences in order to take up new missionary challenges. On the other hand, immobility implies not only inactivity but also usurpation because it entails grabbing and occupying a space that, more often than not, does not belong to us.

Availability means being attuned to the “signs of the time” so as to be at the service of the universal mission of the Church that demands that we go to the “peripheries” and work outside our own comfort zone. If we cannot leave our current involvement and consequently become unavailable for other tasks, we risk taking up more space than we need or biting off more than we can chew.

De-installation entails a detachment from the ambivalent power of any established institution, be it in the Church or society. In contrast, installation denotes being fixated or attached to a space, whether social, political, or economic. De-installation absolutely sets us free and liberates us from excessive attachment. As a result, detachment is an important component of an emerging CICM missionary spirituality.

Pioneering Spirit

Our Founder was a true pioneer. He led the first group of CICM missionaries in Inner Mongolia. They were not the first missionaries there, though. They took over a vast ecclesiastical territory previously ministered by the Lazarists. According to historical accounts, there were already a good number of Christians and some diocesan priests ordained. They appeared to have simply carried on the work of their predecessors. Of course, they were children of their time. They adhered to the official ecclesiastical concept of mission, and their missionary venture was carried out under the established rules of the Propaganda Fide. Perhaps one of the characteristics that distinguished Verbist and his companions were their “hardheadedness,” a peculiar passion for doing what is most difficult out of love for the mission. They did contribute something new to the mission of the Church as pioneers. As pioneers, they were trailblazers and pathfinders. They created new trails for others to trek and discovered unbeaten paths for others to follow. They were like John the Baptist, the Precursor, who prepared the way of the Lord. The Founder and his first companions did it for us, the new generation of CICM missionaries – we are their “spiritual great-grandchildren.”

Amanti nihil difficile “Nothing is difficult for the one who loves”

This Latin saying is found in one of the letters of our Founder. This missionary attitude is closely related to the pioneering spirit of Verbist and his first companions. It seems that missionary assignment to more developed countries is more attractive. Mission work in the city center is preferable to that of the peripheries. Only a few dare to do pioneering works for some good reasons. We show nice photos of confreres smiling, happy, and contented in their missionary work on most of our vocation animation posters. When we portray a confrere climbing a rugged mountain or crossing a treacherous river, the image is usually mitigated by the sheer adventure and thrills preferred by the so-called millennial generation. It could only be excellent photographic angles and selfie poses.

Taking risks is more often associated with a momentary feeling of awe and wonder or an exhilarating dose of adrenalin rush, but not with the pains, agonies, sacrifices, and hardships endured by our pioneering missionaries in the abandoned hinterlands of China, in the inhospitable forests of the Congo and the rugged mountains of the Philippines. We seem to be selling a nice and safe Christianity or a prosperity Gospel minus the cross.

A gentle Christianity that is not too demanding or Christianity without Gethsemane and Golgotha is very hard to sell and bound to be a marketing disaster. As Timothy Radcliffe asserts: “Such a ‘marketing’ of Christianity is bound to fail: above all, because Christian spirituality is anything but safe. A tame faith betrays what is at its very heart, which is the adventure of transcendence. Christianity is attractive because it invites us to be daring and give away our lives without condition. It is the doorway to infinity.”^[iii]

As we celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of the Founder, we also commemorate his untimely death. From birth to death, life is a significant continuum. At the death of Verbist, we can say nothing else but good about him. Indeed, Verbist lived a short life compared to today’s standard of longevity. He was only 44 years old and spent barely 27 months^[iv] in foreign mission. He died in China, his mission country, far from his native Belgium. Certainly, doubt and a bit of pessimism prevailed among the first CICM confreres and their benefactors back home when he died ahead of his time. He had the intention to go back to Europe after his last pastoral visit “to give final orientation” to the formation of young missionaries. His untimely death seemed a big blow to the fledgling Congregation. The same worries and concerns preoccupied the ecclesiastical authorities when the first five missionaries of the Société des Missions Africaines (SMA), including their founder Melchior Marion de Brésillac, died within six weeks in Sierra Leone after landing there shortly in 1859. But their congregation survived. Ours, too, flourished under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Death did not have the final word on Verbist’s beloved Congregation.

The dignity of a person is determined not by longevity nor by productivity nor utility. It is rather measured by his ability to please God and to do His will. It is manifested in his readiness to deny himself, to take up his cross and follow the Lord, and even to lose his life for the sake of the Gospel.

Discipleship is the foundation of one’s dignity. The dignity of disciples is never lost in death, but rather it is highlighted and exalted.

Verbist, as a humble disciple of Jesus Christ, died for the sake of the Master and the Gospel. And his death, as a grain of wheat that fell to the ground, was not in vain and bore much fruit. For some, death represents the end of life. For others, death is only the beginning of a new life. Yes, indeed, the death of our Founder was the beginning of a new life for our Congregation. Since then, Verbist’s spiritual legacy has been handed down to the succeeding generations of CICM missionaries. We are vowed missionaries ad gentes and ad extra. We carry with us the pioneering spirit of Verbist and his first companions. And we dare to go, despite all odds and difficulties, where “the Gospel is not known or lived.”

Our Congregation has flourished over the years with many diverse works and has spread over four continents. Today, we have many reasons to rejoice and thank the Lord for, such as the gift of life of Verbist and his utmost dedication to the mission until his untimely death, and all His goodness and blessings for the entire Congregation despite our shortcomings and failings.  

^[i] Acts of the 15th General Chapter, p. 33.

^[ii] Ibid.

^[iii] Timothy Radcliffe, Alive in God: A Christian Imagination (London: Bloomsbury, 2019), p. 42.

^[iv] Verbist and his first companions left Scheut, Brussels, on August 25, 1865, arrived in Beijing on November 25, 1865, and finally reached Xiwanze on December 6, 1865.  Verbist died on February 23, 1868, in Laohugou. See Nestor Pycke, Théophile Verbist’s Adventure (Leuven: F. Verbiest Institute, 2010), pp. 57-59.

by Charles Phukuta, cicm
 

Next year, we will celebrate our 16th General Chapter and the Bicentennial of the birth of our Founder, Theophile Verbist. In the July-August 2022 issue of the Chronica, Jean-Gracia Etienne reflected on the Spirit-soul-body trilogy, to which the facilitator introduced the participants of the 15th General Chapter. The facilitator explained: “The soul of the Congregation or its heart is its ability to experience God, to inspire and animate people, to transform the members of its communities into witnesses of faith, hope and charity.”¹  This part of the trilogy remains a challenge. So, as we prepare for the next General Chapter, we have been reflecting on the themes of spirituality and mission, reconciliation, and interculturality, as we seek to renew the apostolic thrust of the Institute and encourage one another to be faithful to our religious missionary vocation (Cf. CICM Constitutions, Art. 110).

Now, I would like to invite you to reflect further on the importance of reconciliation and our universal brotherhood in proclaiming and witnessing the Gospel. Indeed, brotherhood is constitutive of the Church and our faith. So, it is not surprising that Article 2 of our Constitutions gives us the key to proclaim and witness the Gospel:

Religious missionaries of different races and cultures, we live and work together as brothers. ‘One heart and one soul,’ we witness the Father’s will that all men and women be brothers and sisters in Christ. We are a sign of solidarity among the particular Churches in their universal mission.

Article 45 realistically adds: “Knowing that we are sinners, we trust in God’s mercy and respond to Christ’s call to be reconciled with the Father and one another. We regularly turn to the sacrament of reconciliation and take the steps necessary to heal any broken relationships.”

As CICM, we like to talk about our universal brotherhood and multiculturality, which correspond well to our longing for fraternal communion, the heart of the Gospel message of reconciliation. As religious missionaries sent to proclaim and witness the Gospel, there is always the possibility of living with the illusion that evil is only out there and not within us. Yet, we do not always act as brothers and children of a loving God and cause disruptions in relationships. Thus, we regularly need reconciliation with God and others and the life-giving words of forgiveness. When we experience brokenness in a relationship with a confrere or with others, we are to reach out, apologize or offer our friendship. When it is the community itself that suffers from brokenness, we are to heal the situation.²

Reading the various reflections and reports on the Memo on Reconciliation, I realize that our journey moves us toward renewed relationships among us and with our brothers and sisters. As we move toward the 16th General Chapter, I wish to share some reflections that may help us tune in to the great call to reconciliation and fraternal communion in order to proclaim and witness the Gospel in our changing world.

Christianity is the proclamation of the Gospel as a message of universal brotherhood. In the current context of globalization, we Christians must encourage and spread a spirit of universal brotherhood that transcends all borders while respecting the differences between cultures. Thus, communal fraternity contributes to the proclamation of the Good News. No one can claim to disengage from fraternal life in the community for apostolic reasons. On the contrary, it is integral to our commitment to proclaim and witness the Gospel.

Jesus is right when he tells us, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and no town or house divided against itself will stand” (Mt 12:25). Unfortunately, sometimes, we experience frictions that make reconciliation and forgiveness difficult. Yet, both are important since fraternal life is crucial for bona fide proclamation and witness. Pope Francis has also made a similar observation and speaks of it in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (EG).

Those wounded by historical divisions find it difficult to accept our invitation to forgiveness and reconciliation, since they think that we are ignoring their pain or are asking them to give up their memory and ideals. But if they see the witness of authentically fraternal and reconciled communities, they will find that witness luminous and attractive. It always pains me greatly to discover how some Christian communities, and even consecrated persons, can tolerate different forms of enmity, division, calumny, defamation, vendetta, jealousy and the desire to impose certain ideas at all costs, even to persecutions which appear as veritable witch hunts. Whom are we going to evangelize if this is the way we act? (EG, # 100)

It is common for hostilities to break out between members of the same community. No one is immune to the wounds that make it difficult to live in the community. During our canonical visits, we have noticed that very old events, some dating back decades, are still open wounds. I am sometimes surprised to see old quarrels persist in some communities. We should always ask ourselves what could open a way out. Our Christian faith urges us to find strength in the attitude of Jesus, for whom, where the means of justice and law have been exhausted, there is no other way to end the cycle of conflict and hostility than to oppose it with nothing other than forgiveness.

Genuine brotherhood can only exist where forgiveness is given and received. We are talking about a brotherhood that, even with all the possible differences, is an experience of love that overcomes conflicts because community conflicts are inevitable. In a certain sense, they must exist if the community truly lives sincere and trustworthy relationships. To dream of a conflict-free community is not realistic and does no good. It might mean something needs to be improved if there is no putting up with conflicts in a community.³

Evil can only be overcome by good (Rom 12:22; cf. 1 Pet 3:9). Living in a community that is reconciled and open to diversity makes our interculturality an eloquent testimony to our capacity to live as brothers and sisters, and therefore to proclaim and witness to the Gospel. Today, many of our communities are rich in different cultural or national sensibilities. Confreres live together in respect of their differences. But we must remain vigilant because the human tendency is to create borders to protect ourselves from differences.

The Pope’s appeal is a call to examine our conscience about our brotherhood’s quality and capacity for reconciliation. Do our communities promote and leave enough room for forgiveness and reconciliation? How can we have true community joy if there is little or no room for reconciliation? Sometimes we are too inclined to criticize our brothers freely. Are we aware that this attitude, which can go as far as denigration, is an attack on our brotherhood?

The time of preparation for the Chapter is a crucial moment of prayer and joyful hope. The General Chapter and the Bicentennial celebration of the birth of our Founder allow us to deepen and reappropriate the essence of our charism, listen to what people are asking today of a CICM religious missionary, assess and discern our witness, proclamation and community life, and give new vitality to the Congregation.

To prepare for the twofold celebration, let us seek reconciliation with any person or persons with whom we now have a ruptured or unhappy relationship. Additionally, where the hotbed of conflict is present, a spiritual retreat of reconciliation during this coming Lent 2023 before the General Chapter could be beneficial - a retreat facilitated by a competent resource person who can encourage and challenge everyone to admit their part in the conflict, express it openly in the community, and be ready for sincere and genuine reconciliation.

The challenge of reconciliation is to keep at it; to keep opponents talking, encourage compassionate listening, invite forgiveness, find the middle ground for peace, and never give up. As Saint Paul exhorts us,

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection (Col 3:12- 14).

Let us not grow weary in doing what is right (Cf. Gal 6:9). Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of the ideal of fraternal love (EG, # 101)!  Finally, I wish you a good journey in communion toward the Chapter and the Bicentennial celebration of the birth of our Founder.  

We too are sinners.
We cause disruptions in relationships.
We do not always behave
as children of a loving God.

We too regularly need reconciliation
with God and with others.

We too regularly need to experience
life-giving words of forgiveness.

CICM Constitutions. Commentary, p. 85

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

1. We have a Good and Beautiful Mission. Acts of the 15th General Chapter, pp. 3-4.

2. CICM Constitutions Commentary. Chapter I: Our Institute. 2nd Édition, 2007, p. 85-86.

3. « Réveillez le monde ! 29 novembre 2013, entretien du pape François avec les supérieurs généraux, » in Documentation catholique, n° 2514, p.12-13.

by Silvester Asa, cicm
 

Researchers have discovered that bacteria thrive in every nook and cranny of our bodies. For some in the animal kingdom, certain bacteria flourish around their orifice or private parts. This explains why these specific parts of the body become the center of attention in bonding and mating rituals. Interestingly, like lemurs, who can stand on their two feet, we, humans, accumulate bacteria in our armpits. The glands in our armpits produce certain microbes with a particular odor. In the case of lemurs, the odor helps determine whether a lemur comes from the same conspiracy and is related to it. For us human beings, attraction to another person, or the lack thereof, is all about chemistry. Indeed, the scent of our personal wildlife, which can be traced back to our armpits, either binds us together or sets us apart.^[1] Perhaps that is why someone may smell like Rafflesia to you, but that same person can be an alabaster jar of overflowing Sandalwood oil to someone else. This might also explain why Adam is attracted to Eve, while Steve prefers Job instead.  

Interestingly, some studies have also concluded that the human brain is capable of producing oxytocin, a hormone that plays a significant role in our behavior. Also known as the love hormone that makes us feel close and connected to others, Oxytocin helps us heighten our bond with one another. Simply put, oxytocin is responsible for why birds of the same feather flock together. However, it is important to remember that oxytocin only serves to strengthen our bonds with one another. Furthermore, a study on primates’ behavior reveals that their oxytocin levels rise significantly as they enhance their proximity and strengthen their bond. By the same token, couples who are affectionate and bless each other with tender loving caress tend to develop a strong immune system and live a healthier and longer life because of a high dose of oxytocin.^[2]

Intriguingly, even though oxytocin enables us to strengthen our bond with one another, the same hormone can also heighten our animosity against others, turning them into enemies. Oxytocin “prompts trust, generosity, and cooperation towards Us but crappier behavior toward Them. . .”^[3]  Indeed, there is a fine line between love and hate. The question is: what do these studies have to do with CICM Initial Formation and our intercultural living as CICM religious missionaries? Can we learn something from these recent scientific findings? Let me address these questions with an illustration that is based on real-life experiences. 

Together with seven other Indonesians, I spent two memorable semesters at Maryshore Seminary in Bacolod City, Philippines, for our philosophy studies. One day, we were given some “tawas”^[4]  as presents. This was the first time most of us saw this crystal-like thing, and we wondered what to do with it. Later, we discovered that tawas is widely believed to be effective in, among other things, neutralizing body odor in the Philippines. This realization made us, the Indonesians, realize that our Filipino brethren were trying to convey a subtle yet essential message to us in order to address this pertinent issue of our distinct body odor. As a result, some of us began using tawas, while others resorted to conventional deodorant or settled for rubbing alcohol.

Some years later, as a formator, I had to overcome my own predicament in addressing the issue of body odor. Some community members had brought this issue up in their “Peer Evaluation,” thereby needing my assistance. Fortunately, contrary to my fear that this would offend the concerned parties, my carefully crafted feedback was taken in stride.

While listening to my sharing, a Congolese confrere confided to me about his similar experience in the mission as a formator. Once, he received a call from the school where our students were enrolled for their studies because a student confrere had “a little bit of a strong body odor.” The school thought that he could help them bring this to the student’s attention since he was the student’s formator. Despite the awkwardness of the situation and with due sensibilities, he politely discussed this issue with the said student confrere and the case was resolved amicably.

While it is true that we tend to be drawn and attracted to those who share our chemistry, our proximity and constant interactions can, in time, increase the production of our positive oxytocin and social bonding. Indeed, love not only happens at first sight but is also nurtured. This should be more than welcome news to us, CICM religious missionaries, who came from different races, nationalities, and cultural backgrounds. And yes, each of us does have a distinct body odor.

Nobody has ever said that living together in a community is a walk in the park. Yet, despite our fundamental differences, no one has ever systematically attempted to implement discriminatory policies and practices. On the contrary, our vision and policies are crystal clear. Called by the same Lord, we follow the footsteps of our beloved Founder, Théophile Verbist, by leaving our familiar surroundings behind to proclaim the Good News to all creation in the spirit of Cor Unum et Anima Una (CICM Constitutions, Art. 2).  Furthermore, some structures that we have put in place, such as our international formation communities that allow us to be in close proximity to one another even at the very early stages of our CICM religious missionary formation, can actually increase the level of our positive oxytocin. In fact, this is an effective way to embrace oxytocin’s side effects gently. In extreme circumstances, the same bonding hormone can cause animosity, which can lead to hatred and racial discrimination. As a result, forming international and multicultural formation communities and pastoral teams is both necessary and crucial to the fruitfulness of mission.

The challenge remains, however, that we must go beyond international and multicultural living. Bringing different nationalities and cultural groups together in the same space simply because we want to be “multicultural and international” is not enough. That is just the beginning of the journey. It is only when we are able to gently challenge, affirm, and enrich one another because each has been blessed with what is peculiar; can we celebrate our intercultural living.  

In fact, for many of our Filipino brothers and us Indonesians, I must add, this was most likely our first experience of living with “foreigners” who smell differently. I am sure it was not easy for those Filipino seminarians to find creative ways to address this issue without offending us. Our Filipino brothers could have chosen not to interact with us at all. Instead, they chose to welcome us in their midst. Fortunately, they found the answer to this existential question in, among others, tawas. And so were we, the formators, who were entangled in this delicate issue. It would be horrible if we had to dismiss a candidate solely because he had a peculiar scent. Instead, we embraced our own apprehensions in order to resolve this issue with much sensibility and style. Of course, such creative intervention risks being perceived as a subtle way of imposing a certain standard of truth on others. However, this must be viewed as a genuine effort on the part of some community members to share the wealth of their tradition with those who wish to enter their sacred stable, thus welcoming a stranger as one of their own. After all,

It belongs to our human dignity that we seek and share the truth. Truth is the basis of all human community. Human beings flourish in the shared pursuit of truth as fish do in water and birds in the air. Without it, we perish, and society disintegrates. To share what I believe to be most deeply true expresses my belief in the dignity of the other person.^[5]

What has happened simply showed such ingenuity in sharing a recognized and time-tested truth. Hopefully, this resourceful and courageous act motivated by hospitality and genuine desire for unity and harmony will help us significantly become interculturally savvy CICM religious missionaries who have “the odor of the sheep.”^[6]  

^[1] DW Documentary. “Who lives on our Bodies? A Microscopic Safari.” YouTube Video, March 7, 2022. Who lives on our bodies? A microscopic safari | DW Documentary - YouTube

^[2] DW Documentary. “How does touch affect our mental and physical health.” YouTube Video, April 2, 2022. How does touch affect our mental and physical health? | DW Documentary - YouTube.

^[3] Robert M. Sapolsky, Behave, the Biology of Humans at our Best and Worst (Penguin Books, 2017), 389.

^[4] Tawas is also known as Potassium Alum or simply Alum.

^[5] Timothy Radcliffe, OP., “Does Europe Need Missionaries?” in SEDOS Bulletin 2022,

vol. 54, No. ¾, March-April, 15.

^[6] Pope Francis, Homily on Chrism Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2013, in 28 March 2013: Chrism Mass | Francis (vatican.va).