Spiritan Life and Mission Since Vatican II

By William Cleary and John Fogarty

The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) called for the renewal of all religious institutes in the Catholic Church. The Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans) responded initially under the leadership of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Different interpretations of Vatican II caused divisions culminating in Lefebvre's departure from the congregation. From this difficult starting-point the Spiritans sought to redefine themselves in creative fidelity to their founding intention, the spirit of Vatican II, and the "signs of the times."

Spiritan Life and Mission since Vatican II recounts this journey of renewal in three parts: the Spiritan world before Vatican II and the election of Archbishop Lefebvre as superior general in 1962; the "ad experimentum" period culminating with a new rule of life in 1986; and the implementation of this new rule as interpreted through inter-congregational discourse, particularly the general chapters of 1992, 1998, and 2004.

The development of thinking on the church's mission and the congregation's rediscovery of the founding charisms of Claude Poullart des Places and Francis Libermann provide the parameters for this positive interpretation of the Spiritan journey of renewal. Its evolution in the third millennium into a multicultural, international missionary community of some three-thousand members from over sixty countries in service of the Missio Dei bears testimony to this.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Release date: Feb 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781532634703

William Cleary

William Cleary was former assistant editor at the Catholic weekly America and the author of many books on spirituality. He is a former Jesuit priest, filmmaker, and composer. His musical Chun Hyang Song was performed at the Seoul Olympics. Cleary was married to a Unitarian Universalist minister and was the father of two musician sons. His website is www.clearyworks.com.

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Spiritan Life and Mission since Vatican II

William Cleary

Foreword by John Fogarty

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Spiritan Life and Mission since Vatican II

Copyright ©

2018

William Cleary All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers,

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Dedication

Foreword

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Spiritan Charism

1. Understanding Charism

2. The Founding Spiritan Charism

3. The Lived Spiritan Charism

Chapter 2: The Spiritan Congregation, Change, and Vatican II

1. The Phenomenon of Change

2. The French Congregation of the Holy Spirit

3. A Changing Church and an Unchanging Mgr. Lefebvre

4. The Mgr. Lefebvre Mandate (1962–68)

Chapter 3: The General Chapter of Renewal

1. A Council Ends and a Chapter Begins

2. The Congregation’s Aggiornamento Takes Off

3. Understanding the Experience

4. Finding a Way Forward with CDD

Chapter 4: Continuing the Journey of Renewal

1. Apostolic Religious Life in a Vatican II Church

2. A New Missionary Epoch

3. Animation for Spiritan Renewal and Collaboration

4. GC XIV: Guidelines for Animation

5. GC XV: Mission Today—Justice and Peace

6. The Spiritan Brother and Lay Spiritan

Chapter 5: Writing a Rule

1. A Changed Ecclesial Context

2. Writing and Approving a Text

3. The Spiritan Rule of Life (SRL)

4. New Beginnings

Chapter 6: From SRL to GC XIX (1986–2004)

1. The Superiors General Reports (1992–2004)

2. General Chapters Following SRL
(GC XVII–GC XIX)

3. Enlarged General Council Meetings following SRL

Chapter 7: Spiritan Mission

1. The Ecclesial Context for Spiritan Mission since SRL

2. Organization for Spiritan Mission

3. Dialogue and Inculturation in Spiritan Mission

4. Spiritan Mission: Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation (JPIC)

5. Education as Spiritan Mission

6. Formation for Mission

Chapter 8: Spiritan Community

1. The Importance of Community Life

2. Diversity of Membership

Chapter 9: Spiritan Religious Life

1. Different Religious Identities in the Catholic Church

2. Spiritan Religious Life since SRL

Chapter 10: The Rediscovery of the Spiritan Charism

1. In the Power of the Holy Spirit

2. Interpreting the Spiritan Journey of Renewal in 2018

3. The Journey Continues

Bibliography

Dedication

This work is dedicated to the Young Spiritans with whom I was privileged to share community and mission at Silveira House and Des Places House, Tafara, Harare, Zimbabwe, and to all who live the Spiritan Mission today.

Foreword

In a recent address to the Union of Superiors General in Rome, Fr. Arturo Sosa, SJ, stressed the dynamic and evolutionary nature of the charism of a religious congregation:

The call of Vatican II to go back to our sources is not an attempt to freeze the charism of an intangible culture that is passed on unchanged from generation to generation. On the contrary, it is a call to creative fidelity to the dynamics of incarnation shown by Jesus and to openness to present-day challenges to the mission of consecrated life as part of the church, whose raison d’être lies in evangelizing history.¹

It is precisely in terms of creative fidelity to the charism of its founders that William Cleary interprets the lengthy and often turbulent process of renewal of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit in the years that followed the Second Vatican Council. His detailed analysis of the principal events in the life of the congregation that engaged the call to renewal and structured its evolving response from the end of the council to the general chapter of 2004 makes fascinating reading and highlights key moments, people, decisions and processes that were essential to its successful outcome. Many members of the congregation who lived through these challenging years and struggled to understand the issues involved, as well as the changing face of the religious-missionary congregation they had joined, will appreciate the author’s clear, chronological presentation of the gradual but radical evolution in the self-understanding of the congregation and its mission in parallel with that of the church itself over the years in question.

In the midst of this period, I recall Fr. Damien Byrne, OP, former master general of the Dominican order, addressing an Irish Spiritan provincial chapter and sharing his experience of the difficulty of effecting institutional change. He added, however, that if those entrusted with leadership maintained a clear focus and a commitment to renewal, while change may not be evident on a year-to-year basis, significant transformation can be brought about in the long term. Cleary’s research shows the veracity of this claim as well as the various factors which, in addition to good leadership, are important if the end is to be achieved: a desire to be faithful to the church; an ability to live with ambiguity; a confidence in the guidance of the Holy Spirit; a self-confidence within the group in its capacity to overcome internal tension, rooted in its memory of surmounting past adversity; a consistent and continuous process of animation and widespread consultation of the membership by those in leadership through the different means of communication at their disposal.

Of particular interest to many will be the author’s detailed historical presentation of the role of the schismatic Mgr. Marcel Lefebvre, superior general of the congregation at the time of Vatican II, and of the ultimate rejection by the congregation as a whole of his intransigence to change. The unprecedented challenge of the 1968 general chapter to Lefebvre’s authority represented a defining moment in the process of renewal and shaped the subsequent movement of the congregation from a highly centralized and hierarchical organization to one based on the principle of subsidiarity and respect for the Holy Spirit working in the life of each individual member. In the words of the author, it was a metamorphosis: from law to Spirit; from missions to Mission; from institutions to Community; from an aggregation of provinces to an International Congregation.

The story of the renewal of the Spiritan congregation in the post-Vatican era reflects a fundamental intuition of its cofounder, Francis Libermann. A convert Jew, he lived, as Martin Buber expressed it, in the consciousness that the proper place for his encounter with God lies in the ever-changing situation of life. Libermann distrusted preestablished systems, rules and regulations that were not open to the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the concrete reality of life. He insisted that the Provisional Rule for his newly founded Society of the Holy Heart of Mary must be open to experience and he had no problem in changing some central elements of its content as soon as he heard God’s voice in a different way in the language spoken by unforeseen situations (Buber, Der Glaube, der Profeten, 104). Implicit in this conviction is the fact that the process of conversion and renewal is always ongoing and that one can never succumb to the temptation to believe that one has finally arrived at the destination. This realization is enshrined in the Spiritan Rule of Life itself which calls for regular review of the reasons that underlie the congregation’s present commitments and a readiness to disengage from existing works in order to respond creatively to the needs of evangelization of our time (SRL 2 and 25).

Written, on the author’s own admission, from the limited viewpoint of an Irish member of the Holy Spirit Congregation drawing on his experience and study of the Anglophone world, I have no doubt that this extensive and well-researched work will appeal to a much wider audience, both in Spiritan circles and beyond. It captures the perennial challenge faced by all religious and missionary congregations who in fidelity to their founding charism and tradition, continuously seek to read and respond to the signs of the times in order to keep up with God’s mission.

V. Rev. Fr. John Fogarty, CSSp

Superior General, Congregation of the Holy Spirit

1. Interculturality, Catholicity and Consecrated Life, Union of Superiors General Assembly, May

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26,

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Acknowledgments

Spiritan Life and Mission since Vatican II is the product of a year’s research conducted at Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The author was invited as Spiritan Scholar in Residence 2016–17 to research the congregation’s program of renewal following the Second Vatican Council. The Scholar program is an initiative of the Center for Spiritan Studies jointly supported by Duquesne University and the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. Its purpose is the development of scholarship in different areas of Spiritan life and mission.

My profound thanks to Fr. James Chukwuma Okoye, CSSp, director of the Center for Spiritan Studies. The work would not have progressed into its present form without his scholarly exactitude bringing order to the author’s ramblings and cohesion to fragmented thoughts. Fr. Okoye’s copy editing of the work made for an easy passage from typed script to printed word. His assistant, Judith O’Brien, provided a warm Irish welcome to the university and ongoing secretarial support that lightened the load. Fr. Brian Cronin, CSSp, not only accompanied the work but also introduced the author to downtown Pittsburgh.

My thanks to the university for this opportunity and for providing an unrivaled ambience for such research. The gracious welcome and continuing interest received from Duquesne University president, Dr. Ken Gormley, and the dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Dr. James Swindal, gave much encouragement. The unfailing courtesy and expertise of the Gumberg Library staff, particularly, Dr. Sara Baron, library director; and the life-saving assistance provided by the university’s computer technical services staff, made for a research without tears. I am grateful to Malachy O’Higgins, Spiritan Mission volunteer, for his translation of Fr. Libermann’s 1846 Memorandum to Propaganda Fide.

Participation in Duquesne’s Division of Mission and Identity and Spiritan Campus Ministry events provided insight into Spiritan mission in action. My thanks to Fr. Raymond French, CSSp, university vice president for mission and identity; Dr. Darlene Weaver, director, Center for Catholic Faith and Culture; and Fr. Dan Walsh, CSSp, campus ministry director, and their colleagues. The invitation to participate in the Theology Department’s World Issues for Theology (WIFT) lectures provided a much-valued sounding board for this research. My thanks to the coordinator, Dr. Devassikutty Madathummuriyil, and its members for their insights and good humor. My gratitude also goes to Dr. Anne Marie Hansen and the Spiritan Lay Associates for engagement and discussion on their experience of the lay Spiritan vocation.

I was privileged to share in the life and prayer of the intercultural Spiritan community at the university’s Trinity Hall. My sincere thanks to its members and particularly Fr. Seán Hogan, CSSp, the community leader, for his constant solicitude. Eva Bosetti and all the staff at Trinity Hall provided me with a home away from home.

Any research requires widespread collaboration, particularly one that covers the life and work of an international group of people over a significant period of time. While this work has one author, it benefited from many sources of inspiration, direction and insight. I wish to express my thanks to those members of the worldwide Spiritan community invited to contribute in a variety of ways. Some rendered valuable assistance in accessing materials: Frs. Huy Dinh, CSSp, USA province archives; Roger Tabard, CSSp, the congregation archives at Chevilly-Larue, Paris; Brian O’Toole, CSSp, and staff of the Irish province Mission Resource and Heritage Center; Jean-Pascal Lombart, CSSp, for putting me in the right direction on one occasion; Anthony Gittins, CSSp, for his timely correspondence. Others provided guidance in the interpretation of the texts studied: Frs. Christopher Burke, CSSp, Brian Cronin, CSSp, Jean Michel Gelmetti, CSSp, Bernard Kelly, CSSp, Don Nesti, CSSp, and Vincent O’Grady, CSSp.

Valuable feedback on different chapters of the work was provided by Lay Spiritan Dr. Anne Marie Hansen and Frs. Paul Coulon, CSSp, Seán de Léis, CSSp, Michael Kilkenny, CSSp, Don Nesti, CSSp, Jude Nnorom, CSSp, Vincent O’Grady, CSSp, Brian O’Toole, CSSp, Patrick J. Ryan, CSSp, Elochukwu Uzukwu, CSSp, and Marc Whelan, CSSp. To these and the many others who shared a memory, gave an opinion, or told a favorite story, my acknowledgment and gratitude.

The publishers, Wipf & Stock, are to be thanked for offering to publish this work. Their assistance and unfailing courtesy throughout the publication process have made it a relatively painless and, indeed, joyful experience. Finally, my appreciation to Very Rev. Fr. John Fogarty, CSSp, Superior General, who, with many demands on his time, graciously and generously agreed to provide the foreword for this work.

List of Abbreviations

AA Apostolicam actuositatem. Vatican II Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity.

AAS Acta Apostolicae Sedis. Official Acts of the Holy See.

AG Ad gentes. Vatican II Decree on the Mission Activity of the Church.

CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly

CCC Catechism of the Catholic Church

CDD Chapter Directives and Decisions of GC XIII

CSSp Congregation of the Holy Spirit

EGC Enlarged General Council

EG Evangelii gaudium. Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis, The Gospel of Joy (2013).

EN Evangelii nuntiandi. Aposotlic Exhortation of Pope Paul VI on Evangelization in the Modern World (1975).

ES Écrits Spirituels. Spiritual writings of Venerable Francis Libermann.

ET Evangelica testificatio. Apostolic Exhortation on the Renewal of Religious Life.

GA Guidelines for Animation. Document of GC XIV.

GB General Bulletin of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit.

GC X General Chapter 10. Paris 1926.

GC XI General Chapter 11. Paris, 1950.

GC XII General Chapter 12. Paris, 1962.

GC XIII General Chapter 13. Rome/Paris, 1968–69.

GC XIV General Chapter 14. Paris, 1974.

GC XV General Chapter 15. Paris, 1980.

GC XVI General Chapter 16. Paris, 1986.

GC XVII General Chapter 17. Itaici, Brazil, 1992.

GC XVIII General Chapter 18. Maynooth, Ireland, 1998.

GC XIX General Chapter 19. Torre d’Aguilha, Portugal, 2004.

GS Gaudium et spes. Vatican II Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World.

I/D Information/Documentation

ITC The International Theological Commission

JPIC Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation

LG Lumen gentium. Vatican II Dogmatic Constitution on the Church.

N.D. Notes et Documents relatifs à la vie et à l’Oeuvre du Vénérable François Marie-Paul Libermann. 16 volumes of the writings of the Congregation’s cofounder, Venerable François-Marie-Paul Libermann.

OMI Oblates of Mary Immaculate

PC Perfectae caritatis. Vatican II Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life.

RD Redemptionis donum. Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic exhortation to Men and Women Religious on their Consecration in the Light of the Mystery of the Redemption (1984).

RM Redemptoris missio. Pope John Paul II’s Encyclical on the Church’s Missionary Mandate (1990).

SCAF South Central African Foundation

SECAM Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar

SEDOS Service of Documentation and Study on Global Mission, Rome

SIST Spiritan International School of Theology, Enugu, Nigeria

SJ Society of Jesus

SL Spiritan Life. Document of GC XV.

SM Society of Mary

SRL Spiritan Rule of Life

TA Torre d’Aguilha. GC XIX document Faithful to the Gift Entrusted to Us.

TS Theological Studies

UR Unitatis redintegratio. Vatican II Decree on Ecumenism.

VC Vita consecrata. Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul II on the Consecrated life and its Mission in the Church and in the World (1996).

WAF West African Foundation

Introduction

The history of any organization has pivotal moments when fundamental choices are made that give shape to its development. Spiritans have known many such moments at local, regional, and congregational level. Times of crisis are part of the Spiritan story providing opportunity for greater fidelity to the Spiritan missionary vocation. The beginning of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (CSSp) in Paris, France, as a community of poor students in 1703 with Claude Poullart des Places, a seminarian, as its founder is an extraordinary story of faith and courage. Its transition in 1734 from an informal residence and school for poor seminarians to a recognized seminary preparing priests for the French colonies put it on the national stage and gave it legal status. Providentially, it survived the French Revolution.

In 1848, Francis Libermann brought his youthful missionary society, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, into the Spiritan fold. His leadership rescued the Spiritan congregation from possible extinction and widened the boundaries of Spiritan mission to embrace the poorest and most abandoned in the world: the freed slaves of the colonies and the peoples of Africa. That missionary thrust propelled the congregation beyond France to many European countries, beginning with Ireland in 1859, in quest of vocations for its missionary work in Africa.

In the 1960s the congregation had reached the pinnacle of its success with some five thousand members, a strong central authority and juridical organization operating within a fixed understanding of religious life and mission. It was strong in numbers and structures, confident of its mission. It was part of a perfect church with divine mandate and infallible doctrine. But all that was about to change.

A growing secularization in Western countries and the wind of change blowing through Africa were signs of the times with which the church and the congregation had to contend. Pope St. John XXIII’s agenda of aggiornamento for the church required a response. Openness to change and engagement with renewal in the church was at first resisted. The election of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre as superior general in 1962 and the general chapter decisions of that year suggest a congregation ill-prepared for the renewal and adaptation that the Second Vatican Council would require from all religious institutes.

Spiritan Life and Mission since Vatican II is a narrative of the congregation’s journey from its pre-Vatican II existence to a congregation renewed in life and mission in the spirit of Vatican II. The story is told from an Irish perspective drawing particularly from the Anglophone experience of the congregation. The ecclesial context is developed through a commentary on Vatican II and subsequent church documents addressing issues of mission and religious life. The research material on which this account is based consists of general chapter documents of the time, deliberations of general councils and the views shared by many Spiritans who made the journey through change to the Spiritan Rule of Life (henceforth SRL) agreed in 1986.

The journey continued beyond 1986 with a consolidation of SRL as it was reflected upon and lived by those for whom it was intended. The congregation’s leadership since 1986 and its general chapters of 1992, 1998 and 2004 are interpreted as milestones in the development of Spiritan life and mission as set out in SRL. They translate into practice how SRL understood Spiritan mission, community living, and religious life. Through living by its rule of life the congregation remains faithful within the church to its founding intention as a missionary religious community dedicated to the evangelization of the poor.

The year 2018 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of that journey of renewal with the extraordinary chapter of 1968 (GC XIII) and offers an opportunity to revisit an important moment in the history of the congregation. With all its inevitable faults and failings, the Spiritan journey of Vatican II fashioned the thinking and language Spiritans use today in their efforts to remain true to the founding vision and charism of their ancestors, particularly Claude Poullart des Places, and Francis Libermann.

Spiritan Life and Mission since Vatican II is a story of the changes involved in leaving aside old ways to take up the new ways required by the Catholic Church. New understandings of Christian holiness and mission grounded in Scripture and in Vatican II’s ecclesiology of communion called for a new way to fulfill the Spiritan missionary vocation. Finding that way was not easy.

Chapter 1—The Spiritan Charism. The rediscovery of the charismatic dimension of the church at Vatican II and of the religious vocation as charism formed the basis for the congregation’s understanding of itself as a Spirit-led community with a charism to be lived in service of the church. Chapter 1 tells the story of the congregation as led by the Spirit from its beginning with Poullart des Places and its consolidation with Francis Libermann. It was that same Spirit which accompanied the congregation through its three hundred years of service celebrated in the Spiritan Year of Jubilee, from 2 February 2002 to Pentecost Sunday 2003. That celebration occasioned an awakening of new energy and enthusiasm in the Spiritan vocation as a gift from God for the church. What the Pharisee, Gamaliel, said of the first Christian community can be applied to the congregation. If it was not of God it would not have survived (Acts 5:34–39). But, as it is of God, it has survived.

A rediscovery of the Spiritan charism sustained the journey of renewal. This was made possible through study of the congregation’s founding purpose, its founders, and its history; a reimagining of Spiritan life lived in apostolic community; and engagement with church teaching on religious life and mission.

Chapter 2—The Spiritan Congregation, Change, and Vatican II. The root and branch renewal required by the council involved a paradigm shift in lifestyle and mission that did not happen automatically or without opposition. As in all organizations, there were those who recognized the need for change more quickly than others. It was a difficult time with more questions than answers. It was a time of risk and letting go of much that was cherished in the old to embrace the new. The choice of Mgr. Marcel Lefebvre as superior general in the very year of the first session of Vatican II seems an incredible decision.

Chapter 2 documents the general chapter that elected him and the different currents of thought operative in a congregation confident of its past, but fearful of its future. Like the proverbial ostrich, it resolved to bury its head in the sand and reject the need for radical change. As the council program of renewal progressed it became increasingly evident that change within the congregation was required. Lefebvre was opposed to this and, as congregational leader, offered only a piecemeal approach to its renewal. This was not enough for a growing number of his French confreres who saw the need to replace him as superior general.

The general chapter held in 1968 was, at first, designated as administrative with the task of updating the congregation’s Rules and Constitutions in the light of Vatican II. Lefebvre’s term of office and that of his council would run until 1974 and he would preside as general at the chapter and oversee the implementation of its decisions.

Chapter 3—The General Chapter of Renewal. Chapter 3 tells of the growing popular movement to make the chapter elective and to ensure a root and branch review of the congregation’s life and mission. A head-on collision with Lefebvre was unavoidable, resulting in his walking away from the congregation that in turn rejected his authoritarian style of leadership and the semi-monastic practices associated with him. The election of Fr. Joseph Lécuyer, CSSp, to succeed him calmed nerves and steadied the chapter which concluded with a strong affirmation of first evangelization as the congregation’s primary purpose.

The general malaise in religious life and ambiguity about missionary work adversely affected the new leadership’s efforts at renewal in the congregation. Different interpretations of Vatican II and of the congregation’s purpose caused divisions and undermined morale. Radical changes in lifestyle and missionary orientation confused some and alienated others, putting the unity of the congregation at risk.

Chapter 4—Continuing the Journey of Renewal. Chapter 4 traces the journey the congregation took in drawing back from the abyss of extinction following the initial period after the 1968 general chapter (GC XIII). This was a confusing, uncertain, and painful time for all concerned. The varying interpretations of Vatican II generated different approaches to the application of its teaching. The general chapter of 1974 (GC XIV) set out to restore unity among the membership through a more inclusive definition of Spiritan mission.

Fr. Frans Timmermans, CSSp, was elected general, and, with his council, engaged in an animation of the membership to facilitate renewal and increased collaboration between provinces. There was a growing appreciation of the international nature of the congregation as it established foundations in its mission districts and sent international teams on mission to new countries. The antidote for the confusion and divisions of the time was new structures of collaboration; new tools of communication among the membership, and serious research into the founders, traditions, and history of the congregation.

GC XV in 1980 reelected Timmermans as superior general and called on all Spiritans to work for justice and peace wherever they were. While acknowledging many obstacles along the path of renewal, the chapter also recognized a great desire to strengthen unity as witnessed by the renewal of community life in many places and a growth in solidarity within the congregation.

Chapter 5—Writing a Rule. The renewal process involved the rewriting of the congregation’s rules and constitutions. This required a congregation-wide consultation which acted as an effective way to engage members in appreciating their life and mission as Spiritans in the light of Vatican II. Chapter 5 charts the process that brought the ad experimentum period to a conclusion. It was a time of consolidation with new confidence engendered by increasing membership and the strengthening of the congregation’s presence in Africa and South America.

The work of consultation concluded with GC XVI and the final text of the Spiritan Rule of Life (SRL) in 1986. It resolved the old polarities between the missionary and religious life dimensions of the Spiritan vocation by uniting them in the one reality of the apostolic life (SRL 3). The congregation now had a rule to guide it in its mission and way of life. GC XVI also elected Fr. Pierre Haas, CSSp, and a general council to lead the congregation for the next six years.

Chapter 6—"From SRL to GC XIX (1968–2004). Decision-making in the congregation was radically changed in 1968. Before that a more hierarchical, top-down system was in place. The central role of general chapters in the organization and life of religious institutes was rediscovered. Spiritan chapters are key moments in the life of the congregation when the membership gathers through representation and acts as the supreme authority in the congregation."

Spiritan general chapters have traditionally started with a state of the congregation report given by the superior general. That report usually sets the chapter’s agenda and, since GC XVI in 1986, has included an overview of world affairs as seen through Spiritan eyes. Chapter 6 gives a summary of how the world was viewed from the Spiritan perspective as reported in 1992, 1998, and 2004. This provides the changing geopolitical and social contexts for the deliberations of GC XVII, XVIII and XIX. The modalities of each general chapter since SRL (GC XVI–XIX) are recounted to demonstrate the importance of these important milestones in the congregation’s journey through time. An outline of their satellite enlarged general council meetings completes the narrative.

Chapter 7—Spiritan Mission. Chapter 7 considers the impact of new evangelization and Pope St. John Paul II’s Redemptoris missio on the congregation’s interpretation of its mission. The tensions associated with dialogue were experienced and shared at GC XVII by confreres working with the Coptic Church in Ethiopia. GC XVII also elected Fr. Pierre Schouver, CSSp, who would go on to serve two terms as superior general (1992–2004).

GC XVIII interpreted mission as going to people to be with them, live with them, walk beside them, listen to them and share our faith with them. Spiritan mission also included peace building, conflict resolution, reconciliation, advocacy for the poor and marginalized of society. GC XIX incorporated the aspect of care for the earth and protection of the environment into the justice, peace, and integrity of creation (JPIC) activities of the congregation. Education as part of Spiritan mission and formation for Spiritan mission are also considered.

Chapter 8—Spiritan Community. Spiritan community is defined by the mission it undertakes. It is a privileged means of practicing the evangelical counsels in the service of the Good News (SRL 28). Spiritans exercise evangelical availability through living in community and committing themselves to its mission. Chapter 8 examines how GC XVIII and GC XIX addressed the challenges associated with living in international and multicultural communities. GC XIX elected Fr. Jean-Paul Hoch, CSSp, as superior general following the new regulation of one nonrenewable term of eight years (2004–2012).

The classification of the congregation as a clerical religious institute is examined. The clerical status of most members was judged an obstacle to community renewal, as it contributed to a two-tiered status of membership. GC XVII and XIX called for the elimination of clericalism and welcomed the lessening of divisions between brothers and priests in the congregation. The Lay Spiritan Associate form of membership has long been acknowledged in the congregation and was recognized as a branch of the Spiritan tree. For that branch to grow it is important to recognize that the Spiritan charism is not the exclusive preserve of professed members.

Chapter 9—Spiritan Religious Life. Chapter 9 locates the Spiritan vocation within the context of a variety of religious vocations. It highlights the distinctive way in which Spiritans live the evangelical counsels in generous self-giving for the sake of the poor they are called to serve. The congregation’s leadership reflected on the Spiritan way of living the vows for the Kingdom as elaborated in SRL. These reflections are summarized in chapter 9.

Chapter 10—The Rediscovery of the Spiritan Charism. The fiftieth anniversary of Vatican II occasioned much debate on how to interpret its significance in the history of the church. Chapter 10 draws parallels between the Spiritan journey of renewal and the interpretation and implementation of the council from its conclusion in 1965 to 2015. A hermeneutic of continuity confirms the council as a moment in the journey of a pilgrim church remaining true to its New Testament beginnings. The Spiritan congregation can similarly interpret the history of its renewal since Vatican II as a journey of radical change made in creative fidelity to its founding charism. GC XIII was the first step taken in that journey of renewal which, arguably, constitutes a third founding event (after Des Places in the eighteenth century and Libermann in the nineteenth century) when the Spiritan identity was rediscovered; the congregation as a worldwide community was realized; and its mission widened to encompass the oikoumene, the whole wide world.

Spiritan Life and Mission since Vatican II can act as an aide memoire for those who have lived through this time of change. For young Spiritans, this account of their recent past tells of the congregation’s transition from its pre-Vatican II form to its current identity, structure, and purpose. For old and young, this history can be read as a narrative of fidelity to divine providence at work among us.

In a letter to a confrere, angry with him because of changes he had made, Fr. Libermann wrote, Until now we have stayed in the path of providence and God alone has been our guide. I was never able to bring to fulfillment a plan that I had conceived on my own. Nonetheless, I have consistently succeeded—as if by magic, though surrounded by problems and annoyances—in every enterprise that was thrust upon us by providence.² May the worldwide congregation of the Holy Spirit continue along the path of providence in service of the missio Dei.

2. Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Spiritan Anthology,

308

.

Chapter

1

The Spiritan Charism

1. Understanding Charism

The Spiritan vocation in its many dimensions—religious and missionary, cleric and lay—was recognized at the time of the congregation’s renewal since Vatican II as a gift to the church given through Fr. Claude François Poullart des Places (1679–1709) and Fr. Francis Libermann (1802–1852) and lived in creative fidelity by generations of Spiritans of different times and circumstances. The Holy Spirit is the giver and sustainer of this gift and it is through discernment of the Spirit that the life and mission of the congregation unfolds.

A scriptural basis for the appreciation of spiritual gifts, charismata, is explored through reference to St. Paul’s conceptualization of charismata in the life of the ekklēsia particularly in 1 Corinthians 12. This is our starting point as the debate at Vatican II on the mystery of the church and its charismatic nature followed Paul’s ordering of the charismatic and hierarchical dimensions of the church.

The subsequent development of church doctrine and law gave direction to religious communities for their renewal. It was within this development that the rediscovery of the Spiritan charism became the catalyst for a new interpretation of Spiritan life and mission.

Charism in St. Paul

Charis (χάρις), translated from Greek to Latin as gratia and in English as grace, has a multivalent use in Christian theology to render several Hebrew concepts about God summarized by three main ideas: condescending love, conciliatory compassion, and absolute fidelity.¹ Grace is a new life and a new way of existence given by God in Jesus Christ and made accessible in history through Christ and the church he founded (Heb 10:20; John 14:6). The church is not an abstraction but part of history as a grace-filled communion of believers and the sacrament of God’s grace at work in the world. Every and all grace is given to the church and for the benefit of the church, to benefit both the individual receiving it and the community.²

Charis (χάρις) is a key concept for St. Paul and occurs 101 times in his writings, twice as frequently as in all the rest of the Christian Scriptures. Paul speaks of charis in an undefined way, to denote the whole range of God’s self-communication understood as totally gratuitous, unmerited, and undeserved. When speaking of grace, and