XXII Capitulum Generale scj

It is my pleasure to welcome you personally and fraternally at the outset of this inaugural session of the XXII° General Chapter of the congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

You have come from everywhere in the congregation, not merely as legal representatives of your respective entities, but as bearers of the vitality that is found in the SCJ communities throughout the world, each with their problems and successes, their hopes and challenges. My great wish is that our chapter assembly will be, before all else, a fraternal environment of mutual welcome and acceptance in the communication of and attentiveness to this vitality which is derived from the Spirit who reveals Himself in the various tongues and cultures in which our members live.

Our openness to the heart of God and to our brothers will give birth to a reflective and discerning attitude which must characterize our efforts over the next four weeks so that we can understand the living reality of our congregation in its various components and discover God’s will for how we are to live and act within today’s Church and world.

As ‘ordinary’ chapter, our gathering has three principal duties: a) to examine the state of the congregation; b) to elect a new administration for the next six years; c) to treat the important aspects of congregational life and mission; all this is established by Chapter Rule in n° 51 (cf. CIC 631).

Analysis of the state of the congregation begins with the reports from the Superior General and the General Treasurer and will be completed by various reports from several organisms in the General Curia (Center of Dehonian Studies, Postulator, International College) and by reports from the various entities.

Selection of members for the next General Administration is an important moment for the Chapter and for the congregation. We will prepare for it by a special day of prayer and recollection in an atmosphere of discernment according to the Holy Spirit.

In its preparations for the Chapter, the Preparatory Commission organized the third part of our activity according to the reflections made throughout the congregation which led to an “Instrumentum Laboris” for the Chapter. The unifying theme for this process of discernment by the entire congregation was proposed by the Major Superiors at their meeting in 2007 and took shape in the Commission according to the spirit of the ‘Year of St. Paul’ which we are celebrating in communion with the church. We are called to a fraternal following of Christ and his mission: The love of Christ urges us on (2 Cor. 5:14): Our encounter with Christ unites us to declare it to the world.. May this invitation from the Apostle to the Nations find its way into our hearts and minds so that it becomes the center of our oneness, the motivation and guide for our decisions.

Among the topics we must deal with is an important juridical segment designed to make some adaptations to our Rule of Life according to new situations found in the congregation. These imply some minor changes to the constitutions, a substantial revision of the General Directory, and a definitive approbation of the Norms for Administration of Goods (NAB). Effort of this kind requires patience and attentiveness. We shall attempt to achieve this by making use of a suitable methodology, always mindful of its importance for the unity of the entire congregation.

Chapters are never purely administrative, i.e., intended to satisfy institutional norms, but they require, among other things, a faithful attentiveness to God’s design for us and to our traditions, and also to the signs of the times in which we live so that we are able to respond to the challenges before us. We are called to be aware of the times we live in – which include a big reduction in the energies of our entities which were the engines of the congregation – and evidence of new developments in other parts of the world. These, in fact, require us to face a cultural diversification which had no equivalent in our previous history and entirely new challenges in the world that require a change in our thinking at both the individual and institutional level.

Our world, too, is experiencing a tidal wave of changes that questions every culture and strategy based on our past and that requires new thinking about mindsets that have been around for millenia. Think about our responsibility for ecological problems which are upsetting current models of civilizations and development; about the global scope of terrorism and wars; about the planetary effects of financial meltdowns and contagious diseases. But we must also think about the immense possibilities that were unthinkable before: the emergence of new socio-political powers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America which may help do justice to the forgotten majority of humankind; to the precipitous climb in technological and scientific developments that may solve so many problems; to the growth of a new conscience among so many people of good will who, in the diversity of their beliefs and cultures, are looking for ways of dignity, justice, and peace for the entire world.

One inevitable truth seems to be present in all this: local problems are becoming almost universal and require global solutions and those societies that were more self-sufficient are afflicted by their own successes and now suffer from the problems of the smaller societies they wanted to forget.

This is the world in which our Chapter is taking place. We have retreated to this small hillock on which the Generalate is found to pray, reflect, share among ourselves; however we do not wish to lose sight of the reality in which our brothers, our church, our world, exist. As Fr. Dehon teaches us, we want to consider all these actualities together through the wisdom which is Gospel-born, SCJ tradition-born and born of the Spirit who is active among us. From Paul, whom we celebrate this year in a special way, we wish to acquire a passion for Christ, a profound care for unity in the cultural diversity of the Church, a vision of the universal Gospel mission to take to every culture and nation.

May Mary, mother of the Church, who was present to the apostles up to the coming of the Holy Spirit, be the inspiration of our fraternal disposition and the free and readily available search for the will of God in this tiny part of his church which is our congregation.

Without engaging in lengthy individual recognition, I want to express gratitude and appreciation for all those who have worked to make this meeting possible right at the start and in the name of the entire General Administration: the preparatory commission, the juridical and liturgical commissions, the General Secretary and his helpers; those who have a role of service to the Chapter (moderators, secretaries, journalists…); the community of Rome II which provides hospitality and daily service; the personnel of the Generalate and Villa Aurelia who are the personifications of hospitality; our dear translators, who, under the direction of Ms. Kathleen Elslander, are completing 30years of precious assistance to the congregation. Speaking of translations, I want to particularly mention those members and others who have contributed to the translation and correction of texts in a variety of languages, requiring great personal effort and generosity. May the good will and the work of so many brothers and sisters contribute toward making the fruits of our work greatly evident.