16 March 1996

After the first passage of the Chapter themes in the assembly

[270]

Summing up at the end of this week, I emphasize three sets of items:

1. Points realized during the week:

1.1 The setting out of the six parts into which the theme has been split up. This means that the commissions now have their method for working, as the individual spokesmen have explained in the assembly, and have understood the specific objectives of each part so as to make a good selection of the contents. The commissions now have a detailed panoramic view of their own theme, and hence a sufficiently clear vision of points that are clear and of others which appear problematic. Consequently they will be able to stimulate discussion on the points which have need of it and thus evaluate the contributions they receive.

1.2 The presentation in the assembly of the six parts of the theme; this has enabled us to get an idea of the work as a whole. Each part has been presented sufficiently clearly to enable the capitulars to study it with profit, without conditioning the assembly. There was more than sufficient time for an attentive reading before the discussion took place, especially if we keep in mind the parts that will be discussed after the week of discernment. Each one is getting an idea of the material as a whole.


1.3 The discussion 'per partes' of the schema of the first commission. We had the opportunity of listening tranquilly to each others views and also to begin to foresee the make-up of each part and the content of the whole schema.

At this point too we must begin to verify what we are trying to do. It is a common phenomenon to demand a final document which is very brief but must contain everything, so that (as one humorist put it) we want shoes that are small outside but big inside. We begin to see also that concordance must be brought about, and hence the usefulness of the passage of parts from one commission to another to which reference was made in our early days. We hope we shall finish up in this way with the picturesque country fair that came to mind when we first heard the expression, and that we do not have the kind of difficulties that followed Maastricht.

1.4 As far as the questions about the Constitutions and Regulations are concerned, with the work of the seventh commission we have practically defined, with the final vote, the matter of the limitation to the duration of Councillors in the same office, and the assigning to a single Councillor the sectors corresponding to the Salesian Family and to Social Communication. The work of distributing the provinces among various Regions is well advanced and we hope that the conclusion will give satisfaction (at least relatively) to all, and will be of help to the Rector Major and his Council in the coming six years. Again for the Regions, as in the case of the Departments, it must be said that after examining them one by one, we shall have to consider the way government applies to them as a whole, so as to be able to animate all of them more easily and throw light on the overall problems. Since there is a further discussion still to come, this is a point that could be considered.

[271]

2. In addition to the items that have been realized, a certain maturing is evident in the assembly, and I emphasize five indications of the progress we have made in this line.

2.1 There is a greater clarity about the role of each one, and hence in the manner of fulfilling it adequately. It is the assembly that decides, and today we have experienced the importance of the final vote, because by a single vote a certain deliberation has been adopted. The moment of decision is typical of the assembly, since it is also the response in conscience to the soundings made through the straw votes; it is typical because it is one of the moments when the assembly expresses itself as a body. The decision of the assembly is prepared by the work in commission, by the discussion, by the soundings of opinions; each one has learned to intervene at the appropriate moment to avoid bewailing the fact that he had not inserted what he wanted to say.

2.2 Together with greater clarity about the role of each one, there is an awareness of the relationship between commission and assembly. The commission has the task of reordering the material, to offer and clarify motivations for the various hypotheses and to explain the reasons for its own choice. Without doubt this has an influence on the assembly, but no one should allow himself to be conditioned by it; rather he must let himself be enlightened, but in soundings and voting the decision is always in his own hands. The mediator of this relationship between commission and assembly is the commission's spokesman, and we thank all the spokesmen we have heard for their efforts at clarity, synthesis and adherence to what the commission wants expressed. The spokesman does not speak in his own name, but brings to the assembly what the commission has said and expressed.

2.3 There is a process of common assimilation of themes, of problematic points, of foundations of our reflection; this assimilation is the result of the linkage that exists between the different passages of a theme. Thanks be to God that our assembly does not carry on a dialogue between deaf people. And so we prepare also to communicate in a mature manner our course of formation to the confreres. This material, which goes through the assembly and is assimilated by all in its totality, will later be passed on to the confreres, perhaps to a greater extent than what is written in the official documents.

2.4 Also developing is a healthy balance between deeper doctrinal analysis and operative concreteness. At the beginning of the Chapter we seemed to detect in some of the exchanges a certain doctrinal allergy, perhaps justified to some extent, but it is being replaced by the conviction that without motivations, rooted in the fundamental realities of our life and Christian experience, we cannot move forward, and still less can all our 1,700 communities move forward together. My experience is that there has never been any pastoral and spiritual progress without a corresponding deepening of faith in a doctrinal sense, a return to the truth of the Church, a return to the truth of Christ, a return to the truth of faith; and so if we are to move forward together we must combine doctrinal depth with spiritual life and pastoral practice. I say "to move forward together" because, while action varies with places and groups, there is need for a shared frame of reference to ensure that the different actions and activities are carried out in the same orientation.

2.5 I think that there is a greater understanding of the problems, which at the beginning may have been outside the knowledge of the majority of the members of this assembly; the limitation on the duration in office, for example, gave rise to some interesting deeper thought about the figure of the Rector Major; the discussion on the Regions prompted some interesting information about the Regionals and problems of government. And one could give other examples too.

[272]

3. Some final comments concern the community. Let us give them a quick glance. I feel that at community level too we are making progress.

The overall vision and intercultural sensitivity is becoming consolidated. It is acquiring consistency through daily encounters, the fraternal evenings we experience, and the 'good nights' we hear.

Gaining in strength also is the desire for continuity between our work and what was done by the GC23, as we see the lay aggregation that is possible with us: it is true that the mission does not coincide with the works, but it is also true that the Salesian mission always requires a visible operative setting around which those invisible circles are formed which live a kind of spiritual adherence; an operative setting is not a work in the formal sense, but it can cover a wide area. We can dream of the day when the Salesians will put a communications satellite in orbit, with a team to use it. We shall not have a work in the traditional sense, but our working space will include wherever communication reaches. Our form of aggregation, as can be seen from the way the Oratory began, is rather different from that of some ecclesial movements: it allows for spiritual adherence, but the visible and stimulating centre, through which God calls in the first instance, for the building of other circles is the working space where the mission is embodied and rendered visible. The continuity between this Chapter and the preceding one, which emphasized the journey of young people to the faith rests in this linkage: the breadth of the mission and the significant force of the working space.

The union of the community and its intercultural aspect are realized to an ever greater extent in times of common prayer, especially when such moments are characterized by some sign which touches us deeply, as for instance our visit to the tomb of Fr. Vigaṇ at the Catacombs or some particular moments of our community celebrations.

And so we are approaching in a sufficiently well prepared manner the important week of discernment, which we place under the protection of Mary Help of Christians.