Rome 2013
In preparation for
General Chapter XXIII
Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians
table of CONTENTS
Circular of Mother Yvonne
Convocation of General Chapter XXIII
The choice of the Chapter theme
Contributing towards a deeper reflection of the theme
The real world challenges us
A home to be protected and built
In a constantly changing society
The Church a living presence among the people
Young people searching for a home
The call to new evangelisation
Evangelisation as anencounter with Jesus Christ and life witness
Education a privileged channel for evangelisation
Home a place of encounter and invitation
God lives in our home
Mary home of the Living God
The Church, a house of communion open to all people
Valdocco and Mornese: prophetic sources
Communities rooted in the Lord Jesus
A home where one experiences family
A community with a missionary vision
What kind of house is needed to evangelise today?
Relationships as a way of evangelising education
The environment as a place of encounter and mutuality
Together, we respond to deepest needs of young people
Conclusion
Proposed work plan
Outline for reflection on the theme
The Provincial Chapter
Bibliographical references
Timeline in preparation for general chapter xxiii
Norms relating to the Provincial Chapter
Appendix
N. 934
Dear Sisters,
Gathered together as the General Council, for the plenary session and being supported by the prayers of the whole Institute, I come to you to share the process worked out in preparation for General Chapter XXIII. My great desire is that from now on we all set out on the journey towards this event that will affectall our communities and each one of us.
The echo of the Synod on the theme of The New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Christian Faith has reached us and involves us. The grace given to me of participating in it was, for me and for the whole Institute, both a gift and a responsibility.[1]The Synod opened up before us a new horizon of hope, beauty and joy. We experience ourselves Church, called to livea new season of Gospel dynamism and coherence, together with the young people and our educating communities. New witnesses are needed who are courageous and daring, who feel St. Paul’s message burning in their hearts: «Woe to me if I do not proclaim the Gospel!» (1Cor 9,16).
Our Institute was founded to live this mission and in every historic era it questions itself regarding the conditions that make this prophetic proclamation possible and credible.
In the following pages, along with the convocation of the General Chapter, you will find the reflections shared by the Sisters of the General Council on this question that resounds today with a new urgency, asan echo of the Synod and of the Mid-chapter Evaluations.
Convocation of General ChapterXXIII
With this circular letter I officially convoke General Chapter XXIII, according to Art. 138 of the Constitutions.It will begin in our Generalate in Rome on September 22, 2014.
«The Chapter itself is an exceptionally important time for reflection, assessment and guidance in the common search for God’s will» (C 135).
The task of the Chapter is, «to deal with the more important topics related to the life of the Institute in order to be an ever more effective presence in the Church and in the world» (C 136). The election of the Superior General and of the General Councillorsis of particular importance. As Don Bosco wrote when convoking the second General Chapter at Nizza, «the good of the Institute and the glory of God»[2]depends on the election of a good Council and of a wise Superior.
For this reason, let us commit ourselves from now to personal and community prayer for the successful outcome of the forthcoming General Chapter, which will be celebrated towards the end of the journey of preparation for the bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco, and which we entrust to the protection of Mary Our Help and of our Founders.
I have namedSr. Chiara Cazzuolaas the moderator of the Chapter. All documents prepared by the Provincial Chapters should be sent to her.
The General Chapter will be preceded by a spiritual retreat in Mornese. The experience of a more intense listening to the Word of God, of prayer and dialogue with the sources of the
charism, of meeting with Maria Domenica Mazzarello and the first Sisters, will help usto breath the air of home, of the “house of the love of God”, which is the living paradigm of each of our communities.
The choice of the Chapter theme
Let us recall the steps taken to identify the emerging challenges and reach the formulation of the theme for General Chapter CG XXIII: attention to today’s socio-cultural context; reflection on the reality of the Provinces through the visits; listening to what emerged from the Mid-Chapter Evaluations and the proposals of the Interprovincial Conferences, the SPR Province and the communities that depend directly on Mother General; a review of the journey undertaken by the Institute in recent General Chapters (1984-2008); attention to the ecclesial perspective of new evangelisation, starting from the experience of the Assembly of the Synod and of religious life today.
Thus we reached the formulation of the theme of General Chapter XXIII, which I joyfully entrust to the whole Institute:
Being with the young peopletoday, ahome that evangelises,
The theme finds its place within the context of the new evangelisation and of the problems linked to the lack of faith, of relationships, of meaningful points of reference, and ofan environment in which to feel at home.[3]
In our communities, too, the desire is present, as well as the difficulty of giving a more human and evangelical face to our relationships.
Relationship, in the Chapter theme, is considered as the privileged place of evangelisation. In fact communion is the first and irreplaceable witness that we are called togive to the world in a Church that seeks to show itself ever more welcoming, humble, closeto people.[4]
The house/home in the Salesian tradition is a family environment made up of FMA, young people, and the laity. It is an atmosphere of co-responsibility that favours personal growth, strengthens joy, is a space in which to proclaim Jesus and a vocational appeal. It is an experience of communion in the style of the Preventive System that expands horizons of mission to the needs of the Church and the area.
It is important that young people should feel happy and that they are active contributors with us, involved in the evangelising mission, especially among other young people.
Contributing towardsadeeper reflection of the theme
The key to reading the theme is given by our identity as FMA consecrated women, called to witness to the new life of the beatitudes in a community animated by the apostolic spiritof Don Bosco and of Mother Mazzarello, proclaiming Christ to and with the young people in the educational community (cf. C 8).
An indispensable condition for an evangelising educational action is the witness of one who “lives [in communion] the ideals [she] proclaims” (C 68), according to the word of Jesus “Come
and see”: “By this will everyone know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another” (Jn 13:35).
The theme leads us to think about the urgency of allowing ourselves to be evangelised so that our lives may become evangelising, starting from our own coherence, from our style of community relationships, from our option for the poorest. A community evangelises when it witnesses to the presence of God with joy and searches for those who have not experienced God.
The proposal of the theme is therefore in continuitywith the pathways of conversion to love indicated by General Chapter XXII and emphasises the category of encounter, which is a fundamental aspect of the charismatic identity of the FMA and of our mission today.
In order to study the themein depth I propose some reflection that focus on certain elements:
The socio-cultural and ecclesial situation of today that challenges usto renew our responsibility for our charismatic identity.
The demands of the new evangelisation that challenge us as missionary disciples who, in community, proclaim and witness with young people to the joy and beauty of faith and of meeting Christ, whatever our age or the mission entrusted to us.
The word of God and the charismatic sources help usto grasp the prophetic power of this theme. The more the homeis a placethat is saturated with the Gospel, the more itwill involve others and spread the contagion, educate and transform.
From our dialogue with the sources we can highlight the guidelines and challenges that make it possible for us, together with the young people, to be a homethat evangelises.
The aim of General Chapter XXIIIis, in fact, to help the whole Institute and as part of it each FMA and educating community to renew its being and its relating, as a way of evangelizing. In the Constitutions we note that in the articles on community life and on mission these two dimensions are inseparable: the community is a place of evangelisation and evangelisation is the renewing force for the community.
The Chapter reflection can help to re-motivate us in the choice of a style of relationships that is ever more evangelical and Salesian, lived among ourselves, with the laity, in the Salesian Family and in the local Church, open to the area and to other religious congregations.
The theme touches on significant aspects of the family spirit, which is expressed in trust, benevolence, loving kindness, optimism, hope and, at the same time, as co-responsibility, a style of animation in the spiritof co-ordination for communion[5]and the renewed commitment to allow our hearts to be evangelised in order to proclaim Jesus in a credible way.
The challenges we face today at a social and ecclesial levelare an opportunity for usto reflect, to be converted and to evangelise.
THE REAL WORLD CHALLENGES US
God gave us the world as a hometo care for, in which to dwell and to live out significant relationships. In many parts of the world however one sees the lack of a home and a family, the absence of fathers and mothers who, with wisdom, love and balance are capable of showing to young people authentic paths of freedom and of fullness of life and who are witnesses of hope. The difficulties and sufferings that children and young people experience because of the destruction of family ties with all their consequences, the very fact that the existence of the family formed of a father-man and a mother-woman is being questioned, creates disorientation and is a great educational challenge, at a time when secure reference points that would help to build one’s personal identity are lacking.
A home to be protected and built
We note that in this home, which is a world, rich in many scientific-technological conquests, the person is not at the centre. Often it is earnings, profits, individual enrichment that dictate the rules of life together and that cause the injustices that violate fundamental human rights, in spite of the commitment of the many institutions that work for their recognition today. A great gap still exists between the public affirmations of governments and the lack of respect for the person.
The social teaching of the Church offers humanity the key to a Gospel reading of the present situation. It helps every Christian, and us educators, to give an effective contribution to a correct building of social reality, starting, especially, from service to the dignity of human persons and the safeguarding of their rights.[6]
While we welcome these challenges as new calls, we look at the world with hope because we believe that the Lord has conquered death and that His Spirit is working with power in history. The world is, in fact, a creature of God, wounded by evil, but always loved by Him, in which the sowing of the seed can be renewed in order that it may once again be fruitful.
The earth is a gift of God who created it out of love. Today there is a strong call to be converted from being consumers and exploiters to being guardians of creation. It is from within the person that this change of direction must take place, with a great sense of responsibility. Only a human ecology will truly resolve the problems of the environment, to which is linked the present and future of humanity.
In a constantly changing society
Change is a permanent fact in culture and in society today and the speed of innovation, which we constantly witness, generates amazement at the great scientific and technological innovations that are taking place, but it also provokes a good deal of uncertainty and disorientation.
The economic crisis is a widespread phenomenon that is becoming permanent. In a variety of ways itis upsetting the internal balance of society and of states, hitting the weakest, women young people, children, the elderly, creating ever more extensive pockets of poverty and making the lack of a home and of work even more dramatic.
The phenomenon of migration ismotivated especially by the search for better living conditions, as well as by racial and religious discrimination and by wars that uproot whole populations from their land, often affecting the most marginalised in every continent.
Politics,called to promote the common good of the people, suffers from the problems linked to corruption, to individual interests and to the search for personal gain. For this reason young people, often disillusioned in the face of how public affairs are conducted by persons in authority, tend to withdraw ever more from political commitments.
Today we also note how great the challenge of communication is. It influences our way of seeing the human person, with profound repercussions in the area of interpersonal relations.The change that is taking place is, in fact, not just cultural, social and economic. It calls into question the fundamental dimensions of the person, of his/her identity and ways of relating. Online friendships are multiplying and networked links create new environments in which to be together. At the same time relationships are tending to weaken, even at family level, to become distant, hurried and superficial.
Alongside the unmistakeably positive aspects of the culture of communications, there are also new forms of poverty connected with it. Todaythosewho do not possess the means and instruments for getting to know and use the new of communication technologiesare also poor. The lack of knowledge and formation in this culture becomes an elementof discrimination that is added to many others.
How can the virtual generation, the ‘invisible’ generation of the cell phone, the computer and the use of social networks be educated? It is a considerable challenge for us, educators of young people.
Poverty, with its many faces, opens up unheard-of areas for the service of charity. The proclamation of the Gospel commits us as Church to be on the side of the poor and to take their sufferings on ourselves, as Jesus did. A profoundly changed society offers the Church the opportunity and the incentive to re-think its own presence in the world.
The Church a living presence among the people
Fiftyyears after the celebration of the Vatican II Ecumenical Council there is a greater awareness in the Church of being the People of God on a journey, sharing the joys and hopes of humanity. The Church is, “the house of God in which his family dwells”[7], “the home and the school of communion”. [8]
The new law of love, which it proclaims, embraces the whole world and knows no limits, since the salvation of Christ extends « to the utmost bounds of the earth» (Acts 1,8).
This same Church, which is living in a time of new evangelisation and of presence among the people, is going through a periodof great trials because of the wounds inflicted by the fragility and weakness of some of its members, amplified and made more evident by the mass media. Its suffering, however, leads it back to the Paschal Mystery and promises a future of hope.
Humanity is living through a crisis of planetary dimensions, not only at a cultural level, but also at the level of faith. Ecumenical and inter-faith dialogue, built more in living and sharing than in the area of ideas, is a necessary condition for peace in the world and seriouscommitment on the part of Christians and other religious confessions.
In a world, in which every trace of God often seems to be lost, the Church has confidence in the prophetic witness of consecrated persons, men and women who manifest the primacy of God in the following of Christ chaste, poor and obedient, totally given over to the Father and to the proclamation of the Kingdom. Faced with the growing search forpleasure, they offer the witness of chastity, asan expression of a heart that knows the beauty and the price of Love. In the face of the thirst for money, their moderate lifestyle, ready to serve the most needy, reminds people that Godis the true wealth that never fails.In the face of individualism and relativism, which lead people to centre completely on themselves,fraternal life, capable of obediencein co-ordination and co-responsibility, reaffirms that God is the total fulfilment of the person.[9]