Religious must revision lifestyle,
shake off inertia to shape content of mission, say superiors.
By Ivan
Fernandes
Hyderabad: Religious must revision their lifestyle, mission and formation
to remain authentic to their calling and relevant to the local Church, say
superiors at the end of the Conference of Religious India (CRI) national
assembly.
“Our missionary thrust will be in the areas of human
rights, human trafficking, and gender equity,” they said in their final
statement that is still in draft stage but made available to ucanews.com.
About 550 Superiors General and provincials of various
congregations ended their Oct 28-31 meeting in Hyderabad with a call to give
consecrated life greater effectiveness.
Consecrated life today stands in need of a
“re-visioning and re-grounding” as its fire is dying out, they said.
On their own working to sustaining this way of life,
the superiors pointed to three aspects of Religious life -- mission, formation
of members and life-style.
As regards to mission, Religious superiors must ensure
that members move out of their “comfort zone,” shake off any “inertia” and
allow the context to shape the content of mission.
“Innovation in mission is a challenge of being a
disciple of Jesus creating a community of prophetic people in order to be close
to the poor,” they said in their statement.
They also promised to “spot, recognize and promote the
spark of innovation” in Religious life and to spare resources and personnel for
an innovative ministry.
In order that this is done, they might even “dare to
close down ministries that are irrelevant in the given context.”
About formation of members, formative structures of
their communities should be defined by particular contexts. However, “formation in mission for the
mission” must continue to be the primary process.
This can be achieved only if members seek to become
disciples of Christ instead of viewing the process as formation within a
profession.
The Religious superiors also said that instead of
imposing restrictions on the use of media, they must educate members in the
right use of media.
Lastly, Religious by their calling must simplify their
lifestyle, keeping in mind their option for the poor. They must also look to “re-visioning”
their lifestyle, ministry and community life in accordance with the charism of
their respective congregation, the delegates said.
As leaders within the Religious group, they must
counteract individualism and emphasize on communion in community life.
Additionally, their efforts must channelize resources
to minister to the pastoral and institutional demands of the local Church.
Father Jyotilal, a provincial of the Indian Missionary
Society who participated in the assembly, said the meeting motivated him to
“bring more life into consecrated life” and gave him a “sense of urgency to
achieve this as part of the Church.”
Sister Tara, another participant said she leaves with
a conviction of collaboration as more and more individuality is giving way to
networking. “The meeting
also instilled in us to improve the quality of our spiritual life,” said the
provincial of the Franciscan Servants of Mary.
Another participant who spoke on conditions of
anonymity pointed out that although the final statement did not take into
consideration issues such as sexual abuse and misuse of powers by
ecclesiastical authorities, the major superiors are aware of these and that
many had in fact discussed it in private sectional meetings within the
assembly.
The CRI has a total of 334 congregations and 822 major
superiors representing more than 125,000 Catholic Religious brothers, priests
and nuns in India. Most
of the schools, hospitals, social service centers and other institutions of the
Catholic Church are managed by this group.
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