Part III:
FUTURE ROADS: SOME PROPOSALS
FOR THE VINCENTIAN GROUPS OF OUR TIME
There
was a time when knowledgeable people (scientists, philosophers, sociologists,
etc.) felt obliged to predict future events. Many years ago,
however, these same people have put aside this tendency. Today
this is only done by some tabloid journalists and editors, but not
by the scientific community. They have learned from the repeated
failings of their predictions: acts which occurred earlier or later
than originally predicted; acts which they predicted with certainty
and that never occurred; acts which surprised everyone and were totally
unforeseen and that were unpredictable. This same phenomenon
has also impacted the physical sciences and especially the social
sciences. For example how many years ago did social scientists
predict the disappearance of religion and even the death of God? Yet
today, both religion and God continue to be very much alive.
Therefore,
despite the title of this section, we are not going to attempt to
predict the future of Vincentian institutions. Rather we hope
that what we say here will enable the different groups to respond
to today’s challenges and the challenges of the near future,
thus aiding the groups in their work of liberating the poor.
Maintain their proper identity in
a secularized world
From
now until the foreseeable future, the world is and will continue
to be a secularized world (in the best sense and the worst sense
of that word). Secularized in the best sense: in general, today’s
world is aware of the autonomy of the human person in relation to
a superior Being: God, gods, spirits, etc. There is a felt
conviction that what occurs in the world, happens because of human
beings. The actual and/or direct intervention of a higher being,
more or less magical, is not even considered. This conviction
is not anti-Christian or post-Christian and is not contrary to the
Christian’s belief in Divine Providence.
Christians
know that God is a Father who is concerned about the well being of
all creatures, especially the human being. They also know that
God does not interfere in the free acts of human beings (except by
helping them with grace). The God of revelation has placed
the earth in the hands of men and women and has exhorted them, as
relatively free persons, to care for creation. We say, “relatively
free persons” because God has revealed to them what he wants
them to do to the earth. Thus, God is not the one who acts,
but rather the human person, endowed with the gift of creativity,
is commanded to care for the earth. John of the Cross said: “Many
times God tells us what should be done but not how it should be done
because ordinarily anything that can be done creatively and with
human understanding, God does not do nor does he tell us how to do
it.”
A
secularized world in the worst sense: human beings often fall into
the temptation of the ancient spirit: You shall be Gods (Genesis 3:5). In this situation people attempt
to carry out their plans with a power that belongs to God alone — they
attempt to build a world according to their own plans without considering
God’s will. In this vision of reality, God has no role.
Vincentians,
who in faith have placed all their hope in God, ought to know that
in their actions, they are autonomous in God’s eyes. God
will not intervene in the process of liberating people who are poor
or do what needs to be done in the world while we, who say we believe
in God, act in an indifferent and/or cowardly way. In other
words, Vincentians can count on the grace of God, for without the
grace of God, what could we possibly do? Yet the concrete plans
for the liberation of the poor and the effective action that is necessary
to realize these plans, must be designed and executed with the
sweat of our brows and the strength of our arms.”
At
the same time, Vincentians must be careful not to confuse things
and fall into the trap of secularism in the worst sense of the word. They
must be aware of the fact that if they ignore God’s will then
all their work to build a better and more just world will be in vain
or even worse, their work will lead humanity into tragedy as seen
by some of the events of the Twentieth Century.
Vincentian
volunteers cannot allow their identity to be diluted by the secularism
of the world in which they live. They must allow this secularism
to move them to work tirelessly for the liberation of the world of
the poor and to deepen their faith and trust in Divine Providence.
Maintain their own identity in a Church
rich in diverse charisms
With
great reason today, theology insists that the Church should focus
on those elements that Christians hold in common than on the elements
that differentiate them. Fundamentally, as Christian, we are
joined together by baptism. This is a decisive act for every
Christian --- Vatican II calls it a radical consecration (Perfectae
Caritatis, 5). Granting
this reality, we can conclude that in the course of history there
have been innumerable ways of living this radical consecration, all
of them, however, have been inspired by the Holy Spirit of the God
of Jesus Christ.
Beginning
with a call, with a call to a specific vocation, Christians live
their baptismal consecration according to the demands, the charism
and the vision of that particular vocation. By living their
lives under the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit, Christians
are faithful to their baptismal promises. It is important that
the different states of life and diverse forms of spirituality maintain
their proper identity within the Church. This identity should
not be maintained out of pride --- a pride that allows a group to
say they are different from all the other. Likewise this identity
should not be maintained because in doing so they enrich the
life of the Church. Rather this identity should be maintained
out of fidelity to the work of the Holy Spirit in the world and in
the Church.
Thus
Vincentians, in order to be faithful to their own charism, ought
to know as best they can, the spirituality, the way of life, indeed
the spirit of those individuals who through the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit brought these groups into existence: Vincent de Paul,
Louise de Marillac, Fredeerick Ozanam. As they remain faithful
to this charism, they in turn make this charism come alive in the
world.
Despite
the general indifference of many Catholics, it is more important
than ever, to remain faithful to our charism. Today as never
before in the history of the Church, there exists a great number
of spiritual movements and a great diversity in their spiritual approach. These
movements include every form of spirituality, from the most “spiritual”,
non-incarnational to the most radical, revolutionary social commitment.
Vincentians
have much to learn from the enthusiasm, the flexibility and the fresh
approach that many of these movements provide. At the same
time there is no reason to ask these movements for new signs for
our own spiritual identity. Vincentian spirituality is a form
of Christian life that is very consistent and capable of leading
people to the highest forms of holiness. Indeed, for almost
three centuries this spirituality has maintained some very well defined
principles.
Before
beginning a discussion about concrete principles that enable us to
design how Vincentians will intervene in today’s world, we
will summarize two points. Every institution, and all the members
who belong to that institution, if they want to be known as true
Vincentian foundations, then they ought to be rooted in two basic
convictions: [1] their Christian condition must be maintained and
valiantly proclaimed in the midst of a secularized world; [2] their
Vincentian condition must be well known and defined in the midst
of a Church that is rich in its diversity of charisms and spiritualities. It
is possible that some of these charisms and spiritualities are incompatible
with the Vincentian vision of reality. Remember Francis de
Sales and his affirmation that the spirituality of the cloister contained
certain essential elements that have no place in the spiritual life
of lay people or diocesan priests.
Present and future roads
All
that is been stated here is an attempt to develop three concrete
points that are intended to nourish our commitment to more effective
work of liberation/evangelization of people who are poor today and
who will be poor in the near future. The three points are as
follows:
1. Formation
plans for Vincentian volunteers
2. Plans
in which volunteers can collaborate with other Vincentian institutions
3. Action
plans for the liberation of people who are poor.
1. Formation plans for Vincentian
volunteers
Every
man and woman, who is born into this world, enters the environment
defenseless, but they are gifted with thousands of abilities that
in the course of their lives can be developed through education. The
most profound developments, that mark people for life, occur during
the first years of their existence and usually take place within
the home. Without doubt the family is a great agent in the
formation of human beings. Afterwards, the boy or girl will
be exposed to other agents: school, the parish, the streets, friends,
different means of communication, society in general. Each
one of these agents will correct or add to, clarify or annul some
important aspects of the initial, basic formation. This process
of progress and change in the formation of the human person will
only come to end at death. For this reason we speak today of
a process of on-going formation.
Vincentian
groups then ought to have a program of on-going formation for their
members. The Vincentian is not born but made. When individuals
make an initial decision to live their life of faith as Vincentians (remember
the conversion of Vincent de Paul to a new life occurred when he
was thirty-six years old), then the group, which they have joined,
ought to foster their growth and progressive formation throughout
the rest of their earthly life. One is never a “perfect” Vincentian — indeed,
regardless of one’s age, there is always room for growth.
Vincentian
groups do not have to form their members as human beings, nor as
Christians, nor as mature and responsible citizens. Other agents
will take care of this. Vincentian groups are only responsible
for the Vincentian formation of their members. It is also true,
however, that a good Vincentian formation will make its members better
men and women, better Christians, and better citizens. But
it will achieve all of this precisely through a formation that is
specifically Vincentian in spirit and style.
Concretely,
every Vincentian group ought to have some program for the Vincentian
formations of its members. There is no reason to exclude from
these programs, themes that directly make reference to human, Christian
or social development. For example, a course on the Bible or
the Gospels that is given to group of Vincentians ought to highlight
those aspects that refer to the liberation and evangelization of
people who are poor, something which would be very easy to do since
both the Old and the New Testament are filled with examples of this
fundamental idea.
Two
questions:
1. Is
there a specific program of Vincentian formation for the group
to which I belong?
2. Does the formation program
orient the group toward a greater understanding of the Vincentian
charism and a more effective liberation of people who are poor?
- Plans in which volunteers
can collaborate with other Vincentian institutions
As
has already been seen, there are many groups that consider themselves
to be inspired by the spiritual experience of Vincent de Paul. Many
of them also consider themselves to be part of what is known today
as the Vincentian Family. It is very natural that they should
see themselves in this light since they all view themselves as spiritual
children of the same father.
It
is most natural for these groups to establish bonds of solidarity,
of mutual support and of collaboration. Each group has and
maintains its own identity, an identity that ought to be faithfully
preserved. Each group also has its own plans. Just as
children in a biological family makes plans each year, so too the
Vincentian groups should plan their work annually. But in this
case the elements that are held in common by the different branches
of the Vincentian Family are more important than the differences
that exist between them. The elements that are held in common
ought to strengthen the bonds of solidarity, mutual support, and
collaboration in formation and work projects. With regards
to formation, the fundamental of all these groups is the same; with
regard to work, they are all dedicated to the vocation of the liberation
of people who are poor.
We
ought to give thanks to the Spirit of the Father of Jesus Christ
for the unequivocal and abundant signs of collaboration that are
seen in practically all the Vincentian groups.
Two
questions:
1. In my particular group is
there a consciousness of belonging to a large, extended, worldwide
family that wants to live its Christian faith from the perspective
of Saint Vincent de Paul’s inspiration?
2. How does my group collaborate
with other Vincentian groups? How could we develop greater
collaboration in the areas of formation and work?
3. Action plans for the liberation
of people who are poor
Many
things can be done to promote the liberation of people who are poor. Praying
for and with people who are poor is very important, even though we
will not talk about this here. We are only going to talk about
work plans.
a. Works of charitable assistance
For
three centuries, Vincentian institutions have been known for their
commitment in providing charitable assistance to countless people. We
remember from our catechism the list of charitable actions: feed
the hungry, clothe the naked, and provide for the foreigner. This
list was based on the words of Jesus at the time of the Final Judgment
(Matthew 25). Basing itself on these words of Jesus, the Church
in every age, and particularly Vincentian institutions, have dedicated
tremendous amounts of human energy and economic resources to alleviate
the many evils that afflict poor people. This work has been
done through what has become known as works of charitable assistance.
This
way of working with poor people has entered a crisis stage and many
questions are raised about its effectiveness. Today charitable
assistance is seen as just that, charitable assistance — which
ultimately solves nothing. It is seen by many as worthless
and it is said that this type of charity is not able to solve the
tremendous problems of the world. In fact, this kind of charity
is seen as prolonging, rather then remedying, the miserable situation
of poor people. Many people say that we must struggle against
injustice and work to change the social structures of the world — structures
that continue to multiply the number of poor people. These
words are not only spoken by people outside the Catholic Church who
criticize the church’s works of charitable assistance, but
this same objection is raised by many voices within the Catholic
Church.
If
Vincentian volunteers believe that they only have to give poor people
some kind of aid to alleviate their suffering then they will not
give credence to this objection. We will speak about this later
on. Because the social structures created by human beings never
seem to be as just as we want them to be and thus ultimately capable
to eliminating poverty, charitable assistance will not only continue
to be necessary, but in many cases, might be the only type of assistance
that is available. For example, people who are dying of hunger
will not be consoled if we tell them to wait a little longer and
soon we will put in place social structures that will eliminate hunger.
Two questions:
1. What
plans for charitable assistance does my group put into practice
on a regular basis?
2. Does our conscience disturb
us at times when we are unable to come to a decision to aid people
in need who live either close to us or who may be removed from
us by a great distance?
b. Works of human promotion
For
more than three centuries, Vincentian institutions have been involved
in this work of human promotion. They have carried on numerous
and very effective programs in many different countries. This
theme of human promotion is very relevant today and will continue
to be discussed in the years ahead.
The
work of human promotion attempts to achieve that which is expressed
in the etymology of the word: to advance those persons who appear
to be in a disadvantageous situation in society. The work of
human promotion embraces all those aspects in which a human being
might be judged as being disadvantaged: health, culture economic
situation, social relations, religion, etc. Through a sustained
effort, human promotion tries to reduce the gap that separates an
individual, or a group of individuals, from the rest of society.
The
work of human promotion involves us in a long and on-going process. The
disadvantages of the outcasts of society are rooted in causes that
are difficult to eliminate. It must also be remembered that
among the disadvantaged there will be differences of opinion as to
the way to achieve greater equality and those who have an advantage
will resist every effort to change the status quo.
There
are many ways to work for the human promotion of people who are poor. The
most common and most effective is education. Without education
poor people will never be able to open the doors that allow them
to leave poverty. The Church understood this reality and as
a result established many educational institutions. Taken as
a whole, these institutions have provided a tremendous service to
humanity, a service that no other institution has been able to provide. During
the last three centuries, Vincentian educational institutions have
played an important in providing this same service to people who
are poor.
Besides
the human promotion that is provided to people through education,
there are many other forms of human promotion that can be applied
to the areas of health, culture, recreation, sports, labor union
formation and education, social relations, etc. We wish here,
however, to highlight one particularly important aspect. We
refer specifically to the opportunities for human promotion in light
of the increasing number of hours of free-time, time that will probably
increase in the future.
This
phenomenon of free time also affects people who are poor, even though
at times in a very tragic way. Frequently people who are poor
have an abundance of free time because they are unable to find any
type of employment. During this period of “forced free-time” we
should look for ways to engage them in activities that will enable
them to live more human lives.
Vincentian
volunteers are also affected by the increased amount of free time. This
time should not be lost in frivolous and costly pastimes that are
promoted by today’s society. Rather this additional time
should allow Vincentian volunteers to dedicate more time to work
that pertains to their Vincentian vocation.
Two
questions
1. Does
my group have in place some plan for human promotion?
2. Putting aside the time I
need for legitimate rest, how do I use my free time? For
whom do I use my free time?
c. Work for justice on behalf
of the poor
This
third way of working for the liberation of the poor can seem like
something very modern, even though it is not. It is as ancient
as the Gospel itself. What else was more important to Jesus than
work for justice on behalf of those who were poor, or those who experienced
the oppressive weight of civil and religious authority, or those
who were exploited by the rich and their unjust civil, religious,
and economic structures? Closer to home, and with a specific
Vincentian orientation, we might ask the following question: what
else was more important to Vincent than his work for justice as seen
by his interventions to make peace a reality in the French Kingdom,
his two petitions to the Prime Minister, Cardinal Mazarin in which
he asked the cardinal to resign so that civil peace could be restored
and the poor people of Paris would no longer suffer hunger. How
else would we classify the assistance, provided by Vincent in organizing
an expedition to free hundreds of slaves in North Africa who were
detained despite international treaties that had been signed by many
nations. Was this a legitimate way to follow and imitate Jesus
Christ? Without doubt it certainly was; that is why people
are canonized saints — because they allow their lives to be
guided and inspired by the spirit of Jesus Christ.
In
a previous section we have stated that in the history of Vincentian
institutions, the active concern for justice for poor people has
never been totally absent. At the same time we must admit that
it has not always been highlighted, as it should. There are
even some among us who still find it difficult to state that the
work for justice is a legitimate Vincentian work. Yet an attentive
reading of the Gospel and a deeper understanding of the principles
that inspired the work of Vincent de Paul should convince them of
the importance of this work for justice.
Yet
if this does not convince them, then let them read the encyclicals
and other official and non-official church documents that teach unambiguously
that work for justice is one of the greatest contributions that a
Christian can make to this world. For through the work for
justice, the world is made more human, a world which toady is submerged
in profound injustices — injustices which have caused massive
poverty and which will continue to increase the number of poor persons
for many years to come. Unfortunately, it is probable that
one is not mistaken in making this prediction for the future.
Therefore,
Vincentian groups ought to integrate into their plans, the promotion
of justice on behalf of people who are poor. We do not wish
to suggest that these groups ought to commit themselves to massive
programs that will change social structures and thus achieve total
justice. Indeed, political parties much more powerful than
our Vincentian institutions, and powerful nations with greater financial
resources than our institutions have been unable to achieve this
utopia of total justice. It would not be bad, however, to attempt
this, if we could do it with some reasonable chance of success.
We
do, however, want to suggest, that Vincentian groups, in addition
to their works of charitable assistance and human promotion, ought
to be open and ready to intervene in unjust situations that are within
their capability to confront. Many times unjust situations
arise and place heavy burdens on the poor. Yet if we confront
these situations with a well thought-out plan of action, we can make
an important contribution to bettering the lot of the poor.
Two
final questions:
1. Am
I convinced that work for justice on behalf of people who are poor
is one of the dimensions of a Vincentian spirituality?
2. Does my group have some experience
or some work project — even a small work project — that
seeks justice for those who are poor?
This study
of Father Jaime Corera describes in depth the fundamental elements
that enable one to be called a Vincentian volunteer. It is
hoped that these elements will enable the Vincentian volunteer
to develop in today’s world, an effective service that betters
the lot of the poor and their place in society.
Throughout
this historical journey, the author unfolds the past, present and
future of Vincentian volunteers, and focuses their attention on
that which is basic: the following of Jesus Christ, evangelizer
of the poor and the person and charism of Vincent de Paul, the
great apostle of the poor and the patron of all charitable institutions.
This work is intended for all those laypersons
that work in Vincentian institutions.
