Pastoral Letter

July 2015

Would it not be better that we speak of mission?

Some think that in recent years our reflection has focused dangerously on the
eventuality of readjusting our structures and in the Viatorian community, this has been
the main themes of the last decades. Without explicitly stating it, it is suggested that
we are experiencing a period of withdrawal into ourselves when the mission calls are
more important and complex than ever. In fact, the reality of the world our
communities live and work in deserves our full attention and should remain our focal
point.
The many difficult events and so many complex situations that challenge our daily lives
demand the presence of men and women who believe in the Gospel! There is urgency
to offer the Good News as a way to happiness and fulfillment. In many ways, our
contemporaries are asking us to be willing to listen to them and accompany them in
their daily life, without judgment, or infringement, to simply talk to them about the joy
and the rejoicing of living, starting from that which we ourselves are and live. In this
regard, it is true that our attention is held captive by this issue of the internal
adjustment from which we intend to free ourselves as soon as possible, but it is still
very important to stay focused on our mission. Without wishing to dramatize, let me
use this image: when the house is too big for those who live in it, to the point that it is
impersonal, a question should be raised about a home that is desirable and promising,
a home that has, above all, a big door leading to the street that entices one to leave. In
order to take this step, one must feel at ease!
And what about those two priorities we established in the General Chapter of 2012:
the pastoral care of vocations and social justice? Have they become real challenges in
each of our countries, ceasing to be a mere exercise of the general priorities of each
chapter, which could become a simple routine and not have an impact on reality?
A vocation ministry that takes into account the new realities that people live - and
especially the fact of migration, far from being a simple geographical phenomenon, it
affects the daily life of every person struggling to survive in this world. A human being
does not simply migrate from one country to another, or from one continent to

another, but migrates in all dimensions of his being, since our world, its values, its
operation and its challenges have become at the same time something very small (the
global village), it engulfs the entire world, and is very complex and impossible to
address.
What about our openness to a justice, which really touches our hearts and radically
changes our current way of thinking? Yes, justice between us and our world to
question, not so much the way we deliver what we have, when the view with which we
consider others, is the view that marks the limits of brotherhood. These issues and
many others would have to be at the forefront of what should retain our attention,
feeding our reflection and nurturing our life projects. Are we not captives of our
internal organization? It could be! If so, we will correct as soon as possible what needs
to be adjusted, so that our home has an identity capable of strongly putting us back on
the path of the mission!
And yet...
The extraordinary general council, which met in Bogota, last May, has just engaged the
congregation and the entire Viatorian community in an effort to reflect on three major
themes: the state of the Viatorian community, the adaptation of the congregations
structure and the optimal management of material goods. They have set a deadline for
this reflection and the dates of two events: the next meeting of the Viatorian
community (in 2016 near Madrid), and the General Chapter of 2018, which will take
place in the suburbs of Chicago in the United States. I have entitled this section "And
Yet" because, at first glance it gives the impression that we return to our internal
issues, legitimate as they are, and that we drift away from life and its calling which is
the reason behind our commitments to follow Jesus.
The intimate link between the charism we incarnate and the mission, which is the
foundation of any commitment in the name of the gospel, is the key to understanding
this process in which we engage. This charism, gift of the Spirit, has its source in the
promise of Jesus:
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he
shall give you another advocate to be with you forever. The Spirit of truth, whom the
world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he
dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans: I come to you (...)
whoever receives my commands and obeys them, it is he that loves me. And he who
loves me will be loved by my Father; and I will love him and manifest myself to him.
"(John 14: 15-21)

Jesus has promised the presence of his Spirit, the same that dwells within us. This
knowledge keeps us on the path of truth, which is what is at the base of a mandate: a
pathway, a conduit that takes us from God to others, with a transformed heart that we
know the Father desires for his children.
To speak of charism means, first and foremost, being clear about Gods promise and
how it permanently acts upon us through His Spirit. A Spirit that is always attentive to

the reality of the world, acts upon the destiny offered to us by the new alliance and
will render it intelligible Good News for men and women around us. So, to speak of
fidelity to the charism means, above all, giving credit to a present, attentive God, who
operates through his Spirit and speaks the language of our times. At this juncture,
fidelity is perfectly allied with the creative epithet.
God works through His people. Often sending some of His children on special missions.
The Spirit which is always present in the heart of the fundamental vocation of baptism
makes us sons and daughters of God. The Spirit knows how to touch the hearts of
some people to make some special facet of total love" that defines God shine. What
we live in the Church and in the world invites the mystery of God to manifest itself in
many ways, offering us thereby the grace of a necessary, expected and clear presence.
Thus, the Spirit, which is the very heart of God attentive to the reality of the life of His
children, challenges the faith of some in an innovative process that flows from God's
insatiable desire to continue to create together with us. Since the beginning and
throughout history, "God saw that what He was doing was good.
Charism is therefore the same attentive God that speaks through his Spirit, and acts
during history. I repeat: God is watching us closely; His Spirit continues questioning us
and intervening in our history! These elements should be deep convictions for a
community in charge of a charism, an inspired and recognized intuition.
We receive The Gospel to offer it. We should do the same thing with the charisma of a
founder, a moment of grace, a gift of the Spirit. We should accept and offer them with
an attitude of openness and trust in God's plan. The gift of the Spirit is not limited to a
moment in history, but presupposes continuity, in an action that involves careful and
creative fidelity. If not, what we would do is squeeze the charism in our hands and
stifle the creative movement that animates it. We must cultivate a loyalty that can
discern what is necessary at each stage of our history. The Spirit sheds light on the new
circumstances which we live and gives us the security that makes Gods face visible
which he himself has entrusted us to manifest through a special charism.
A community consists of people who know discernment based on a life of intense faith,
in a spirituality that draws on the fundamental elements of the charism received from
its founder and believes that the Spirit works in the important moments of its history.
In the tradition of religious life, the general chapters are moments of highest
discernment and decision regarding fidelity to the Spirit. Fidelity to our responsibility
as the heirs of the charism of the founder requires a wise reading of our reality with
commitment, and at the same time, to direct and set up the way for ourselves. It is not
this or that chapter that counts, but the path laid through time for all of them. For us,
1978, when the General Chapter approved the text of the new constitution and
submitted it to the Vatican authorities, and its further development, especially in
occasion of the general chapters of 1984, 1988, 1994, 2000. 2006 and 2012 should
constitute our "recent history" which invites us now to a deeper insight with regard to
our fidelity to the charism.

As per our current experience of communion of different vocations inspired by the

same charism and committed to the same mission, the Viatorian community has also
been gradually taking steps toward agencies seeking the same fidelity: councils,
provincial assemblies and general assembly. These bodies should also become fully
involved in this process of discernment.
37 years after the General Chapter agreed on a new constitution that had to be
approved by the Holy See, we should consider the impact that Article 5 of the
Constitution has had. "According to a notion dear to our Founder, the Congregation
accepts to associate other people that wish to participate in our mission, our spiritual
life and our community life. "This opening of the Congregation to associate others
came about a few years later (1994) in "the Viatorian community" a meeting place for
people who are recognized rightfully heirs of the charism of the Founder and coresponsible for its development. The Charter says, the Viatorian community, is not just
a collection of Viatorian partners, but something new, a new form of community which
gathers religious and lay vocations that recognize in the complimentarily of their
vocations, dynamic and stimulating elements for each of them. This is a community
that is always working and where the diversity of its members and the search for
communion is at the service of the common discernment of the charism; a charism
always better grasped that allows a higher quality performance of our mission.
Over the years, the experience of dynamic and committed Viatorian communities has
opened new channels and, no doubt, have shaped the face of dynamic charism which
we bear. Moreover, there are still uncertainties and doubts among some religious and
there have been some rejections. Some doubt that we are faithful to the charism of
Father Querbes who became, since 1838, a religious congregation of pontifical right
and, in particular, reject the idea that all the religious members are members by right
of the Viatorian community. Both convictions and the doubts of others have
legitimacy. But we cannot go on like this. The current situation calls us to a process
that must lead us to a deeper reflection, a real discernment. This insight will give birth
to the great events to which I referred earlier: the next General Assembly of 2016 and
the General Chapter of 2018.

Attitudes that express our convictions

At this stage of our progress, there are two elements which I consider important and
which can be crucial to the success of our work: the attitude of listening and freedom
of expression, self-discernment, and the reference to the charism-mission that must
continue to be the focal point of our journey. Without those two elements, we run the
risk of locking in the dynamics of convincing others of our point of view, without
finding an opening to question ourselves. And, furthermore, if the charism-mission is
not the core of research, we forget what is primary: to make visible the mystery of the
love of God, which He has entrusted to us in a charism at the service of the mission we
have to carry out: Proclaiming Jesus Christ and his Gospel and raising communities in
where faith lived, deepened and celebrated.(C.8).

This discernment will not be healthy and fruitful, if it is not sustained by a deeply
intense prayer both at the personal and at the community level, for a prayer motivated
by the search for truth must be expressed through the careful and comprehensive
reading of our recent history.
Taken together, these conditions of actually listening to open and frank expression and
the desire to make room for dialogue that might question us about our community
today, as signs of the Spirit. My brothers of the Extraordinary General Council and I
believe that this exercise will commit us in the coming months to a demanding
reflection, but it will be for the benefit of our fidelity to the inspired intuition of Father
Querbes.
And then?
What will happen next? What will be the outcome of a renewed consensus and the
decisions that will probably have to be made? I am convinced that new perspectives
will emerge and that the whole process will provide, if necessary, corrections, so that
the two branches that feed the common trunk of the Viatorian charism may continue
to produce the sap that will renew and empower us in our mission. Thus, the essential
confluence between the two entities that are the Congregation and the Viatorian
Community will be clarified and adapted, as well as the conditions and ways of
belonging to the one and the other.
Must one go right now and knock on the door of the Congregation for the Institutes of
Consecrated Life and Societies (ClIVCSVA)? Personally I think not. They have also held
recent general chapters. If for some, the experience has gone on long enough and
consultation is imposed on the Vatican, it seems to me more urgent that an evaluation
is made among us, and after discernment, we can reformulate a consensus on our
experience. And, the day will come when it will seem important to recognize that this
and other subsequent consensus is established. Then we will be equipped and
prepared to go to the Vatican. Official recognition would be meaningless if it is not the
answer to a gesture backed by a long communion between us. And I do not think that
this is the current situation?

Let us Read the story again in both directions ...

It is clear that to know where we want to go, it is important to know from where we
come. Therefore, it is a priority to read a history that begins at the genesis and reaches
the current situation. Is that enough? Certainly not! We have to complete it through
another historical perspective, which is as important as the first because starting from
the current reality will offer us clues to assess the progress made and the milestones
that have been planted throughout our history. It's another way to get back to basics.
But this reading is, however, very different since it is based on understanding the
reasons and conditions that led to it. Grace is involved in all of this. The grace to which
undoubtedly the charism refers to: the Spirit always gives meaning to what we
experience and that we continually are replaced in a story that is beyond us.

Brothers and sisters, let's go with courage into this exercise of faith that involves the
pursuit of fidelity. And let's do it with confidence and pride, determination and
openness! The joy, that makes Pope Francis a prophet, must grab our heart because it
must accompany us throughout the process.

May Father Querbes watch over us!

Alain Ambeaut, csv

Superior General