LOOKING TO THE FUTURE WITH HOPE: LET US SING AS WE GO!
Christian Brothers Assembly LaSalle University July 12, 2015
I am delighted to be here. Serving on the Lasallian Education Council for the last five years has been a gift to me, and this is one more opportunity to experience the Lasallian charism and to visit one of your ministry sites. Over the years I have had the privilege of interacting with many congregations of women and men, and each one adds to my appreciation of the gift of consecrated life, with its rich variety. In fact my first experience of your community was with your brothers in Bacolod City in the Philippines, during Holy Week in 2002. Brother Armin was the visitor and Brother Edmundo Fernandez (Dodo) the local director. (I also stayed at your Generalate in Rome, during my service on the UISG.)
But that was then, and here we are now, looking to the future with hope. Let me say a word about the title I’ve chosen. Near the end of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment, On Care for Our Common Home, after 93 pages detailing all of the scientific and political and moral and cultural problems that threaten our environment, and the challenges before us in making a response, he says, “Let us sing as we go!” This to me epitomizes the spirit of this papacy. Our leader is a man who understands all of the pain and suffering in our world—not only the ecological disaster, but also the refugee crisis, war and terrorism, violence, hunger and disease, and yet his words resonate with joy. And so should ours! (The titles of two of his principal writings so far include the word ‘joy’: The Joy of the Gospel and the Joy of Love.)
What kind of songs will we sing? Not dirges or laments, but songs of joy. The kind that stirs your heart and gets your foot to tapping. Think of your old school song, of our national anthem, of favorite hymns and folk songs, and even some advertising jingles that bring an instant recognition. We might say that the psalmists taught us to sing. How often have we prayed in Ps. 65:
Shout joyfully to God, all you on earth; sing of his glorious name; give him glorious praise.
Say to God: “How awesome your deeds! Before your great strength your enemies cringe.
All on earth fall in worship before you; they sing of you, sing of your name!”
Furthermore, ours should be travel songs, helping us keep in step and move in a common direction.
Where are we going, and what are we carrying with us? Inexorably we are moving into the future, toward a goal we cannot yet see, but which has been promised to us by Jesus Christ: “Everyone who has given up houses or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life.” (Mt. 19:29) Well, that’s nice, but I assume we’d like some intelligence on what’s between here and there.
We know what we’ve left behind. We’ve all lost friends to death; religious life has lost a certain prestige; and we have lost ministerial presence in many places. We have also left behind outmoded customs and practices that distanced us from the laity and contributed to a certain immaturity among us. Now and then when we’re tempted to look back with nostalgia (a word that means ‘selective memory,’) we want to recall that some of what was discarded along the way freed us up and made us stronger and more apostolically available.
There have been numerous signposts along the path toward that elusive future. The Second Vatican Council significantly altered our way of traveling. The Synod on Consecrated Life, and the ensuing apostolic exhortation, Vita Consecrata, verified the direction and gave us new encouragement. Your Assemblies have been very significant signposts, and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life published a first-ever statement on the “Identity and Mission of the Religious Brother in the Church.” Furthermore, the recent Year of Consecrated Life has given us encouraging support. We can think of all of these events and communications as signposts pointing toward the future. Or we could think of them as service stops along the way: places to refresh and refuel.
Furthermore, your Institute’s 45th General Chapter articulated six compelling propositions and the General Council has translated them into corresponding goals and strategies. I won’t review them, since I am sure you have had ample opportunity to read and discuss them. You are not wandering without guidance or encouragement, but traveling with purpose and, hopefully, singing as you go.
What are some of the learnings along the way? This is where I would like to focus on several learnings that are part of the treasure you carry as you go forward. You know what you have left behind. What are the treasures you carry forward, that will shape your future, and that you will bequeath to future generations? (What is in your knapsack?)
The first is a deep and growing Lasallian Tradition of spirituality and mission. Although I have been privileged to read many of your publications over the years, there is nothing I can say to this audience which you haven’t heard—and lived—over the years. But the point I want to make is that Tradition is a living memory which grows each day. It is a power of development as well as preservation. ‘Tradition’ (capital ‘T’) is different from ‘traditions.’ The latter are all of the many stories and practice and customs which embody the Tradition itself. To some extent they are time bound. The way you organize yourselves and your ministries, even some of the details of your prayer, change over time. But the passion for your mission, the desire to adapt it to new needs, the willingness to adapt your lifestyle to new circumstances—these emanate from the Tradition itself and shape its ongoing development. Tradition is a kind of energy or power which enables change while preserving fidelity to the founding charism. For almost 400 years the Tradition begun by St. John Baptist de La Salle has attracted and inspired men to leave all and to follow Christ in the service of youth, especially those who are poor. His compelling vision and his practical strategies fit the needs of his day. The vision is even more relevant today, and you are adept at creating new strategies suitable for today’s needs. This is Tradition in action, a treasure you carry.
The second treasure is new insight into the meaning of a global church and the necessary infrastructure to support it. In his apostolic exhortation on The Joy of the Gospel, as a follow-up and response to the Synod on Evangelization, Pope Francis describes a worldwide church, open to all. He says, “We would not do justice to the logic of the incarnation if we thought of Christianity as mono-cultural and monotonous. While it is true that some cultures have been closely associated with the preaching of the Gospel and the development of Christian thought, the revealed message is not identified with any of them; its content is transcultural.” (#117) Further, he adds, “We cannot demand that peoples of every continent, in expressing their Christian faith, imitate modes of expression which European nations developed at a particular moment of their history, because the faith cannot be constricted to the limits of understanding and expression of any one culture. . . . no single culture can exhaust the mystery of our redemption in Christ.” (#118)
It seems to me that your congregation, located in 82 countries, in a trusting relationship with youth, has a preeminent role in encouraging the enculturation of the faith. This is a task which will never be completed, but which grows in relevance with each year. The unprecedented migration of peoples today, fleeing violence and poverty, leads to intersections of cultures which are sometimes quite conflictual. How do you maintain an evangelizing presence in their midst? How do you prepare youth to live in this world, and in this church, which is transcultural? You have the experience and the means to lead the way. I am aware that this District serves Eastern North America, with a footprint in two nations. However, your ministries extend to persons who speak many languages, from many lands. Also, you have twinning relationships with Lasallian schools in Africa. How does your cultural sensitivity enable your mission? You have experience and learnings to contribute to this new challenge.
Another treasure you carry with you on your journey into the future is your preferential option for the poor. I’m sure it is music to your ears to read some of Pope Francis’ comments on this, as well as to observe his example of “going first to the poor.” Today and always, he says, “the poor are the privileged recipients of the Gospel.” (EG 48) In passages which I’m sure you’ve read, he speaks of unjust social structures and of an economy of exclusion and inequality. (53) A new mindset is what is needed, a willingness to be evangelized by those who are poor. (188, 198) And he adds, “the worst discrimination is a lack of spiritual care.” (200) This is a message which has a wide bearing in your schools. Whether the students come from an economically fortunate stratum of society or from the less fortunate, all are equally valued, challenged, and assisted to grow. Last year I had the good fortune to visit La Salle Academy here in Philadelphia, where Sr. Jeanne McGowan is president. Students whose families pay $200/yr. tuition are receiving advantages that students whose families pay more than ten times that expect. As we visited the eighth grade, each one stood at attention when Sr. Jeanne introduced me. Then she asked how many knew where they were going to high school. Every hand went up. . . . Add to that De La Salle Vocational, where fellow LEC member Charles “Skip” Gaus is the Director. Or the wonderful center Brother Florant showed us in Montreal where young people have an array of after school programs to choose from. Your commitment to the economically and culturally deprived is relevant, creative, and ongoing.
Still another treasure which you carry with you into the future is your relationship to the laity. Some of us remember when virtually every classroom was staffed by a religious sister or a brother. Those days are long gone! Religious are few and far between in most of our schools. We can regard this as a loss—and of course in some ways it is—but we can also regard it as a gain. The game-changer was the universal call to holiness articulated in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church at Vatican II. Suddenly everyone was called to a life of perfection.
The first thing that became apparent as a result of this challenge was the declining number of new entrants into our congregations and the departure of many, as they concluded they could pursue holiness in the secular life. (Of course this is an over-simplification of a very complicated story, but the new interpretation of the lay vocation was at least one of the factors.) Now—and this is one of the unanticipated results of the change in our demographics—we religious played an indispensable role in drawing the laity into their new role. How many of your trustees, teachers, administrators have had their faith deepened by participation in local, national, and international formation experiences? Buttimer, Heuther, the John Johnston Institute, the Social Justice Institute—the overwhelming number of participants are lay persons. How many of them speak of their work in one of your schools or agencies` as a vocation, rather than a job? Add to this list the Lasallian Volunteers and the international Young Lasallians, as well as local and regional groups of all kinds, associated for mission. Truly a great cloud of witnesses!
All of this is part of your far-reaching vision of a Lasallian Family. One of the first documents I read when I became part of LEC was Circular 461, “Associated for the Lasallian Mission . . . an act of HOPE,” published in 2010. It was a response to the General Chapter’s call to construct a possible model of a Lasallian Family. Data from over forty Districts was analyzed in an effort to understand the opportunities and challenges inherent in the concept. Experiences differed widely—one more indication of your global reach. Again, I won’t summarize a document with which you are all very familiar. Let me just say that I find the observations and conclusions exceedingly wise and future-oriented. “Serving together and by association” is an ideal that draws people from all walks of life. At the heart of Lasallian association are the Brothers whose commitment is a specific and unique gift to the Church. As the Circular says, “If there is to be ‘co-responsibility’ for the Mission, than both parts are essential, Brothers and laity.” (5:19) “No Lasallian is to be considered a ‘second-class citizen’ in the family.” (5:20) Let me say that this vision of shared commitment is an enduring testimony to the inspiration of St. John Baptist de la Salle and an ever-expanding energy source for today’s church and world. It’s part of what you carry, as you journey into the future.
The last gift you bear into the future is the steady guidance of the Holy Spirit. We all tend to romanticize the past. We all have stories of saintly founders and wonderful pioneer members whom we remember with admiration. I always like to recall that the first Sisters of Mercy who came to the United States (to Pittsburgh in 1842) came with one-way tickets. There was no going back, and communication with the Old Country was slow and difficult. I’m sure your Brothers who first came to Montreal in 1837 had no more guarantee than did our early Sisters. Then we recall the generations who built all of the colleges and universities and schools that bear the name of LaSalle today. At times those Brothers didn’t know how they would meet their bills or even where their next meal was coming from. They didn’t foresee today’s ease of global travel, or the internet, or even Vatican II. And still they soldiered on. The point is that we don’t get to choose our time. This is our one and only now. And God’s grace is no less available to us than it was to our forebears.