November 1, 2012: Religious must revise 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
media.
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. CRI , Conference Of Religious India , CRI Meet