Contents

• A word from the Superior general
  
• Saint Michael Garicoïts wrote...
• Lay Spirituality 
  
• Towards the 150^th anniversary
  
• 5 minutes with the Bouar-Niem community - Central Africa
• A History of the General Chapters of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Betharram (7)

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A word of the Superior general

BETHARRAMITE OBEDIENCE

This quotation and the very title of the chapter in the Rule of Life show that obedience is part and parcel of our identity as Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Contemplation and imitation of the obedient Heart of Christ, aflame with the desire to fulfil his Father’s will (art 60) make the originality of the experience of faith not only of St Michael Garicoits but also of all the Betharramites, of today and of all times. They remind us of Jesus obedient, enlivened by the Spirit of his Father at the moment of his conception, and saying: Here I am, my God, I have come to do your will. (Heb 10, 7). To Jesus who says that his will is to look after his Father’s affairs, when his mother asks him: My child, why have you done this to us? (Luke 2, 48-49) To Jesus obedient who, at Gethsemane said: Father, let your will be done, and not mine (Luke 22, 42).  To Jesus obedient to the will of his Father at every moment of his life: Such was the reason for every one of the actions of our Lord Jesus Christ; “My food, he said, is to do the will of him who sent me, and I have only been busy doing as he pleases” (DS 92 – 93).
Obedience is only possible as part of a permanent project of life to renounce one’s own interests and projects so as to accept the interests and projects of the Father for the good of the whole of mankind. Obedience is the opposite of “the ego which has become the end of everything” (R of L 59; DS 83).  Our vocation consists of being freely and responsibly at the service of the mission and knowing how to give up what is our pleasure so as to be pleasing to the Father (Jn 8, 29; R of L 63).  This is how it was with Jesus obedient to his Father, with the obedience of St Michael Garicoits in his dealings with his Bishop, with the obedience of all the Betharramites of all times in their dealings with their lawful superiors.  The secret of the obedience of Jesus is very well put by Benedict XVI when he says:  “His death on the cross is the culmination of that turning of God against himself in which he gives himself in order to raise man up and save him – this is love in its most radical form” (Deus Caritas Est 12).  The authentic Betharramite doesn’t live for himself, but for God to collaborate in his project for the salvation of the whole of mankind.  Through our religious profession we offer our wills as a total sacrifice of ourselves to God, our Father (Art 60).
This is love in its most radical form.  Love and obedience go hand in hand.  St Michael Garicoits talks about the double law: the interior law, the law of love, and the exterior law, the law of obedience. It is the Holy Spirit, Master of the Interior Life, who is wont to engrave the interior law of love on the hearts.  The law of obedience responds to external means: the Rule of Life, the community and orders of superiors.  God, from whom all good things come, requires instruments stripped of everything, particularly stripped of self and totally abandoned in their heart to the action of the Holy Spirit, to the law of love and charity and to the great law of obedience following the example of Our Lord Himself.  (Letters Vol. I. letter 293, pages 128 – 130).
It is only from our own experience of faith in Jesus Christ that we can explain why we renounce the right to independence by cultivating our own projects and our decision freely accepted to make God’s will ours.  United to Christ in the offering of ourselves through love, we become free by renouncing our most lawful desires through fidelity to the community’s mission.  This is how we become really the disciples of Jesus, “advancing with hearts overflowing with a holy joy, in the service of God” (Art 64; DS 156).
From this point of view, a Betharramite is a man of discernment seeking the will of God with his community and superiors.  With the help of his brothers, he applies himself with all his power in accomplishing the will of God expressed for him by the community and apostolic project.  A Betharramite submits with faith to the decisions of his lawful superiors, decisions which are reached according to the governing authorities as expressed in the Rule of Life.  The distinctive feature of the Betharramites is to obey the Pope and the Bishops in whose dioceses there are communities, for the good of the individual, for the celebration of the sacraments and the animation of the pastoral.  Without this obedience of religious to their superiors the congregation cannot take a steady commitment to the local Churches because the Congregation does not know if it will be able to honour these commitments,  
We have been called by the Spirit to reproduce the humility and obedience of Christ. And we have been invited to help each other mutually in being faithful to our charism in community.  The community is where we have the privilege of discerning and accepting God’s will, and of progressing together in the union of spirit and hearts (VC 92; R of L 66). Whenever a religious is called to take a decision which can be asked by obedience, his brothers in community should help him, bearing in mind the communion which joins us to Jesus obedient and to the obedience requested by the Major Superiors as something good both for the religious himself and for the missionary commitment undertaken by the Congregation.
A change of community and mission should be thought of as something good for the religious himself.  If such a change requires a sacrifice from him, it is also a source of new opportunities, a source of personal enrichment and blossoming.  At the heart of the community, the superior is the servant of God for the common good (Rom 13, 4; R of L 67).  The service of superior of the community ought to advance the unity of the community around the fidelity of each one to the charism of St Michael Garicoits. To accomplish this the superior must know, appreciate and stimulate the qualities of each religious; he must encourage creativity and missionary daring, while at the same time warning against excessive activity which could endanger  health, personal balance, spiritual life, the community and even missionary activity.
Like chastity and poverty, obedience confers on the life of Jesus and on that of consecrated souls an eschatological dimension: once our hearts have been freed from the longing for pleasures (art 43), from the attraction for materiel goods and affections, and by sacrificing our freedom today in order to accomplish the will of the Father, we wish to proclaim the day “when everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subject in his turn to the One who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all.”  (1 Cor. 15, 28; R of L 69).

Gaspar Fernández Pérez, SCJ

Saint Michael Garicoïts wrote... 

Duties of Superiors who are not aware of certain rules

If the religious have not been formed thanks to the care, the attention, the good example of Superiors they will never practise virtue, and will only produce brambles and thorns.  If Superiors have no more walls strong enough to withstand the torrent of misdeeds they will react. Superiors ought therefore to have rules and regulations which they must read frequently. The Superior of the Society will, either on his own initiative or through his visitators, impart such knowledge as he deems necessary. In the presence of the local Superior and of the council, they will do a reading of the rules and regulations. They will point out where they are not being observed and the means by which they can be restored. M 336).

Lay Spirituality

LIVING HOPE WITH MARY

On Saturday 26th May it was the monthly meeting of the “Ne Me” Fraternity of the Betharramite laity in Adiapodoume (Ivory Coast).  To begin with the Fraternity focused its reflection on this theme: “Mary, model of Hope”.Here is an extract of the reflection offered by Felicien Valentin and Leontine.

Towards the 150^th anniversary

A PURIFICATION JOURNEY FOR STRENGHTENING OUR UNITY

The 150th anniversary of the death of St Michael (May 14th 2013 - May 14th 2014) is coming up.
Fr. Enrico Frigerio, head of the committee in charge of the preparation of the event, proposes this reflection...

5 minutes with...

... the Bouar-Niem Community - Central Africa

At Christmas 1986 two Betharramite Religious, Fr. Arialdo Urbani and Fr. Antonio Canavesi, were welcomed in the diocese of Bouar-Niem. This is how the adventure of Betharram started in the Central African Republic. Today, 25 years ahead, the 9 religious of this Vicariate are sharing their experience, their expectations and are looking into their future.

Nef: The Community has just celebrated the 25th anniversary of Betharramite presence in Central Africa.  How did this presence happen here in the heart of Africa?
- Our presence here for the past 25 years  in the C.A.R. is the results of a decision taken by the Chapter of the Italian Province in the 1980s when there was an awareness of the need to be more open to the new forms of poverty (see the opening of the Family House at Monte Porzio).  And so it was that Fr Arialdo Urbani as pioneer, and Fr Antonio Canavesi arrived in Niem for Christmas 1986.  Why the C.A.R.?  And why Niem?  Principally because we knew the Bishop of the new diocese, Mgr Armando Gianni.  We want it to be known that the new mission was immediately supported and continues to be supported by a great number of religious from the ex-Province.

What was the aspect of the new mission at the beginning? 
- First of all before our arrival the huge mission territory of Niem was visited from time to time by the Capuchin Fathers but there was no fixed appointment.  The first activity of evangelisation was the formation of catechists capable of supporting the new bush community. The first activity was one of evangelisation. It was immediately understood that a positive response had to be given to the demands of the Church in Central Africa which was stating that education and health care were the absolute priorities to encourage a minimum of human development. This is what explains the opening of village schools (today there are nearly 30 such schools with 4000 pupils learning to read and write thanks to the support of distance adoption).  Next came the dispensary at Niem which today has more than 60 beds.  To this was added in 2010, the St Michael Centre for the care of AIDS patients.

After several years in Niem the community broadened its horizon by being responsible for the Parish of Our Lady of Fatima at Bouar; then recently there was the need for a Betharramite Centre focused on formation and vocations, and responding to the many social needs resulting in the opening of the St Michael Home in Bouar with an annex for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases  (Aids).  What drove you to undertake this new mission?
- We have been in charge of the Parish of Our Lady of Fatima since September 1996 at the request of Mgr Gianni.  Naturally this presence in the city meant that we were confronted with a totally different environment from what we knew in the bush; it helped us to be able to open up to the young who were beginning to knock at our door.  With the passage of time came the need to have a community residence; the St Michael residence was opened in 2010 which allows us to have an area better adapted to welcoming the young, thanks to the new building which was opened this year.
In the St Michael Residence which opened in 2010, the Health Care Unit for AIDS patients was asked for by Mgr Gianni and we gladly accepted to take charge of it.  In the past two years this building has become a national reference, thanks especially to its well equipped laboratory and the collaboration between the Association Il Mosaico in Monte Porzio and two leading hospitals in Italy: the Spallanzani Establishment and the National Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome and the San Raffael Hospital in Milan.  Finally I would like to point out that the running of the Centre is entrusted entirely to Divine Providence, in view of the fact that the care of the patients is entirely free, and that Providence has opened may doors for us, especially the collaboration with the World Bank for AIDS patients.

You are keeping up three residences but only one community:  furthermore it is good to remember that the distance from Niem and Bouar is about 70km. How do you manage to make a community?  Where do you find the time?  How do you manage to organise community meetings and time for your spiritual life?
-That’s a difficult question!  It is not easy to live in a community with three residences and a superior who lives 70 km away from the two most important of these residences. So far we are committed to being faithful to our monthly meetings and not one religious has ever missed the rendez-vous.  We had decided on a monthly spiritual meeting for Advent and Lent; besides the Vicar comes to Bouar every week.  This is obviously not enough. So at a recent visit from the Regional Superior we are now looking at a new organisation of the Vicariate.  Structures can’t do much if we are not determined to live together and to serve together, each according to his possibilities in the Congregation and in the local Church.

What I find astonishing is the importance attached to the commitment at the social level;  at a time of great tensions and “chronic” poverty, the Betharramite religious live out their commitment to evangelisation and human promotion in community – village schools, dispensary, Prevention Centre – These are huge emergencies in the social milieu in which you are living, why? And what are the causes?
- As has already been stated, for some time now the Church in Central Africa has pointed out two priorities: education and health and we have made them ours so as to render the best service to this population.
I must also add that apart from the capital Bangui the Central African state is totally absent.  Consequently, the different churches and especially the Catholic Church together with a few NGOs have decided to provide a minimum of dignity and development to the local population.  Besides the commitment for education and health,  it is the same for  evangelisation.

The General Chapter reminded us that vocations are the responsibility of all the religious.  We are not to be afraid of the young; they are in constant conversion because our witness is ever more coherent and because we have an eye to the future.  Is the community a “challenge” for the young?  And if so, how?
-Accepting the young is always a challenge and even more so in the present context.  Discerning vocations isn’t simple either; we must bear in mind the low level of education of the young who knock at our doors.
Here is what we do to welcome aspirants:  St Michael’s House admits the young for a period of two years before sending them to Ivory Coast.  We encourage self confidence in the young by giving them the opportunity to follow several formation courses – human, religious and biblical.  Naturally we point out the importance of availability for the different community services not forgetting manual tasks.  There is something which impresses the young who live with us, namely our constant commitment to evangelisation and the service of mankind without distinction of race or religious beliefs.  Right now we are preparing a project for the young who will be coming to live with us from next September.  We are always ready to accept the young who are already in formation and who are part of our religious family. 

7. THE 1947 CHAPTER AND CONTRIBUTIONS

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The 1947 Chapter was decisive for the next 60 years. It was there that the subdivision of the Congregation into Provinces was decided. It must be pointed out that the Fathers in Chapter were not asked how the subdivision of the Congregation would be done nor what grouping of nations would be contemplated, quite simply to adopt an automatic decision: namely should this new form of intermediate government be introduced or not.  It fell to the new General Council to put this decision of the Chapter into operation as will be seen later on.
Judging from contributions during the Chapter it would seem that except for a few isolated voices, the Fathers in Chapter were in agreement for the introduction of the subdivision of the Congregation into Provinces.  The reasons for this were mostly as follows:
• Put an end to the “colonial regime” (Labouerie) which had been the Congregation’s way of functioning for too long.  It was a situation which presented Europe as a well spring of vocations in support of works in America and America as “the colony which existed to supply revenues.”
• Put an end to the “export system” which had developed especially after World War I whereby novices and scholastics – American, Italian, English and Spanish were assembled so as to study together and were “obliged to share the same mentality and language and adopt customs which were totally unknown to them”.
• Put an end to an ever creeping nationalism, to a “religious racism” (Labouerie) and to “ the disquiet resulting from the friction between nationalities” (Garcia); on the one hand these tend to upset the balance of community life, embitter minds and hearts, and on the other hand prevents the witness of a genuine religious life.
• Let St Michael’s spirit be embodied in new countries, produce excellent fruits, and be favourable in the development and national organisation...
• Allow a more active animation focused on vocations which should result in an increasing number of new candidates for the Institute.
• Above all allow the rising gene-rations to be better formed respecting their culture, their language and local customs.  “Give us real Betharramites: in England in the English style; in France in the French style; in Italy in the Italian style”  (Suberbielle);  “Trust us, we’ll find you candidates”  (Lyth)  “Betharram is the name of a family for which we must find a depth of life and a development worthy of the great desire of Blessed Michael”  (Del Grande).
• Allow a better financial availability and consequently a better sharing of the income from apostolic activities.
• Respond to the expectations and desires of the grass roots.
The few voices against feared the breakup of the Congregation, the risk of too much autonomy which would encourage “the loosening of the spirit of unity”; they even went so far as to fear the danger of a schism in the Congregation; consequently there were endless discussions with the Chapter Fathers, discussions concerning financial problems which could have repercussions on the whole of the Congregation.

However the Congregation was ready to take this giant step forward and there was no going back on the decision.  The minutes of the voting in the decisive session give these results: “In the secret ballot on the experiment of Provinces, out of 23 voters: 22 voted YES and one blank vote.  In his summing up the Very Reverend Superior General described the unanimity as “a historic vote in the life of the Institute” (bold type in the text) You can almost hear the voice of the Sacred Heart repeating the Duc in altum [launch out into the deep]spoken to St Peter long ago.