Passionist International Bulletin

10
The Curia Informs
future.” This allows for the emergence of different
approaches and formulations of this reality, the
diversity of languages and a persistent effort to
“divest” oneself of one’s local reality which is necessary
for reflecting upon wider horizons and perspectives.
There was agreement on general objective
of the witness of unity of life and of the
Memoria Passionis and the urgency to involve all of
the religious so that they become mindful of the
issue of restructuring as an opportunity that invites
them to be protagonists.
At this point the Assembly was enriched by the
intervention of Fr. Gianfranco Casagrande, an
Augustinian religious, who was a key figure in the
process of unification of the seven Italian provinces
of his Order. This process was begun in 1983 and
lasted for several years and was completed only several
years ago. He spoke about the fundamental element
that put the process of restructuring in motion
which is the awareness of being a great Family at the
service of the Church in order to announce the Good
News. The provincial structures were relative,
“instrumental” in the service of the Gospel and of the
Church. The desire to renew this mandate of the
Order at the present time implied a process of renewal
and of conversion that was both existential and
institutional. This fundamental objective of restructuring
continually needed to be re-formulated and to
be programmed so as not to leave the questions
hanging, while respectfully, acknowledging ties to
the past, to the history of the individual Provinces, to
preset-day institutions, to the individual presence in
that area. He invited us to realize the truly urgent
nature of restructuring, which is the qualifying element
of religious life, to open ourselves to the horizon
of the Congregation the true body to which we
belong, more than to the individual provinces, and to
promote a dynamic of listening, of challenge and of
co-responsibility freed of every form of self-sufficiency
and from every territorial and institution
autonomy.
The final phase of the Assembly had as its objective
arriving at “a consensus as to a common plan.”
Fr. Pierluigi Nava wisely guided us to a clarification
and a contextualization of the possible path to be
taken that would take into consideration time elements
that were not yet quantifiable or identifiable.
The road could be summarized and articulated in
four segments:
- Conceptualization is a cognitive process in which
one tries to understand and to accept that the renewal
of Religious Life concerns everyone, involves
everyone in the search for a solution. It is necessary
to correctly understand the problem, in its diverse
aspects and perspectives, in its effect on our identity
and mission and by means of clarification of language.
- Consciousness-raising which, different from conceptualization,
has as its objective that of studying
some of the proposals that lie at the foundation without
arriving at solutions or prefabricated proposals.
It is an on-going evaluation of the proposals.
- A plan that is a not a pretext for a completely predetermined
route but rather is about the activation of
priorities and operative choices. It is a plan “in
itinere” that discerns the steps that are being taken
with strong dialectic ties to the periphery (the
Province) and the center (General authority).
- The programming is the concrete actualization of
the plan within which the when, where, who, at what
point are progressively determined.
Currently we find ourselves in the first phase, wanting
to talk about restructuring, its meaning and its
urgency and we want to talk about it from the perspective
of an ever closer unity with the
Congregation and in the knowledge that only the
Congregation can be the horizon within which we
operate. Therefore, while we await and prepare ourselves
to be involved and guided by the upcoming
General Synod, the CIPI Conference at the conclusion
of this Assembly has decided to dedicate itself
to:
- entering into a process of conceptualization by
means of a unified, inter-provincial plan;
- The CIPI president will elaborate a plan that is
unified, shared and approved by the Executive
Council.