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Letters of Fr. General |
Lent 2008 |
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The Parish in the Vocationist Culture |
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To all the members of the Vocationist Family Dearly Beloved, May God the Holy Spirit unite us ever more with the Son to the Father. Premise The Society of Divine Vocations, wanted by God, founded by a diocesan priest is totally identified with the Church, works in the Church, with the Church and for the Church, as it clearly appears from our emblem. As the Church is made visible in the parish, so our Congregation, born and grown in the shade of a bell tower, works and furthers its charisma within the parish. In our General Chapters, in our meetings, conferences and days of study we have often repeated that we work in parishes, because this is the "womb, the crib" in which the vocations are conceived, are born, identified and grow. As the life of our Founder, so our Congregation and our service can never be separate from the parish. This concept is clearly expressed in the 1948 Constitutions that categorically establish that the Vocationary "has to be in perennial relationship of mutual nourishment and development with the Parishes". This means that the Vocationary helps the parish and the parish helps the Vocationary. For us, ideologically, it should be impossible to conceive the one without the other and vice versa. At the present, the Congregation handles the pastoral care of 60 parishes (42 in Italy, 8 in Brazil, 2 in USA, 2 in Argentina, 4 in Nigeria, 1 in Madagascar, 1 in Ecuador) The majority of our resources are invested in the Parishes, but all of our Brothers, our Sisters, Apostles, Friends and Cooperators must get involved more and more in the activities and services of the parish, not less than the so many good committed laymen! In general, what is said in this letter refers to all those people who live the Vocationist spirit and work for the universal sanctification. It would be a serious error to reduce and to apply these principles only to the priests or to the Vocationist Parishes. It seems logical therefore that after having spoken in general of the Vocationist culture during the year 2007, we now speak, write and live the Vocationist culture in the parish. In this Lenten message we will speak of the Parish in general and in the next three, of the Vocationist Parish and the ecclesial groups, the Vocationist Parish and the Eucharist, the Vocationist Parish and the Word of God. The parish is so important that without it, it is almost impossible to live well our faith and to sanctify ourselves. Faith is born, it grows and produces its fruits only within the Christian community. Priests, religious and laymen always have to belong to a parish and to cooperate in it. This message therefore is not directed only to the pastors and assistant pastors, but to all the religious and laymen that want to live our spirituality. It is good to remember well that the parishioners are more entitled than the priests to say: this is my parish! The Parish in Canon Law According to the Canon Law "A parish is a definite community of the Christian faithful established on a stable basis within a particular Church; the pastoral care of the parish is entrusted to a pastor as its own shepherd, under the authority of the diocesan bishop" (Can. 515, 1). This definition of the Parish, absent in the 1917 Code, is basically taken from n.30,1 of the Vatican II Decree Christus Domini, and it possesses a profound ecclesial and pastoral connotation. The parish is essentially a community of believers; it is part and expression of the people of God. The parish is ordinarily delimited by a territory that is integral part of it. The territory, however, is not by itself essential to the existence of the parish, since there are some parishes purely personal or of ethnic or linguistic groups, or also of a certain liturgical rite (see Can. 518). For us Vocationists, bound to work together as family, is opportune to also remember that a parish can be entrusted jointly to two or more priests, provided that one of them is the moderator. It would be desirable for us that all of our parishes staffed by two or more priests jointly be parishes in solidum, entrusted to a team ministry; this would encourage shared responsibility and the collegiality of the confreres. I prefer team ministry, formally or informally, in every parish to better live the true brotherhood in our ministry and to share responsibility among the priests, preventing every form of authoritarianism or clerical absolutism (Can. 517). The Parish in the Catechism of the Catholic Church The Catechism of the Catholic Church essentially confirms what is contained in canon 515,1 that is, that the parish is a stable community of believers and adds that "it is the place in which all the believers can be summoned for the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist. The parish initiates the Christian people to the ordinary expression of the liturgical life, it assembles it in this celebration; it teaches the salvific doctrine of Christ, it practices the charity of the Lord in good and brotherly works" (ccc 2179). The Catechism puts in evidence that Christian life begins in a parish, it grows in a parish with the catechesis, the liturgy and the Eucharist and it is expressed through the works of charity (see ccc 2226). The Parish in Fr. Justin In the diary of the 1952, Fr. Justin wrote: “The parish is the Church in miniature and the family in large dimension. As Church in miniature the pastor should organize the various religious activities. As a large family it has the father’s image in the pastor of the parish community, and the mother’s image in the religious superior with the religious community: both of them must work in perfect harmony to sanctify all their subjects and faithful, as children of the Lord”. For Fr. Justin the parish is the Church in miniature, and therefore as the Church has its Ministries or Congregations, so the parish should have in small the specialized groups or committees, in order to do, at the local level, what those do at worldwide level (see Ascension, art. 761). “The Servant of the saints must always and anywhere consider himself as the religious of the pastor and of the parish and therefore, with an ever greater participation on his part and on the part of the people he works with, he must live and zeal parish life as far as liturgy and apostolate is concerned (Asc. 759 and 1R, 788). This being always and anywhere the religious of the parish and the way of living and promoting parish life is something wider and more binding than the same pastoral care of the parishes. Saying this we proclaim that the parish is the visible segment of the mystical body, of which we are, and want to be, active and transforming members. The Vocationist must be, always universal in his attitude toward the goal and the good of the souls, and always particular and specialized in the external things like means and activities (1R,775). To prevent that wanting to embrace everything one finds himself empty-handed , Fr. Justin makes this distinction between our interior universality and the Roman practicality that is concretized in the specificity of the means and of the activities. When we speak of the Church as the kingdom of God on earth and we pray for universal sanctification we behave as "integral, universal soul, as soul spouse of the Trinity". When we speak of pastoral service, of evangelization, of sacraments and liturgy we concretize it in the parish and we behave more like "soul mother" devoting ourselves to specific services. All our activities must be well organized, all centering and unified in the parish life, ever properly structured to be operative and everlasting (Ibid. 776). It is not enough to work and to do good deeds, it is necessary that they be done within the parish, with due reverence and dependence, and with the maximum stability and continuity. One cannot help the souls by subduing them to our personal points of view, to our humors of the moment. In the service of the souls nothing can be left to the will, to the taste, to the way of seeing or thinking of an individual. While the mercenary waits to be called to work, the fervent and zealous people offer (but do not impose it) their service without waiting to be invited. For pastoral service we never expect any remuneration or gratification; we should avoid any form of showing off but work in incognito, possibly in the name and on behalf of others. In the parish and from the parish Fr. Justin drew strength and food for the Congregation; within the parish he realized the Vocationary. To this day, for us Vocationists, the parish of St. George remains our Bethlehem, from which we draw our origin. Parish as welcoming community The residence of the Vocationists in the parishes must be at the same time, with well separate and large enough spaces, not necessarily adjoining, and with personal specialized, first cloister for the religious and then house of the clergy and permanent and universal office for the service of the people (1R796). As residence of the Vocationists, we do not intend the parsonage or the parish center, but only our houses and our Vocationaries. What we say about our residences must be applied especially to the rectories or parish houses. Our activities must be well organized with proper and separate spaces and with specialized personnel, avoiding any confusion of people, of things and every form of irresponsibility from the part of those who are in charge . Also in the Vocationist parish houses there must be a space of cloister reserved only to the religious, where they can live their life of prayer and study in privacy and segregation from the world and from worldliness. How beautiful it is to consider every residence of ours and especially our parish houses as real houses of the Clergy, where the priests and religious are always welcome! Let us always welcome the clergy with the maximum joy and availability, making them feel at home; often inviting them to our spiritual retreats and family celebrations. Our oath of servitude to the Church in the clergy compels us to be always available for confessions and spiritual direction to the priests and religious that ask for it. Within our limitations and possibilities, whenever asked, we should never refuse our services or assistance to the clergy (priests, sisters and brothers). Our residence must also be "permanent and universal office for the service of the people". Our residences and especially the parsonage must always be open and accessible for the needs of the people. We cannot complain about the lack of Christian values or alienation from the Church, if our parish churches are mostly closed and the priests are nowhere to be found! What a pitiful show to see some priests race toward the sacristy at the last moment (if not even late) to celebrate the holy Mass, and later with the same quickness disappear for fear that some parishioners may ask us something! Fulton Sheen said: "The priest should be eaten by people"! our priesthood, our vocation has been given for others and not for our comfort! Often I hear people (and even some superiors) say, "half a priest is better than none". I feel more like saying: it is better not to have any priest in a parish, rather than to have one who is not a priestly priest! People want and deserve to have a priest, a holy priest, a dedicated priest, a zealous priest, and a welcoming, warm parish house or religious house. This welcoming spirit is communicated also through the neatness and decorum, order, elegance of our facilities, and our good manners. Let us always welcome people with a smile, a warm greeting, and possibly, by offering something! The Parish and the Vocations The vocationistality is integral part of the presbyterate. It is up to the priests, in their quality of educators of the faith, to assist every parishioner in discovering and following his or her vocation to holiness as well as the specific vocation of each individual. It is this service that belongs to the very priestly mission, in virtue of which the priest participates in the solicitude for the whole Church, so that the people of God on the earth will always have enough workers in the vineyard of the Lord. The life of the priests, their unconditional devotion to the flock of God, their testimony of loving service to the Lord and his Church, their brotherly harmony and their zeal for the evangelization of the world is the first and the most persuasive factor of vocational fertility (CEI, Vocations in the Italian Church, n. 32) To the Vocationist pastor is entrusted, in particular way, the duty of welcoming and forming in the external Vocationary all those young men who show signs of ecclesiastical vocation (Cost. 18). As in other ministries, so in this one the parish priest can and should be helped by capable and fervent collaborators, priests, religious and laymen. In the name of the pastor and at his service, the Vocationist will consider his particular duty the service of welcoming and forming as altar servers the young men that show signs of a special vocation, in order to protect them from the contagion of the world, to form them to the clerical piety, to instruct them in the first literary studies, to cultivate in them the germ of the vocation (can. 1353, CJC 1917). This canon, base and root of the Society of Divine Vocations, has not been abolished, but widened by the new Code: “A duty rests upon the entire Christian community to foster vocations so that sufficient provision is made for the needs of the sacred ministry throughout the entire Church; Christian families, educators and in a special way priests, are particularly bound by this duty. Since it is principally the concern of diocesan bishops to promote vocations, they should instruct the people entrusted to them concerning the importance of the sacred ministry and the necessity of ministers in the Church (can. 233). Words may change, the ways of preparation, due to cultural progress, may likewise be changed, but the substance does not change. Rather the new Code seems really to canonize the foundation of the vocationaries: “Wherever minor seminaries or other such institutions exist they are to be maintained and supported; such institutions are those in which, for the sake of fostering vocations, special religious formation along with instruction in the humanities and sciences are provided; whenever the diocesan bishop judges it expedient he should provide for the erection of a minor seminary or a similar institution (can. 234,1). Institute similar to the minor seminary is our Vocationary, the apostolic school or college for aspirant. The external Vocationary, conceived, wanted, supported by Fr. Justin seems to have remained a pious idea! Where are they? How many are they? There should be at least as many as are our parishes! The Code helps us in this field giving us as natural cooperators the parents and the educators. Traditionally the great majority of vocations come from among the altar servers. If really we don't know how or we don't want to form these external Vocationaries, at least let's commit ourselves seriously to the formation and to other recreational activities for the altar servers. How sad it is to see a priest that celebrates alone on the altar! Usually boys are happy to serve at the altar if they are given an opportunity! Brothers, let's not create illusions for ourselves, also today, in the parishes where there are altar servers there are more vocations. How many of our sermons, instructions or hours of adoration are directly or indirectly done to invite, to instruct, to sustain or to implore vocations? Naturally, it can be objected that the young people don't come to Church today! But what have we done to attract them and what do we do to keep them returning, once they come? Did we ever ask ourselves why lately it seems that also the Italian government keeps encouraging the parish oratory? If we don't throw to sea the nets or don't throw the hook, how can we get any fish? We must privilege, favor and invest talents, time and money in the pastoral for vocations. First we must prepare the ground, then invest in the vocational discernment of the individual, as well as in the accompaniment, support and formation of the called ones. The obligation of the pastoral care for vocations concerns the whole parish community and everyone of its components, the family, the school and the clergy. The Italian Bishops’ Conference reminds us that the parish community is the privileged place for vocational appeals, likewise the parish community is the mediatrix of vocations through the proclamation of the word that calls, the celebration of the signs of the salvation that communicate life, the testimony of charity and the ministerial service. The vocational appeal must pervade all the expressions of its life. In the ordinary pastoral work of a parish community, the vocational dimension is not something additional or extra that must be done, but it is the very soul of the whole service of evangelization (CEI, Vocations in the Italian Church, n. 26). The Parish and the families The Vocationist, to effectively work for universal sanctification, has to conquer to the religious ideal, one by one, all the families of the parish in which he resides, so that it may really be image and likeness of the sacred Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and of the holy families of Joachin, Ann and Mary, of Zechariah, Elizabeth and John the Baptist (1R 812). We must stress that our work for the sanctification of the families cannot be limited to the Vocationist parishes, it must be extended to all the parishes in which we reside. It is a work to be done systematically and constantly. It is not enough to introduce, instruct or to propose, we must conquer! The Code of Canon Law prescribes: “In order to fulfill his office the pastor should strive to come to know the faithful who have been entrusted to his care; therefore he is to visit families, sharing the cares, worries and especially the griefs of the faithful” (can. 529). The Vocationist will work, with the ministry of the word, to spread and to deepen the conviction of the religiousness of the conjugal state, because of the great sacrament, that raises to the supernatural order the duties of marriage, and enables the spouses to find their sanctification in the marital relationship (1R 813) Our Constitutions affirm: The Vocationist pastor reserves special attention and care to the families both for their sanctification and for the contribution of support to the possible vocation of their children (Art. 17). It seems really that this article may have inspired canon 233 above! The more a family is healthy and holy , the deeper she sows the seeds of vocations, that the Lord scatters abundantly, even today, in the furrows of the Church. Thus the Vocationist promoting parish life among the faithful, by promoting ascetical life in all schools and even lay organizations, and with the sanctification of the families, house by house, will establish the town-convent in the kingdom of God (1R, 797). Like Jesus, the Vocationist must be able to say and to feel: "I have come to bring fire on earth; and how I wish it were ablaze! "(Lk. 12, 49). To sanctify the families one needs to know, to visit and to form them. For us it is an obligation to visit the families entrusted to our cares, to direct and to consecrate them to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, following the example and the teachings of Fr. Justin. The Vocationist will inaugurate the religious life of the newly weds with the enthronization of the sacred Heart in their house, and it will bring them to transform their home into a small sanctuary that imitates the temple and its liturgy, and the union of the divinity with the humanity and the mystical wedding of Jesus with the Church (Ibid. 816). In every Indian family there is a corner, an altar or a domestic chapel that sees united the whole family in prayer. I have never entered an Indian house without having been invited to accept something to drink and to eat, inevitable expression of their hospitality. I have always been also invited to see and to pray in their chapel, deep profession of faith and sharing in the communion of the saints. They are not obsolete or antiquated, but actual and effective practices! Attempting to have a whole family ministering to the altar for a Sunday Mass, where grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters and nephews were involved in rendering a service in the same liturgy, employing a whole family to serve as readers, acolytes, altar servers, liturgical guides, offertory procession, ushers, welcoming ministers or greeters cross and candles bearers, was for me a very positive experience, that can easily be repeated. Why it could not be tried in all of our parishes? The family that prays together, stays together! Fr. Justin tells us that our ministry to the families starts with the engagement and marriage preparation, it continues throughout all the most salient moments of life, anniversaries, births, promotions, baptisms, first communions, confirmations, marriages and funerals. The Vocationist must educate and train youth to see in the time of the engagement, a real religious novitiate; in the nuptial contract, a real religious profession; in the conjugal life, a real religious mission, and to behave accordingly (1R 814). Every occasion that sees the family together is good for the family apostolate. In the apostolate of the sanctification of the families we keep in mind the fact that marriage is a vocation; the Justinian anthropology facilitates and sustains in the family mutual respect and love. It also helps us understand that the bonds of the spirit strengthen and consolidate the bonds of the flesh. Thus the Vocationist will prepare every Christian-religious family to acceeept the divine vocations of their children to a more perfect way of life, and to grow for the holy Church the ones chosen for the priesthood and the religious state; and to become then new living Christian families, within the parish life and the life of the holy Catholic Church (Ibid. 820). I would love to see each of you to witness such a reality in the families of our Indian brothers of Kerala! How beautiful and touching it is to see the parents that, with great devotion and visible emotion impose the hands and pray over their children before the marriage or before the priestly ordination (the liturgy of the marriage and the priestly ordination starts with this imposition of the hands, sign of benediction and consecration) Conclusion Our Directory orders that: "The Vocationist parish in its pastoral plan, in tuning with the local Church, privileges the activities proper of the charisma of the institute, as: - the apostolate of universal sanctification; - group of vocational and missionary animation; - group of altar servers; - diffusion of Vocationist literature and hagiography; - particular attention to the poor" (Directory n. 14). Let us work so that this may happen in every parish! At the end of a lecture on the Vocationist Parish according to the spirit of the Founder, Fr. Calogero said, and I now say to you: "Some of us often feel more like diocesan and less like Vocationists. This leads us to the loss of our true identity! How much incisiveness does it have in my parish my being a Vocationist? How do I transmit my charisma and my culture? How many more questions there could be… The Vocationist pastors (all the Vocationists) working together and with greater attention to the territory, could certainly bring healthier fruits" Concluding, I remind you that the parish has to be fervent and constant in prayer, festive in the celebrations, hard-working in the charity, always open and welcoming, deeply vocationistalized, liturgically solemn and complete, united in the prayer and in the action, prepared and ready to listening and pilgrim in the world to bring to every family and to every soul the good news of salvation. The universal sanctification and the vocations will have to be always object of preaching, study and prayer. The corporal and spiritual works of mercy must be extended to the world of the missions. In our parishes first we open the heart and the doors of the church and of the house, and then invite, solicit and compel others to come so that there should never be an empty seat! As the good Shepherd, let go out in search of the lost sheep. We cannot simply sit down and wait that they come to us! If we want to be good pastors, good pastoral operators, active members of the mystical body, cornerstones in the house of the Lord, necessarily we must be saints and sanctifiers. Only through our personal sanctification we will succeed in cheerfully and effectively carrying ut our daily ministry. "Sanctify yourself in order sanctify others" says Fr. Justin. The Vocationist culture takes roots in the parish when it becomes gymnasium of spirituality, center of catechesis, breeding ground of vocations, cheerful welcoming center. Let this be our prayer, our longing throughout Lent and for the apostolate. In union of prayer, Father Louis, M. Caputo, S.D.V.
P.S. 1. respecting the times set by us, and in the maximum respect for the consultation of the Vocationists in Italy, on January 25th , the General Council and I have appointed the government of the "quasi Italian province": Fr. James Capraro, S.D.V. has been appointed first Provincial. Fr. Victor Zeccone, S.D.V. first secretary and Fr. Anthony Petracca, S.D.V. first treasurer of the province. Best wishes and blessings to the newly appointed. 2. the new Government of the province will be effective as of Ash Wednesday, February 6th 2008. Fr. James will remain in Pianura as Rector and Treasurer until June 30th 2008. Fr. Zeccone and Fr. Petracca can Remain on their present assignments, since there is no incompatibility with the new appointments. For simplicity and practicality it is suggested that the Delegate ad omnia be simply called with the title of Father Provincial. 3. the general and the provincial government will work together to define some specific competences concerning the students, the sick, the maintenance of the missions, the Vocationary of Pianura,, our buildings etc… 4. Have been assigned to the Italian province the communities of: St. Giorgio of Pianura, Cava dei Tirreni, Posillipo, Bovino, Altavilla Silentina, Perdifumo, Paestum, Acquaviva delle Fonti, Mola di Bari, Canicattì, Ribera, Favara, Rome-Grottarossa, Rome-Fidene, Quarto, Conversano, Naples-Cavalleggeri, Perledo, Naples-Soccavo, Palermo-Addaura, Palermo Acqua dei Corsari, Bibbiena, Foligno, Laterza. All the religious assigned to these communities automatically depend from the government of the province. 5. we have closed the year 2007 with two priestly ordinations in India and we have begun 2008 with another two priestly ordinations also in India. Father Shiju Chittattukara has been ordained on December 28, Fr. Sathish on December 31, Fr. Jerance Tanickal on January 1st and Fr. Thomas Naduviledathu on January 7th . Best wishes the new presbyters. 6. the General Council has approved the opening of a new community, the St. Bartholomew Vocationary in Thalessery, Kerala, India and Fr. Anil Akkara, S.D.V. has been appointed Rector and Vocation Director, Fr. Jerance Tanickal, S.D.V, Vice-Rector and Economo, Brothers: Jobin Kollappallil, S.D.V. and Robert Kannanthanath, S.D.V. Regents. The property in Thalessery has been bought with a donation of the Caputo family, and it has been dedicated to St. Bartholomew in honor of Bartolomeo Caputo, my father, and of my nephew of the same name. The opening and official benediction of this house is planned for next March 3. 7. the Council has also approved the opening of the religious community of Holywell in the United Kingdom. The community shall provide pastoral care to the parish of Saint Winefride, and to a sanctuary in honor of the same saint. This shrine contains a sacred well, that has given the name to the town; (The waters of this well are considered miraculous and many sick people bathe in its water, like in Lourdes, to be healed ). We have also been entrusted with the chaplaincy of 3 secondary high schools and the hospital ministry. The designated religious for this new community are Fr. Salvatore Musella, S.D.V., Fr. Shaji Thomas Punnattu, S.D.V., Fr. Thomas Naduviledathu, S.D.V. and the deacon Joe Realista, S.D.V. The opening of the community has been planned for April 6 2008. 8. thanks to Fr. Salvatore Musella, S.D.V. the 9th volume of Fr. Justin’s writings has been published: Walk toward the espousal union. The community of Altavilla has generously sustained the printing expenses. 9. by Easter the tenth volume will also be ready, the first part of the Book of the soul. We are still looking for a sponsor willing to sustains its cost. 10. The death of Fr. Nicola De Filippis has deprived us of an important piece of our history and of a brother who has distinguished himself by his love and laboriosity for the growth of the Congregation. Fr. Nicola has been the third priest (in addition to Fr. General and the General Treasurer) designated to offer every day the holy Mass for our benefactors. I have asked Fr. Jonathan Eburuche, the Delegate of Nigeria, to assume this responsibility. 11.From 6th to the 19th of February I will visit the communities in Argentina, where three novices will take their first profession, two postulants will enter novitiate, besides the renewal of the temporary vows. 12.On January 18 in Davao brother Randy Diamante has pronounced his perpetual vows in our Congregation. 13. On January 19 in Riachao do Jacuipe in Brazil, deacon. George da Silva Carneiro, S.D.V. was ordained a priest Congratulations. 14. On February 3rd our Brazilian brothers: Danilo da Silva Pacheco,S.D.V., Carlos Valerio de O. Oliveira, S.D.V., Mozart Nunes de Andrade S. Neto, S.D.V. Wilson Lima de Oliveira, S.D.V. have pronounced their first vows. Best wishes of holiness to the newly professed and to their Novice Master. 15. Daniel Cardona, S.D.V. took his first vows in Medellin, Colombia on January 19. 16. From the 8th to 31st of March I will visit the Vocationist communities in USA 17. Deacon Rijo Johnson, S.D.V. and Sister Perpetua, S.D.V. have published in English the circular letters of Father General from 2000 to 2007. 18. I remind everybody that the first course of spiritual exercises for this year will be held in Pianura from the 3rd to the 8th of March. It will be preached by Fr. Salvatore Musella, S.D.V. it is necessary to make reservations with the Secretary General. I ask that you do not postpone to the last course or to the last moment. 19. Thanks to the community of Via Cortina in Rome and Fr Calogero from 28th to 30th January the first formative meeting of this year was held for the young priests, ordained from 2002 to 2007. 20. Our beloved confreres, Fr. Luigi Bellopede in Salvador, and Fr. Attilio Razzano in Cava dei Tirreni, celebrate their fiftieth anniversary of priestly ordination , respectively on Feb. 1 and Feb. 9. While Fr. Antonio da Silva, our USA Delegate, celebrates his twenty-fifth anniversary on March 30. To them all our love, thanks, prayers, blessings and best wishes. |
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