The New Wine Press vol 26 no 1 September 2017 | Page 11

Province Updates
Community Life Symposium Summary
by Fr. Alan Hartway, c.pp.s.
From Monday through Friday, July 24th–28th,
Missionaries of the Precious Blood from nineteen
different units internationally met at the Colegio on
Via Narni under the sweltering Roman sun, as the city
dealt with a drought and threats of water shortages ap-
peared in the news.
In sharp contrast was the hospitality of the semi-
narians and staff of the Collegio. We were graced with
abundance of food and beverages to cool everyone
off. The schedule was fully loaded, hardly a minute
wasted; if anything, it was too busy, with not enough
time to socialize.
Monday was a day for listening. Fr. Bill
Nordenbrock’s opening homily observed that we
live in liminal states, in between, and never settling
in comfortableness. Our vice moderator general, Fr.
Emmanuele Lupi, presented an excellent history of the
community’s rule from the original texts. He showed
that our community began out of experience, and then
only years later principles for community were written
down in various kinds of “legal” documents. The point
is that we are still “in process.” Our specific apostolate
and charism shapes our unique forms of community,
and not the other way around. Lupi reminded us that
our language even in these “legal” texts speaks in terms
of vinculum, a theological and Eucharistic word, and
not ligamen, a canonical legal term, which we don’t
use.These are two very different ways of approaching
exactly what holds us together. A "vinculum" (Latin
for "chain"—used first by St. Augustine in the phrase
"bond of charity" in his Easter Sermons on the Gospel of
John), means a spiritual bond that is deeper and richer
than a mere legal matter.
Rather than more permanent institutional struc-
tures, the original Gasparian mission houses were
“on the fly” transient priests and brothers working at
a mission site. It is surprising to learn that the phrase
“bond of charity” disappeared from our organization-
al texts from 1946 until the new Norms in 1988. The
last 200 years of our community experience gives us
permission to be adaptive and flexible to the needs of
the Church in the times in which we live.
Fr. Ed Dougherty, Maryknoll’s leader, and
Bro. Robert Scheiler, Lasallian director general,
shared their experiences of community. Like us, these
are communities with laity involved, and this has
proven to be a blessing for them. Much like our-
selves, their community life is often “on the fly” and
“messy,” which is to say not based in legalisms. Their
apostolates come first. Societies of Apostolic Life are
constantly living their way into new structures and
associations to promote and benefit their unique
charisms. The phrase “living alone together” comes
close to describing at least our North American expe-
rience of community.
On Tuesday we listened to all the unit reports,
answering the nine questions which our province ad-
dressed this past year and a half from the xx General
Assembly. Rereading my notes, I saw several common
threads emerge. We are very small numerically; house
of four or more members are very rare. Money is not
an issue in many places. Lay associates are almost
everywhere in the international community, but
Companions in the North American experience are
moving toward a deeper involvement. Shared prayer
and shared meals are hallmarks of community life. We
must take up the challenge of being experts in com-
munion. From these reports, a central point of much
discussion began to emerge: can members live alone?
On Wednesday, each unit shared their hopes and
dreams. Of course, everyone imagines future growth,
some stressing more members and formation pro-
grams, and others like ourselves emphasizing compan-
ion engagement more fully. Words like reconciliation,
hospitality, and “bond of charity” came up most fre-
quently along with an enormous spectrum of forma-
tion practices. My favorite quotes from these two days:
“We must take up the challenge of real communion”
(Pope Francis). Community means being “attentive
to the poverty of the other.” “We are more than what
we do.” “Reconciliation requires the truth.” “I exist
because others exist.”
In order to prepare for a plenary session on Friday,
the last day, the participants broke out into language
groups in order to gather the main threads as they
heard it from the various unit reports on Tuesday and
Wednesday. In my group, several welcome ideas were
expressed: we are not provocative enough, several
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September 2017 • The New Wine Press • 9