Commission on Restructuring
in the Congregation
Report of the First Meeting
Tuesday, 14 December 2004
Dear Confreres,
In response to the
directive of the XXIII General Chapter,
the General Council appointed the members
of the Commission on Restructuring
which held its first meeting in Rome from
December 10 – 14 2004. The Commission
had joint sessions with the General Council
as well as meeting on its own.
The Commission elected
Fr. Lasso de la Vega y Miranda as Chairperson.
The other members of the Commission are
Cornelius Casey (Dublin),
Guy Pilote (Ste-Anne de Beaupré),
José Ulysses da Silva (São
Paulo), Brendan Kelly (Cebu), Lawrence Kaufmann (South Africa).
From the very beginning
it was clear that there is a real need
for some restructuring of the Congregation
to ensure apostolic vitality and effectiveness
in a world of rapid change with changing
human realities.
Initially our discussion
centered on some projects of restructuring
that are already underway.
- In some cases, in a Region or sub-Region,
several Units of the Congregation
have begun to organize together. A
good example is the “Union of Redemptorists
of Brazil”, (URB). The URB has no
formal statutes, but it elects a President
for a three year term and provides
him with a travel budget. Its main
field of common interest is formation.
It also has a Secretariat for Spirituality
and is involved in common planning
for popular missions. It has two annual
meetings. The URB helped the Vice-Province
of Recife
to regenerate and eventually to come
under the wing Sao
Paulo. At present confreres from three
Units in the URB assist in Surinam
and in Manaus.
There are four Novitiates in Brazil, all open to each other, with a distribution
of novices which allows for no less
than six in a Novitiate.
From this example, what is of particular
significance in terms of the Commission’s
vision of restructuring,
is the manner in which conditions are
attached to responses to requests for
help. It is never a question of propping
up existing ministries but, as in the
case of Recife and
Manaus, a commitment to the mission of the Congregation as a whole,
including formation and popular missions.
-
In other Units a different process
for restructuring has been employed.
Some Units, declining in numbers
to the point of crisis, invited
confreres from other Units to help
keep things going. Historically
these have had mixed results. In
many cases they did not flourish.
-
In several instances, two or more Provinces
have merged to form a single new
Province.
- And there are other projects of restructuring
and reorganizing of diverse kinds.
It was clear
from this initial discussion that we needed
a period of study, to reflect on existing
and diverse efforts at restructuring,
before formulating proposals.
Accordingly,
beginning at the Regional level, we have
adopted the following plan of action:
Plan
of Action (Phase 1) 2004 – 2006
1. January to July 2005
The Commission, with the help of the General
Consultors, will gather information and
review the various projects and/or experiments
in restructuring already under way in
the various Regions of the Congregation.
The Commission will also gather information
on the functioning of the present six
global Regions of the Congregation. In
doing so it will seek to take account
of what in each Region serves, or does
not serve, apostolic
vitality in relation to mission, formation,
finance and governance. It will also include
a review of the composition of each Region
as to the effectiveness of this composition
for apostolic vitality.
The review will be the responsibility of
the Commissioner of that Region, working
in dialogue with the General Consultor for the Region, and the (Sub) Regional Coordinator.
2. The Commission will meet in late August
2005
At this meeting, the Commission will reflect
on the review it has undertaken and seek
to determine which projects are more successful
than others. This reflection will seek
to uncover criteria to make proposals
to take restructuring further.
These proposals will be offered to the Congregation
in a document which will present (a) a
vision of where we want to be in 5 years,
both at the General and the Regional levels,
and (b) outline various strategies as
to how to realize that vision.
3.
Discussion
at the Regional Level
The proposals will be submitted to all the
Regions for study and discussion.
Regions
will be requested to submit their responses
to the Commission by the end of 2005.
4. Commission and General Council meet: December
2005
During a meeting of the Commission and the
General Council in December 2005, concrete
proposals for action will be prepared for presentation
at the mid-sexennium meetings in 2006.
5.
Phase
II: Mid-sexennium Meetings to General
Chapter, 2009
The next phase, Phase II, will be
from the mid-sexennium meetings to the
General Chapter of 2009. It is expected
that during this Phase the Commission
will look more closely at the matter of
restructuring of the Congregation from
the global perspective.
We are aware of the
seriousness of the issues involved in
this endeavor and so we ask your cooperation
and prayers as we seek to carry it through.
Juan Manuel Lasso de la Vega y Miranda
Cornelius Casey
Guy Pilote
José Ulysses da Silva
Brendan Kelly
Lawrence
Kaufmann
