Father Rolando Gutiérrez, CM of the Vice-Province of Costa Rica writes of “Vocations and Formation – Commentary on the Letters of the Superior General”

From the time of his election as Superior General at the XLII General Assembly of the Congregation of the Mission, Father Tomaž Mavrič appears to have highlighted in a very clear manner that he is very concerned about and focused on the theme of the mysticism of action.  This was revealed in his first homily as Superior General (July of last year) and in his first letter (dated September 19, 2016) that was written on the occasion of the Feast of Saint Vincent de Paul.  Since then the Superior General has made it clear that the commitment of Vincentian missionaries is authentic to the degree that they live their vocation as mystics.  Father Tomaž has reminded us about the importance of the Common Rules, the importance of our community life which ought to mirror the life of the Trinity and also the centrality of the Constitutions in our life (letter dated February 22, 2017).  We could say, then, that one of his primary concerns is the on-going formation of the confreres.

Some weeks ago, on April 10th, the Superior General addressed a letter to the Visitors in which he revealed his concern with regard to the formation of the missionaries.  In that letter, Father General highlighted three themes: initial formation, the formation of formators and strategies for vocational promotion.  We should recall here the fact that Father Mavrič also spoke about strategies for vocational promotion in his January 25th letter that was addressed to all the members of the Congregation of the Mission. Father stated:  I am talking about new vocations to the Congregation of the Mission, new vocations to the priesthood and the brotherhood.  It is clear that the initiative always comes from Jesus, but we need to cooperate and help the person Jesus is calling to the consecrated life or to become a member of some lay branch of the Vincentian Family, in the fullest way possible, for that call to become a reality.

In accord with this task, Father Tomaž has taken advantage of the Vincentian Symposium that will be held in Rome (October 2017) and has made it a privileged vocational moment.  In two letters he has extended a special invitation to seminarians and young men and women (18 to 28 years old) and another special invitation to confreres who have been ordained five years or less.  Those letters are dated March 8th and March 30th.

Putting all these pieces together, we can gain some insight into the thinking of superior general.  This is especially true in light of his words which express his conviction that Jesus is calling young people from different parts of the world to follow him as members of our Congregation (letter of April 10).  Here I want to point out two aspects of the theology of vocation and the theology of formation … aspects that Father Tomaž Mavrič offers to us.

It is clear that in the West, because of a lack of personnel, vocational promotion is a concern for the majority of the provinces.  Perhaps some are focused on this matter but are more anxious about and more concerned about the great number of confreres who find themselves in difficult situations (this matter was addressed by our Vicar-General, Father Javier Álvarez, CM in our gathering in New York, 2013).  Nevertheless, as pointed out during the Second Latin American Congress on Vocation: often urgency makes us postpone that which is important (#75).  There is a rather simplistic notion of assuming that appointing some confrere to the ministry of vocational promotion or to the ministry of initial formation is the manner to solve the situation.

It is from this perspective that I dare to identify the proposal of Father Tomaž Mavrič CM as the inversion of the pyramid … an image that is in accord with the theology of vocation and with the recent emphasis on priestly formation. The pyramid is inverted not as some grandiose novelty but because the Superior General, with his sensitivity to the mysticism of action, has not given in to the temptation to postpone the important for the urgent and has based his solution on a Vincentian vocational culture:  To meet the current challenge of vocations and initial formation, we must begin by investing in the on–going formation of the confreres, which is not limited to a few meetings a year, nor is it simply what comes next, but what comes before. Only from the perspective of permanent formation can initial formation be derived or deduced, and not the other way around(Cencini, Amadeo, Creemos der vrertdqad en la Formacion Permanente? (Do we truly believe in on-going formation?, Salamanca, 2013).

Thus, as Fr. Tomaž has stated, the first and most important formative need of the provinces is the one that concerns the missionaries incorporated into the Congregation of the Mission, those whose missionary path is pointed out in the Common Rules and the Constitutions … those who have responded affirmatively to the call of Christ, evangelizer of the poor, the call to live in a community for the mission that must reflect the Triune God and that welcomes and accompanies those persons who are in their initial years of formation, mentors them in their first years as missionaries, helps them renew their ministry every day and makes them feel valued in their old age.

The basis of formation, as seen in the proposal of Father Mavrič, will only take hold when it is directed toward the creation of a vocational culture that ignites the fire of the mystics of the action in the very depths of their community … and this is obtained through the process of permanent formation.

Father Tomaž’s calmness and conviction encourage us to continue to believe in Vincent de Paul’s dream, his dream with regard to the evangelization of the poor and that God will continue to send workers into the harvest.  Therefore, every missionary, every Vincentian in the world, must heed the call of the Superior General and unite in this campaign: In my letter of 25 January 2017, I asked each of us, as well as all the branches of the Vincentian Family, to invite one new candidate to join us during this Jubilee Year. We definitely have thousands and thousands of confreres in heaven who have joined us already in this campaign or are eager to join us if we ask them.

The spirituality of the mysticism of action is a four century old tradition and is rooted in a master at vocational discernment and priestly formation.  Today and in accord with the 2016 statistics, there are 248 confreres involved in seminary ministry and the formation and clergy; yet there are 1020 confreres involved in parish ministry and 318 confreres involved in retreat ministry.  This does not mean, however, that Vincent’s insight, namely, that God is the one who calls us and who, from all eternity, has destined us to be Missionaries (CCD:XI:98) … this insight has not ceased to burn in the very DNA of our vocation.  This mysticism of action is very clear to our superior general and he views the accompaniment of young people in their process of vocational discernment and in their initial stage of formation as crucial and central ministries of the Congregation of the Mission.  Indeed, these ministries are so important that the concern of the central government of the Congregation should also become the concern of the provincial government and the concern of every local community because the Lord invites and challenges us to ask for new laborers, new missionaries, and to trust that he can deliver in the fullest sense of the word (letter of April 10).

Translated: Charles T. Plock, CM