Draft Statutes of the Regnum Christi Federation INDEX Stir Into Flame the Gift of God Within You Translated from Original Spanish
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Draft Statutes of the Regnum Christi Federation INDEX Stir into flame the gift of God within you Translated from original Spanish Index Prayer ..........................................................................................................................03 Presentation .................................................................................................. 04 Abbreviations ................................................................................................. 12 Glossary......................................................................................................... 13 Preamble ....................................................................................................... 16 First Part. Identity, spirit and mission of the Regnum Christi Federation ............17 Chapter 1. Juridical nature of the Regnum Christi Federation .............................................................18 Chapter 2. Members of the Regnum Christi Federation ......................................................................21 Article 1. The branches of the Regnum Christi Federation ..........................................................22 Article 2. Members associated individually to the Federation .....................................................24 Chapter 3. Mission and spirit of the Regnum Christi Federation .........................................................26 Article 1. Purpose and mission ....................................................................................................27 Article 2. Fundamental elements of its spirit ................................................................................28 Article 3. Spiritual life and the path of sanctification .....................................................................33 Article 4. Communion ...................................................................................................................36 Article 5. Patrons ..........................................................................................................................38 Chapter 4. The apostolic activity of the Regnum Christi Federation ....................................................39 Article 1. Principles of apostolic action .........................................................................................40 Article 2. Some general guidelines and norms for apostolic activity ............................................43 Second Part. Organization, governance and administration of the Regnum Christi Federation ................................................................................49 Chapter 5. The branches in the Regnum Christi Federation ................................................................50 Article 1. The relationship between the branches and the Federation .........................................51 Article 2. Extension y dissolution of the Federation .....................................................................55 Chapter 6. The governance of the Regnum Christi Federation ...........................................................57 Article 1. General norms ..............................................................................................................58 Article 2. The general convention .................................................................................................61 Article 3. The general government ...............................................................................................68 Article 4. The territorial government .............................................................................................77 Article 5. The local government ....................................................................................................84 Chapter 7. Administration in the Regnum Christi Federation ...............................................................87 Chapter 8. The obligation of proper law ...............................................................................................92 Complementary material ..........................................................................................95 Appendix 1. Opting for a Federation ....................................................................................................96 Appendix 2. Secondary codes in the proper law of the Federation ..................................................112 Appendix 3. The process of revision and approval ad experimentum of the Draft Statutes of the Federation ................................................................................................................................115 Timeline .....................................................................................................................117 2 Stir into flame the gift of God within you PRAYER Prayer Lord Jesus, our King and faithful Friend, you have called us to be part of this spiritual family, born from your Heart. In obedience to your Church, we live this special moment of grace for the Regnum Christi Movement. We feel called to an authentic renewal, which is born from a desire for holiness and a passion to evangelize, as our love for you impels us. Today, Lord Jesus, we call your name with greater intensity. We are yours; we abandon ourselves to you with total confidence. You wish that we give glory to God by working for the coming of your Kingdom in all hearts and in society. Help us to better know your will for us at this moment of our history. Send us an abundant outpouring of your Spirit, so that, in a spirit of prayer and under the gaze of your most holy Mother, we may contemplate our charism with new eyes and be able to incarnate it and articulate it more fully. Amen. 3 PRESENTATION Stir into flame the gift of God within you Translated from original Spanish Presentation This document presents the Draft Statutes of the Regnum Christi Federation, which will be the discussion material for the Extraordinary Chapter and General Assemblies of 2018. This text was approved by the general directive committee, under the general director and with the counsel of our Pontifical Assistant, Fr. Gianfranco Ghirlanda, SI. The accompanying material was written by a team led by Fr. Sylvester Heereman, LC. 1. Why write a second draft of the Statutes? The general directive committee has prepared this new text in order to offer the Extraordinary Chapter and General Assemblies of 2018 a working document that incorporates amendments to the first draft. These amendments have for the most part been drafted considering the discernment carried out in the joint and branch territorial assemblies, as well as the guidelines given to the three general moderators by the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (hereafter in the text “CIVCSVA”) and communicated in a letter on Q1 December 18, 2017. 2. Recommendations from the territorial assemblies The general directive committee has thoroughly analyzed the minutes from the joint and branch territorial assemblies. Although the assemblies were only of advisory nature, they have offered valuable and useful information. The decisions made by the general committee in the drafting of this new text are based on the recommendations given by the territorial assemblies. A synthetic evaluation of the main results of the territorial assemblies is presented below. In addition, see the minutes of the joint territorial assemblies at this link. The delegates of the Chapter and General Assemblies will have access to all the material produced by the joint Q2 and branch territorial assemblies. 4 Stir into flame the gift of God within you PRESENTATION Translated from original Spanish a) Consensus The territorial assemblies reflect a broad consensus concerning the charismatic identity of Regnum Christi as an ecclesial reality composed of different vocations that live a common charism according to their own specific identity. Also, that these different vocations make up a single family, or body, in which they share spirituality and mission. The principles of co-responsibility and the participation of all vocations in what is held in common are widely accepted. The assemblies’ votes on the first part of the old draft (“identity and mission of Regnum Christi”) have been predominantly negative, but upon analysis of their proposals, the vast majority were not conceptual, but terminological proposals. Several times, they Q3 requested a rewording using “familiar expressions” and terms “that refer to our experience”; for example, using the terminology of texts from the 2004 Regnum Christi Statutes, the Constitutions of the Legion of Christ, the Statutes of the Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi or the Statutes of the Lay Consecrated Men of Regnum Christi. There was a frequent request for expressions conveying “greater ardor and passion”, as well as the request to avoid expressions that seem to lower the ideal of sanctity or the greatness of the mission. There were also requests to remove the generic formulations of Christian spirituality as well as seemingly defensive expressions that appear to be reactions to past problems. There were also, of course, proposals that went beyond terminology and wording. The main proposals were the recurring request to include the “formation of apostles, Christian leaders” as a main charismatic element and to use the expression “militia Christi” or militancy to synthesize the proper style of Regnum Christi members. Regarding the third part of the first draft (“Organization,