MISSIONARIES OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD The No. 37 - October 2014 Cofup the New Covenant Living a Consecrated Life by William Nordenbrock, C.PP.S. he Church has declared 2015 a year dedicated to a celebration Tof Consecrated Life. This issue of The Cup of the New Covenant anticipates that commemoration and we hope that this issue will be a cata- lyst for personal and communal re - flection on how we live the consecrat- ed life as incorporated members and how the lay faithful who associate with us, share in the call to holiness in their own particular way. In this issue Robert Schreiter provides a foundation for our reflection with a brief historical sketch of the Congre - gation as a Society of Apostolic Life and then shines the light of the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gau - on the three pillars of the So - dium ciety: mission, community and spiri- tuality. Barry Fischer continues to See page 16 Meeting in Tanzania reflects the multicultural face of the C.PP.S. The C.PP.S. as a Society of Apostolic Life by Robert Schreiter, C.PP.S. 1 Francis’ Call to Religious The C.PP.S. as a Society by Barry Fischer, C.PP.S. 5 of Apostolic Life The Gift of Joy: The Challenge of Consecrated by Robert Schreiter, C.PP.S. Life in Latin America by Angelmiro Granados, C.PP.S. 8 INTRODUCTION in the Western Church. In the Middle The challenge Consecrated Life has taken on many Ages, groups of diocesan priests gath- of living evangelical poverty ered around collegiate churches as for the service of the poor forms through the course of the by Walter Milandu, C.PP.S. 10 Church’s history. The first form was canons, having a common life of that of hermits, living in the Egyptian prayer. The Norbertines and the Cro - Challenges for Religious siers are surviving forms of this mode. in Poland and Syrian deserts in the third and by Damian Siwicki, C.PP.S. 12 fourth century. Thereafter people Later in the Middle Ages, groups arose that carried on regular ministry Diversity and Tension: gathered in communities to pursue a Uniqueness of Consecrated Life life of prayer and spiritual perfection, outside their living enclosures. by Henry Bright, C.PP.S. 14 known as monasteries. The Bene dic- Among these groups surviving to this ti nes are the most enduring example See next page T Continued from front page h “ The societies of apostolic life had arisen e day are the Franciscans, the Do - minicans and the Carmelites. Later, C out of apostolic need, and that was the u communities arose that focused p mo re exclusively on their apostolic place to start. Everything else – mode of o ministries; the Jesuits are perhaps commitment, form of common life, shape f the premier example. Especially in the Modern Period, the manner of of spirituality – was subordinated to t h commitment (the vows) and the their avowed mission.” e forms of common life in relation to N apostolic ministry came to vary e widely. w by public or solemn vows, but a vari- eties of apostolic life is more sum- The Missionaries of the Precious ety of promises, oaths, and private mary. Canon 731 states that three C Blood were founded in 1815, for the o vows. things characterize societies of apos- purpose of revitalizing the Faith in v tolic life: (1) a common apostolic e the Papal States through the preach- When the Code of Canon Law was n goal, (2) a life in common, and (3) a ing of parish missions and retreats. first codified in 1917, an attempt was a pursuit of perfection in charity. For n They saw themselves as diocesan made to sort out the astonishing vari- most other legislation, the reader is t priests who lived a common life and ety of forms of consecrated life. referred to the society’s specific rule. went out to carry out their mission. Communities like the C.PP.S. were They were bound together not by something of a conundrum for the Even with this clarification, confu- vows, but a promise of fidelity to the Church. A popular way of referring sion continued. In 1997 the superiors Congregation and its Rule, as they to them was “quasi-religious” – general of twenty of the twenty-eight pursued their apostolic mission. This communities that did not have vows such societies of men gathered at a was not without precedent: St. Philip like “normal” religious. retreat house near Rome to ponder of Neri had founded the Congre - With the revised Code of Canon Law more fully their identity as distinct gation of the Oratory with a some- appearing in 1983, three categories from that of institutes of consecrated what similar structure in 1575. St. were offered to classify religious life. They were aided by some Vincent de Paul had founded the life: institutes of consecrated life, experts in religious life, canon law, Congregation of the Mission (known societies of apostolic life, and secu- and spirituality. C.PP.S. Moderator as Vincentians or Lazarists) some lar institutes. There is extensive leg- General Barry Fischer was one of fifty years later in France. Many islation to be found there for the first the organizers of the meeting. What other communities like the C.PP.S. category, which are communities resulted from the meeting was a real- were to follow, bound together not bound by vows. Legislation for soci- ization that focusing on the mode of commitment to the society (vows or no vows) was starting in the wrong place. The societies of apostolic life had arisen out of apostolic need, and that was the place to start. Everything else – mode of commit- ment, form of common life, shape of spirituality – was subordinated to their avowed mission. And to see how the life in common and the pur- suit of perfection in charity were organized under the apostolic goal, one had to tell the story of the found- ing and growth of the community to understand it: there were no fixed patterns. The participants at that meeting felt that they had finally reached some clarity about their identity as distinct from the vowed communities, the institutes of conse- crated life. In C.PP.S. parlance, these three defining characteristics came to be known as the Three Pillars: mission, 2 Fr. Marco Tulio visiting a mountain village in Guatemala community, and spirituality. They were each discussed extensively at again on the three Pillars? The pur- In the Old Testament it is understood T the 1999 formators’ meeting, and pose of this article is to offer some as one of the most fundamental char- h e were used at that time in the revision suggestions for our reflection. acteristics of God. To be in mission of the 1992 Profile of a Missionary. is to share this love with others. C MISSION u One thing was evident in the discus- What the Pope is giving us here is p sions of that time: there could be no Our Normative Texts define our mis- not so much a new understanding of o final, definitive statement on any of sion as “service to the Church mission as a better understanding of f the three Pillars. Apostolic mission through the apostolic and missionary motivation for mission and how is always dictated in part by context. t activity of the ministry of the Word” being a missionary is sustained and h As time passes, and the C.PP.S. finds (C 3). This is intended to capture the shaped. In this view of mission, we e itself in new or changed contexts, the original impulse of Saint Gaspar and are sustained by our daily personal N mission has to be adjusted as well. the legitimate development of that encounter with the overwhelming e Now, some fifteen years on from the w first formulations, it is worthwhile to C look again at what our call to mis- “ He has made “mercy” – the unbounded love o v sion looks like today, and how our that God has bestowed on all of creation – e community life and spirituality n a signature theme of his papacy.” a might support that. Our world is a n constantly changing one. At the t international level, the C.PP.S. has continued to take important steps to original impulse in the apostolates love of God. Our mission is shaped address its mission and its self- undertaken by the C.PP.S. in various by sharing that with others, especial- understanding. The symposia held in parts of the world. Reflecting again ly those most in need of that mercy: Europe on preaching and the mean- on this statement of our mission, and the persecuted, the downtrodden, the ing of preaching itself are examples in light of Pope Francis’ call for the oppressed. Francis has said repeat- of this. The symposium on the envi- Church to be more truly missionary, edly that the Church must be a ronment held in Latin America tack- what might we ask about ourselves? Church of the poor and for the poor. led a burning issue for our time. The The first question might be: what It must be a Church that goes out of continuing bicentennial celebrations does it mean to be missionary? For itself to seek out those who live on of this year and the next will no Pope Francis, it begins in the the margins, in places not cushioned doubt provide new insights as well. encounter with Jesus Christ: “when by what counts for human success, In addition to these responses to a everything else is said and done, we achievement or wielding of power.