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The
multiethnic and multi-religious reality of the changing Europe, the
consecrated life challenged by the new frontiers of solidarity, the
inter-religious dialogue and the new ecclesial conscience are only a few
directives within which the reflection of the coming 52nd
national Assembly will begin. The Assembly will take place in Rome, from
30th March till 1st April.
We
have spoken of it with Mother Giuseppina Alberghina, superior general of
the sisters of “Gesù Buon Pastore”, in her second mandate as
vice-president of the USMI.
How does the religious life in Italy stand before the challenges of an
ever more inter-cultural society?
Considering the religious life in Italy from the viewpoint of the
journeys of the USMI and of the orientations, which we have been giving
to ourselves during these years, we can say that we are trying to
strengthen the roots of faith not only in the addressees of the mission,
but also within the religious life. In fact, we feel that an
inter-cultural community is also inter-religious. From here comes the
awareness of the demands and commitments, which challenge us. We
perceive that by answering these demands, our Christian identity
weakens. Before this weakness we feel unable to give adequate answers,
for instance to a society which demands not only the enculturation of
the Gospel, but also the evangelisation of the cultures. It is not only
the question of a dialogue, but also the possibility of dialoguing with
clear identities, without weakness, without ambiguity. For instance, we
find ourselves in confrontation with Islam, which has a very clear, very
strong and visible identity. Within the Christian world we, sometimes,
find ourselves overpowered by timidity and lack of clearness, which do
not allow a true and proper dialogue.
During the past seven-eight years, we have tried, as USMI, to go to the
very root of Christian life and, therefore, of our faith. I could quote
the titles of our assemblies, which say a lot about, “We announce to you
whatever we have seen and heard”. This was the theme of the 2000 Jubilee
Year. “The religious women in a multi-religious world”, is a 2001
slogan.
Then, we realised that it was important to recuperate the discipleship
and, in 2002, we dedicated the Assembly to the formation in “the way of
the disciples in the listening of wisdom”. This, to me, has been one of
the meetings best realised, because of the rich content and the
profundity of the interventions. In 2003 we extended our horizon to
Europe with the theme, “Which kind of religious life in this new
Europe”, keeping our attention centred on the foundations of Christian
life and on the modalities of strengthening the root of our faith. Last
year we treasured up the journey indicated by the document of the Holy
Father, “Ecclesia in Europe”, founded on hope, and we questioned
ourselves on how to make hope visible in a changing world. To this end,
we took the icon of the Apocalypse, which the document of the Pope
quotes amply. Its sub-title was, “The religious women in Italy, between
the generation exchange and the ethnic mobility”: these are the two
challenges which today question us for the next assembly”.
Do
you think that a new ecclesial conscience is advancing before the
challenges, which the new frontiers of solidarity put before the
religious communities?
I
think that, though not yet explicitly, this new ecclesial conscience
goes on growing. I am speaking of the religious women, but I think that
this new conscience can be caught also in the journey of the Church in
Italy. We realise that the people have to strengthen the missionary
dimension, the theme of the parish as a place where faith is lived in
contact with the territory. As far as we, USMI, are concerned, the
awareness of being a minority people emerged already last year. The new
frontiers of solidarity become, for us, a challenge based on the
capacity of expressing a solidarity, which can manifest the charity and
justice of Christ, not just a generic thing.
I think that, on the frontier of faith, it is very important to say who
God is for us. We can no longer speak of any God, a God who can be
called in many ways, as it is happening in the current mentality. Our
God is the God of Jesus, a Trinity God who gives the first place to the
relation among persons. Ours is a personal God. The inter-Trinitarian
relation is the sign and the fountain of all the other relations, even
the relation of the ordinary, daily solidarity. He is the God-Love who
gives his life gratuitously, not a God of a generic love with the
freedom of choosing God. I believe that the free adhesion to Christ is a
great richness to be shared with our people”.
According to your personal experience, what is the relation between the
vocation of announcement and the ever more widening boundary of the new
Europe, and how to face these exigencies?
My modest experience suggests me that, in a Europe, which keeps on
expanding its boundaries, we need to dilate our heart as consecrated
beings, so that our vocation may breathe with two lungs. This expression
may sound too worn out, but for us it assumes the meaning of coming to
know the other lung in a better way, for instance that of the Oriental
Church. This not just because of hearsay, but through a humble, a wise
and a vital contact with other Christian traditions. We are supposed
also to keep in view how these traditions have developed in the oriental
cultures. Let us think, for instance, of the Slav culture. This is a
tremendously serious task, which must not find us, particularly the
major superiors, unprepared and superficial,
Personally, I have been trying for some years to approach the orthodoxy,
its liturgy, its most recent theological reflection. It would be
necessary to continue an ampler research of solidarity, together with
other major superiors. We should continue to follow the evolution of the
church of reformation, because a progressive evolution is going on and
involves the Christian life in Europe. In the light of this scenario, it
is very important to know how consecrated life is developing in other
parts of the European continent”.
A
formation, which moves along with the signs of the times, seems to be
the key word to understand the actual changes. Which way are we to go
through and how?
“The theme of formation remains a priority perhaps never concluded. We
realise that in this particular moment of the history of religious life,
we must try to avoid running after fashions and new changes. What we
must strengthen at any cost in the new generations, as well as in the
aged sisters, is the Christian identity I have spoken of at the
beginning, because it has weakened too much and is, therefore incapable
of discernment. In other words, we must try to know how to orient
ourselves among the thousand proposals of formation. I think that the
way to follow, in the initial formation, is that of helping the
assimilation of the solid food offered by the Christian dogmas. He who
does not go through Caledonia, through the great Councils, and does not
chew them by reading the Fathers of the Church and by nourishing himself
with the faith that has commented the dogmas, cannot say of having taken
a good care of his formation.
I remain always very much worried before certain programmes of
formation, which run after fashionable words, but hardly, if ever, fetch
from our own patrimony. As far as modality is concerned, I think that we
cannot undervalue the centrality of the Word, so that the youths in
formation, to be consecrated, may go deep into the Word, just as the
fathers and the saints have done before them; so that they may pray and
filter in their life the Word of God as they did. They must learn to
follow the way commended by the great masters of spiritual life, the way
that the preceding generations of religious and believers have lived.
I believe that it is very important to understand the modalities. Even
within the USMI, today we are not able to give a formation based on the
simple imparting of contents, elevated as they may be, but we realise
the necessity of passing on to a kind of mystagogy. We mean the capacity
of accompanying the youths to their relation with God: to a gradual
maturation in the style of Christian freedom, which becomes a model for
the apostolate. I think also that the initiation to the following, with
an unconditional self-oblation, requires ways, which allow the young
religious to reach a high level of culture and a deep spirituality.
These are the two pillars, which will allow us to face future
challenges.
With regard to us, the more mature sisters, we should be in the habit of
facing the depth of the problems, which we have to face. Sometimes I ask
myself about what the religious read and about the motivations behind
their studies. I ask myself whether they do it to assimilate and to
nourish their faith or just to obtain titles of study. I ask myself also
about the content of their conversations, about the way they read the
newspapers, they watch films, about the criteria of their discernment.
How can we place the 52nd Assembly in the journey of the
USMI?
It is to be a continuation of the previous assemblies, particularly of
the latest one, because the horizon of hope in a changing world remains
in the background. However, we must continue the theme of discernment on
the frontier of two big challenges, which we have wanted to bring to
focus, and are the object of two forums, which offer us the opportunity
of interjecting with the major superiors. The first one concerns the big
challenge of the ageing process, which involves the entire Europe and
allows us to re-think the dialogue and the inter-generation exchange.
The diversity among the generations does not depend only on the age, as
it could be forty years ago; now it is also ethnic, philosophical and
cultural. Within a religious community, as well as in society, the
generational inter-exchange assumes variables, which require a sound
spiritual wisdom. The second forum centres on the ethnic mobility, from
which we have to face also the question of the multi-religious aspect,
as a direct consequence of the first forum.
During the council of presidency, we have asked ourselves if, before the
scenario of a growing ageing, the announcement of the Gospel remains
possible. We have asked ourselves if the aged and sick religious can
actively participate in the work of nourishing the faith, of witnessing
to the way we can take care of the aged; the way of entering a fruitful
relation with different people, with people who profess a different
religion. We have answered that we can do these things; consequently we
must strengthen our faith”.
What
features will the new face of religious life assume in Italy, in the
light of these new challenges of a multi-cultural society and ethnic
mobility?
“The new face of religious life can be seen also from the colour of the
skin. Just let us go to our communities to see the variegated face,
which reflects also the face of our parishes and ecclesial communities.
This is not due only to the colour of the skin, but also to the
expression of this moment of encounters with people in the name of
Christ and in the service to the Gospel. Here, however, the most
difficult thing is to be attentive that the face may not become so much
indefinite and shaded as not to be recognised. With this statement, I
mean to say that when the religious sisters intend to do what others can
do better, they are destined to be at loss in all fronts”.
Does this sensitivity, which keeps on growing in the religious
Congregations, consider the challenge linked to the crisis of vocations
and to the progressive growth of the aged sisters?
“Of course we are considering it, but not in an anguished way. First,
because it is true that the shortage of vocations, in Italy and in
Europe, is a big humiliation for the Christian faith, not only for the
religious life. It is a considerable humiliation for the Church also,
but we wish to welcome it as a moment of purification, as an occasion to
revise the type of religious life we have put up during these forty
years from Vatican II. We have gone through a very beautiful work of
updating, but, probably, we have not touched its depth. The progressive
rising of the aged sisters will ask of us an effort of creativity, so
that the dignity of the old age and the dignity of dying may be visible
to all, both Christians and non-Christians. Also so that we may infuse
the hope for eternal life: this is our task, whether we live or we die.
We belong to Christ, and to die means a new birth from above: if we know
how to die a paschal death, certainly religious life will utilise our
death to be born again.
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