Formation: The Key to
Living in Creative Fidelity
By Barry Fischer, C.PP.S.

Often in ministry people have spoken with me about their difficulties in living the christian life as adults. They have shared with me their struggles when attempting to put into practice in their homes, neighborhoods, workplaces and in society, the christian values they profess. It soon would become clear to me that their formation as christians basically stopped with their catechism classes in preparation for First Communion. While they had continued to develop biologically and socially, their faith had remained stagnant. They were attempting to respond to adult problems and challenges with the faith of a ten year old child.

The present issue of The Cup treats the theme of formation. This is not an issue dedicated simply to those who are in different stages of initial formation. It is directed to each and every Missionary of the Precious Blood. The Holy Father in his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata states that "precisely because it aims at the transformation of the whole person, it is clear that the commitment to formation never ends. Indeed, at every stage of life, consecrated persons must be offered opportunities to grow in their commitment to the charism and mission of their Institute." (#65).

St. Gaspar in a sermon preached for the feast of St. Vincent de Paul said that "there are basically two things that the Almighty requires in his sacred ministers: the light of sanctity and the salt of doctrine. Above all, good example of life and along with it preparation for the ministry must be the bases for the special delights of anyone dedicated to the Sanctuary." (Spiritual Writings, Vol. VII, # 34, p.127). Years later, the third Moderator General of the Society, Ven. Giovanni Merlini, wrote in his circular letter of 1858: "The Congregation is in need of missionaries who are well-prepared, holy and apostolic. Take care, my dear Brothers, to become such and to thus prepare yourselves for the sacred ministries."

Formation is a never-ending task. As Missionaries we are called to be in a continual process of formation in all aspects of our life (human, christian, communitarian, apostolic). Only thus can we hope to keep the fire and apostolic zeal of St. Gaspar alive and be able to respond in creative fidelity to the needs of the times in which we live, times characterized by constant and rapid flux.

Our Founder perceived our Mission Houses to be places of prayer, of study and of community building. There was a certain dynamism about the life in a Mission House. More than a hotel where the missionaries returned to sleep, eat and rest, they were communities which stimulated the growth of the Missionary in every aspect so as to be better prepared to face the challenges of ministry.

Formation is at the heart of any attempt to live in creative fidelity to our foundational charism. It is formation that will equip us with what we need to be today a dynamic, meaningful community in the Church. We have been reflecting for a long time about spirituality, community and mission. Often I have heard this phrase on the lips of our missionaries: "This is all very nice, but I was never prepared for this!" Certainly much has changed since we left our initial formation programs! Formation must be viewed as an ongoing process. We need to continually prepare ourselves not only intellectually in order to understand the new insights and conceptions, but also pastorally in order to implement the mission, and above all spiritually so as to be able to "let go" of our past conceptions and modes of doing things in order to respond in creative fidelity to the new challenges before us.

Times have changed. The church has changed. Mission has changed. But have we? Are we trying to face the challenges of a highly sofisticated, technological, global and internationally connected world, with the tools we received years ago in initial formation? Have we grown in our spiritual life? Have we continually "upgraded" our knowledge? Have we grown freer interiorly and more detached, so as to be able to let ourselves be "led by the Spirit"? Have we developed a mature spirituality of the Blood which is at the heart of our charism? Has our sense of mission evolved? These are some of the questions which point to the need of permanent formation.

This ongoing formation takes on many forms. The participation in the sacramental life, especially in the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, our daily personal and communal prayer and the meditation on the Sacred Scriptures are constant sources of renewal and conversion (cf. Normative Texts C13). Reading magazines and books on theology, spirituality and related themes that help us to incarnate our charism in the times and cultures in which we live, is another important source of renewal. We are also invited to participate in conferences, workshops, retreats, district meetings and community assemblies in order to dialogue and to deepen our understanding of who we are and what we are called to be and to discern together the challenges of ministry today (cf. TN C9).

Some of our Provinces have implemented the practice of granting sabbaticals to the membership as a source of renewal. A sabbatical is a special time in which a member can take a much needed break in order to refresh mind, spirit and heart and so be revitalized and renewed on his journey. After years of ministry and community life, often our initial vision or dream that motivated us to begin our vocational journey becomes dimmed, clouded, or even lost. Ministry can become routine, a job to be fulfilled, something we do out of a sense of duty. The sabbatical time is one for rekindling and renewing that original dream and vision, a time for rediscovering the joy of living our vocation as missionary priests and brothers! I strongly urge all of our Provinces, Vicariates, and Missions to give serious consideration to this aspect of ongoing formation as a special time for "rekindling the gift of God that is within us" (cf. 2 Tim 1:6).

IN THIS EDITION

The authors who have contributed to this edition of The Cup write from a variety of perspectives and experiences. Fr. Dionisio Alberca of the Peruvian Mission describes some of the challenges which we face when speaking today of formation. He reminds us that the understanding we have of ourselves as a society of apostolic life will also influence the way we approach formation, since it touches upon our very identity.

Fr. Dennis Chriszt, of the Cincinnati Province, shares with us his experience of collaboration in the Ministry of Incorporation in the North American Provinces and with the formation and vocation personnel of womens congregations of the Precious Blood. He also describes how this collaboration is carried out at the different levels of initial and advanced formation and in the cross-cultural formation of the candidates. He clarifies that collaboration is not simply dividing up the work into equal parts and having each person do his or her fair share, but it is working together on a group project.

Also we will read about the Regula and its importance for our times. Fr. Mario Brotini, the Rector of the C.PP.S. Major Seminary in Rome, traces for us elements which are proper to our Congregation in an attempt to capture our originality as an Institute. This is seen to be very important as the candidate needs to know what spiritual patrimony he will inherit and be entrusted with.

Then we have two experiential testimonies. Fr. Jim Urbanic of the Kansas City Province describes his sabbatical time as one of learning what has happened in his thirty years of ministry and as a preparation for transition to a new ministry. His academic studies at Weston Jesuit School of Theology takes place in an atmosphere where there are men and women of other religious backgrounds and varied experiences of ministry. He finds this variety to be very enriching.

Student Emanuele Lupi of the Italian Province has interrupted his formal theological studies and is spending two years in the Peruvian Mission for an experience of cultural exchange. There he faces the challenges of inculturation and a new experience of community life. He is discovering how our spirituality and charism are the same language which unites us and makes us one, even though they have different cultural expressions.

IN CONCLUSION

One of the chief concerns of St. Gaspar was the reform of the church's ministers. He would often speak of the need for missionaries who are both "saintly men and very well-prepared". He urged his missionaries: "One must distribute well the schedule of the day. If you are to become light of the world and salt of the earth, you should therefore cultivate yourselves in the study of the sciences of the saints through meditation and in the study of that which concerns your state. It is in meditation that your heart will be filled with the fire of God's love." (Spiritual Writings, vol. III, no. 262, p. 100).

Through reflecting on the articles of this issue of The Cup I hope that all of us will be prompted to ask ourselves how we are distributing our time, as St. Gaspar urged, in order to assure that we are continually rekindling the flame of our vocation. For it is only through a process of ongoing formation that we will be able to offer creative responses to the challenges of our times and in the diverse cultural contexts in which we minister. Our foundational charism in this way will be constantly revitalized and so remain a valid and provacative response to the needs of today's world.

CHALLENGES TO C.PP.S. FORMATION IN THE FUTURE
by Dionisio Alberca G., C.PP.S.

Formation for What?

In the course of history the ways of understanding and defining our identity as C.PP.S. have been changing. At some points it was seen from the perspective of religious life, almost identifying us with it. At other times it was seen from the perspective of the diocesan clergy, as though we were not really different from them. Obviously these perspectives had consequences for formation, as to what we were or hoped to be.
Today, thanks to a long process of reflection within our Congregation and within the Church itself, we have a much clearer sense of our identity: we are a Society of Apostolic Life, consisting of priests and brothers. Consequently, formation has to be oriented to that perspective.
As we work to grasp this new understanding of ourselves, we are confronted at the same time with a process of profound and accelerated transformation of society and Church. We are living with epochal change marked by phenomena such as the neo-liberal economy, globalization, the revolution in communications technology, individualism, and the loss of guiding paradigms (or utopias). This is not about some superficial changes, but a new kind of society that is characterized by its exclusion of three-quarters of humankind in the employment, cultural, political, and social spheres: in short, exclusion from life. This globalized society and world market leave them without a means of participation, condemning a majority of humanity to death. All of this presents grave questions and challenges to our mission, and therefore also to formation for that mission.
If society is no longer the same, neither is the Church. We are no longer the same Church that arose at the end of Vatican II and Medellín and Puebla. New movements, new priorities and choices, new structures (and return to some old ones), new perspectives as we enter the Third Millennium: all of this is before us as well.
All of this presents us with a huge challenge: How are we to live out our identity in a new social and ecclesial context?

The C.PP.S. as a Society of Apostolic Life

There are three elements that distinguish us as a Society of Apostolic Life: our mission, to which the rest of our structures are ordered; life in community; and a spirituality which serves to sustain both our apostolate and our life in community.
There are priorities that give contour to how these three come together. We have to be clear, especially in our formation programs, that our distinctive charism gives a specific color to how we accomplish our apostolic mission and how we live together. We are missionary, and are dedicated to the ministry of the Word (C2, C3). We are missionary in different ways: in first evangelization, in building up the Church, in renewing the Church, in our accompaniment of the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; in bringing our Congregation to new places. We need to take into account the diverse forms of the ministry of the Word: proclamation, dialogue, inculturation, and the struggle for justice.
Regarding life in community, we are called to live in the bond of charity (C1) and to live that out in a specific way: creating an atmosphere of dialogue; sharing dreams; being united in mission; being welcoming and hospitable; being prophetic witnesses.
Finally, we need to attend to the biblical dimensions of a spirituality of the Blood: the Blood of the covenant, the Blood of the Cross, and reconciliation in the Blood. This happens in a context of a society in which innocent blood is being shed ever more.
From this coming together of these elements and for the sake of realizing their challenge to us we develop our formation programs, without ignoring or negating the cry born from the signs of our times: How should we be forming our identity in this new social context?

Challenges for Formation Today

We are standing before realities that require new responses. These require--for the sake of fidelity to reality, to our apostolic mission, and to God--rethinking many things and confronting them in a new way. They require permitting the newer generations to live out their own experience and give their own response, just as previous generations have done. I would like to point out some of those challenges without pretending to offer final answers. Rather, this is a searching out of those challenges, knowing that only by living the experience of our younger members will we be able to discover ways to respond to those challenges.

· A Continuing and Comprehensive Process

In our Congregation, at least in Peru, much care is given to postulancy and candidacy as times of fundamental importance that are carefully laid out with close accompaniment of the formators. Being consecrated to God requires an arduous process of initiation, rising above oneself and crossing over from a generic existence to becoming a member of a community. It is a matter of not living for oneself, but for God and from God, in a quest that brings one's entire life into play. This requires a process that moves by degrees, always with good accompaniment on the part of the formators, with an ongoing discernment which will give to the young person that possibility of maturity in response to his call and to his assimilating the identity of our Congregation. Discernment and formation have to be done in service of the God of life, of the world and of the Church, and not in regard to the works we have.

· Option for the Poor

The option for the poor is already an irreversible element of the Church today. This evangelical element rediscovered by the Latin American Church has become part of the heritage of the entire Church and has been incorporated in a definitive manner into the Church's magisterium. But it presents some new things which are in turn challenges for life and for formation today.
The actual situation of the poor has changed. They have not become less poor, but experience instead an intensified and growing poverty. If previously poverty showed the countenance of oppression, today it is of exclusion; if previously it was a consequence of the exploitation of labor, today it is the lack of any employment. If we previously spoke of a capitalism of dependency, today we speak of a capitalism of exclusion.
The situation of the option for poor has also changed. Years ago it was something new, a prophetic alternative to life as it was and an overpowering way of living out one's faith. Today the situation is different. In the inward-turning and neo-conservative spirit that lives in the Church, poverty is "officially" accepted and affirmed. Sometimes one can detect a sense of fatigue and resignation.
As a matter of fact, the majority of the young men coming to our Congregation come from the poorer classes. The option for the poor means opting for their own class, for their own people. But if houses of formation are in upper class neighborhoods, the young men are bombarded with a reality that distances them from their origins, from their own culture. How does one insure that studies have their place yet do not extinguish the capacity to fight for the life they had before entering the Congregation? How does one achieve a better intellectual preparation, while conserving the dedication and self-giving which inspired them to follow the poor Jesus and work among the poor? One works to achieve this by having houses of formation that allow living among the poor, and by making explicit this option rather than simply assuming it.

· Inculturation

In the future our Congregation will be more indigenous, made up of people from the place itself. How do we form today those who will guide our Congregation into the future?
The concept, meaning, and experience of inculturation has undergone considerable development. Years ago it was the foreigner who had to become inculturated in the local culture; today it is the local person who must do so. One has to broaden the concept of culture; awareness of multicultural realities has grown; one has to discover new cultures and realize that no cultures exist in their purity, but mix and affect one another.
What this means is that the missionary has to abandon triumphalist and messianic attitudes to become more humble and fraternal, more communitarian. For this, one has to have more of a seeing heart than an overconfident tongue. One has to allow the other to announce the Gospel to me, to surprise me and to challenge me. One has to discover Christ in those people. Missionaries and people become Christian together in a fruitful dialogue.

· The Experience of God and the Spirituality of the Blood

All of these things will not be able to exist without a new experience of God, of the God of the Exodus present in our situation now and in history, the God incarnated in the midst of the people, the God of the Covenant, the God of life and the Father of all. It is God who chooses the poor as the privileged place of His presence. It is not the God of power nor One who is closed off from or who is manipulated by human beings.
Living the Blood of the Covenant of God with the people is at the same time living out the Blood of the Cross--the blood of the innocent victim shed by the powerful, for it is here that God is positioned on behalf of all the victims of a system of power.
It is also the Blood of the Risen One, made Lord and Christ. It is the Blood of Reconciliation because of its option for the poor even unto death, unmasking the perversity of the system and creating a new order that is just and fraternal.
Young men arrive with an image of God from their childhood that does not correspond to that of the experience of God derived from a spirituality of the Blood. How does one form youth capable of having this experience of God?

· Living in Community Sustained by the Bond of Charity

We are called to a life in community in view of our mission. It presents us with great challenges. Formation for community life means being formed to be able to set up a new type of human relations (Acts 2:44), not based on power, isolation, comfort, one's own whims, exclusion, and individualism. Rather, it is based on sharing, service, equality, justice, solidarity, and welcome. The specific style of our community life is the bond of charity.
We are also community for mission. We do not come together for our own self-satisfaction, nor our own benefit and comfort. We are community for mission. We are not closed communities centered upon ourselves and for ourselves. Rather, we are communities directed outward, centered on others, living for others like the community of the Trinity.
How do we form people for making apostolic service the axis around which community life revolves?

· Formation in Affectivity

We cannot ignore a great problem regarding affectivity within our lives. Many times priests and brothers were formed, for all practical purposes, to repress or deny their sexuality as a way to live the celibate life. Not recognizing that sexuality is an integral part of who we are can lead to unconscious obsessions that are destructive of the person.
It is necessary to form a knowledge of, and an acknowledgment, acceptance and integration of one's own sexuality. It is a source of energy, creativity, of relation, of openness, of going out of oneself which enriches us and permits us to be an image of God. We believe that living a community life will be an important element in this formation, as is an apostolic commitment that releases creative and affective energy. It is likewise important to form an explicit option for celibacy, because many times the first option is for ministry and celibacy is only accepted as a condition for it.

Conclusion

I have presented some of the challenges that are appearing in formation work. As was said at the beginning, I do not have all the answers, but am searching for how to respond to these new realities and to find ways to think about them theologically. In working with the young in formation, it is important not to impose one's own experiences and explanations, but to learn to walk with them in their quest.

Collaboration and the Ministry of Incorporation
by Dennis Chriszt, C.PP.S.

Collaboration. It takes time. It takes work. It takes patience. But what a blessing! Five years ago, as I began my studies in the doctor of ministry program at Catholic Theological Union, the class was divided into three groups. Each group was told to collaborate on a three hour presentation. After the second presentation, about half the class went out to dinner in a neighborhood restaurant. As we ate, someone in the group said that what had just occurred was a wonderful experience of collaboration. I was surprised and shocked that anyone would think that what had just happened even resembled collaboration. The session had been divided into four equal sections, with one person leading each section. They were all about the same topic, but in many ways the presentations were rather disjointed. Then I said it--the terrible phrase no one wanted to hear: "That was not collaboration! That was 'divide and conquer'!"
Collaboration is not simply dividing up the work into equal parts and having each person do his or her fair share. Collaboration is working together. As time went on, we learned to work together, to share ideas, to construct a project where everyone was involved, so that no one recognized where his or her part began or ended. Collaboration is a group project, where the whole group puts things together. It is not as easy as divide and conquer. It takes time. It takes work. It takes patience. But what a blessing!

Collaboration among the North American C.PP.S. Provinces

Five years ago, the Interprovincial Formation Advisory Council gathered together for its fall meeting. Formation and vocation directors for the four North American Provinces of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood met in Chicago. Most of us were new to the group. The group had originally been formed so that the four provinces might work together on a common formation program. Some had hope that there would be one house of initial formation, one special formation program, and one house of advanced formation. At that time, there was in fact one house of initial formation, at Rockhurst College in Kansas City, Missouri. Likewise, all the candidates in special formation spent two summers together reflecting on the history, charism, mission, ministry, and spirituality of the Precious Blood. Some of the provinces had been collaborating on the summers of special formation and at the house of theology at Catholic Theological Union for over twenty years.
As we gathered for that meeting, it became obvious that the policies we were working with needed some revision. Little did we know that it would take five years and countless hours and sheets of paper, to come to a final draft of the policies that would guide us in our collaboration. Nor did we expect, at that time, that the one house of initial formation would eventually become four separate houses, one in each province. By the time the policy revisions were completed, we had more people involved in formation and vocation ministry, not fewer. But we had learned to collaborate.
We had worked together, not only on policy revisions, but on a common understanding of what incorporation into the Missionaries of the Precious Blood looked like. We gained insights into our spirituality, our history, and our charism. While we were no longer sending all our candidates to one house of initial formation, we were coming to see the common values that guided each of the separate houses toward that common goal of fully initiating men into the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. We began to see that collaboration did not always mean living under one roof, but that it did mean sharing a common concern, a common faith, a common spirituality and understanding of the mission of the Congregation. It took lots of time. It took hard work. It took patience. But what a blessing!
We learned a lot along the way. We learned that collaboration does not necessarily mean that we are all doing the exact same thing in the same ways. We learned that each province, and each member, bring insights and gifts to the whole process. We learned that sometimes collaboration is painful. Sometimes we were challenged in ways which we would have never expected. We learned that formation is really about incorporation, not about forming men into preconceived molds but about welcoming them, with both their strengths and their weaknesses, into our community made up of men who have all experienced brokenness and pain. We learned a lot about what it means to share the one cup--the cup of freedom and the cup of suffering. We learned about reconciliation, forgiving one another and building bridge across some divides that seemed too far to span. We learned that our spirituality calls us to move beyond the boundaries that divide us into provinces and into various levels of formation, and to see the big picture that we are all part of one community, one church, one people redeemed by the Precious Blood of Christ. We laughed and learned, we rejoiced, and even wept a time or two. We prayed together and even played together on occasion. Some of the project we did could have easily been done faster and more efficiently by one person, but then we would have missed the many opportunities we had to hear the blood calling us together.
Because of what we did, because of all those meetings, members of all the provinces involved know more about themselves, more about others, more about the preciousness of the blood that flows in each person, in each province and in each of the communities making up the Precious Blood family.

Collaboration throughout the Precious Blood Family

Four years ago, a group of Precious Blood formation directors met over lunch during the Religious formation Conference's biennial convention. During that meal, the Precious Blood Vocation Formation Conference was born. Vocation and formation directors from four provinces of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, from three provinces of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, from the Sisters of the Precious Blood (Dayton) and Sisters of the Most Precious Blood (O'Fallon) have met together annually since that time to share our spirituality, our hopes and dreams, and to come to know in a very real way that we are part of the movement of the Spirit in the world today.
Because of the relationships formed in the Precious Blood Vocation Formation Conference, our candidates now hear not only from members of their own province and the other provinces of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, but also have an opportunity to hear the witness of women religious from the A.S.C. and C.PP.S. communities in the United States. They learn about our common history, charism, and spirituality in ways most of the membership never dreamed of. During the Interprovincial Community Formation summers (part of special formation), the candidates visit the community houses of each of the women's communities. They meet candidates and members of those congregations, and hear the stories of how God has been active in their ministry and in their struggle to live out the spirituality of the Precious Blood in their lives. They discover the richness of our charism and spirituality in dialogue with others who find in the Blood of Christ the source of their vocations.

Collaboration in Cross-Cultural Formation

The Interprovincial Formation Advisory Council also developed a program of cross-cultural formation, an opportunity for the candidates in the four North American provinces to experience personal transformation by the encounter with people from another culture. It is a chance to gain an international perspective and to grow in our Precious Blood identity as we develop relationships with members in other provinces, vicariates and missions of the Congregation. Last year, the members of the Interprovincial Formation Advisory Council decided to extend an invitation to the A.S.C. and C.PP.S. women to join in this program. In collaboration with members of the cross-cultural faculty at Catholic Theological Union, this new joint venture will take place June 15-July 15, 1999, beginning with a four-day orientation in Chicago.
For three weeks, candidates will live in community with members in one of our foreign missions. This provides both the directors and the candidates with an opportunity for collaboration across international boundaries. It looks like there will be eight to ten candidates participating in the program, including about equal numbers of Precious Blood men and women. One director and three candidates will spend time experiencing the local cultural in one of three different sites, getting to know some of the community members there, seeing their ministry and hearing the cry of the blood in a place far from home. Upon returning to the United States, all the participants will gather again in Chicago for a four-day re-entry seminar, an opportunity for them to share some of what they experienced with others, and to integrate those experiences into their understanding of life, community, and Precious Blood spirituality.
As the members of the Interprovincial Formation Advisory Council were discussing the development of the cross-cultural formation program, some of us reflected upon our experience of welcoming candidates from other provinces to visit our provinces. It is our hope that during next summer's gathering of formators from throughout the Congregation that we might have an opportunity to collaborate on ways in which we might host future candidates as they visit us. It will take time. It will take patience. But what a blessing!

Collaboration in Theological Studies

Collaboration in formation is nothing new for us. Shortly after St. Charles Seminary closed as a school of theology in 1969, candidates from the Cincinnati and Kansas City Provinces began studying at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. From its beginning, CTU was a collaborative effort, with candidates, faculty, and staff from several different religious communities coming together to provide theological and ministerial training for the future of the Church. Today, CTU is the largest Catholic school of theology in North America, training men and women for ministry. Over thirty communities of men send their candidates to CTU. One out of every six religious priests ordained in the United States is a graduate of CTU.
The Cincinnati and Kansas City Provinces have been involved in this collaborative effort since just after CTU opened. Our candidates collaborate with men and women, religious and lay, as they study theology and prepare for ministry in the Church. Formation directors from the men's communities meet regularly to share their concerns, as well as to learn from and to support one another in this ministry. Students minister in a variety of settings, study with men and women from a variety of backgrounds, and learn the value of working together for the sake of the Reign of God. Faculty, formation directors, candidates, students, ministers, and the people of the local church collaborate together in a variety of settings for a variety of specific goals, all aimed at proclaiming the Good News to a world often in need of some good news.
Each time we collaborate, each time we do the work, take the time, practice patience with one another, we recognize the presence of Christ in our midst. We hear the call of the blood in our world, calling us to break down barriers, to cross divides, and to witness to the mystery that Christ's Blood flows in all our veins.
Collaboration. It takes time. It takes work. It takes patience. But what a blessing!

From the "Regula" to Our Own Times
by Mario Brotini, C.PP.S.

A Bit of History

For all of us Missionaries, August 15, 1815 is the date of the foundation of our Congregation. It was the day Gaspar Del Bufalo and other companions celebrated the beginning of their missionary work. Since his time in prison, this project had been gaining ever greater consistency.
But the foundation of an Institute happens over a certain period of time, necessary to cover its juridical completion. In fact the approval of an Institute required a path that presumed two or three steps, according to the canonical rules in force at the time. We may discern a first step of recognition in the correspondence and the concession by Pius VII of the house in Giano dell'Umbria, and in some rescripts of the Congregation of Rites. The second step was made with the decree "Sacerdos"of December 17, 1841, which praises the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood and approves definitively its Constitutions, that is to say, the Regula, without having mentioned the period ad experimentum of the Constitution, a normal procedure already at that time. With the decree "Sacerdos" of December 17, 1841 (of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, as it was called then), there would be therefore the official approval of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood in the bosom of the Catholic Church.
The fact that they did not make vows confused some authorities of the Holy See. It was noted to the confreres that if they were a pious society they would remain bound to the jurisdiction of the bishops and not be a true and proper Institute since they lacked the vows. Only toward the end of the nineteenth century did the societies without vows begin to be given serious consideration, and with it their possibly having an ordinary and incorporating their members with all the effects of an Institute. With the Code of Canon Law of 1917 it would become more clear.
The Rule was initially accompanied by a "Praxis" to aid in interpretation, and was reprinted by Rizzoli in 1881. Some documents in our archives give evidence of internal tensions at the time, which were about revising the course of our Institute and perhaps introduce the taking of vows to make of it a true and proper religious institute. But with Rizzoli, the fourth moderator general, the line faithful to our Founder Gaspar and to his successor Merlini prevailed.
There were many initiatives on the part of the Holy See at the end of the century and then with the 1917 Code to redirect all the legislation of the various institutes for the purpose of each having in fact its own so-called "proper law," but there were no general rules. Our Regula had to enter a process of revision and completion which came to an end officially only on July 1, 1964! From there, the new things coming out of the Council and the new Code of 1983 led to taking up the work of revision which has given us the C.PP.S. Constitutions in their current form.
Today there is an urgent need for each institute to undergo "a renewed reference to the original rule," because in doing that and in the Constitutions there is contained a pathway to follow shaped by a specific charism authenticated by the Church. An increased consideration of the Regula will not fail to offer a sure criterion for seeking out again adequate forms for a witness which would know how to respond to the needs of the present without alienating itself from the original inspiration of the institute (cf. Vita Consecrata, 37).

A Vocation in the Vocation

The nucleus of the Regula can be located in the first six articles, "De fine Congregationi proposito." Although it was approved after the death of the Founder, we believe that it was the synthesis of years of community and apostolic life. And although the work of Gaspar had been influenced not a little by the post-Napoleonic restoration of the Pope, we believe that it contains the secret of his love for the Church, a love which crossed over into a vocation within the vocation to the ministerial priesthood: being missionary. It should be recalled in fact (Article 1) that the Missionaries were part of the secular clergy, and for that reason their actions and their entire lives had to be regulated according to what was prescribed in the "sacred canons" of the ministerial priesthood. This expressed also the juridical status of the members at that time, distinguishing them precisely from religious. The aim was not only that of seeking one's own perfection, but also caring for the salvation of others: the purpose of the Congregation was fundamentally marked by the apostolate and not a life withdrawn from the world. The members were entrusted with all the responsibilities of a normal diocesan priest, oriented principally to "sacred expeditions, called missions," and to spiritual retreats (Article 2). The normal ministerial priesthood was therefore the point of departure, and not the end point! Article 3 places the same need in another perspective: the necessity of avoiding commitments contrary to the mobility and to the solidarity with the work of the Congregation.
They were to be diocesan priests, not needing incardination outside their ranks, for whom their allegiance to this work was governed according to the bond of charity, and not tied to the vows--something which other institutes had avoided in order to preserve their capacity to operate freely without being obliged to clausura, to praying in choir and other such things. Society as whole evolved: it industrialized, it became more mobile, it became better educated. A strict sense of poverty did not facilitate movement in this new world, and Gaspar understood the necessity of a greater flexibility.
The Regula therefore presents a nucleus of diocesan clergy who, free from vows and binding responsibilities, were able to focus upon the dialogue of faith, giving privilege to the encounter with the Word. The mystery of the Blood of Christ and other elements of spirituality, always considered in the first section of the Regula, provided for this special apostolate a great motivation, which in my opinion is still very far from being understood in all its profundity.
Toward the end of the nineteenth century a variety of procedures bound the majority of the members to the C.PP.S., and after a few decades they were being definitively incardinated, losing their diocese of origin. As with other institutes, historical vicissitudes have modified and augmented our Institute: new types of apostolate, foreign missions, parishes. These gifts to the Church have also broadened the working horizon of the Congregation, with the effect of weakening the distinctiveness of the C.PP.S. Missionary from other types of vocation. Various documents, from the Second Vatican Council and thereafter, invite the recovery of a fidelity to the nature, ends, spirit, and character of institutes, and is a recurring argument in the sphere of formation when a candidate wants to know in greater depth what spiritual patrimony he stands to inherit.
When through historical changes the number of members diminishes, I believe that one of the temptations is to concentrate more on survival of the institute than upon its apostolic power. Or indeed, some have sacrificed the original charism merely to guarantee the survival of the institute. But a consequence of this is that the loss of its own originality obscures the clarity of the calling.
For our Congregation, at least here in Italy, there is a lively interest in the question, not just for the works we are maintaining as a way of developing a style of management. Could the priesthood, lived in a diocesan manner, generate interest today in men joining us? Or would they expect that our way of being priests occupies a more provocative role in the context of a re-evangelization? Institutional structure as it changes can, therefore, inculturate and make more relevant, but it can also weaken the objectives the Founder envisioned.

The Encounter with the Word of God

The Regula privileges then a basic element for the Christian which our times seems to eliminate: the encounter with the Word of God. Even those in formation who are not yet priests understand the power of the Word and how the resurrection operates every time we know how to incarnate it in and through someone who was spiritually dead. This extraordinary work is based upon the re-presentation of the mystery of Christ in which we do not merely speak of God, but speak to God. The risk is instead to leave it wrapped up, to let it as it is, bounded up in its wrappings. The missionary, in the times and places of Gaspar, was an event. Even if those conditions cannot be repeated today, I believe that the missionary team and the mission house might be a point of reference for those wavering in the spirit. When they met a missionary, they were in the presence of a human person. And the whole was not the sum of the work of individuals, but the fruit of a communal collaboration. From this we can deduce that we are not alone, but have companions in our house and in our work. We are not sent to sell an ideology, but to live, if it exists, our communion, our encounter.
The Regula, as it is developed in the successive sections, does not fail to be precise and firm about the formation of the missionary so that, being well prepared, he can be of benefit to others. Also our times want us always well prepared but expound to us the risk of becoming exhausted in perfectionism. Indeed the Precious Blood has been shed for us and for all, that is, for the person and not only the person's rationality. Unfortunately even when we are helped today by the power of the media, from the pamphlet to the much richer internet site, we risked being passed by unnoticed. Pastoral methods based on the force of conviction do not bear fruit, and ideas do not achieve conversion. At times it seems that the only witness possible is the capacity to live and work together as a community when the evil of our world is individualism.

Our Poverty

There is a pastoral perspective, which turns in the minds of those who still believe, which gives pride of place to the administration of the sacraments and to catechesis. And there is another pastoral perspective which seeks to reopen hope in those who are alienated and no longer believe. The Regula does not downplay the first, yet looks generously to the second. The connection of charity alone would have had to guarantee the utter gratuity in apostolic work, and its fruitfulness. It is an original form of poverty, which has nothing to lose and allows it to gamble everything. The only thing requested from the missionary was his dedication to the encounter of whoever was in need of rediscovering God! This charity was the only bond, and was the driving force of the "congregation" in the mind of Gaspar. And it was also a true test of fidelity to the Institute: for those who could not do it, they were quickly like a fish out of water! One has the impression that the Institute was constituted by the dynamism of its apostolic action. Afterwards the institutional dimension had to supply for the slackening of the initial fervor.
In our history there have been various attempts to fit us into a religious institute with vows. But the vows are an instrument for personal sanctification, and this is only a part of the missionary vision contained in the first article of the Regula. The other part, the sanctification of others, requires the spirit of charity, of the gift freely given.

The Enduring Significance of the Regula

Today nearly all our Missionaries have entered our Institute having begun with a formation period which gave them all of our traditions. Our past is a heritage which the first Missionaries could only anticipate. In an imaginary dialogue between ourselves and our founders, a dialogue among those "on the job," I believe that the Regula could be a negotiating table at which there could be an ideal exchange between our historical experience and the risks they faced, namely, the courage it took to be the first Missionaries of the Precious Blood. Being in the midst of the young men in formation, it seems that the same inaugurating spirit of the founders is coming back to live in them: in simplicity and in courage, in determination and at times in candor. Those who are on in years wisely ponder everything, but ho knows if they would have the power to start a new work! The Regula is animated by that spirit. Every Rule is the fruit of the newness of the Spirit.
At least in these first sections I believe that the Regula maintains all its validity. If there is something that becomes outdated, it is the people who observe the Regula. Precisely because it is the work of God, the essential part of our Regula has the flavor of the difficult and of sacrifice, which disconcerts us. Leaving aside the missionary method which we can adapt to many different circumstances, the Regula remains valid for us in its communal valuing of a work shaped by the quest for the salvation of humankind, since for our sakes "that Blood is still being shed." When we learn to encounter one another, to walk side by side on the road God has given us, in the gratuity of our response, without fear of losing something, of losing something which our founders did not have, then our formation is also valid.

Going to School
by James Urbanic, C.PP.S.

My provincial, Fr. Mark Miller, and I disagree about what is happening to me. He calls my two years in school "a sabbatical." I call it "going to school." We may disagree about the words but we do not disagree about the intent: to return to school for a re-education in theology, to pull away from responsibilities for awhile, and to prepare for a career change in the priestly ministry.

Parish Ministry and Education

Priesthood and life for me are a blend of pastoral ministry (parish life) and education. I was ordained in 1971 and spent seven years in St. Francis Xavier parish in St. Joseph, Missouri, a parish founded by Precious Blood Missionaries in 1890. From 1978-87 I was formation director for the Kansas City Province and taught with the Benedictines at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, where our students were studying theology. From 1987-97 I went back to St. Francis parish as pastor. Presently, I am in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology. The rhythm is back and forth: parish and education. It is a rhythm I like and a rhythm that nourishes both areas of my life.

Discovering New Dimensions in Theology

I did not learn all the theology I would need, nor all the theology I wanted to in the seminary. There have been significant theological developments in the United States that were not part of my priestly training. Recent developments in Christology, biblical studies, liberation theology, feminist studies, and dramatic changes in the Catholic Church itself that were not available to me when I studied 1967-71. Thirty years later, with some experience both in education and in pastoral life, I am more able to "hear the message" and appreciate the Catholic tradition. I am no longer a blank sheet of paper--tabula rasa, as they used to call us--waiting for ascetical and mystical theology to be impressed upon my "impressionable" mind. I have a history and a direction for my future ministry. Both of these areas, a past history and a future direction, now shape which class I enroll in, what books I read, and what kind of papers I write. It is exciting to be back in school: not back in school simply because it was time, but back in school to learn what has happened in the last thirty years, and to prepare for another opportunity to service the Province and the Church.
Back to the provincial, Fr. Mark. He sees what I am doing as both a time to "get away" from the challenges of teaching or parish, and a time to prepare for another ministry. I see this also, but I am the one in school, not he. I am the one writing the papers, reading the books, and preparing a thesis. We both see the sabbatical dimension, the changing of gears and moving away for a time from responsibility; and the re-education dimension, the taking another degree (in this case, a Licentiate in Sacred Theology), so as to return to the vineyard. Both views are important.
The provincial is allowing members some valued time off, whether they take an academic degree or not. The member has time to look again at what he is doing, to step back and see another perspective on Church and ministry. The provincial plans these sabbaticals into the rhythm of the province. Fr. Mark is not the first provincial of the Kansas City Province to grant sabbaticals. We have a policy of continuing education and renewal. The member too comes back to the next assignment with both knowledge and enthusiasm, energy and direction, a focus and a renewed life.
I chose an academic degree program. I hope to work with inactive and alienated Catholics. In surveying theological schools in the United States, I chose the Boston area. It has a community of nine different theological schools, three of them Catholic. If you are admitted to one school, you may pursue lectures and seminars in any of the other schools. I have found Weston Jesuit to be strong academically, but it does not have everything I need. There are other schools which I can attend, including Jesuit-conducted Boston College, Boston University, three other Protestant schools, and the prestigious Harvard University Divinity School.
There is also a lifetime of educational opportunities in the Boston area. It is rich in culture, historic sites, and is near the ocean--living all my life in the middle of the United States I had never been so close to the ocean. Besides all of this, my sister and her family live in the Boston area. I had Easter dinner with my family for the first time since 1962; it was wonderful!

Collaboration

Something else that I did not experience in my seminary training was the chance to speak and collaborate with others: those not born in the United States, with women, with those from other religious backgrounds, and with people who have had experience in ministry. Isolation from the world in a formation community, once considered an advantage, may now be a disadvantage. The vineyard of the Lord is the world. There are many others out there working in it and doing exceptional things. Listening to them speak about their faith and their ministry is part of my educational experience.
I have chosen to live in a diocesan rectory. It is not a house of our Missionaries. I did not want to live in the housing of an educational institution, but in a place which most mirrors what I know best: parish life. Here I have the regular round of births and deaths, children and adults, faithful and faithless, sick and well, saint and sinner. I have a few sacramental obligations in the parish, enough to keep active but not enough to be burdened. Eucharist is a daily part of parish life and my life. I intend to move back to a Precious Blood house when my two years in Cambridge have been completed.

Conclusion

My first year is behind me. The benefits have been in education, global vision, praying, relaxing, and doing some other reading and visiting I was not able to do when more fully engaged in parish life or teaching. I hope that others in our provinces will be able to enjoy what I am enjoying. May God bless all our lives and efforts.

Dreaming Together so as to Build Together
by Emanuele Lupi

A Formation Experience as a Missionary

I believe that all of us have had powerful experiences in our lives which we will have difficulty ever forgetting, such as the death of a loved one or the day of our ordination (for those who have already been ordained). In my own small way, a big moment for me was the day I left Italy to go to live for a time as a missionary in Peru.
From the moment I entered the Minor Seminary in Albano I had a great desire to travel to foreign lands where there was greater need. I have always been interested in Latin America, perhaps because in my earlier years Sister Filomena, a Franciscan to whom I have many ties, "captured" me. With the passing of time the desire grew to the point where the dream became reality.
Taking advantage of the project of internationalization among the students of the Congregation, I requested of the Rector of the Seminary in Rome to be able to have an experience of foreign missions. The proposal was accepted and presented to the Provincial and the Moderator General. My superiors gave me the necessary permission and so I began to seek out a country in which I could have such an experience. After some meetings with Fr. Barry, it was decided to ask the Peruvian Mission if they could welcome me for this period of exchange. From the very first moment when they became involved in this, the confreres in the Mission have accepted me. And so I left on August 13, 1997 for the experience of exchange.
I had to begin by studying Spanish from the ground up, because I did not know it before coming. In the period of study and in the first visits I made to different places, I began to appreciate the country I was now living in. I think that Peru is fantastic. It is a synthesis of the world. Within the same national territory there coexist totally different realities. There is a coastal Peru, a Peru of the Central Sierra, one of the jungle, and between these divisions--at times strongly salient--one can experience yet others. Such geographic divisions foster strong divisions of climate as well. Within the same territory one can move from a very cold winter climate to equatorial intense heat, from a vast desert area to one totally green. I read sometime back that of the 120 ecological zones to be found in the world, 84 of them can be found in Peru. All of this promotes a great variety of traditions which are expressed in songs and dances and, unfortunately in some evidence of racism--the sad division caused by the color of skin. All of this influences pastoral work as well.

The Peruvian Mission

The Peruvian Mission today has five communities. Two are houses of formation, for aspirants and for seminarians; the other three are parishes. One is in the Comas section of Lima. The central parish is called "Nuestra Señora de la Luz" and has further eleven base communities with their respective chapels. Another house is in the San Borja section of Lima, and is a parish called "San Francisco de Borja." Next to the parish church is a school or Colegio that bears the same name. The territory is quite large, and the parish complex was started before the area was populated, when it was still open country. Today it is the central house of the Mission. The third great part is in the Central Sierra, in La Oroya. The confreres there are engaged in the pastoral care of an entire province. The territory is enormous, and it takes hours to get from one part of it to another. It has about 44 villages, with the center being the parish of "Cristo Rey." The community of La Oroya is the "mother"of the Peruvian Mission, since it was here in 1962 that Fr. Paul Buehler, after having worked many years in Chile, came to open a new house in Peru.

My Work in Colegio San Borja

Since arriving in Peru, I have had the opportunity to visit and live for brief periods in the different parishes. Since March I have been living and working in the community at San Borja. There are three of us in the house: Father Ernesto Ranly who is Director of the Mission and parish pastor, Father Paul Buehler who is associate pastor, and myself helping in the Colegio San Francisco de Borja as spiritual director and teacher of religion. The pastoral work takes up the great majority of my time but does allow me to meet the sacred times of community life. Beside communal morning prayer, we have the important time of meals in which we can share our work experiences. At times, when the parish commitments permit, we can spend evenings talking together or simply watching a movie. Such moments are very important for me, for then I can share experience or clear up doubts with confreres senior to myself with whom I am living. I can get lessons in life from those who know more than I do. At times Fr. Paul recounts for me parts of the history of the Mission, helping me understand a little more of the community in which I am living. I agree with those who say that the time of formation does not end when one leaves the seminary. It is a long process which permits us every day to grow and mature ever more. In the past years at Albano and in Rome I received a foundation and theories, but the real examination is now. To live day after day in a community, to work shoulder to shoulder with people who I didn't even know at first but now call me "brother." We may be foreigners talking to one another, however our spirituality and our charism are the same language which unites us, which makes us "one."
Working in the Colegio has helped me enter the complex world of education. One of the senior teachers said that the educator is a "co-creator" who continues the work par excellence started by the Creator. As spiritual director (asesor espiritual) I not only help with or preside at the liturgies which mark the life of the Colegio, but I also have the task of accompanying the pupils in the difficult road of growing up humanly and spiritually. At times it is great challenge to be a formator and not simply an educator. At the base of these reflections there is the desire to help make possible an "evangelizing Colegio" in which one can always breathe the air of new things and of the union in the Blood of Christ. For this reason many activities are promoted which can urge the pupils into evangelizing among themselves and in the different realities which we are getting to know in the missions which we hold weekly. In the Colegio we have a prayer group and a large group of "Young Missionaries." Almost every weekend we are go to visit an orphanage with the pupils in the first year of secondary school. With the older pupils we visit a women's prison and we have had experiences more than once of visiting a hospice for persons ill with AIDS. These are kinds of things I am doing in Lima. For some time, however, we have been entering a mentality that goes out further and have been starting to visit the villages of the Central Sierra. We are going there with a small group of pupils for four days at a time, to share the mission with our confreres who are working there.
I am seeing more and more in the youth with which I am working that there is an ever greater desire to know Christ and, perhaps even more wonderful, to proclaim him. At times I think that I am giving but then realize that I am receiving even more. I derive great satisfaction in seeing that the efforts made bring about sooner or later their results. Sometimes all does not turn out as one would wish, however what is important is to know how to find the positive side even in little disappointments.

Conclusion

I believe that this experience will leave a mark on me, and I believe that it will be impossible for me to forget it. I know well that when I finish the time that has been given to me I will have to return to Italy, but I also know that a large part of me will remain in Peru among those who have walked with me and believed in me. Such an experience is helping me see myself more and more as part of the Family. I do not know many confreres, I may never know some of them, however I feel them to be an important part of me. Coming to Peru, among other things, has helped me know that, even though we are from different cultures, we can offer the same message in the diverse situations in which we find ourselves.
I want to thank the confreres of the Peruvian Mission who from the first moment when I arrived have made me feel at home, have walked with me, and have helped me in all the moments of my experience. I thank further Fr. Barry and the Superiors of my province of origin, the Italian Province, who showed their trust in me, and who have been close to me despite the obvious geographical distance.
I hope that more will be able to have this kind of experience in order to create a greater dialogue among the members of the various provinces. To help dreams become realities because when we dream together we can build together something truly grand.