Credible and fruitful Salesians: an ongoing challenge
When I was given the task of writing this article the title was “Communicating who and what we are to the young and ordinary people: religious rooted in Christ like Don Bosco”. One could have begun by identifying who are the young today, what we mean by 'young' and 'ordinary people', then go on to analyse a range of possible techniques of communication or things we need to know in order to communicate with the world of the young today, through Web 2.0 and everything that revolves around the Web as a new collective image. But after spending some time on this, I became aware that the paradigm underlying these kinds of issues is based on the assumption that (a) the young are the problem, inasmuch as, they live in their world apart from the adults and (b) that the solution lies in acting so that the adults, be they teachers, parents or other, find the right strategies and techniques to communicate. If we achieve this then we have done the task right.
I believe there could be nothing more mistaken, because the problem today lies rather with the adults and with institutions unable to offer a dream which is big or human enough, and that can offer models of behaviour and alternative lifestyle to the ones imposed by the market and the media, and that can allow them to “touch with their own hands” the plausibility of the dream: it is possible to live by cooperating for the common good; the other, whoever he or she may be, is a gift and not an adversary we are in competition with; life is not only about working to consume; time spent in relationships, study, looking after the environment, helping the needy, in art and science, is time that prepares one for a better future and for whoever comes after us.
It is with these assumptions that I have preferred to construct this reflection beginning with an analysis of changes around us. We cannot in fact consider alternatives if we have no idea what it is that is changing our lives. It is no accident that over recent decades the frequency with which the Church has warned us of the risk of reducing humanity just to the material dimension has increased. We can also add to these appeals the one by our Rector Major who invites us to our own radical evangelical testimony. But at the same time, perhaps with greater urgency, it is important to identify the causes of loss of significance and credibility that the Church and religious institutions have undergone over these years. In other words, we need to ask ourselves seriously why our proposal - Christian and Salesian as it is - is not interesting enough to fascinate the young we meet.
Communication always implies a relationship, a rapport. If we want to communicate something to someone we need to establish a relationship of trust, because whoever is proclaiming something needs to be credible. In our case we are not talking about a credibility which is only subjective; it needs to be communal and institutional, testified to by concrete life choices, as further proof that it is possible to live a Christian life. Understanding then what credibility is and what its salient features are, seemed to me to be another obligatory step to offer in this reflection.
It is by our fruits that we are recognised as bearers of a true and meaningful message. This is why it is important to understand how the process of communication, beyond “speaking”, always implies a “being” and a “doing” that come together in an harmonious and credible whole. This capacity for coherent proclamation has to come from our faithfulness to the radical choice which the Gospel asks of every Christian and, more so, those who choose to consecrate their lives to following Christ.
Therefore I propose to reflect on two crucial areas for our credibility. The first regards the internal aspect: the healthy and credibility of an institution is measured by the capacity of its members to live and practise justice,on their modest lifestyle, their ability to cooperate in carrying out the mission. These elements, justice, modest lifestyle and cooperation, are three indicators of prophecy in a cultural context that glorifies selfish consumption, waste and individualism. The second important area of credibility comes from our ability to respond to challenges from changes happening around us. The changes in social scenarios calls us to better identify who it is we are working for and to renew our choice for the poor by means of an appropriate cultural and educational proposal. We can add other challenges to this one: the “economic challenge” which questions our ability to choose financial models which are consistent with Gospel values; “the technological challenge” of a society which is connected and that questions our communication model and ability to live with technology, without being enslaved; and finally “the ecological challenges”, just as important because they imply serious reflection on the way we relate to the environment.
1. Changes happening now
In recent decades, personal and social existence is in constant and rapid flux, thanks to incredible technical, computer science innovations. It is enough to consider that in 1990 the world wide web did not yet exist and today the daily lives of so many people, though not all, seems interconnected with the Web to the point that the very concept of the net or web has become a metaphor for our society.
The technological revolution has wrought a gradual cultural change now over some time, a slow but constant wave gathering strength from a liberal and consumer culture that in the post-war period has saturated every vital and mental space through the media, marketing and advertising. This constant supply of products around us has gradually instilled in us the idea that life has meaning in relationship with the financial possibility of buying things. Gilles Lipovetsky has defined this change as the birth of a new anthropological model - homo consumericus.
Zygmunt Bauman picks up even more radically the disappearance of ’homo politicus and the birth of ’homo consumens. The salient features of this latter are the omnivorous voracity with which he consumes something. The consequences at the social level are even more serious because as well as the loss of meaning of the common good, there is an increase in those marginalised and made poor in a society which is more and more hyper-technological but socially unstable.
From a cultural point of view we have been speaking of moving from modernity to post-modernity. This passage usually includes the processes of globalisation of finance, development of the web at worldwide level, the collapse of great ideologies, especially communism and the triumph of capitalism, a disenchanted view of the world and history that seems to lose every prospect of ultimate purpose, exasperated individualism and the gradual 'showiness' of all social life. Prophetically, already in the 1960s, Guy Debord foresaw that society's principal product would be spectacle. In advanced capitalism goods become de-materialised and take on in social relationships symbolic values disconnected from the object of production itself. We do not buy perfume today but the attraction it represents; one doesn't buy a car, a computer or a cellphone, but a status that one takes on. To this process of symbolic transformation we could also add the de-materialisation of environments. The concept of non-place of Marc Augé in fact points to the falling away of what has been the significant and symbolic environment of modernity. The environment, made up of history and symbolic relationships for whoever inhabits it, is replaced by spaces such as commercial centres, stations, airports and transport means of all kinds where people move, transit, consume, touch but not meet, and especially do not establish any significant relationship neither with that environment nor with people. Globalisation, finally, brings with it a kind of ‘macdonaldisation’ of society where: functionality, efficiency, low cost, control, standardisation offer huge profits but homogenise cultures and tastes to a planetary level. Even amusement suffers the same effect, to the point where we can speak of ‘disneyfying’ society where magic, fable, enchantment, and dreams are equal for everyone. A place where, contrary to daily existence, everything is spectacular and everything runs perfectly every day.
If on the one hand the mediated and media world around us offers a fantasy collection of adventurous and stupendous existences where everything glorifies individuality, on the other we are going through truly difficult, times of economic crisis that hides an even more profound existence, the one in which we are losing our very humanity. The financial crisis that since 2008 until today has affected the whole world, is based on theoretical foundations found in the US schools of economy that since the 1950s, with exponents of the calibre of Milton Friedman, equated financial laws with the laws of nature and created an ideological link between capitalism and freedom, in the “certainty” that outside of this viewpoint freedom could no longer exist. The political choices of the 1980s in favour of a free financial and unregulated market has led us to the current situation of a true and proper – though disguised – “dictatorship of the markets”. Journalistic terminology describes the markets with expressions connoting ‘divine’ features such as when they write, for example, that the “markets are not satisfied” and that “we need to make sacrifices to calm the markets”. Banks, rating agencies, multinationals and power lobbyists impose the political line on governments through a rite of structural adaptation: deregulation, privatization and cuts to social expenditure; states offer tribute to this exorbitant divinity by promising economic recovery which in the collective imagination means the likelihood of having money to acquire consumer goods. In reality, however, the result is that people lose their hard-won rights, experience precariousness and lose any hope or prospect of a lasting future.
These scenarios pose a serious problem to whoever feels the urgency of bringing a message of hope and salvation. It is not enough to say some nice, often prefabricated words and facts; today we need to let it be seen that it is possible to live in a different way and be happy. In concrete we have to be able to respond to the following questions: is it possible to escape from this logic of the market? Is it possible to learn to live in a more collaborative and human way? Is it possible to place a limit on the enrichment of people and institutions or do we have to resign ourselves to the fact that no matter how much we have, we will have still more and those who have less will lose the little they have? Is it possible to live in a society without corruption and mafias? Is it possible to love others even when they are different from us? Is it possible to have progress that is not only material? Is it possible to believe that wealth is something more than just money? Is it possible to build a more just world or do we have to relegate justice to an illusory “beyond”?
Vatican Council II was a sign of openness and a direction that the Church offered at a time marked by divisions between imperialisms and fear of nuclear war It was an expression of a need for renewal in being and doing strongly felt within and beyond the Church. From 1962 until today, nevertheless, we have experienced an historic acceleration of social and technological changes such that the celebration of fifty years of Vatican II in 2012 seemed to mark a distance that seemed, in my view, of at least five hundred years. What we are going through at the moment is that in fact the Church and the idea of Christian life carry little weight in the lives and daily choices of the people, despite so many “indicators” that speak of the return of the spiritual and the sacred. In fact the life and daily choices of so many are guided by values often contrary to the ones they profess. There has been a growing awareness of this loss for some time, and we find traces of it in various analyses and recommendations coming either from the Popes or the Superiors of Religious Congregations.
The preoccupation of the Church and the Congregations, almost an obsessive one, to want to connect with the young, arouse their interest, should be balanced by another concern, just as necessary, which is to ask ourselves what alternative we have to offer to present scenarios, not so much through words but in lifestyle and concrete choices.
1.1 The concern of the Church: scenarios of confusion and appeals to a radical Gospel way of life
In his post-synodal exhortation in 2003, Ecclesia in Europa, John Paul II spoke of “the blurring of hope” for so many men and women who9 seem disoriented faced with current changes. The signs of this blurring of hope were then identified: “loss of memory of Christian heritage”; “fear of facing the future”; a widespread “fragmentation of existence” evident in an increase in loneliness and divisions and contrasts; “weakening of solidarity” especially at an interpersonal level.
Essential for getting out of this crisis, according to John Paul II, was “returning to Christ”. This return meant the rediscovery of his message, the courage of witnessing to him through the “service of man in society”.
Nearly ten years later the cultural and social panorama has not changed much, if Benedict XVI felt the need to offer a Year of Faith highlighting how:
A spiritual 'desertification' has advanced over these decades. What would life, a world without God might mean, at the time of the Council we could already know from some of the tragic pages of history, but now unfortunately we see it around us every day. It is emptiness that has spread. But it is by beginning from this desert experience, this emptiness, that we can discover anew the joy of believing, its vital importance for us men and women. In the desert we rediscover the value of what is essential for life; so in the contemporary world there are numerous signs, often expressed implicitly or negatively, of the thirst for God, of the ultimate meaning of life. In the desert there is a special need for people of faith who, through their lives, point the way to the Promised Land and thus give rise to hope. A lived faith opens the heart to God's Grace which frees us from pessimism. Today more than ever evangelising means giving witness to new life, transformed by God, and thus pointing the way.
Desert, what is of essence and people of lived faith seem to be the three key ingredients for relighting hope through a process of evangelisation that substantially “… witnessing to a new life transformed by God”.
Also the Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr Pascual Chávez Villanueva, in harmony with the desire for greater authenticity expressed up till now in the documents presented, in his letter of convocation of the 27th General Chapter, indicates the Chapter theme as: Witnesses to a Gospel lifestyle. In his letter Fr Pascual Chávez recalls how already six years earlier, in his letter of convocation to the 26th General Chapter, he had claimed that:
More than a crisis of identity, I maintain that for us Salesians today there is a crisis of credibility. We find we are in a situation of stalemate. We seem to be under the tyranny of the “status quo”; there is resistance to change, more unconsciously than intentionally. Even if we are convinced of the effectiveness of Gospel values, it is an effort for us to reach the hearts of the young for whom we should be signs of hope. We are shaken by the fact that in building their lives the faith is irrelevant. We note the scarce harmony with their world and a distance, not to say an irrelevance for their projects. We see that our signs, gestures and languages are ineffective; it seems they do not have an impact on their lives.
Continuing in his letter, Fr Pascual Chávez maintains that for the Salesian there is need for a new profile defined by specific features: mystic, prophet and servant. These three traits make reference to what we find in no. 38 of Ecclesia in Europa. Thus the mystic dimension consists in “recognition of the absolute primacy of God as experienced by the consecrated in their total gift of self” , while the prophetic dimension finds its expression in taking our distance from secularism and consumerism,so that consecrated life is a “sign of hope”, affirms “the trascendent dimension of existence” and gives “testimony to evangelical fraternity, making it an encouragement to purification and integration of different values, by overcoming contrasting views.” Finally, the dimension of service is realised in “taking care of the needy” and tackling “new kinds of poverty and marginalisation”creatively.
The analysis of today's malaise in the Church and consecrated life could continue in an even deeper way. Nevertheless the problem remains of making these exhortations credible: in other words transforming them into real life.
One of the problems noted as amongst the hardest to resolve, the effort we find in renewing ourselves quickly, is picked up flexibly by the liquid life metaphor used by Zygmunt Bauman, who explains how today “situations human beings act in change before their way of doing things can consolidate into habits and procedures. … Liquid life, like liquid-modern society, is not able to preserve its own shape or stay on course for long.” All this produces a sense of insecurity in particular in institutions that by historical tradition, like the Church, believe they are based on the solid pillars of tradition.
One aspect that does not contradict Bauman's analysis, but perhaps completes it, is noting that people adapt easily to changes, especially technological ones. It is enough to consider how the Internet and mobile communication have become an integral part of the daily life of hundreds of millions of people. Not similarly immediate is the understanding of how these rapid changes modify the environment we live in, our relationships, our way of communicating, and finally, our way of being. This is also true for consecrated life, especially institutes of active life that live in contact with the people and society and so, more quickly should modify their way of being and acting.
I would like now to offer a reflection beginning with the dimension of communication to see if we can succeed in finding what might be the criteria fpr living and witnessing to a radical Gospel way of life in a quickly changing world without being overcome by uncertainty or by being anxious about being inadequate or insignificant.
1.2 Strength and fragility in the process of communication
The naturalness with which we communicate every day at an interpersonal and mediated level does not eliminate the complexity, fragility and in many ways the marvel of communication. We could say that every act of communication is a wager and a risk that the parties involved put on the “plate” of their relationship.
Each of us, when we meet someone for the first time, quickly runs his eye up and down and vice versa. Doing this, that happens at a more or less conscious level, we make a “pre-judgement” on the basis of who we are and what we believe, based on values, and expectations etc. If we have time and the chance to get to know the person we have “pre-judged” better, we then quickly adapt our first impression, confirming our “pre-judgement” or modifying it on the basis of how the relationships is going. This process could be ore truthful depending on the time shared and the quality of the relationship we succeed in establishing with the person. With the passing of time a more truthful “judgement” will emerge, beyond the masking attempts that both parties - more or less intentionally - can exercise, and this because in interpersonal relationship what we are communicates of its own accord and is perceived beyond our wish to control the communication. From this process springs the experience of the other in his or her greatness or poverty. If we are honest, sincere, right-intentioned, all this emerges, even though filtered maybe by an unfriendly or irritable character. On the contrary, if we present ourselves as open, self-assured, sympathetic, but are instead upstarts, go-getters hungry for power and fame, this too over time will become very clear.
This daily experience of people also happens with institutions, secular or religious. In other words every encounter, every relationship begins with expectations, mutual hopes that resolve in the development of the encounter between the two parties. The problem of personal and institutional credibility is a dynamic one requiring constant revision that can highlight and readjust what only does not work ad intra in our personal or institutional behaviour, but also what doesn't work ad extra in responding to current cultural and social changes. Credibility in fact cannot be simply exhibited, because it is recognised and attributed by the party entering into relationship with us. Being Christian, then, has always brought a disconcerting side with it, one proclaimed by Jesus when he said: “Blessed are you when they insult you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you for my sake.”(Mt. 5:11).
Credibility then is neither gratuitous nor universal; besides being credible for some is no guarantee that we will be for others. Indeed it will be precisely our fidelity to the Gospel that will cause problems to explode not only ad extra, but sometimes also ad intra, especially when the times in which we live are times of existential mediocrity. But what does credibility consist in?
2. What is credibility?
The problem of credibility does not depend exclusively on communication strategies, like we sometimes believe when we think that it is enough to know the right techniques to have effective communication. Credibility implies a complex range of things which we need to take into consideration.
The Treccani online dictionary explains that the term credibility indicates the
Possibility of being believed: c. of a statement, testimony; in every good legislation it is quite an issue to determine exactly the c. of the witnesses (Beccaria). In Catholic theology, rational acceptance of what is attested to by divine or human authority, worthy of faith. With sign. and a more recent usage (also through influence ofEng. credibility), the ability that a person, especially a politician, personality in the finance world, or a group, society, government, has to inspire trust, gain credit and recognition: have, acquire, lose credibility.
We can infer that credibility implies a source to which one makes an act of trust because recognising credible elements in that source. So it is not a personal or institutional claim, but implies recognition on the part of another within a relational dynamic.
Credibility is based on three aspects that always need to be present, even though in different proportions, in people and institutions. these three aspects are anchored in the cognitive, evaluative-normative and affective-expressive levels.
At the cognitive level, credibility is recognised by the quality of knowledge and competence we attribute, for example to a scientist, a teacher, an expert or specialist in some area of knowledge. Television has habituated us to experts who explain, illustrate or give their opinion influencing the opinion of the people. Nevertheless the expert's knowledge in a field does not mean he is an expert in everything else, and that could be a knowledge that comes from experience, like the craftsman that can combine experience, tradition and innovation.
At the evaluative and normative level, credibility is more complex and is basically attributed
to someone who incarnates ideal ways of being and acting we believe in, we look positively upon, that we consider good, just, desirable. … values on which credibility is based can vary based on two main points of reference: preferences given to different forms of social relationships (hierarchy/status or belonging/solidarity) or to some privileged category of time (past/tradition or future/innovation).
We understand that in life there are those who prefer to give credibility to values of hierarchy, status and prestige, placing the emphasis on the institutional level; usually these are also people who give more importance to traditions and the past. On the opposite side there are those who prefer values of solidarity and belonging to a community or group; these tend to give credibility to people who express values of friendship, faithfulness, loyalty and solidarity in the group they belong to, large or small though it may be. These people are more likely to feel the need to innovate and give a response to social changes around them. The two positions can be found within communities, but they don't necessarily have to be factors in opposition, inasmuch as they can coexist to maintain a relationship of fidelity to an original charism, and at the same time, motivate involvement in the present and the future.
The affective-expressive level impacts on bonds of trust at an interpersonal level. to explain this level we usually refer to the relationship between two people who like each other and nurture mutual esteem and credibility which can also make up for any lack of competence there may be. Often in communities the affective-expressive level can be the weak link when individualist behaviour takes over and dialogue is reduced to a minimum level of information. Failures at the affective-expressive level risk weakening the other two levels also.
These cognitive, evalutative-normative and affective-expressive levels are then important and should also be found in a person or institution, although in different proportions. One level, in fact can stimulate or reinforce the other two, or vice versa. If credibility is attributed to a person or institution for competence it could happen that an affective relationship emerges, and this in turn could also foster recognition of normative values and finally we get a global credibility in a person or institution. Or the affective dimension towards a person we think credible for behaviour and lifestyle could motivate imitation of that as normative behaviour because we think it is consistent. How do these three levels manifest themselves in a relationship?
2.1 Characteristic traits of a credible individual
In the communication process of credibility three functions can be distinguished: the animator, the direct image the interlocutor experiences in the communication relationship: everything comes into play, body, dress, communicating style, non-verbal language, character and temperament; the author, the one who produces the content of the message, but does not necessarily communicate it; the sender, institution, group or individual given the mandate of representation and on whose behalf he speaks taking responsibility for what is said.
In fact we can experience all three functions in life or one at a time, according to tasks entrusted to us. But what counts first in the communication process is the integrity of the source.
Integrity is a complex of qualities like dignity, honesty, seriousness, that is the profile of individual values the individual has and practises in his conduct - a life which the interlocutor appreciates. As for the professional field there are then special codes of conduct regulating “morality” in the role according to social expectations which characterise it.
One has already been able to understand up till now how being credible implies a set of values and attitudes that cannot be taken for granted and whose achievement is the result of a fair amount of personal and community work.
In the case of an institution's credibility other features come into play. The first regards the history of the institution and its tradition and consists in remaining faithful to the institution's characteristic feature, for example fidelity to the Salesian charism. History and tradition determine the reputation an institution has at a local, national and international level. History and tradition have not always been enough to maintain credibility, because the present is involved and the ability to respond to its mission today. Finally, an institution can leverage some figures that have known how to interpret the institutional charism and mission authentically. For us, for example, the knowledge and memory of Don Bosco and the first great Salesians, together with Salesian Saints and Blesseds.
Another characteristic which is decisive in establishing credibility of a person or institution, is the degree of interest perceived in the relationship with interlocutors. The more the relationship is perceived as disinterested and free with regards its ends, the more the relationship is perceived as credible. The same goes for the degree of independence that the person or institution enjoys with third parties.
Just as important is spontaneity. Whoever is able to understand when a person is reciting a script and when instead he is spontaneous, sincere, frank, transparent in ideas and feelings. Certainly there are people who know how to recite their part well, but in the long term this doesn't work, and sooner or later, their true face emerges with the immediate loss of any relationship of trust and thus of credibility.
Finally, sympathy, which depends on various factors, like personal character, ability to listen and dialogue in a friendly way, and put the interlocutor at ease.
The features analysed – disinterestedness of service, independence from power, spontaneity in communication and sympathy in relationships – are the result of a constant exercise of acceptance of Christian values at play in our life. Inevitably we observe how often it can happen that our own interests prevail in consecrated life, deference to influential people for career motives, greasing people up and sympathy which is a facade.
A study of credibility could be further developed; but here we are only interested in its foundations and characteristic traits to emphasise their importance and especially help us to understand how credibility is a relational process that needs to be built up in every area of personal and institutional life. Beginning with the social context today, we can ask ourselves what it means to communicate our charism credibly, that is, be Salesians today.
Credibility for a religious congregation has two sides: one internal, today with the perception that members have of their institutional credibility, and the other external, how others perceive us.
2.2 By their fruits you will know them
If credibility, as we have seen, does not only depend on who is proposed as worthy of credibility, but also on recognition by the interlocutor, this happens because it is the interlocutor who perceives harmony and consistency between being and acting on the part of the one proposed. The Christian is a bearer of a proclamation of salvation that involves him in all his being and action. This proclamation implies a radical change of mindset. There is a daily risk of dissonance between what we say and what we do. In intuitive Gospel simplicity, this is tackled clearly and keenly when Jesus warns: “Beware of false prophets who come in sheep's clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Can people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?” (Mt 7,15-16).
Then there is the global communications factor of our way of being (integrity), that says what we are and shows up in our thinking, words, actions, choices. We talk about ourselves through what we do and how we behave. Our lifestyle reveals and talks about our inner self. In a culture like ours that has exacerbated the outward image, Jesus warning to the Scribes and Pharisees is even more impelling when he says:
Everything they do is done to attract attention, like wearing broader phylacteries and longer tassels; like wanting to take the place of honour at banquets, and the front seats in the synagogues, being greeted obsequiously in the market squares and having people call them "Rabbi". (Mt 23:5-7).
The process of communication is always one that transforms, for good or for evil, the players in the process. For a Christian whose mission is to proclaim the Gospel through his life, the “Word” he proclaims cannot be just ordinary. Freire, speaking of education as a way to practise freedom - and the Gospel cannot be anything else but this - said that
If action is missing from the word, reflection on the word is automatically sacrificed, and all you get is a lot of sound, verbiage, bla-bla-bla. The word become alienated and alienating. It is an empty word, and one cannot await the condemnation of the world because there is no authentic condemnation without the commitment to transform, and there is no commitment without action.
As obvious as it might seem, we cannot communicate what we are not, what we do not know, what is not part of lived experience, and if we do try to do so it becomes a mere verbal exercise, something that in the long term not only convinces nobody but is counter-productive. The effectiveness, then of what we say and of our lives will be proportional to our actions and choices.
Today's changes hinted at earlier, the Church's and the Rector Major's concerns oblige us to take some problems in our Salesian religious life seriously to try to understand what building a consistent and credible life means. The credibility of a Congregation has to count not only on individual efforts but on everyone's as a whole. Even though I am not so fond of analogies from the business world one has to admit that even the world of commerce has understood the importance of total quality, from the production chain to communicating an image consistent with its business mission. All the more so then why people like us who claim to “be in the Church signs and bearers of God's love to the young, especially the poor” have the moral obligation of managing our own lives and mission consistent with what we proclaim, not overlooking the details. It is not enough to have good intentions; heart and body have to act in harmony with the choices we proclaim.
There are some strategic areas of life in a Congregation where credibility must achieve levels of excellence. These can be analysed negatively through symptoms of non-credibility like: gradual acceptance of an easy life, individualism, cultural superficiality, excessive activisim, careerism, self-assertiveness, ageing in the Congregation, etc., or we can consider them positively by seeing the value in modest lifestyle, collaboration, cultural wealth, correct investment of time in activities, awareness of role as service, knowing how to act behind the scenes, growing old gracefully, etc…
The symptoms are certainly easy to observe and identify; many of thus just listed, however, find their roots in an absence of a strong link with the enthusiasm and radical nature of the Gospel. What is happening at the personal and Congregational level is a little but like what the following story describes
Imagine a pot full of cold water and a frog swimming around happily inside. Light the fire under the pot. The water warms up gradually. It is soon lukewarm. The frog is happy enough and keeps on swimming. The temperature begins to rise. The water is warm, infact a little too warm for the frog but at the moment he is not too bothered, especially because it is making him tired and a bit stunned. Now the water gets really hot. The frog begins to find it quite uncomfortable but is so weak he puts up with it, tries to adapt and stops swimming. The water temperature now starts to rise gradually, without notable changes, until the frog is cooked and dies without ever escaping the pot. But if thrown suddenly into a pot with water at 50°, the same frog would quickly try to leap out of the pot.
The story illustrates how some behavioural pathologies in human life, develop over time: along the way, habits and ways of acting surreptitiously insinuate themselves and gradually reduce sensitivity to the need to create consistency between what we say and what we do. this can happen through physical ageing, but spiritual ageing is the decisive factor. As Clerc says, “When there is a slow and imperceptible deterioration, you must have an acute awareness or a good memory to realize it, or a very reliable parameter by which to assess the situation.”
Today's cultural context, globalisation, rapid social and techological changes and the phenomenon of networked communication impose greater awareness of the perception of ourselves in context, of our actions and behaviours. Over the last sixty years, consumer, capitalist and post-modern culture has soaked into our lives and imperceptibly entered schizophrenically both our ways of acting and also of thinking. Recalling the story of the frog, we cannot but see that we have become somewhat “cooked”; but maybe we still have a chance to make an effort to leap out of the water and readjust our lives. It depends on us and our willingness to become aware.
2.3 The Gospel demands radical choices
The Gospel, with its disarming simplicity, faces us with radical choices whose consequences are truly decisive, not only for the life of each individual but also for the lives of communities or a people. There is a deep down instance faced with which each Christian is called to take a stance: " No one can be the slave of two masters; he will either hate one or love the other, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave of both God and of money."(Mt. 6:24).
There is no doubt that at a global level the world has chosen money as its god, wealth, material goods. Our life is ruled by money and the commercialisation of every resource. A country's well-being is calculated on the basis of gross national product and not how ethical its population is or its level of education. everything is measured according to the level of profit and interest. The very term “human resources”, which we even often use, is a reduction of the human being to a marketable good. Markets have taken on connotations of divine personality to the point where it is true – as already seen – that we have to make constant sacrifice so their thirst for business can be satisfied. Their moods and progress affect the daily lives of billions of people, deciding their fate.
We cannot hide the fact that we are somewhat resigned to this logic and take it for granted that the world is like this. This approach, however, drastically reduces our credibility: the young person wanting to give meaning to life cannot accept a world exclusively given to regulation by money and the markets. If we want to redeem ourselves in the eyes of the young we need to
reject the economic approach, that is, the belief that more means better. The good and happiness can be gained at less cost. The discovery of true wealth in flourishing of convivial social relationships in a a healthy world can come about with serenity in frugality, modest living, simplicity, and even a certain austerity in material consumption. An accepted and well-thought out decrease does not impose any limitations on expenditure of feelings and production of a celebratory life.
these words, said by a non-believer like Serge Latouche, are full of humanity and dwarf the mediocrity of some of our speeches and sermons which are unable to think of an alternative to the overwhelming economic and consumerist power. We cannot avoid noting that, unfortunately, right now "wealth" is winning out, producing global wealth for a few and suffering, injustice and marginalisation for many, especially the poorest. The problem is not only economic, it is something that social justice has already condemned for years, but has been irreversibly compromised, on the one hand, by the authority at all levels. Although this is not the place to address the burning issue of globalisation of markets and its impact on people's lives, we should call attention to what is happening: where the prevailing logic of the primacy of wealth and power exists, there is always someone who wants to grab everything for himself and is willing to do anything. In this same logic, however, man is defeated in his own humanity, because he is reduced to being one of the many goods to be bartered in exchange for wealth. If we as consecrated people cannot offer an alternative word, or demonstrate that it is possible to live differently from the model offered by the marketplace, we radically diminish our calling to a healthy and challenging approach to a world which is ever more incapable of being fraternal and charitable.
3. So that consecrated life can be truly credible
Intrinsically linked to the economic crisis there is a social crisis of justice not only in the civil world but also in the Church and in consecrated life. Just as in the political scene we are shocked by the squalor of moral behaviour of those who should be representing us; by the high degree of corruption that emerges daily in the political scene; by the 'naturalness' with which condemned and legally processed politicians tranquilly continue with their activities as if nothing had happened; so we should also be shocked when similar if not exactly the same things happen in the Church or in consecrated life. In these areas there is sometimes an additional aggravating factor: often the crimes go unpunished , hidden under a blanket of complicit silence.
3.1 Building credibility ad intra: the service of authority and justice
The health of an institution is measured by its ability to be ethical, understood as the ability to exercise justice. Justice is the basic virtue, the condition for every relationship and every institutional behaviour.
Lack of truth makes systems of thought false and useless. Lack of justice renders institutions immoral and damaging. Thus we establish a fundamental criterion: there are sound institutions, that is, ethically acceptable ones because they are just, and sick institutions that is ethically reprehensible because they are unjust.
Even religious authority, to be exercised effectively, needs credibility. It is a credibility based on a statement of Jesus himself in response to a mother asking that her sons can sit one on his right and the other on his left:
You know that among the pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No, anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mt. 20:7-28).
Jesus' word locates authority right outside the logic of the cult of the person and the image. Paradoxically to be great you have to become servants and to be first, become slaves. There are no half measures in the logic of service. Putting God's Word back in centre place along with the radical nature of the Gospel means a commitment to making concrete choices every day on many fronts, keeping in mind a very attentive and sensitive cultural and social panorama.
It is true that the credibility of an institution may be compromised by the action of individuals; just think of the problem of pedophilia or financial crashes due to poor economic management of the assets of a house, of a province or of the congregation, but it is also true that these same problems are a symptom of serious difficulties in government of the institution.
The service of justice in charity is everyone's duty as the Gospel reminds us:
If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you: the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain any charge.. But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community, and if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a pagan or a tax collector. I tell you solemnly, whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven. (Mt. 18:15-18).
It is not uncommon to find confreres frustrated or resigned to the fact that even in religious life there are scenarios where the "smart" ones prevail, those who break the rules, those who do not do their duty but know very well how to look after their own interests. But they also have the backing of the superior. and what do we say of some confreres who, either because they are uncomfortable or get in someone's way, suffer a kind of bullying or are sidelined. Like weekly gossip there are those who just like to sow weeds. There are others who allow themselves everything, from a personal vehicle to a bank account, without any need to render account. All this makes one think that the rule in force is, tacitly but respected at community level: “live and let live”. There is a kind of accepted agreement whereby we accept the other's mediocrity so that one's own does not come under scrutiny.
This style of life and government with the passage of time creates a permanent state of mediocrity, and its clear symptom can be seen in everyday occasions where communication becomes a sham. Thus we find ourselves celebrating the Eucharist but not living in communion, sharing the table but not sharing a family agape, working in the same place but each with his own project.
Now, if an institution is unable to establish a rule of justice which safeguards the common good and equality through clear rules, correction in the case of transgressions, this institution is bound to be corrupted and fall into real pathologies, ending up in cronyism and subterfuge.
If reminders of the rules and leadership are not accompanied and supported by a real service of authority fostering in each of the confreres his observance of his duties, impunity becomes a systemic disease, indicating the decline of the institution itself. When the community is not able to differentiate between a confrere who lives his religious life faithfully and consistently according to the Constitutions, and one who does what he wants, any prospect of growth and future is at risk, because what is constructed with effort by one another is shot down by the banality of an empty and contradictory life of someone else.
The antidote to these dysfunctions is management of community life which sees everyone involved responsibly, those who are responsible for the service of authority have an understanding of their role and every confrere likewise, because we are all servants of each other.
In these situations, the temptation for those in authority to surround themselves with people who think like them and do not create problems, is understandable, but doing so increases the risk of losing clarity in seeing and judging situations, and weakens the necessary prophetic tension. When these people, having no alternative insights, are content to please those in authority rather than help them to understand problems in a timely manner, and identify new ways of implement the right choices, they do not offer good service either to those in authority or to Church. Cardinal Martini, in his final interview before he died, to the question put to him by Fr Georg Sporschill, “Who can help the Church today?", answered:
Father Karl Rahner liked the image of the fire under the ashes. I see in the Church today so much ash covering the fire that I am often assailed by a feeling of impotence. How can we free the fire from ashes so that the fire of love can reignite? First we have to seek out this fire. where are the individuals full of generosity like the good Samaritan? Who has faith like the Roman Centurion? Who is an enthusiast like John the Baptist? Who dares to do new things like St Paul? Who is faithful like Mary Magdalen? I advise the Pope and the Bishops to seek out twelve people who seem out of line for administration roles. Men close to the poor, surrounded by the young, ready to do something new. We need people who are on fire with zeal so the Spirit can spread everywhere.
Often the more consistent and innovative types need to be sought out, because they have not sought posts of honour; aware of the temptations of power they avoid these.
Authority must learn the art of attentive listening, as suggested by The Service of Authority and Obedience where it says:
Whoever presides must remember that the one who does not listen to his brother or sister does not know how to listen to God either, that an attentive listening allows one to better coordinate the energy and gifts that the Spirit gives to the community and also, when making decisions, to keep in mind the limits and the difficulties of some members. Time spent in listening is never time wasted, and listening can often prevent crises and difficult times both on the individual and community levels.
Procedures of involvement from the bottom up need more time and often do not seem to lead to efficient solutions, but it is well to remember that the construction of a community process is more important than the outcome, because it is a guarantee of further progress.
When a Congregation experience justice within its own operation, it tells us that common life does not empty a person but fulfils him; it does not dry up the heart, but fills it with joy because “living and working together” achieves greater things than we can achieve alone. Experiencing the joy of sharing, despite the inevitable effort resulting from the fact that we are all different, is the best antidote to individualism.
Our communities can be paradises or hells and we know the secret as congenially described in the following tale:
One day some missionaries brought a crowd of children into the parish church in the countryside for their daily couple of minutes before going off to school. They told them a nice little story on a strange topic: “Who lives in hell and who lives in heaven?”
They pointed out a paradox: both the first and the latter group were forced to feed each other, given the significant amount of food available to them, using only long two metre forks. Only with great difficulty could one grasp a fork with one hand and skewer the food. The biggest problem was to get the skewered food into their mouths. Their arms were much shorter than the long fork, and they couldn't turn the fork back into their mouths. So they couldn't eat.
Given that both heaven and hell had the same situation, there were some notable difference however: the first group looked thin and emaciated, all withered and pale; the second group though was well fed, happy and chatting among themselves, and in good health.
“Why the big difference between these two groups of souls?” This was the tough question the missionaries put to the children. The kids had followed the story attentively and with interest, but none of them could give a good answer to the question. Silence and consternation reigned supreme, with a mixture of curiosity and impatience. At the end one of the missionaries supplied this answer: "The inhabitants of hell were trying in vain to get the skewered food into their own mouths with the long fork. Unfortunately they couldn't do it like they would have done back on earth. So, unable to eat, they got thin and pale. On the contrary, the inhabitants of heaven still skewered their food with the long fork, but rather than the futile efforts to try to get it into their own mouths, they offered it to someone ont he other side of the table. Those ones did the same. So ... one fed the other. "
This is how they overcame the problem. The solution lay in collaboration, helping one another. Everyone got enough to eat, even though the situation was exactly the same as for the poor unfortunates in hell.
Young people are looking for others with whom they can live a meaningful and happy life. The best visiting card we can give them is a happy community that works together. Difficulties, challenges and even tragedies are not insurmountable if tackled together. Our view of the future, planning, renewal of the charism on today's context, excellence in authority and management of justice are conducive to aspects of daily life of indiviuals and the community.
3.2 Modest lifestyle and collaboration
The Gospel indicates the spirit and style with which Christians must live their lives. The stakes are high and require a strong personal and group asceticism.
That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how you are to clothe it. Surely life means more than food, and the body more than clothing!(Mt. 6:25).
Imagine for a moment the dancers preparing for a dance. They cannot wear clothes that are too heavy or bulky, and in fact, professional dancers often wear leotards, which are like a second skin. If these dancers were to put on shirts, jackets, pants, shoes, jewelry, hats, furs and if you added in bags, boxes, chairs and so on, after a while the dance, as well as being awkward, would lose momentum. In the long run, the dancers would be dancing out of time and have to stop altogether.
It is similar in our consecrated lives. We begin with enthusiasm in early formation and with the idea that God and the young are the only things that matter, but along the way we get sucked into many things that provide immediate satisfaction and get caught up with them to the point that this is all we can do. This may happen in many different ways. So those who remain free or in other words 'continue to dance', are labelled as idealists; others who remain seated and attached to things, blame the music, saying it's changed and not like the music there was once upon a time. That's a shame because the commitment was to dancing, not becoming… music critics. So, there are a number of those we work for who want to learn to dance, but they run the risk in our houses of finding people who don't listen to the music any more, re tired or dissatisfied or even if they take an occasional dance step, are out of time. It is not about age, but about spirit.
There is another interesting aspect tied up with this dance metaphor. To dance in a group you need to develop harmony of rhythm, harmony of mind and heart and finally you need to live the symphony of life. Everyone has a basic role in a choreograph, and it doesn't matter if you are in the first or second row: success is determined by the harmony of the whole. All metaphors are limited, but the dance image helps us understand the originality and validity of common life as a proposal. In a cultural context like today's, promoting the individual's liberation from family and community ties in the name of self-realisation, self-determination and the absolute freedom to decide who to be and what to do, giving witness to the fact that common life is not inhibiting but frees the heart and makes our activity effective, would be one of the most prophetic and significant things to offer young people today.
Bauman identified very well the critical nature of the individual/community relationship in modern society. The insecurity that modern man feels is the price he pays for claiming absolute freedom. Community offers services and security, but in exchange requires limits to autonomy and to personal self-assertiveness. The substantial difference between the cultural problem analysed by Bauman and our community life lies in this: ours is a free and freeing choice, not of renunciation but of service.
For the vocation to consecrated life being a gift, it adds nothing to our lack of humanity, humility, service, sharing, acceptance, generosity. Whatever we have not nurtured as virtues in our human existence cannot be bought in another shop. Nor consecration, vows, priestly ordination can supply for the lack of humanity we bear within, as indeed they cannot fill the void of ignorance.
For the reasons indicated in the analysis of credibility, integrity between being and acting must be demonstrated in all sectors. Deep humanity, competence and reliability are not an option for the dedicated, but are a necessary basis for being credible.
3.3 Building credibility ad extra: responding to challenges from the young
the radical nature of our vocational choice along with community life committed to service, are the basis on which the charism is grafted and grows, seeking to respond faithfully to the demands of the times. The changes today that we looked at earlier require: good cultural preparation, ability to dialogue with culture and judge changes wisely; a strong spiritual personality that does not get lost in the whirlpool of changes, a sense of universal belonging because the future will call us to be citizens of the world.
The Salesian Constitutions clearly indicate who we work for. Article 26 says:
The Lord made clear to Don Bosco that he was to direct his mission first and foremost to the young, especially to those who are poorer.
The great flow of migrants from the world's south and new forms of poverty of young people challenge us as to our ability to give a response to these emerging realities which are becoming chronic. They are the result of predatory and unjust economic policies which require a twofold stance on our part: the first, of a practical nature, regards young people and consists in asking ourselves “what can we do for them”; the second, is of a cultural and political nature, and is a commitment to promote a society that guarantees justice and dignity for everyone.
Between schools, institutes, oratories, youth centres and parishes we are a formidable educational force in our local areas, so we have to ask ourselves if our Christian and educational proposal in contemporary culture and especially in the daily choices we prepare young people for is really what it needs to be.
The 'net' metaphor in computers today can help us understand what we are experiencing. Like when navigating we often go from one place to the other, one content to another without too many problems, of either logic or coherence, so it can be a bit like this in life. E are no longer in those years of strong protestation regarding Church and God: many young people today happily combine a moment of prayer , smoking a joint, keeping study and work to a minimum, have premarital sexual but superficial relationships, and then go off and do volunteer work in a developing country. Life is a bit like a browser, opening and closing windows or better, so as not to betrayed by an old metaphor, using an “app” that we download according to need and use until we find a better one. We seem to experience an ongoing emergency, without strategies or plan of action which can help us glimpse a healthy and robust existential response which can interpret life beyond a context of constant change.
The challenge for us is to think of “what Christian proposal to offer young people today”. From a communication point of view it is important to recall that the educational relationship brings our whole being into play. Therefore more than the strategies and techniques to choose and apply, it is a question of asking ourselves how to be credible an how to live our vocation today. In this regard it is useful to re-read what Fr Lorenzo Milani said to someone asking him what he thought of school and our way of handling it:
… austere and severe and without ulterior motives, in other words a secular schooling even if the teacher is a priest. Without any pious or edifying speeches, because when we are anxious to infiltrate faith into our speeches, we show we have little of it. Thinking that faith is something artificial that we add to life instead of being a way of living and thinking. A class-bound school, aiming not so much to fill the void of ignorance as the abyss of difference separating the poor from the rich. Do the rich accept our soup kitchens? Class in this sense is not a novelty for the Church. A school of formation and civil elevation, then, that re-establishes an honest hierarchy of values. A school, finally which is the opposite of so many schools reduced to hospitals for the healthy and rejecting the sick only good for seeing the differences in culture and language their pupils leave with. Indeed make them more radical and strengthen them, instead of reducing them to where they disappear. But how do we get a school like this? Friends often ask me how I run a school and keep it full. They insist that I write down the method and programmes, subjects, the way I teach. It is the wrong question. They should not be worried about how to run a school, but how they have to be in order to run a school. In fact they need clear ideas about social and political problems. You need to burn with anxiety about how to raise the poor to a higher level, not at a level equal to the current ruling class, but higher, more human, spiritual, Christian, everything.
In Fr Milani's response there are some things that seem to be valid for us today as Salesians. Our Christian faith has to emerge from what we do more than from what we say; the Christian message is a discriminating one and demands a preferential option for the poor; culture does not come about without a political and social conscience. The challenge to education is not resolved simply in school, because if school becomes a school of life and not just professional qualification, perhaps the possibility of a grater impact on social life opens up. Our oratories have the potential to be schools of life. Music, theatre, dance, singing, sports, culture, education and religious practice, social involvement, service of the needy: these are the educational languages and practices that are part of our Salesian DNA, and that we need to reinterpret for today's cultural context. These are the responses we need to give to social and political problems and that identify our educational work.
3.4 Social and political challenges
A first of these challenges is the overwhelming power of the economy and finance over the policies and choices of states, a power that often has devastating results on people's social lives, as we see in the current crisis. In Caritas in Veritate Benedict XVI, in his third chapter on Fraternity, economic development and civil society, gives us a powerful reminder of important points in the Church's social teaching:
Economic activity cannot solve all social problems through the simple application of commercial logic. This needs to be directed towards the pursuit of the common good, for which the political community in particular must also take responsibility. Therefore, it must be borne in mind that grave imbalances are produced when economic action, conceived merely as an engine for wealth creation, is detached from political action, conceived as a means for pursuing justice through redistribution.
It would be a serious error to think that these statements do not also concern our way of living. Otherwise the way dioceses, parishes and religious communities handle their finances becomes secondary or insignificant. Complex works increasingly use outside consultation as a guide, people who belong to institutions whose reasoning follows the parameters of an economy tied to the marketplace. These agencies introduce approaches and business procedures that distort the very mission of the work, setting it on the path of business standards. What seems to be just a question of financial accountability, eventually becomes a way of thinking about managing finances and their investment that is no longer consistent with the spirit of the work. There are alternative approaches, and some Congregations are following them. Such initiatives not only operate within a framework of economic transparency, but also according to a code of ethics of service which takes account of the weak, the least. Economy is too important an issue to be simply delegated to those in charge of the community or the work. A greater knowledge and awareness in this field is required of everyone today.
A second challenge comes from the world of communication. We are ever more a networked society, and every aspect of life is ever more based on information technology. The structure of the web forces us towards a communication and management of society which is more participative. But it is also a technology of control, and this must educate us to be more aware in our way of speaking and acting, because the web is unforgiving. Manuel Castells has the following to say about this:
If citizens can catch their governments out in the act of lying, and can organise resistance in communities that arise spontaneously, governments throughout the world have to be on their guard and be attentive to the principles of democracy that have mostly been ignored over time. The powerful have spied on their subject since the beginning of history but now the subjects can watch those in power, at least much more than they could in the past. We have all become potential citizen reporters who, although only with a cellphone, record and immediately send any illicit deed done by anyone anywhere, through the networks.
This warning goes not only for governments but for the Church and Religious Congregations. We have to gain our authority through credibility and accept the challenge of reciprocity. The stress felt by institutions like the Church and Congregations in this context of communication is due partly to the fact that we are bodies habituated to communication from above to below, mostly immediate amd rarely discussed except in the corridors.
The web is not only about control, but there is also the chance to share resources, keep up relationships, cooperate in creating culture and community, all aspects that can help in the process of human and spiritual growth of individuals. This potential can be integrated within the framework of a community lifestyle that has to learn to be collaborative; no technology improves us automatically, otherwise it would be sufficient just to get hold of the right equipment. Indeed it is always important to adopt an attitude of healthy criticism of technology not just at the cognitive level, but also at the existential level, and being able to be without technology for a time to better understand how we depend on it, while at the same time reaffirming that the importance of the individual lies not in the technology he or she has but in who she or he is.
There is one side of the technology challenge that is markedly ideological, and this concerns believing in the philosophy of open source software or free software. The Church and Religious Congregations often speak of this at the level of documents, but then in practice in their management policies adopt proprietary software. A Congregation that truly believes in a philosophy of open source or free software should invest in preparing its personnel and in a production centre made up of team programmers who are able to offer the entire Congregation the software it needs for its activities.
Technology is a combination of techniques, languages, power and culture. One cannot be naive, one must know the implications of these factors in our life as religious. We often criticise media consumption, but there is little reflection on the cultural nourishment with which we form ourselves. It is not enough to study philosophy and theology to be able to dialogue with contemporary culture. We need a preparation capable of grasping the positive aspects of contemporary culture, but at the same time we must be able to offer alternatives rooted in the revolutionary power of the gospel.
There is a lot of hype at the moment about evangelisation on the Web. We understand that the network is seen as an expansion integrated with everyday life and social networks are platforms of social relations. It is important to be there, but the real challenge today is local, in Christian communities that are breaking down, because they cannot find in the Church - the real people who represent it – the guidance and concrete support to address the issues of family, work, unemployment, poverty, social inequality, justice, politics, and consequently struggle to live Christian values in our society and culture. Orders and Religious Congregations have been, in the past, models of Christian rebirth, because they are able to propose models of Christian life that are livable, credible and transferable, while remaining concerned about the essential and the values that matter most. It does not seem that communities of consecrated persons today are perceived and experienced this way.
Another challenge comes from ecology that covers various areas: energy consumption, recycling, consumption of plastic, the choice of equipment, the criteria for construction or renovation of the rooms, water consumption, paper consumption, the choice of fair trade products. In the management of our works we cannot say we are in the vanguard of progress in this area nor that the renewal of our works makes clear choices for sustainable structures with strategies for saving energy and reducing waste, or by installing clean energy systems. Credibility also depends on sound management of real estate.
In conclusion, the challenges I have mentioned should be studied and discussed in the community and at congregational level. Here I have limited myself to clarifying some things in the hope that this reflection becomes a catalyst for other reflections. I believe that we must have a vision of ourselves for the future. As educators we are increasingly engaged in a cosmopolitan social context. Knowledge of languages should be part of our regular baggage as citizens of the world. Mobility will be an increasing feature of our lives, and the ability to adapt to change will require personalities that are strong in spirit, modest in lifestyle, more profound in what we know, but down-to-earth, with hearts full of dreams and minds bent on interpreting the signs of the times.
Fabio Pasqualetti
19 March 2013