When Marie-Claude Grulier (Co-ordinatrice of the Association of Marist Laity) asked me to take on the preparation of this intervention which is intended at the same time to help us grasp the implications of this step being taken by the lay Marists, and to stand back from and examine this setting out on a journey, I thought that she had really explained it all very clear!y in her letter of February, and I wondered if it real!y was worth going over it all again. But she insisted. So I accepted; but I am going to deviate a bit from the mandate given.
Marie-Claude insisted on the ecclesial implications, the stakes for the Church, of such a step. And she is right. But I will also stress what is at stake for Marists; the implications for the Church, in the Church, of our present Marist direction. The intuition that made Colin and the others found the Society of Mary, that evangelical enthusiasm with its own particular character, the choice of Mary, has it any sense, any content, any value for the Church, and through the Church, for our world today? If it has, then let us 'venture the future'! If it has not, then let us stop here! All right! I'll go on!Marie-Claude also stressed what is at stake for the laity. She is right. It is the very name of our Association. But let us not forget that the first word of our name is 'Marist' even before 'Laity': the Association of Marist Laity. I think that was an excellent observation made by someone here present, the importance of the order in the title. Besides, personal ly, I prefer to speak about religious and laity, religious and associated Christians, religious and lay partners (each of these different expressions has had its hour of glory), quite simp ly because in the matter at hand, it is not first of all the term 'lay' which describes us, but the fact of being Christians in a Marist way. And so I would stress the implications not only for lay Marists, but indeed for the whole Marist Family, the Society of Mary, the Marist Communion.
Finally, I was asked to look at the subject again from a theological perspective. And so that will be the third section of this talk, although of course it is the most fundamental part throwing light on and informing all the rest. So it is with reference to these three aspects- ecclesial, Marist and Gospel - that I approach my subject.
1. CHURCH: IN UNITY ... being Marist in the Church
We place ourselves first in the Church, to which Marists belong. Marie-Claude writes: 'If we are Marists, we are also and first of all members of the Church, by our baptism and by our belonging to Christ. It is a Church that sometimes makes us suffer, that irÂritates us, that often discourages us.' That is true. A Church whose image is for us - consciously or unconsciously; painfully transmitted (the pain being often in the one who transmits as well as in the one who receives) - that of an archaic authoritarian institution, a tribunal of prohibition, even a hierarchical army drawn up and ready for a re-conquest; so much so that if one admits to being a Christian, a Catholic, one is often and too readily suspected of rigidity, obscurantism, and even worse, of proselytism. And yet, that is a very archaic image in the light of the way the Church thinks of herself and her relations with the world, since Vatican II. Vatican 11 calls us to revise our way of understanding Church. 'And so', continues arie-Claude, 'It is a Church which we love, because in spite of its heaviness - and I would add in spite of our heaviness also - it has made Christ known to us, taught us how to know Him.' Correct. We are very ready to criticise the Church, the Tradition she transmits· but - over and beyond all our bitternesses to some ex tent justified, but which are often the reflection of our own shadow - it is no mean thing to be the barque which has enabled Christ to traverse 2000 years of history and to land how ever confusedly on our shore.
... BUT ALSO IN DIVERSITY
However, I come back to Marie-Claude's 'first the Church' and there I position the sec ond part of my title: In unity es but also in diversity.
To be Marist is to make a choice 'If we are Marist, we are first of all Church'. That is true in absolute terms. But for many of us, indeed for more and more of us, our belonging to the Church, our sense of belonging to the worldwide Church translates itself through our Marist adherence, or through a Marist project, and this belonging can only be a voluntary commitment, a free choice to live an experience of fraternity among the members as much as it is an expres sion of our unique way of living the mission of Christ in the Church. It cannot but be so in our secularised society, that is to say a society that separates utterly the civic from the sacred, and in which we can rejoice because it allows us to assume fully the freedom to which God calls us, a pluralist society offering a number of alternatives, a number of pos sible choices.
To be Marist is to belong to a body We have progressed, and are still progressing, from a Christianity of tradition to a ChrisÂtianity of choice, in relation to which the 'confraternities' (I am using the term as one of the first terms used by Colin: 'confraternity' rather that 'fraternity', 'Third Order', 'As sociation', 'Extended Community', or 'partnership', thus speaking in a more global, all embracing manner), the confraternities as I was saying, are a way for Christians to comÂmit themselves more fully. And it is a choice which, because it cannot be taken for granted; needs to be confirmed, recognised in some way before it can be fully expressed. To begin with, there is a request addressed by certain Christians - us - to a religious InÂstitute - the Society of Mary - which corresponds to the desire to be associated with the charism and with the spirituality of that Institute. It is a request which needs to be given an institutional form (the Association of Lay Marists is one, but it needs to be gone into more thoroughly). Because to live by the Spirit - whether it be Marist or not - without a sense or a possibility of belonging to a body (social, institutional ... ), excuse me, but that's just smoke in the air, a dream, and it also goes against what we are trying to announce: the Incarnation of the Son of God. You can see that I am already slipping into theology. But it is essential that the shape of what we want to live should correspond to the content of what we wish to live.
To be Marist: space to be free Now (and here's where the diversity comes in) a religious congregation has always a way of its own to be Church. There is a uniqueness ofrelationship between every religious congregation and the institutional Church, and that relationship is never simple, for conÂgregations to some extent can escape the Roman centralisation. A congregation can bring a certain wind of freedom to {he Church, and renew it from within. I remember what a Marist Father friend said some years ago when he was being interviewed for a Marist video. 'Finally, becoming a Marist, what did that bring you?' He replied: 'A certain form of freedom within the Church'. It wasn't a shattering declaration - that is not the Marist way. But it was a very significant response. A form of freedom within the very heart of the institution, a way of taking a stand, while being able to keep one's distance.
To be Marist: a prophetic force All the same,a religious congregation will always find itself in tension, in compromise, with the Church. Sometimes this will be lived as a malaise, complaining for example of a lack of recognition, or of being the object of suspicion in the eyes of the hierarchical Church. But this way of singling oneself out is first of all its greatest strength, its prophetic strength which has passed through the care for humanity, which in the beginning was solely seen to by the religious institutions (and many were founded in past centuries to see to these humanitarian needs) But today, the social services of education and charity, previously entrusted to men and women religious, are undertaken in large part by civil society. Even if they are not totally seen to by the state, that is all the same a precious ex ample of secularisation. Having said that, the social needs which led to the foundation of many congregations, have been passed on to other hands.
To be Marist: a spiritual anchorage The other element which led to the foundation of new congregations is the spiritual experi ence. Has that element been effectively passed on? By Christians in general? By Marists in paticular? The Christian life is certainly a minority way of life in a society that is secularised and indifferent. Colin was not unaware of this, founding his society at the very moment of secularisation, in response to secularisation. Once again, it was not a shattering response, but a hidden presence, that of Mary, which seemed to him the best possible response to that secularisation. But it was a response that went way beyond being a politically correct attitude. It was in fact a fundamentally Christian attitude. Mary, the path to incarnation chosen by God. There's where theology pokes its nose in again! (but how could it not?) Mary, God's way of linking with us, of being in total solidarity with us. Since Colin's time, society has in fact only stepped up the process of secularisation (which began with the Renaissance and has only strengthened since then) Today, what can we say? This society, so happily secularised, but by that very fact totally indifferent to the minority Christian life, is finding itself more and more in the grip of an anarchic thirst for spirituality. So the great urgency today, might it not be the taking on of the spiritual animation of society?To be Marist: a contemporary proposition
'Today, nothing but faith and prayer can convince our spirits, enlighten our minds and touch our hearts.' I am quoting Colin. And doubtless I am not being very objective. But I live in a milieu (the Forum in Paris) where the spiritual quest is extremely widespread. It is a quest at once deep and tentative, without guidance or much means of discernment. How do we respond? And how can we allow ourselves to be transformed, put out, by this quest if we are ready to listen? There is much at stake here for our contemporaries and for ourselves (since we are contemporaries of our contemporaries!)
To be Marist: a possible new beginning That the Society of Mary is in tension with the Church is obvious. When Colin expresses the desire to 'begin a new Church'', is that not taking issue with the Church of his time and his place? Or if not confrontational, at least prophetic, with that clear vision which can read the signs of the times? Is he not feeling a need that is not satisfied with the traditional forms which characterise the Church of his time?. And that need is therefore less linked with social usefulness than with a certain way of being Church, Mary's way. A spiritual experience. I don't need to go over all the characteristics: many of you know them by heart - discretion, simplicity, service. The question is, this way of being which is not linked to any particular work but which can permeate all work, is it still relevant today?
MARIST COMMUNION: IN_DIVERSITY, YES religious/lay The Church is surely everyone's business. Everyone is called to holiness. There is one basic vocation, one basic mission. But God does not speak to us 'in general'. God oper ates through the medium of persons, of groups, of people called and chosen, as he called the disciples and chose the Twelve. From among 'everyone' some have a particular vocation, a particular mission which is for the benefit of all. And hence the distinction clerical/lay. Now the history of the Church shows that in different ways we assist in the emerging of a third pole. A religious congregation takes up from that emergence. ReliÂgious by their very nature, challenge that distinction clerical/lay. Each one takes on their Marist membership in their own way, in their different states of life, in each one's own in dividual way and individual contribution. We would all agree that the distinction is neces sary so that the relationship be fruitful. However, if that distinction becomes too set, there is the ultimate risk of a structure that is hardened into a two-pronged rigidity makng for a clerical Church. Now, it seems to me that Marists are religious, brothers and sisters, before being priests, clerics, by the very fact of pronouncing their vows before their ordination. As for the laity, they would like to have available to them - while respecting their particular vocation - all the riches of the Christian tradition. A state of life is not enough to determine a spirituality. There is certainly a link between the way one lives and one's experience of God, but this latter would always be first and fundamen tal for a Christian, the former being only the fruit and as it were the confirmation of that experience. Besides, respect for identity shows itself more on the level of mutual recogni tion that of definitions. In any association between religious and laity, the ideal is an open recognition of different ways of incarnating the same spirit for the spiritual enriching of each. In the end, we perhaps need to stop talldng about 'laity', not to make for confusion but because it is not - or is not any longer - a fruitful distinction. As a means of differen tiating, it is really of secondary importance in today's world. It seems to me that the debate between religious and lay is no longer relevant for a vision of the future. It made sense in a society whose reference point was still largely Catholic. That is no longer so, and the debate it seems to me has moved to other frontiers. There are other Marist urgen cies. What I mean is that the urgency is no longer what the place of the laity may be in the Church, but rather what Christians have to say to the world, the first question being a consequence of the second.
... ALSO IN UNITY Marist Communion
That's why, as you will have gathered, I prefer to speak of 'Marist communion', groups of Christians determined to live their mission as Christians in the world, and to live it in a certain way. Others choose to live this mission through the life they have chosen, or which has been handed down to them, in the married or celibate state. All of us have to run the gauntlet of the great human questions of sexuality, money, freedom. Those who live in community, religious, make their own particular response to this in their vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, which are proper to their way of life. Married or celibate Chris tians respond in a different way, which is also proper to their way of life. But the funda mental questions are the same. Their fundamental characteristic is that they are human questions.
Stressing unity, as I am doing, means running the risk of being misunderstood. But it is a risk I am prepared to take. Our usual way of thinking, generally binary and exclusive. with its 'either. .. or, or 'nothing else will do', functions rather well. And to insist on the distinction 'religious/lay' doubtless gives a certain security as it is a model that has opera ted for decades if not centuries. But I have my doubts about its relevance today for proclaiming the Gospel to a largely non-Christian world, and even more so a non-Catholic world, which is very remote from - even a total stranger to - our subtle distinctions which even in the best of contexts are of interest only to us. What seems to me of primary im portance, and what we need to stress, is therefore the unity of common membership. That is the originality of a Society linked to a religious congregation which by definition stresses the aspect of fraternity rather than hierarchy, which, even if it is not totally absent (particularly in a congregation-of priests) is not however of paramount importance. And if that were not the tendency, we should have to try to turn it around.returning to the sources
Fr.Colin was fired with a project of world-wide, not to say totalitarian, dimensions, (Re member his 'the whole world Marist') anchored in the firm footing of the unique spiritual Iife of the congregations of priests, brothers, sisters and associations of married people(the celibate state having little recognition at the time). Clerics and laity, religious or not, if they are Christians, have a duty to be concerned with all aspects of the Church and of the worship given to God, as well as with all aspects of the world and its affairs, for they are linked in one mission, in one 'work' which pervades all others: the evangelisation of the world. That is what Vatican II calls the mission of the people of God.
Now I am stressing Marist history, Marist tradition. Fr Mayet, one of his near con temporaries, says of Colin: 'He alone had the original idea (which came from on high) of this Third Order (confraternitas) at the same time as God inspired the foundation of the Society of Mary. The two things were parallel in spirit, something which is rarely seen in the Church.'
'Colin saw the confraternity - what he called the Third Order - as an integral part of the Society, with the same spirituality, the same spirit and the same mission', writes Frank McKay and quotes Colin: ''This idea of the Third Order has always concerned me great ly; it was one of the first ideas of the Society, and I have held on to those ideas.''
Fr Cozon adds: 'The Third Order is not meant to spread out, as it were, around us like a planet around its constellation, but to spread out within the Church. It is not therefore a valuable instrument for helping the Society of Mary by interesting the 'pious faithful' in it, it is rather a means of extending its action in the world.'
Naturally, Coln distinguished the members of the Congregation of Marist Fathers from he members of the Third Order, but he regarded these latter as constitutive members of the congregation, something which is rare in the Church. To inherit this, is to be heir to the whole Colinian heritage. Where no strong Marist lay movement exists alongside the other branches, the Society does not fully exist, like a defective tree which is missing one of its fruit-bearing branches. The Marist laity is therefore a manifestation of the internal dynamism of the Society of Mary. It is coextensive with it. But the adjective 'co extensive' works both ways. And in our day, there is perhaps as much need to look at the vigour of the religious branches as at that of the lay movement. So what are, and what can be, the implications of this co-extent? Maybe you see better now why I speak of 'Marist communion'! Maybe that is the future which we have to risk, to venture!
If I refer to Fr Colin in order to define the spirituality whch 'we think still has something to bring to the Church and to the world of today and tomorrow' (I quote Marie-Claude again) it is because this Marist spirit cannot exist without reference to Colin's intuition and to the living tradition of the Society. Every spirituality goes back to an institution, to a founder and to a history. There is no spirit without a body, no incarnation without taking the body, and therefore institutional issues, seriously.
THE IMAGE OF CHRIST: with reference to the Tradition of the Church. These categories of unity and diversity, of unity in diversity and diversity in unity, are to my mind fundamental to the question. I did not highlight them by chance, but in as muchas the relationship of unity - which is not fusion - and of diversity - which is not division - is inscribed in Christ Himself. I am trying to think through what I live in my understand ing of Christ and what I have received from tradition.
reference to Chalcedon Now the very person of Christ integrates this tension between two natures, not the clerical and the lay, but the human and the divine. It was the Council of Chalcedon, in 451, which endeavoured to understand Christ in this way. That may seem to you very remote and intellectual. But don't let us be deceived. There is a considerable amount at stake. If it is a question of affirming the double nature of Christ, the divine and the human, it is be cause without that there is no salvation (and by salvation I mean the fullness of life to which every human person aspires) If Jesus Christ is not God, he has no power to save me. And if Jesus Christ is not man, then he does not even come near to what I really am, and neither can he save what I really am. It is seriously paradoxical to think of two na tures in one sole person. So Christ is the perfect sign of communion, that is of unity (with his father) in diversity (distinct from his Father). The perfect sign of the communion of the divine with the human.
Marist sources On the other hand, what I am trying to understand about Christ, and what tradition teaches me, I allow myself to interpret by the way I live, to understand what I live in this light. That is what is called a living tradition. Bordering perhaps sometimes on impiety. But Fr Colin seems to authorise this in his own case when he says 'to begin a new Church. I am not using that expression in the literal sense, that would be blasphemous'. At the same time, he goes on 'but in one sense, yes, we must begin a new Church.'
And perhaps it is not so blasphemous if we reflect that the Church to which the Society of Mary belongs, is a constitutive part of the Body of Christ. So, if there is any point in thinking of the relation between unity and diversity in Christ, that means that the same connection may be thought of in relation to the Church. Having said that, to think about the relationship between associated religious and laity - because once again what defines us is not that we are religious or lay, but that we are Christians or not - to think of this connection in terms of belonging to one same body, to insist on its unity, seems to me to be more correct theologically and ecclesialogically, than to think in terms of succession or relay, as one sometimes hears. And from that starting point, what kind of 'new Church' can we begin together? I have tried to justify my point of view, my present view of things. You are not obliged to share it.
WITH MARY'S SUPPORT: with reference to the Marist tradition Obviously, there is one enormous objection which would seem to contradict the very title of our approach - 'Venturing a Future'. And that is the predicted death of all religious bodies. Excuse the brutality of the language. Twice in her letter, Marie-Claude makes discreet mention of 'desert', and suggests a biblical support in the journey of the patriarchs or the exodus journey. I would like to be more radical and propose to you a more traditional Marist image of the end of time, and the cross as theological support, even if that is not a very diplomatic proposal.
reference to 'the end of time' In line with Marist tradition, I have already studded my text with Marist references, those classical Marist images and references, because they mark me also as a Christian. It's my tradition. It's difficult for me to abstract them or to separate them from the others. But I'd like to return to that most ancient of Marist references, that foundation reference, the word spoken by Mary, not in the first place to Colin, but taken up by him as a founding word and a signpost.
'I was the support of the Church at its beginnings, and I will be also at the end of time'. The end of time! In every age, people have often had the impression of living more or less an end-time. That was doubtless the case with Colin, and is the reason why the Congrega tion is counted among those congregations deemed 'apocalyptic'. Like Colin, some people feel that they are living an apocalypse through the non-renewal of religious con gregations. From a human point of view, it is hard to see how they are going to survive, at least in the west. Is it indeed the Apocalypse? I have no idea. Except that the normal connotation of apocalypse as the 'end of time' was originally understood as 'manifesta tion', 'sign' ... An end of time which could then be a sign of that future that we are capable of venturing, of creating.
But isn't it now or never, time for Marists to listen afresh to that prophecy of Mary which promises us her support, provided we are authentically Church, that is to say fully mem bers of the Body of Christ, differing in our states of life yet united in one body, through which a spirituality is expressed.
IN VIEW OF OUR SIMILARITY: with reference to the Gospel It is because of that tension that exists between what differentiates us and what unites us, that we exist as a living Church. The Council of Chalcedon anchors that tension in thevery person of Christ, but Paul had already highlighted it with reference to the body of Christ which is the Church.the Pauline reference: 'the members of the body''As with the human body, which is a unity although it has many parts - all the parts of the body, though many, still making up one body - so it is with Christ. .. Now Christ's body i yourselves, each of you with a part to play in the whole.' (1 Cor. 12) And our smallness, our weakness, should not discourage us: 'What is more, it is precisely the parts of the body that seem to be the weakest which are the indispensable ones.' The part of the body that we constitute, in spite of its weakness - dare I say even because of its weakness? - shows without any doubt a facet of Christ which would not be revealed anywhere else in the same way.
Our way of being discreet, attentive, of service, takes something from Mary, of course, but through Mary from Christ himself. And to speak about Christ through Mary is, in concrete terms, to speak of the Incarnation. Forgive me the quasi-biological precision of that phrase, but in a certain way Christ had to 'pass through' Mary in order to take flesh and become human.
second Pauline reference: the body on the cross Paul calls to mind that incarnation: 'He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becÂoming as human beings are, and being in every way like a human being, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross.' (Phil.2) That death on a cross, I would link with our present 'end of time'. And the support promised by Mary, that support which we have difficulty in seeing from a human perspective where it might come from, I would link with the resurrection which came about not in spite of his death - like a parenthesis to his death - but because of his death. Paul goes on to stress that it is BEÂ CA USE he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, death on a cross, that God has highly exalted him.
So with all the humility of which we are capable, that is with all that we carry of the hu man condition (humanity and humility are linked by a common root - humus - of the earth, earthy; humour is also from the same root), with that humility which we know will probably lead to a kind of disappearance, a kind of death, like that of the grain in the earth, then yes, let us venture the future! with our only viaticum the hope of the resurÂrected Christ.
(I could almost finish with an 'Amen', but that would risk a certain confusion!) Corinne FENET 6 May 2000
Questions for further reflection and discussion
How can Marists today embody the founding vision of the Society of Mary in a way that responds to the signs of the times and addresses the spiritual thirst in our contemporary secular society?
In light of the diminishing distinctions between clerical and lay roles within the Church, what new forms of Marist life and mission might emerge that honor the charism of the Society while meeting the needs of today's world?
Considering the concept of 'Marist Communion' and the diversity within the Church, how can Marists of different states of life (religious, lay, priests, brothers) foster a deeper sense of unity while respecting and celebrating the distinct contributions of each vocation to the life of the Church?
Listen to the following songs, and reflect on these questions
Song - By Our Love For King and Country
Song - Your Peace Will Make Us One | Music | Watershed Charlotte
Song - Cindy Morgan's 'Make Us One'
Pause.... and Discuss...
Final Prayer
O Gracious God, whose Spirit breathes life into the vast tapestry of Your Church, we come before You with hearts open to the future of the Marist Communion. As we reflect upon our journey, guided by the example of Mary, and the Marist Founders , we seek Your wisdom and guidance.
We pray for inspiration to live out the Marist charism authentically in a world hungry for Your love and peace. Help us to be signs of Your tender mercy, channels of Your grace, and instruments of Your justice.
Grant us the courage to step boldly into the future, embracing new ways to express our commitment to Your service. May we honor the vision of our founders by responding creatively to the signs of our times.
Bless the Marist family with unity in diversity, that we may draw strength from our shared mission while celebrating the unique gifts of each member. May our communion be a reflection of Your inclusive love, a beacon of hope in a divided world.
We entrust our path to You, confident that You are ever-present in our midst, guiding us to live the Gospel with the spirit of Mary: gentle, humble, and strong.
Through Christ our Lord, who reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
1. CHURCH: IN UNITY ...
BUT ALSO IN DIVERSITY
THE IMAGE OF CHRIST: with reference to the Tradition of the Church.
second Pauline reference: the body on the cross
