B. The superiors general before the young religious

After listening to the young people we began our work of understanding them and their requests; of seeing how to receive these demands and respond to them; of finding the words to address to them.

It was a genuine dialogue.

1. How did we see the young people?

We realized and absorbed the many positive values which they bear.

Their strong sensitivity, their emotional skills, their attention to the lived experience, their methods of communicating, the spontaneity of their relationships and their sincerity were highlighted, almost by way of contrast with that of the older generations.

The English language group strongly emphasized the positive aspects of the emotional nature typical of young people. It also indicated concrete ways for educating them in the proper use of affectivity.

The desire for dialogue and listening with their superiors is new in respect to the recent past. A docile receptivity seems to be replacing the tendency to argue.

What was seemingly lacking was the demand for and perhaps even the capacity for a deeper reflection.

Although highlighting the traits that were common to the young people, there was also a noteworthy diversity in the sensitivity and demands of the various groups. Such differences are not due solely to geographic or cultural origin, but can also be attributed to different models of the consecrated life, which should be taken into consideration.

2. How did we receive their demands and how do we intend to respond to them?

Perhaps the young people have not offered us new doctrinal content on the consecrated life. The novelty comes rather from the type of experience which the young people have had. Both the fundamental values which they emphasized and the way in which they live these values or want to live them are important, however.

Community and dialogue. In the congress of the young religious there was a general consensus on communication and fraternity. They are realities which should be lived before being proclaimed. This is the common denominator and the element given the most agreement.

This leads us to focus our attention and our efforts in animation on creating within our institutes a communication and dialogue that are more profound and more honest and which in turn lead to genuine communion, a communion which must extend beyond our communities, reaching out to other institutes and other vocations within the Church.

Gospel radicality. The topic of evangelical radicality is related to the central topic of community. Genuine fraternal living necessitates a profound experience of God and the unconditional following of Christ. The young people’s demand for interiority, for listening to the Word, for prayer and Eucharist should be strongly supported so as to build a firm foundation for communion.

Mission. In the minds of the young people community life is also closely connected to the reality of mission. The community is the place of mission and gives an expression to mission, which is to be understood more and more as welcome, dialogue, encounter.

The request for a better definition of the areas and recipients of mission, especially as regards the charism, invites us to make ever bolder choices. Perhaps in our apostolic discernment we could involve the young people themselves.

Communion among charisms. The need for communion among the various charisms is another value to be emphasized. The charisms shed light on one another and develop in a relationship of reciprocal communion.

This in turn invites us to foster and promote opportunities for young religious to meet one another.

Formation. Together with communion, formation is one of the strongest calls repeatedly heard during our assembly. The young people’s strong need for "direction" is translated, for us, in a strong commitment to prepare formation personnel. The young people offered us many ideas about how their formators should be. Here we should note especially the demand for someone to help them reconcile the ideal with their lived experience.

The contributions from the groups of the English, French and Spanish languages gave very concrete suggestions for initial formation (the composition of the formation team, apostolic experience, etc) as well as for a form of direction for the young people in the period immediately after initial formation.

It is also necessary to take into account that the province and the whole institute is a place where formation takes place and that certain choices, even those made at the level of the generalate, have momentous repercussions on the area of formation because they show where the institute is headed and the path on which the young people are setting out.

3. What do we have to say to them?

Under this question we could amass many elements for a fruitful dialogue with the young people. I will limit myself to reporting two aspects which seem to be the ones most frequently mentioned.

As for that which concerns the central aspect which emerged, namely community, it is necessary to help the young people assume all the aspects of fraternal living, including its difficulties, tensions and trials. Together with joy, suffering and illness should be "celebrated". Unity always comes by way of the cross. It should also be emphasised that community means being ready to assume responsibility, work commitments, etc.

As for the other aspect that was strongly highlighted during the congress, i.e., the value of experience, it is necessary to highlight the need for having criteria of discernment to analyze the value of the experience. It is also necessary to know how to transform experience into wisdom. Lived experience alone is not enough for this; there is a need for the capacity to reflect on what has been experienced.