1. YOUNG RELIGIOUS,
FIRST CONGRESS WITNESSES

Jesu Pudumai Doss sdb

It was just like any other day and at breakfast - fast and meager, as usual - my rector approached me and asked me whether I could be part of preparation for a certain congress for religious. My immediate reaction was: "Are you asking me ? Why ?". "They want an Asian, who will be free during the summer", was the reply. Moments ticked. I remained silent, for I really did not know where I would be during the summer, whether I would be here in Rome at all or return to India or whether my over-burdened last year of theology would allow me the luxury of such meetings. "So you will...", it was my rector again. I remember having said faintly, "I think so, I don’t know". I was in a hurry. I did not want to miss the van, that takes us to the university. I soon forgot all about it.

One fine day as I came back after classes, I was told that the secretary of USG phoned up and left a message that there would be a meeting regarding the congress of the young religious. I presented myself reluctantly for the meeting. The meeting itself wasn’t so disastrous as I had imagined. There were about 11 of us young religious from different congregations - 2 or 3 from each continent - with Br. Lino and others of UISG. They discussed about the probable slogan and theme for the congress of the young religious that would take place in the summer of 1997 in Rome. I was happy to contribute my own share. It took me some time to realize the mammoth event of which I was becoming a part : An international congress for the young religious and so many young religious involved in making this dream come true ! It was indeed a wonderful thing to realize that a congress for the young religious was organized by the young religious themselves, of course guided by our elder brothers and sisters like Bro. Lino and Sr. Marguerite and helped by experts in various fields. It was such an exciting idea that we shared in our communities of our discussions and plans, and asked their suggestions and reactions towards the same.

The consequent meetings opened to us other frontiers of discussion and suggestion such as the days and the place of the congress, the theme for each day, the resource persons to animate the day with talks. An important suggestion which sprang from the committee, I remember, was a feast with all the youth in Rome or with all the religious in Rome and a meeting with the Holy Father, of which the last one became a reality. The discussions also included suggestions on the invitation letters with the indications for the possible places to stay, the selection criteria for the abundant responses that poured in etc. Once the table work was over, we started concentrating on decoration, liturgy, animation, secretariat, the preparation of the place, reception, preparing the material for the members of the congress and translations. Some of us also formed a part of Redaction Commission that evaluated the day and planned the next day and tried to formulate the final message of the congress. It’s only more than evident that the young religious were not only mere recipients, or mere participants of the Congress, but were the backbone of its organization as well.

"When the day came, they were gathered together ... they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages ..."

Any one who would have come there the first day would have thought that Ergife was the modern version of the tower of Babel. It was indeed a colorful melange of languages, nations, cultures, genders, congregations, ages, charisms, religious habits and churches, and - even more subtle - of mentalities, opinions, sentiments, preparations, apostolates, experiences and visions. As one of the participants would acknowledge later, "Here I saw the catholicity of the Church".

There were about 800 participants, of which 460 were women and 340 were men religious. Each continent was represented more or less equally, still Europe made up for the shortage of Oceania. Of the innumerable mother tongues spoken by the participants from over 90 countries, only five were the official languages of the Congress - English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Portuguese was not one of the official languages, although there was a fair representation of the Portuguese-speaking. Even though a variety of religious habits betrayed tens of congregations, quite a few preferred ordinary laymen dresses, which even became bone of contention in some groups. The Congress itself was made an ecumenical one with the presence of a few ‘religious’ from other Christian confessions.

All the participants were divided into large language groups called constellations. There was one such group for each language, except for English and Spanish, which had two groups each, since they had more than 200 members each. But during the general assembly, we were in groups of ten each (of the same language) around a table, with a possibility of interaction and of following the speeches and the discussions in one of the five official languages, thanks to the adequate simultaneous translations.

Our Congress consisted of six day program (from 29th September to 4th October). We had four days of reflection on Call, Spirituality, communion and mission. We experienced the joy of being the expressions of the various charisms of the Church as we celebrated a day with our Holy Father. The last day we received the mandate to proclaim courageously with our lives to the whole world that "we have seen the Lord", "Vidimus Dominum".

Each of the four days of reflection began with a short prayer and the report of the previous day’s work from one or two constellations. It was followed by the Speech of the day. After the Coffee break, there were some witnesses of some young religious, who shared with the assembly, the way they have lived that particular aspect (theme of the day) in their lives. Then there was a sharing of flash reflections based on the speech and the witnesses, from some of the tables, chosen by lot. The morning session ended with the Eucharist celebrated in one of the official languages. This linguistic touch added not only color to the celebration, but also became the liturgical expression of some cultures of their rapport with God. A well deserved lunch break saw us meet so many others, to share not only the food but also something of ourselves and our cultures. The group work in the afternoon was conducted by some two animators for each of the constellation. The big language groups in turn were divided into tens or twenties to enable a better participation in all the sharing and these groups presented to the constellations a gist of their sharing in the form of dance, song, posters, skits etc. Then some representative of the group joined the redaction commission to evaluate the day and to formulate the final message. The day of feast with the Pope was a genre in itself. The day began with the Eucharistic celebration, presided by Card. Eduardo Martinez Somalo, the Prefect of the congregation of the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. We then gathered in Paul VI hall, with some 4000 religious. The day began with the congress anthem, sung and danced by the young religious. It was followed by the testimonies of Fr. Pierre Schumacher, a Trappist monk, whose confreres were killed in Algeria and Sr. Nirmala, Superior General of the missionaries of charity. Then a video presented the moments of the Holy Father with the religious on various occasions. It was continued by an oriental dance, to give expression to the cultural spirit that permeates the mission. When Holy Father came, he was welcomed by card. Somalo, and then by some five religious, in different languages. He then addressed the assembly in different languages. The meeting ended with the papal blessing and the anthem. It was followed by a picnic-lunch, at the Urbaniana.

The last day too was special in some way. The ‘mandate’ day began with prayer and the sharing of some of the messages prepared by the constellations. By then it was clear that a unique final message was next to impossible, due to the diversity of visions of the constellations. Then the time was left to the floor to express their impressions of the Congress to the public. The day and the congress ended with the messages by the presidents of USG and UISG and by some young religious, after a suitable prayer service.

At the end of this mega-event, the overall impression was very positive. I, in the name of all the participants, want to thank you all for the wonderful opportunity given to us. We gratefully acknowledge your concern towards our growth as authentic signs and bearers of God’s love. My own experience has been so enriching that I am glad in voicing the opinion of many of my fellow participants that such Congresses be continued not only at the international level, but also at continental, national and regional levels. May be it could be organized in some other continent too so as to give us the possibility of knowing "the wonderful things that God has done" in every corner of the earth.

For me, this Congress has been a big success, since I can see the full unfolding of the goals set forth for the Congress : sharing, fraternal celebration and message. It is during these days that we shared not only our time, prayer and cultural riches, but also our spiritual journeys and struggles, our anxieties of the present, the challenges that the world poses us, our fears of the future and the visions to enliven our charisms and to express them in ways that suit the modern times. Still our sharing was not one day conquest. It had been a slow process of overcoming linguistic, cultural and personal barriers. As the days rolled by, our relationships grew more profound and open. Still our sharing, seemed to some, had too little time and in a way limited by the questions proposed to us by the speakers. Some of us would have preferred to include in our discussions certain difficult questions that haunt our Church these days, such as living the celibacy today, role of women in the liturgy, our social involvement, ecumenism and seeing the face of God revealed in other faiths.

Every moment of the Congress was a celebration of our togetherness, of the "catholicity of the Church". We celebrated together our deep experiences of the Lord in faith and the joy of proclaiming it to others. The liturgy filled with symbols, the feast with the Pope, the cultural get-together were some of the concrete signs of these fraternal celebration. Even though many lamented that there was no unique message, I came back with a "bagful" of them. I realized, as one of the messages put it, that "we do not have all the answers", but our religious life consists in having the courage to question and to be questioned by the signs of the times. Hope the radicalness, authenticity and simplicity, that I heard so often in the messages, become part of my spiritual journey too. Hope, at least then, I would be able to proclaim with others in one voice, "We have seen the Lord", "Vidimus Dominum".