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Method used by the General Council
in reflecting on this subject
This is the method that the General Council used for studying and sharing on
the topic of the Evangelical Use of Material Goods. Perhaps it may prove
helpful for a community or Province.
SEEING. The following questions helped to guide our
deliberations on this subject:
Starting from reality, how do
I see the problem as it exists throughout the Institute (your Province)?
Am I in agreement with the way
that the General (Provincial) Council is handling things in this area, or
on the contrary, am I bothered and concerned about something?
Keeping in mind that it is our
mission as a General (Provincial) Council to animate and govern, what's
our position when it comes to this problem. Do we assume an active role
or merely a passive one? Do we offer guidance, or do we remain on the
sidelines as specta-tors?
What are my thoughts and
feelings in regard to way in which the General (Provincial) Council is
approaching this subject?
Added
note: After the
intentions at morning prayer, we had time to write down our personal
re-flections, and then we shared them later, during our plenary session.
JUDGING. As a second step, we did the following:
We looked for references to
shed light on this topic. Council members contributed numer-ous texts
from the Gospels and Epistles, stories relating to the life of the
Founder and our first Brothers, and excerpts from our Constitutions,
General Chapter documents, and documents on the Church and Religious
Life.
We gave written responses to
the following question: Concerning this subject, the evan-gelical use of
material goods, what do you think that God is asking of us in our efforts
to be faithful to our charism and the process of refounding? Each Brother
shared his thoughts on a personal level, as well as at the level of the
Institute and the General Council.
Added
note: As a result
of our sharing all this, we came up with a series of core ideas that we wanted
to look into in a deeper way.
TAKING ACTION. The following questions guided our reflection
and fraternal sharing:
What are realities and
situations in the Institute that are calling for our special care and
concern?
What standards - taken from
the Gospels, Religious Life, the life of our Founder, our Con-stitutions
and Chapter documents - do we see as being most important to enlighten
our thinking on the evangelical use of material goods?
In your opinion, what are the
most important guidelines that the General Council can offer to Provinces
to stimulate evangelical reflection and action concerning the use of
material goods? Do you have some practical suggestion(s) in this regard?
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