03 TO RE-DESIGN OUR PRESENCE WITH
THE INTERLOCUTORS
OF THE PRESENT GLOBAL CULTURE

Pietro Campus, SSP

Reverend Fathers and Brothers,

First of all, let me greet you and cordially thank everyone present, in particular the President and the Secretary of the Union of General Superiors, for the understanding and the solidarity which were extended to us in these last days, which were somewhat difficult for my congregation. This is the first time, on my part, to participate in an assembly of the Union, and I am happy to meet many prestigious men, rich in doctrine and experience. With them, I hope to establish good relationships of friendship and religious fraternity.

The sense of my intervention, if I have understood well, is that of giving testimony to our experience of charismatic and apostolic "rifondazione" in the present world, characterized by the culture of communication at the global level, in as much as the messages today run on an information network that envelop the whole planet.

Every missionary congregation has its own experiences on this matter. The Society of St. Paul, born in 1914 to operate in the specific field of communication, had to confront new experiences. Already in November 1950, my founder Fr. Alberione reminded the first World Congress of the Religious, that the adoption of the new means of communication for the apostolate "is not an affair of amateurs, but of true apostles"; it is an enterprise full of risks, incomprehension, and dangers of every kind, which demands shrewdness and attention to save themselves besides saving others." He concluded: "We need the Saints who precede us in these paths not yet trodden and in part not even indicated."

Thanks be to God, we can today count on the examples of Venerable Alberione and his first collaborator, Blessed Timothy Giaccardo. But they represent the past generation, when the interlocutors were the usual readers of the Catholic press, and the spectators of the parish-run cinemas, in homogeneous and accessible surroundings. In this ambit grew the book and magazine publishing, which till the end of the 60’s did not present serious problems, neither in production nor in diffusion. The only preoccupation then, was to enlarge the apostolic presence geographically.

For us, the situation began to change with the opening of the first Radio Stations in countries of mixed culture, like Japan. Meanwhile, in Italy and in other countries, the urgent concern was the adoption of an industrial system and business administration for the production of periodicals with a large circulation, and books and films with a wide range of diffusion. (It was a necessary choice, on account of the impossibility of managing these undertakings, particularly the weeklies, with only the inside religious personnel: the working hours had become unbearable for us all, both the young and old). Thus, not only the direct agents of the apostolate, but also the scenario of our presences and of the interlocutors changed radically: the addressees, the collaborators, the various concerned authorities.

The first experience of such difficulty was felt in 1937-38 with the production of a film on the missionary enterprise of Cardinal Massaia in Africa, when we had to deal with bankers and consular authorities, aside from the show business professionals and the new ethnic presences. At that time, the faith of Fr. Alberione and a strong ideal charge prevented the committing of disastrous mistakes, and everything worked out in the experience of growth.

In the 80’s (the Founder died in 1971) we noted, with determining force, the necessity of "re-designing", our apostolic presence. This problem was taken up in an International Seminar of the Pauline Editors (Ariccia 1988, when all the Major Superiors were present). From it, emerged the necessity of integrating the foundational charism, in its spiritual and formative components, with the changed conditions of culture and organization, both outside and inside the Church. We realized that the concepts of publishing, of communication, and of apostolic collaboration were changing: it was not anymore possible to operate by ourselves, with only the help of the sister congregations of the Pauline Family. It was necessary to give space and responsibility, directive included, to the laity, experts in scientific and managerial organization. In sum, there was the need to rediscover some of the key directions of Fr. Alberione: always faithful to the Pauline motto "straining forward to what lies ahead" (Phil. 3,13), and interpreting the zeal of the Apostle in the conditions of today; not fixing ourselves only to one field or means of apostolate, but continually adopting the more recent and efficient means, including organizations arising from industrial and business experience.

In the General Chapters that followed (1992 and 1998), the Congregation had to take note, that while the techniques of communication and the globalization of all the processes hasten the rhythm of their course, our capacity for updating are not as fast. The long practice of manual and technical work in the years of formation and of the first apostolic duties clashes with the urgency of new interventions, rendered all the more dramatic by the long periods of specific formation and of the change of apostolic strategies.

From this came the painful discrepancy between the programmes established in the Chapters and the actual possibilities of accomplishing them.

Thus, in 1992 the apostolic priority of "broadening our sphere of communicating the Gospel through a global multimedia project, extended to reach the great masses and the distant ones, through planning and the international coordination (of our activities)", certainly produced a reawakening in the communities, and became concrete in some international bodies (like the Ibero-American body of Pauline Editors, and another meant for the Pacific area). Moreover, it became necessary that six years later, in the Chapter of this year (1998), the Congregation commit itself again to "assume decisively the universality of our mission, accelerating above all a change of mentality and attitudes from among all the members". The commitment was made explicit in these terms: "To assume in dynamic and creative fidelity to the charism of the Founder, the culture of communication in view of the new evangelization, to reveal to all the integral Christ ‘Way, Truth, and Life’ present and operating in our parish (which is) the world".

On this last subject, which constitutes the theological core of our spirituality, we felt the need to proceed to an analogous re-expression of the charism, adhering more to the new sensibility, with an International Seminar on "Jesus the Master (Arricia 1996), which illumined ulterior aspects of the necessary apostolic "rifondazione". On the operative level, it was decided to "revise (…) the ‘Pauline geography’, that is, the seats of communities and of apostolic activities"; furthermore to "solicit and help Circumscriptions to study new and missionary openings and the better use of persons and means" (Gen. Chap. VII, operating guidelines 2.1 b-c). This now is the programme of the Society of St. Paul, which must confront itself with the concrete exigencies of formation, both of the young and the adults (demands already brought out in an International Seminar on Formation, 1994). A series of measures were adopted to qualify such formation: for example, better charismatic clarity and, at the same time, greater opening of the geographical horizons; specialization on the use of new strategies of communication, but above all on the Word of God to be transmitted as the primary object of the mission, and so on.

Our apostolic centers, like the Periodicals-Milan, the Radio of Brazil and other editorial centers, are laboratories of experience on all levels, but also of suffering: resulting from the delicate rapport of work with lay collaborators (problems relating to trade unions, etc.), but also with interlocutors who ought to be the natural supporters of our mission, and who do not always recognize our charismatic identity and the demands which it involves.

I believe I can conclude with a prophetic affirmation of Fr. Alberione, dated 2 November, 1956: "The new difficulties which hinder, now more than ever, our apostolate of the cinema, are not (permitted by God) to get it stranded, but to set it in motion for new conquests. There is no need to get dismayed, but to pray and to aim at the independence of our activity in the Church, searching to pass unhurt between the showers, without getting wet and without getting mixed up. I do not know when and how, --- our Founder concluded --- but we must have, and surely will have, freedom of action in the Church, because our mission demands it".