Claretian Formation

IV.Period of 1985-1991
1. XX General Chapter (1985)

It centred on the person of the Claretian and came up with the document The Claretian in the Process of Congregational Renewal (CPR). It is a brief and programmatic document, with very concrete guidelines for the animation of the Congregation. In particular,689

1st. The CPR speaks of formation as one of the central points of the renewal of the Claretian.
2nd. It understands formation as an “ongoing” process that lasts for life, whose efficacy depends, above all, onpersonal conviction.
3rd. It gives great importance to the reality in the formative process, provided it be analysed, discerned and adequately assumed.
4th. It encourages apostolic experiences, following the lines of the MCT, and asks for the elaboration of a program of apostolic initiation.
5th. It urges every Claretian to draft a Personal Plan of Formation.

2. CMF Directory (1987)

On 24 October 1987 a new CMF Directory was promulgated. It takes up, in keeping with the decision of the XX General Chapter (1985), the accommodation of our law to the new Code of Canon Law promulgated on 25 January 1983. With regard to formation, necessary changes were introduced in accord with the new Church legislation.

As regards the Plan of Formation mentioned in canon 650.1, it is said: “The plan of formation for those called to missionary life (c. 650.1) is composed of the following elements.”690 There is no mention of a General Plan of Formation, but of a formation plan in general, in an unspecified manner. In addition, it is indicated that the formation plan must include the elements specified in the Directory; that is to say, elements are offered for the elaboration of the provincial and local formation plans, on which it keeps on insisting.691 Lastly, once more the plan of formation for Brothers is requested.692

3. Fr. Gustavo Alonso693
3.1. Government and Constitutions

In the encounter of Major Superiors of the Congregation (September 1986), Fr. Alonso gave them a message entitled Government and Animation from the viewpoint of the Constitutions,694 in which he discussed the role of the
Constitutions in the animation of our communities. He further developed, in a very fitting situation, some of the reflections that had been briefly indicated in the 1982 circular.695

Although the circular refers to superiors and communities in general, the pastoral orientations for the government may be applied, with the proper adaptations, to formation. We must count on them to promote “the quality growth of each Claretian person and community.”696

3.2. Marian Experience of the Congregation

Fr. Gustavo Alonso, following the orientation of the 1985 General Chapter,697 promoted the study of the Marian experience of the Congregation with the aid of the Secretariat of the Heart of Mary.698 Through a wide-open survey, he invited the entire Congregation to a faith communication on the experience of our Marian spirituality.
About one third of the Congregation responded to his invitation. From this survey we can draw several conclusions, some of which refer to formation. Among others, that Marian spirituality is a life experience in the Congregation, lived in connection with the charismatic experience of our Founder; and that, for many Claretians, Mary has exerted an efficacious presence in their vocational itinerary.699

3.3. The Formation of the Claretians

The occasion of the circular letter Claretians in Formation,700 addressed to all Claretians,701 was the experience of the year 1990, a year that was very rich in materials on the subject of formation, in the Church as well as in our Congregation.702 The thrust of this letter is not to develop a doctrinal study or an organised treatment on formation. It only aims at being a testimony of the formative processes (facts, endeavours, projects, ideas) that since quite some time come together in our present moment of the Church and of the Congregation. Among the many aspects that he deals with, we will only emphasise those that are related to initial formation:703

1st. Formation as a process704

Formation is a process that lasts throughout our whole life. This means that formation is inconceivable without a plan, without organisation and continuity and also that formation is for all ages, and each age has its own formative phase.
a) Formation is a personalised process. In the pedagogical field, where the person in formation occupies a central place, it is an axiom that formation must be personalised. It must tend to form persons open to God and to others, from the standpoint of their very nature and of faith. This is the outlook of our congregational orientations when they state that “it is only in communion and in community mission that we achieve personal development as Claretians.”705
b) Welcoming the candidates. On entering the Congregation, the candidate is entering into a new relational world. He enters into a community of life with welcoming capacity. Today’s Congregation is still in need of these kinds of communities, organised and structured with a view to welcoming others, such as the Minor Seminary and the Postulancy.706
c) Gradual formation. Formation is a process subjected to the law of progressiveness, which implies a differentiation of formative stages. It is a gradualness with a view to the maturation of all dimensions of personality,
which demands, on the one hand, the differentiated organisation of the formative groups in keeping with their proper objectives and goals and, on the other, an active accompaniment toward vocational discernment during the
whole process.

2nd. Formation, a Process of Following of Christ in Communion of Life707

The formative itinerary is for us “a following:” a personalised following of Jesus which is for us a project and a gift. In order to form the personality of the young, it is fundamental that he develop an intense “disciple” relationship with Christ. He gives this relationship an all-embracing and personalising sense such as no other master could lay claim to. This personalised relationship with Jesus comes, above all, through his Word and the Eucharist as well as through his presence among us in the person of the poor.
The person in the process of formation, as a disciple, is an apprentice who, like Claret, imitates Jesus in an active manner. Our Fr. Founder has told us this in countless manners in the Constitutions. He has even synthesised it in the picture of a Missionary: “A Son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (…) has no other thought except how he can best follow and imitate Jesus.”708

3rd. Sons of the Heart of Mary709

When speaking about Claretian formation, it is not possible to leave aside the Heart of Mary. Starting with Jesus, the Son who was sent, the formation of all missionaries is entrusted to Mary. She, whom the Constitutions call “formatrix of apostles,”710 forms us in the missionary attitudes and behaviour. With Mary, the Claretian pursues his own itinerary of growth and identification with Christ.

4th. In a Community of Disciples711

There cannot be a personalised formation without dealing with a community. It is in community that we are formed and aim at achieving “that personal fullness to which we have been called.”712

The Claretian formative community is a missionary and apostolic community of persons. It is a community with meaningful fraternal relationships with a view to mission; a community that constitutes a life-long option with special characteristics in accord with the experience of our Founder713 and the project of the Congregation.714 The formative community is not an invertebrate community. There is in it a diversification of functions to be performed,
according to their diverse responsibilities, by the person in formation, the formator, the formation team and the members of the formative community. Both for the Congregation and for the Church, the formative community must always have a formation director, called among us prefect or master. By his function, he is personally responsible for the formative project and the person whom the Congregation offers to each candidate for spiritual direction or personal dialogue.

5th. Formative Context715

Beyond its communion with the congregational reality, the formative community must have, within the Claretian context, references that affect the local Church and the society in which it is rooted. All this must be done so that the candidates may be prepared to help their fellow human beings more effectively.
In this context must we understand the openness of the Congregation to the creation of formation centres of insertion in popular and poor milieus, the attempts to inculturation of formation and the congregational collaboration in the field of formation.

6th. Formation for Mission716

Claretian formation is meaningless if it is not projected to mission. This mission must be understood as beginning with Jesus, in communion with the Church, as a peculiar service to God’s people and to the world, and carried out within an apostolic community.
In the framework of a missionary formation, the world must be understood from the dimension of universality, since its mission is for the entire world. This implies fostering an asceticism of detachment, availability, contact with cultures, knowledge of the more universal problems of humankind and the urgency of
learning languages.
In consonance with our specific ministry, the ministry of the word, the Word of God must occupy a privileged place in the formation of the Claretian. The candidate should make of the Bible his favourite book; he must study it, welcome it in prayer and place it at the basis of his own apostolic spirituality in communion with the Church and as the key to discern the formative apostolic activities and techniques.

7th. Looking to the Future

In terms of the future, we must prepare ourselves for the new evangelisation, increasing the ministry of vocation promotion and revising our formative system and the quality of our formation. All of this should bring us to elaborate a Ratio Formationis, which is a still-pending matter which the challenge of the new evangelisation should spur us on to confront.”717