Claretian Formation

Chapter 7

The General Plan of Formation 1994

I. Background

The General Plan of Formation (GPF) is engraved in the history and in the process of formation in the Congregation.748 The GPF is not an initiative that appears in the present moment, disconnected from the congregational life, neither is it a pedagogical instrument with no congregational roots. It is inserted in the Congregation’s rich formative tradition initiated by our Fr. Founder himself, continued by the Co-founders and consolidated by both the General Chapters and the Superiors General.

1. As we have seen, from the very outset there have been in the Congregation well-defined plans of studies both for Students and for Brothers. These plans, under different titles, have had a fundamentally academic thrust.
We have also said in the introduction that, from an overall point of view, even though plans in the strict sense were not drafted, formation in the Congregation has been very well articulated and directed. Also, there has been no lack of well-organised and planned formative tools, or of precise pedagogical guidelines.749

2. In fact, there have been several unsuccessful attempts in the past to elaborate a Ratio Formationis or equivalent. This has been a desire, several times expressed at various congregational levels: to have a Plan of Formation, Ratio Formationis or Regulations for the students as well as for the brothers.

As early as 1932, Fr. Nicholas García, speaking on how spiritual formation should be gradual and personalised, asserted that it should be in keeping with a joint plan “which they (the Prefects) should develop proportionally to the plan of studies.”750 His own circulars on formation are themselves veritable treatises on Claretian pedagogy that are well put together methodologically.

Recalling in a synthetic way what was said in the previous chapter, the XIII General Chapter (1934), speaking about formative plans, decreed the “drafting of an Ordo pietatis and an Ordo disciplinae, which, together with the Ordo studiorum, would form the basis of the education of our missionaries.”751 And somewhere else, dealing on the subject of the formation of formators, it stated that, in addition to the testimony of life, they should stand out for a good preparation in “ascetics and ecclesiastic and religious pedagogy.” To this end it proposed the preparation of a Ratio Formationis that would gather together the extensive experience of the Congregation.752

The XIV General Chapter of 1937 insists on this same idea when it asks that “a little book” be written for formators, on the formation of Novicemasters.753 And the XV General Chapter, on the other hand, does the same when it asks for a Book of regulations for Brothers, where all these points would be gathered together.754

Lastly, the XVI General Chapter (1961), recalling the recommendation of the previous Chapter, urged the writing of an Ordo Formationis “in order to attain a good and, as much as possible, uniform formation of our members.”755 It also asked for the revision and publication of the Mirror of the Postulant. It left to the General Government the drafting of a Book of Regulations for the brothers on the formative aspects that have been discussed, particularly those related to their assignments during the years following their first professions.756

3. From the Second Vatican Council on, there is again an insistence on the elaboration of formation plans for students and brothers in a stricter and more defined sense.
In its Decree on Formation, the 1967 Special Chapter asked the General Government to take the responsibility of drawing up a General Plan of Formation for the Congregation,757 and in the Decree on Brothers it makes the same request with regard to formative plans and programs for them.758 These requests, along with the drafting of a Plan of Studies, were included in the General Directory of 1973, in keeping with the indications of the General Chapter.759 At the same time it was established that provincial plans of formation be promoted for our own Students and Brothers, and that local regulations be made for our Formation Centres.760 The Directory of 1975 speaks along the same lines.761

In the Directory of 1982, what was said of the General Plan of Formation in the previous Directories disappears, but insistence is made on plans of formation at the provincial and local levels and on the formation plan for the Brothers.762 And in the Constitutions of that same year, regarding the missionaries in formation and their prefect, it is stated in general terms that formation should be carried out “observing our own characteristic method of instruction.763 During the six-year period of 1979-1985 there was talk about a sort of “vademecum” that would gather together the most important formative themes, but at the end it was not carried out.

The Plan of Formation appears again in the 1986 Constitutions. They do not speak of forming our students according to our formative planning as the previous Constitutions had done, but of doing so “according to our own
formation plan,” in accord with canon 659.2 of the new Code of Canon Law (1983).764 The 1987 Directory also speaks of the plan, but in a very broad sense and in reference to canon 650.1 of the new Code.765 It does not speak of a General Plan of Formation for the Congregation in the strict sense, but of a plan of formation as a formation project in which those called to the Claretian life should be formed, and which should include the elements pointed out in the Directory. These elements are offered for the drafting of the provincial and local plans of formation, on which the Directory keeps on insisting. Lastly, once more it calls for a formation plan for the Brothers.766

4. In the postconciliar years, although there was no general plan, the Congregation worked in the formation sector with great creativity, taking into account, among others, the following criteria:
* applying the Constitutions, Directory and Chapter Documents to formation;
* drafting provincial and local plans of formation;
* working out the systematic program of apostolic initiation;
* and searching for common guidelines that are inculturated in the different congregational areas, through encounters and gatherings.

5. Nevertheless, little by little we began to see that the principles of the Constitutions and of the pedagogical orientations of the Directory were not enough. We needed, in addition, a proper Plan of Formation that would gather
together the formative riches, both theoretical and practical, of the Church and of the Congregation in the postconciliar period. Canon Law767 and the Constitutions768 too demanded it. In encounters and courses of formators, the General Government was often requested to draft such a document. And the Superior General, Fr. Gustavo Alonso, in his circular letter “Claretians in Formation” asserted that this was “a pending matter.”769 The General Government’s criterion during the six-year period 1985-1991 was that the Plan of Formation should have the consensus and support of the entire Congregation and, therefore, the question should be dealt with in the following General Chapter.