Claretian Formation

THE CONGREGATION RENEWS ITSELF (1967-1979)

The Renewal Chapter

Sure enough, we can say that this XVII Chapter of 1967 was the motor of the renewal that was being urged by Vatican Council II. Gathered in Rome during the months of September and October, the Capitulars accomplished the Documents that implied a spectacular change in the orientation of the Congregation. Especially emphasised was its missionary character from what is “most urgent, timely and effective;” at the same time religious and apostolic life was deeply revised, returning to the sources that inspired the charism of the Founder. In this Chapter, Fr. Antony Leghisa, a Slovene, was elected General. One of the most important endeavours was the beginning of the adaptation of the Constitutions to the norms and the spirit of the Council, as well as the renewal of our Directory. The first draft of the new Constitutions was that of 1971. Subsequently would come that of 1982 and the definitive one in 1986.

After this Chapter, a new information organ was born in the Congregation under the name of NUNC (Nuntii de Universa Nostra Congregatione).

New Provinces and New Missionary Expansion

In Spain the Provinces were re-structured in April of 1968: the Province of León was created and the Provinces of Castile and Euskalerría reorganised. Also created was the Visitorship of Austria.

Starting from the General Chapter of 1967, the Provinces looked for leading fields suitable for missionary expansion. Thus Catalonia went to Japan and Brazil, Castile to Panama and Honduras, Euskalerría to Bolivia, Betica to Argentina and the Philippines, Aragon to Brazil, Leon to Peru, USA-East to Guatemala, USA-West to Nigeria and the Philippines, Italy to Gabon, Canada to Cameroon, Germany to India and Zaire, Portugal to Angola and Mexico and Occidental Colombia did it in its own territory of Guerrero and Chocó.

The Interprovincial Conferences Are Born

As soon as the Renewal Chapter ended, Interprovincial Conferences started to be instituted in order to facilitate the work of apostolic communion and co-ordination. Concretely the Conferences of Spain and Guinea, the Latin- and the Anglo-American conferences, which later on would be adapting to the new realities:

. ACLA: Association of Claretians of Africa.

. ASCLA: Association of Claretians of Asia.

. CEC: Conference of Claretians of Central Europe.

. CICLA: Interprovincial Confederation of Claretians of Latin America.

. IBERIA: Spain and Portugal.

. NACLA: Association of Claretians of the North Atlantic.

Statistics in 1970

This year the Congregation had 17 provinces, 10 quasi-provinces and 3 visitorships. 349 houses. 2 cardinals, 8 bishops, 1 prelate, 2,046 priests, 721 students and 507 brothers. A total of 3,285 professed members and 80 novices.

After the Council and the Renewal Chapter, the Congregation experienced a process of considerable number of secularisations and abandonments which, together with the decrease of vocations, made it imperative to re-structure communities and, above all, seminaries. Among them we must mention the suppression of the two international Theologates of Salamanca and Rome (1970).

The Congregation Continues Expanding to New Countries

During this period foundations were made for the first time in Honduras (1967), Angola (1969), India and Cameroon (1970), Slovenia (1971), Nigeria (1973), Gabon (1975) and Yugoslavia (1977). The Claretian foundations of India and Nigeria would be providential for the Congregation. Slowly they would become centres of numerous vocations so as to constitute major organisms.

Persecutions Continue

Once Macías took over the command of Equatorial Guinea in March of 1969, the expulsion of foreign missionaries began, among them, Claretian Bishop Gómez Marijuán. In 1972 Msgr. Raphael Nze, a native Guinean, also had to leave under threat of death. Even the catechists were persecuted and in December 1976 all the Claretians residing in Bata were imprisoned and tortured and the churches closed. The nightmare lasted 11 years, till August 3, 1979.

Since 1973, and already with the presence of Msgr. Peter Casaldáliga, the Claretian missionaries were also persecuted in the mission of São Felix, Brazil, for their struggle on behalf of the peasants. The decisive moment came in October 1976, when one of the priests was assassinated in front of his bishop.

In December of 1977 the Moslem rebels of the Philippines burned down the hospital of Basilan managed by Claretian Bro. Joseph Torres. This was to be the beginning of a nightmare that would continue to affect the missionaries from then on.

Centres for Study of Religious Life

In 1968 the first course of studies of Religious Life began to function in Madrid, which would later be completed with the Theological Institute. This initiative gave place to a new important front in the evangelising task of the Congregation. Later on, it would extend to Rome (1972) and, with lesser intensity, to Mexico and the Philippines.

General Chapter of 1973

This Chapter revised the progress of the Congregation since the conciliar renewal. It was verified that dispersal (the Congregation was present in 41 nations) favoured pluralism but was an obstacle to apostolic incision, and that the 30 major organisms did not enrich the labour fronts. To this was added the preoccupation for the great number of departures from the Congregation. Basically the Chapter revised the on-going renewal, and re-oriented community life, being sensitive to the values of freedom, autonomy, participation, dialogue, co-responsibility, incarnation, commitment, etc. This revision would be completed in the General Assembly of the Congregation in Costa Rica in 1976.

The Congregation had this year 2,805 missionaries: 1,978 priests, 378 students, 449 brothers.

“The Heart of Mary and the Congregation”

This was the title Fr. General, Antony Leghisa, gave the Circular he wrote in 1977, which meant a very important step in the renewal of the Cordimarian spirituality. The purpose of the Circular was to help the Congregation overcome the critical moment it was going through, and to spur it on to a greater fidelity to the Cordimarian dimension of its vocation.

The Continental Missionary Encounters Begin

In 1978 a missionary encounter of Latin America was held, the first ever in the entire history of the Congregation. It was celebrated in February and in two consecutive moments: the first in Argentina and the second in Colombia. In November of the same year the first missionary encounter of Africa was held in Zaire, for the purpose of emphasising this important work in the Congregation, by re-discovering the prophetic sense and the preferential option for the poor. From then on, encounters of this type have been expanding and multiplying.

The Claretian Associates

In April 1979 the first international encounter of Claretian Associates was held in Brazil. This was to be the first impulse for the emergence of the Lay Claretians Movement. At last the apostolic dream of Fr. Claret came to birth, in which the laity was to play “an important role in the salvation of people.”