Society
Of The Divine Word

1. 

   Introduction:

2. Internationality according to Arnold Janssen and The founding generation
3. Internationality in the SVD constitutions
4. General norms or understanding of internationality and interculturality
5. Implications and challenges of internationality and interculturality in the SVD formation

1) INTRODUCTION:

I was asked to share with you about the theme of “Internationality and Interculturality: its implications and challenges in the SVD formation”. Because it is about internationality in the SVD, we are going to develop the theme under 4 points: firstly what was the idea of Saint Arnold Janssen and the founding generation about internationality. Secondly we will see how the idea of internationality has developed as we have it in our constitutions today. Thirdly we will talk about the general norms of understanding of internationality or interculturality in our church today. Indeed, today we talk more about interculturality instead of internationality. Finally we will talk about the implications and challenges of internationality and interculturality in the SVD formation.

2) INTERNATIONALITY ACCORDING TO ARNOLD JANSSEN AND THE FOUNDING GENERATION

It seems that Arnold Janssen thought of our congregation as an international one right from the beginning. Even before the mission house was opened in Steyl on September 8, 1875, Arnold Janssen had thought of opening a house in Rome. Already by the spring of that year there was a draft addressed to the Prefect of the Congregation of the Propaganda, Cardinal Franchi. In the letter Arnold presented his plan to build an apostolic school for future missionaries and sought the Cardinal’s referral to other similar church offices.

It is interesting to note the clue in the following directive that the Society’s main house should be in Rome because of a concern to avoid the danger of a pronounced nationalism in the institution: “I therefore wish that the centre of this institution, if possible, be in Rome.” He was counting on the possibility that there would be representatives from various nations in the Society, even if at the time he wrote that, recruitment for the immediate future was limited to Germans, Austrians and Dutchmen. In his sermon during the mission house’s opening Mass on September 8, 1875Arnold Janssen pointed it out that Saint Michael’s mission house in Steyl was founded for men of the above nationalities.

In fact, Arnold Janssen was pushed on to the road of interculturality. His idea moved from a German mission house in Germany to the German, Dutch, and Austrian Mission House St. Michael in Steyl, Netherlands.

In looking at the founding of the mission house we see something very interesting: Arnold Janssen had wanted to start a German mission house in Germany for German missionaries; however, on the way, on the journey to that goal he had to modify his plans: he saw that the road God made him travel differed from his own travel plans. Because of the Kulturkampf between the German Government and the Catholic Church he could not start in Germany; he had to go across the border to the Netherlands; so the house he was to start could not only be for Germans, but the Dutch had to be included.

Arnold had furthermore a very special liking for the Austrian empire with its Catholic monarchy. He felt very close to Austria and so he wanted his mission house to educate Austrian missionaries as well, and on September 8, 1875 there was born the German, Dutch, Austrian mission house Saint Michael in Steyl, community of Tegelen, kingdom of the Netherlands.

It was kind of natural to have an international institution or congregation right at beginning because Germany was a confederation at that time. At the time that Arnold was born there existed the German Confederation. It consisted of 37 independent states and four free cities (Hamburg, Bremen, Lübeck and Frankfurt). This Confederation had the city of Frankfurt as its centre. Delegates from the various states and cities met there for the “federal diet”, a kind of parliament. Its president was always an Austrian, which means Austria was part of the German Confederation. Arnold Janssen’s home town of Goch was part of the Kingdom of Prussia with Berlin as capital. So he was citizen of Prussia.

Hence, when we look at the first residents of Saint Michael house we see they were international: there was the Austrian seminarian Francis Xavier Reichart; then Fr. Peter Bill, parish priest from and in Luxemburg. Arnold Janssen and his brother, Capuchin Brother Juniperus Janssen as well as carpenter Erlemann were Germans. In October the seminarian John Baptist Anzer who was from the kingdom of Bavaria, in southern Germany.

In order to be able to start St. Gabriel’s seminary near Vienna in Austria, Arnold Janssen became an Austrian citizen being a resident of the Austrian village of Goggendorf. By the time of the death of Fr. Arnold we could summarize his life like this: A Prussian – German citizen by birth, having become an Austrian citizen in the political community of Goggendorf, and dying in Steyl in the Netherlands. So Fr. Arnold was a fully international person. And that is most fitting for the founder of international missionary congregations.

Arnold Janssen understanding of internationality: In the months of preparation for the foundation of his mission seminary, Arnold Janssen began referring to his plan as a plan for a German-Dutch-Austrian Mission House to which he hoped representatives from different nations would belong. Because of this, he thought at first of Rome as the place for its headquarters so as to avoid nationalistic conflicts and tensions. As it turned out, he was unable to start in Rome and did so instead in Steyl, Holland. The first community which began in Steyl was a group of four persons from three different nationalities: two Germans, one Austrian and one from Luxembourg.

Soon afterwards, when Arnold Janssen started the official gazette of the fledgling Society, he gave it a Latin name. Thinking of the future internationality of the Society, the Founder remarked: Finally the possibility came to my mind that later, perhaps, the Society will recruit priests from places where German is not spoken. Maybe later it will be necessary to replace German with Latin in the text.

Another characteristic of Arnold Janssen which favored internationality was his appreciation of the culture of the people as a necessary precondition for genuine evangelization.

Arnold Janssen was very much aware of the challenges that the internationality could have in the congregation. So he gave some guidelines for living in international communities:

a) No jokes about people from other cultural communities the confreres were forbidden to crack jokes about people from other states/countries.

b) Love your own culture without making others feel rejected. In other words: love your country, but show your love in such a way that others won’t feel rejected! Be rooted in your culture and love it – but please, not in a way that others feel rejected by you.

c) Advice to missionaries in the foreign missions: The missionary must learn the language and customs of the people. He must be a man of prudence. … prudence requires, for example, that we never offend people in their national sensitivities since experience shows that people are vulnerable in this point.

Conclusion: From the beginning we have been an international society – but first with a predominantly German character. Today we are an international congregation though the original plan had been a German mission house in Germany. But on the 8^th of September 1875 the mission house that was opened was called the “German, Dutch, Austrian mission house”. Not the German flag, but the Dutch flag was waving.  The first members were from Germany, Luxembourg and Austria.

This confirms one of the mottos of Arnold Janssen that says God reveals his plans gradually! Today we belong to over 70 nationalities. This brings us to see and to talk about the internationality in our congregation today. How did the idea developed up to being included in our constitutions.

3) INTERNATIONALITY IN THE SVD CONSTITUTIONS 

A simple computer count reveals that there are 15 constitutions which speak about internationality directly or indirectly.

The 15 constitutions which speak about internationality can easily be grouped around four major themes: (1) A defining mark, (2) Formation, (3) Government and Administration, and (4) Community Living.

• A Defining Mark: Four constitutions present internationality as a defining mark of our Society. The Prologue, which is meant to provide a description in a nutshell of the fundamental nature of our Society, already contains the idea of internationality. It says: “As a community of brothers from different nations and languages, we become a living symbol of the unity and diversity of the church.” Secondly, c. 104 repeats this by saying that “the charism of our Society is further characterized as follows: we give witness to the universality of the church and the unity of all people through the international character of our Society”. Thirdly, c. 303.1, strengthening the same idea, says that “a distinguishing feature of our community life is that confreres from different nations live and work together”. And finally, c. 501 states that “the goal of all formation and education in our Society is growth by the power of the Holy Spirit into unity with the Incarnate Word of the Father and into a missionary community comprising of members from many countries and cultures….” In other words, along with growth in discipleship as a religious missionary, a fundamental requirement of becoming an SVD is internationality. This constitution almost says that one cannot be an SVD if one does not learn to live in international and multicultural communities.
• Formation: Since c. 501 states clearly that part of the goal of formation in our Society is “growth into a missionary community comprising of members from many countries and cultures,” other constitutions concretize this by calling for formation programs that would achieve this goal. Thus, c. 503 states that the academic and professional training of our confreres should “bear in mind the missionary goal of our Society and its international character.” Secondly, c. 504.1 insists that our formation programs and structures should be pluriform, emphasizing “the oneness of our religious missionary vocation and the enriching quality of our Society’s internationality”. Thirdly, c. 511.2 affirms that the hallmark of our houses of formation should be “openness to cultural and religious values as well as interest in the problems of other nations.” Fourthly, c. 515.3 and c. 516.4 add that opportunities for cross-cultural experiences are to be made available to both our brother and clerical candidates. C. 516.5 also states that, for clerical candidates, theological studies may be taken in another country on a limited basis. Finally, c. 519 encourages participation in the tertiate program in Nemi as a way of strengthening the family spirit of our international community.
• Government and Administration: There are two constitutions which touch on this particular area. First, c. 116.2 states that “because of the character of our Society, confreres are appointed to various provinces according to the principle of relative internationality”. Secondly, c. 619.2 counsels that the election of councillors and the appointment of officials at the generalate should take into account the international character of our Society.
• Community Living: Four constitutions deal with the theme of internationality and community living. First, c. 113.1 affirms that “our Society learns how to live its own internationality more richly and profoundly while promoting pluriformity in theology, spirituality, formation programs and structures.” Secondly, as we saw earlier, c 504.1 speaks of “the enriching quality of our Society’s internationality.” Thirdly, c. 303.1 states that our internationality “becomes a mutually enriching experience when based on deep respect for one another’s nationality and culture”. And finally, c. 303.6 alerts us to the fact that internationality can be a source of problems and a cause of tensions. It says: “We bear each other’s personal weaknesses patiently and with the tensions that result from differences of temperament, age, nationality and culture.”

4) GENERAL NORMS OR UNDERSTANDING OF INTERNATIONALITY AND INTERCULTURALITY

Today in the context of religious and missionary life the general understanding is to speak more about interculturality instead of internationality. Indeed, internationality is understood now in the church as interaction between Cultures. This situation began to change with the coming of Vatican II and its positive evaluation of the culture, history and socio-economic contexts of peoples and nations. Theology began speaking of inculturation and the building up of the local Church. There was no longer just one way of being Church or being Christian in the world. There are as many modalities as there are cultures.

In other words, the church is understood as home for people of different cultures. A multicultural Church will is seen as a more welcoming Church where three elements are essential: (1) a church that fosters the recognition of other cultures, (2) a church that encourages respect for cultural difference, and (3) a church that promotes a healthy interaction between cultures. With these characteristics, a multicultural Church will be a community where people of various cultures will feel they belong.

Such church is a church that focuses on the recognition of other cultures, respect for cultural difference, and healthy interaction between cultures.

With this idea in mind, the international religious missionary congregations are called today to help promote a truly multicultural Church. With the experience of internationality and multiculturality in their own ranks, their members would be well positioned to help create genuine dialogue and interaction between people of various cultures in society.

5) IMPLICATIONS AND CHALLENGES OF INTERNATIONALITY AND INTERCULTURALITY IN THE SVD FORMATION

Right from the beginning, Arnold Janssen was aware of the implication and challenges that go along with the internationality. That is why he warned the community first members about the issue. Arnold Janssen was very much aware of the challenges that the internationality could have in the congregation. So he gave some guidelines for living in international communities:

a) No jokes about people from other cultural communities the confreres were forbidden to crack jokes about people from other states/countries.

b) Love your own culture without making others feel rejected. In other words: love your country, but show your love in such a way that others won’t feel rejected! Be rooted in your culture and love it – but please, not in a way that others feel rejected by you.

c) Advice to missionaries in the foreign missions: The missionary must learn the language and customs of the people. He must be a man of prudence. … prudence requires, for example, that we never offend people in their national sensitivities since experience shows that people are vulnerable in this point.

These warnings have to be considered in formation houses as well.

Some programs of formation for internationality have been developed in the course of time. The Overseas Training Program (or Cross-cultural Training Program) allows students to spend two to three years working or studying in a culture other than their own. Common Formation Centres or International Formation Houses with an international staff is another attempt. The Exchange Student Program is an even older practice.

There are, of course, some places that have become Aimpervious, so to speak, to internationality — largely due to government restrictions. Examples are India and Indonesia. In these cases, we try to give first assignments outside the country to as many as possible, in the hope that some of them would return to their home countries and share their international experience with the rest of the confreres.

We also have an international renewal program in Nemi where those who never had any exposure to the foreign mission can have an experience of internationality.

In our formation houses we are aware of the challenges that lie in front of us. Hence, our programs of formation prepare the future members to live in community that see the diversity of cultures as richness. We come from different nations, cultures and languages but we are called to live in harmony together with others.

Fr. Willibrord Kamion Bhia SVD
AFRAM Zonal Coordinator