SVD
Generalate

Just three weeks have passed since the celebration of the XIX General Chapter of our Society. A swift transition of leadership from the outgoing General Council to the incoming one has taken place, and the new general administrative team has already begun its six-year term. The demands of the moment and the need for this new team to immediately assume leadership show that something different is happening, opening the opportunity for us to reflect on what God wants to tell us.

The XIX General Chapter followed a conventional parameter in its preparation process. For three years, the entire Society, including our formation houses and lay associate groups, was involved in the process. Until a few weeks before its start, we had the feeling that the Chapter deliberations could be dedicated almost entirely to reflecting on faithful and creative discipleship in the face of a wounded world. Furthermore, the new General Council, as part of the responses to the challenges experienced at the grassroots, would have time to plan and build up the leadership team. However, the appointment of Fr. Budi Kleden, the then Superior General, as Archbishop of Ende in Indonesia caused a change in the established pattern, moving us away from our preconceived plans. It was no longer possible to think about continuity in terms of leadership and strategies, but rather about building a new team to face new challenges.

It is worth asking a first question here: What does God tell us when changes in plans or changing realities require us to be prepared, especially when personal plans or community projects undergo sudden changes, calling us to another level of commitment?

There is no doubt that the General Chapter fulfilled its task of reviewing, evaluating, and proposing new priorities. In its final statement, concerns about the formation process are highlighted, beginning with vocation promotion and extending throughout our missionary life. The intrinsic relationship of our missionary identity with the proclamation of the Word of God is presented as a fundamental part of our process of fidelity and discipleship. It is understood that our search for creative responses to current missionary challenges involves socio-ecological aspects, areas of education, apostolate, along with family and youth ministries, and active collaboration with lay mission partners. What was the wisdom of the XIX General Chapter has now become the commitment of the entire Congregation. Embracing the reality of a wounded world, recognizing our own vulnerabilities, is the path along which the Holy Spirit leads us in this process of religious missionary renewal to which we are called at this moment. This same Spirit that pervaded the plenary sessions of the Chapter, that made its visible presence in the basic group activities, that revealed the realities of the Zones, and that led us through the election process, demands of us a renewed and non-negotiable commitment to the future of the SVD mission.

Finally, the celebration of the XIX General Chapter confirmed our ability to live interculturally and bear witness to fraternity. The presence of lay observers and the SSpS Sisters during the four weeks of the Chapter was also an opportunity to testify to our communion and collaboration. Our intercultural life and mission are a gift that the Lord has given us, and we must cherish it with responsibility and gratitude. We are part of this missionary family founded by Saint Arnold Janssen, and our unity is a driving force of the mission entrusted to us. Let us think about the biblical image of talents and how to ensure that this true treasure is not hidden but multiplied in the lives of the people and the communities we serve. We thank God for this blessing.

As a team called to the service of animation, coordination, and administration of our Congregation, we thank all those who preceded us in the mission. We express our special gratitude to our dear Fr. Budi Kleden, now archbishop-elect of Ende, and to the members of the General Council who completed their service together with the closing of the XIX General Chapter. We thank Fr. José Antunes da Silva, Br. Guy Mazola Mido, and Fr. Jude Raymun Festin for their generous dedication during the years of their service in the Generalate. We thank and trust all of you, dear confreres, from different mission fields around the world. Thank you for the support shown and the prayers promised.

Dear confreres, SSpS and SSpS-AP sisters, lay associates, and collaborators in the mission, our first and humble step on this path of service in the leadership of our beloved Society of the Divine Word is to recognize that the mission to which we have been called is Missio Dei. We are just servants called to let the light of Christ shine through us. We recognize and value our differences and share the same missionary vocation. The demands of the moment not only urge us but contextualize us in a joint synodal path where the mission is a consequence of communion and participation. No one should feel excluded from this process, which we trust is in God’s hands.

Fr. Anselmo Ribeiro and the Leadership Team