Inteview with the Superior General
"Chapters reflect the Spirit of the Times."

I. The SVD in Recent Years

What is your assessment on the status of the Society in the last five or ten years?

Actually, former General, Fr. Henry Barlage had a report on the status of the SVD for the last General Chapter and I believe that's a good source of information regarding the progress that has been made by the SVD in the last five or ten years. I think we could say, in terms of number that we are one of the few congregations, which are still increasing in number. But I believe more than numbers, we should point a number of developments like taking on some new mission territories, like Mozambique, Vietnam, Thailand, Siberia. Aside from mission territories, we also look for ways, where we can engage in missionary situations like what we have undergone in the process of forming an NGO to be accredited at the United Nations. So that would be one missionary situation, the new Aeropagus as the Pope in his encyclical, Redemptoris Missio, puts it. And another missionary situation is the situation of refugees and migrants. We have also started the process of organizing more adequate SVD response to emergency situations especially in terms of refugees and we are working in close collaboration in this regard with the Pontifical Council for the Care of Migrant People. As you all know the undersecretary of this council is our confrere, Fr. Mike Blum.

What were the priorities of the Society during those years?

As mandated by the 1994 General Chapter, the priority of the SVD during the last six years has been Africa and as you know, the last General Chapter 2000 reaffirms this priority for another six years and this means giving more attention to Africa in terms of personnel as well as in terms of finances. Now, the last General Chapter 2000, the idea of personnel for Africa, was more specified. The chapter said, more qualified personnel, especially more trained formation personnel for Africa.

On which areas or apostolates had the SVD considerable achievement?

It is difficult to say because it is difficult to measure achievement. Perhaps, in the area of biblical apostolate, judging from the fact that the bishops have asked for SVD personnel precisely for this biblical apostolate. Our services in the parishes continue to be considerate not only in terms of the percentage of the number of active members in the Society actually engage in the pastoral work but also in terms of the coming requests from bishops.

What are also some dark sides or difficult times during this past few years?

Whenever we begin a new missionary presence, I think, we encounter some difficulties. A new beginning always is very precarious thing and so problems, for instance, like the failure of our confreres to really form themselves into a team and therefore the initial tensions and conflicts within a small community. The difficulty in learning the language, culture and inculturating themselves in many situation and also the unclarity between the relationship between our confreres, the Society with the diocesan bishops are sometimes problematic. Naturally, there is always the problem of a certain amount of resistance on the part of the people towards evangelization, preaching the Gospel in a certain place.

How did the Society cope with these difficulties?

As much as possible, the Generalate is always brought into the picture and in many cases the Generalate sends somebody to try to bring about reconciliation in situations where there are conflicts, and also try to study the situation better along with our confreres already in the field so that they could determine better our role in the particular situation.

We should also mention the goodwill and the openness of the confreres who are in the situation themselves. Although there are misunderstandings, our confreres are also well- motivated, and because of that they eventually reached particular understanding among themselves.

II. The SVD General Chapter: Realities

What is your general evaluation or impression on the recently concluded General Chapter? We have just sent out the evaluations made by the capitulars themselves at the end of the chapter and it seems that the over-all evaluation is very positive, particularly that all the capitulars in general were happy about how the chapter developed and how the resolutions were made. In a certain sense what was more important was the experience of community, especially internationality among the capitulars at the chapter itself.

What could be the reasons behind the satisfaction of our confreres at the end of the Chapter?

Certainly one of the reasons was the preparation that was undertaken by the Generalate already three years before the chapter and the participation of the confreres in the provinces and regions. During the last three years, there was an exchange of letters and communications between the provinces with the Generalate regarding the preparation of the chapter. And I believe that the good amount of time for the preparation helped in the positive experience that the chapter gave to the capitulars.

What were the prevailing themes, issues or problems discussed in the General Chapter?

Naturally the main issue as reflected in the chapter statements is question of the nature of our mission - How to understand our mission today in the present circumstances. But within this general theme some more specific concerns were also underlined like urban ministry, concern for victims of AIDS, and the integrity of Creation, and as I mentioned already, concern for refugees and migrants including the ministry to indigenous peoples and the concern for an adequate family apostolate. There are issues that direct the SVD outside. There were also internal issues like the organization of the Society, changing some of the practices like having more participation on the part of the provinces and the regions in the decision making processes, the zonal structure of the SVD was also discussed.

What are the significant or distinguishing characteristics of this Chapter compared to the previous General Chapters?

Naturally, Chapters reflect the spirit of the times. I have attended the Chapter of 1982 and 1994 and I would say that in 1982 there were some capitulars who came with set ideas, pet ideas and they wanted their ideas to have the backing of the chapter. And there were some individual or groups trying to put forward a particular pet idea. But in this chapter now there was more openness. People came with some ideas of their own but the atmosphere was not so difficult. No one was trying to hold on to an idea by all means. There was certain openness to accept other ideas and to revise one's own position. As I said, this also reflects the signs of the times. In 1982, the Spirit was such, the world was very ideological. Now, Society in general is less ideological in the sense, less polarized and therefore, I think, this is also affected in the capitulars who came to the chapter this time.

If there's one event in the chapter which you like to remember, something personally and intense moment, what would that be?

There were many intense moments during the chapter. I believe one was the celebration of the 125th anniversary during which Cardinal Tomko came to celebrate the Mass with us. The Mass was a very international celebration, songs and prayers from different countries underlining the internationality of our society and the growth that the Society has gained over the 125 years from Steyl to now: a world wide Society. Some people pointed to the visit to the Pope as one of the highlights of the Chapter.

Interview conducted by Adonis Narcelles Jr.