austraLasia #3387
Joys and sorrows of a drafting group!
ROME: 8 March 2014 -- March 8 sees a final summary, approved by the assembly, of discussion of the Rector Major's Report. There are 4 'regular' Commissions, a Juridical Commission and a Drafting Commission. They meet as a commission, there are then times in Assembly, and finally the drafting group (3 members) presents what it believes is a summary which is then approved by the Assembly and becomes material for eventual inclusion in a final Chapter document or if not there, is handed on to the Rector Major and his Council for the 2014-2020 period. Sounds easy? Not really....
Study of the Rector Major's Report
Let's go back to 5 March, the day the Assembly approved the GC27 Regulations - a set of guidelines for conduct of the Chapter itself. An 18 page document that covers the following kinds of things:
A history of this set of Regulations - convocation of the Chapter - who the members are - the Chapter opening - the main entities, groups, roles - regulations on work processes at the Chapter (e.g. drafting, commissions, general dynamics ...) - discussion and voting rules - elections - closing the Chapter.
Amongst these regulations is the following regarding study of the RM's Report, recalling that GC25 first brought this in to Chapter proceedings:
"Study of the report has the purpose of discerning what are the priority challenges for the Congregation and identifying the process and fundamental interventions which need to mark the 2014-2020 six year period. This study foresees time spent in commissions and time spent in general assembly. An 'ad hoc' drafting group will summarise the different contributions from the commissions and the assembly...".
It goes on to point out that items from this summary, once approved, could then be incorporated into any eventual Chapter document or decisions that might be formulated (e.g. by the Juridical Commission) for the life of the Congregation. What is not taken up from the summary in those forums will then be passed on to the new Rector Major and his Council for consideration in their planning procedures.
The Commissions have already met, things have been tossed around, too, in the Assembly - and of course the Drafting Group has gone into action with its first attempt to sum it all up. This is where it does not get easy and at every General Chapter, the DG members (let's call them that) have to have thick skin and wear comments like "Too much repetition", "Tone is peremptory - doesn't seem to admit of exceptions which work!", "A bit too formal - prune it!".
What kind of emphases are coming through? Here's a glimpse:
Fraternal life:
- role and figure of the Salesian Brother
- the rector is the guarantor of ongoing formation in the community, so needs adequate formation himself
Working with the laity
- GC24 should be studied in formation houses to start with
- it's not clear who is responsible for formation of laity
The mission
- missing any reference to the digital playground as a place of encounter and accompaniment today for young people
- taking another look at GC23 will help us recover the primacy of God
Animation and Governance
- rethink the Regional's role: more power, encourage sharing of resources in region, educate to sense of belonging to the region
- let there be less input sent out to everyone but diversify it according to regions
- transparency is an essential feature of any financial management
It's not difficult to see then (and these are mere glimpses of a more extensive summary, obviously, that will result from today's final discussions on the report) that some of this material will be picked up later by the Chapter for ultimate formulation in documentary form as guidelines, directions etc.
"Rasunuma... Religiön ...Vorumsi ben"
At one point someone commented that the various points under the heading of 'Mission', coming out of discussion of this Report, "are all facets of the Preventive System".
Well, then, here are some ideas that were NOT part of any Chapter discussion - a confrere who is Piedmontese, and who comes from a village not all that far, 'as the crow flies', from the Becchi was reflecting last night over a glass of - well, it wasn't Barbera, Barolo or Freisa - in fact it went under the title of Wirra Wirra (an Australian aboriginal name) a blend of Cabernet and Petit Verdot.
Anyhow, wines apart, he was reflecting on the way we employ Reason, Religion and Loving Kindness today and wondered if things might be different were we to plumb Don Bosco's Piedmontese understanding of these terms. To explain what he meant, he put it this way:
"I heard these three terms as a kid in the village, from my grandfather and grandmother, but not in Italian (we spoke Piedmontese at home always). When things needed to be worked out amongst people, maybe something had gone wrong, grandpa used say 'Rasunuma 'n poc' = 'Let's have a chat about this'. It was very practical reasoning, nothing cerebral about it.
On the other hand, grandma's comment on things was 'Un poc 'd religiön 'l rangia tüt' = 'a bit of religion (a sense of God) will fix things up', and 'Vorumsi ben' = 'Let's get on together'. Here 'religiön' has little to do with cult, rules and regulations and a lot to do with the primacy of God. And where 'amorevolezza' in Italian (loving kindness in English) seems to suggest me showing this to them (so one way, in a sense), note the communal aspect of 'vorumsi ben'."
That's very interesting indeed! Don Bosco, it seems, used these three terms in Italian (is there any record of him actually using their Piedmontese 'equivalent'?) but it would not be stretching things to suggest that he might well have had an ingrained Piedmontese mindset nurtured by just those same ideas expressed above. And if so, it is a whole new insight into the Preventive System that could be very appropriate for us today.
Joys and sorrows of a drafting group!
ROME: 8 March 2014 -- March 8 sees a final summary, approved by the assembly, of discussion of the Rector Major's Report. There are 4 'regular' Commissions, a Juridical Commission and a Drafting Commission. They meet as a commission, there are then times in Assembly, and finally the drafting group (3 members) presents what it believes is a summary which is then approved by the Assembly and becomes material for eventual inclusion in a final Chapter document or if not there, is handed on to the Rector Major and his Council for the 2014-2020 period. Sounds easy? Not really....
Study of the Rector Major's Report
Let's go back to 5 March, the day the Assembly approved the GC27 Regulations - a set of guidelines for conduct of the Chapter itself. An 18 page document that covers the following kinds of things:
A history of this set of Regulations - convocation of the Chapter - who the members are - the Chapter opening - the main entities, groups, roles - regulations on work processes at the Chapter (e.g. drafting, commissions, general dynamics ...) - discussion and voting rules - elections - closing the Chapter.
Amongst these regulations is the following regarding study of the RM's Report, recalling that GC25 first brought this in to Chapter proceedings:
"Study of the report has the purpose of discerning what are the priority challenges for the Congregation and identifying the process and fundamental interventions which need to mark the 2014-2020 six year period. This study foresees time spent in commissions and time spent in general assembly. An 'ad hoc' drafting group will summarise the different contributions from the commissions and the assembly...".
It goes on to point out that items from this summary, once approved, could then be incorporated into any eventual Chapter document or decisions that might be formulated (e.g. by the Juridical Commission) for the life of the Congregation. What is not taken up from the summary in those forums will then be passed on to the new Rector Major and his Council for consideration in their planning procedures.
The Commissions have already met, things have been tossed around, too, in the Assembly - and of course the Drafting Group has gone into action with its first attempt to sum it all up. This is where it does not get easy and at every General Chapter, the DG members (let's call them that) have to have thick skin and wear comments like "Too much repetition", "Tone is peremptory - doesn't seem to admit of exceptions which work!", "A bit too formal - prune it!".
What kind of emphases are coming through? Here's a glimpse:
Fraternal life:
- role and figure of the Salesian Brother
- the rector is the guarantor of ongoing formation in the community, so needs adequate formation himself
Working with the laity
- GC24 should be studied in formation houses to start with
- it's not clear who is responsible for formation of laity
The mission
- missing any reference to the digital playground as a place of encounter and accompaniment today for young people
- taking another look at GC23 will help us recover the primacy of God
Animation and Governance
- rethink the Regional's role: more power, encourage sharing of resources in region, educate to sense of belonging to the region
- let there be less input sent out to everyone but diversify it according to regions
- transparency is an essential feature of any financial management
It's not difficult to see then (and these are mere glimpses of a more extensive summary, obviously, that will result from today's final discussions on the report) that some of this material will be picked up later by the Chapter for ultimate formulation in documentary form as guidelines, directions etc.
"Rasunuma... Religiön ...Vorumsi ben"
At one point someone commented that the various points under the heading of 'Mission', coming out of discussion of this Report, "are all facets of the Preventive System".
Well, then, here are some ideas that were NOT part of any Chapter discussion - a confrere who is Piedmontese, and who comes from a village not all that far, 'as the crow flies', from the Becchi was reflecting last night over a glass of - well, it wasn't Barbera, Barolo or Freisa - in fact it went under the title of Wirra Wirra (an Australian aboriginal name) a blend of Cabernet and Petit Verdot.
Anyhow, wines apart, he was reflecting on the way we employ Reason, Religion and Loving Kindness today and wondered if things might be different were we to plumb Don Bosco's Piedmontese understanding of these terms. To explain what he meant, he put it this way:
"I heard these three terms as a kid in the village, from my grandfather and grandmother, but not in Italian (we spoke Piedmontese at home always). When things needed to be worked out amongst people, maybe something had gone wrong, grandpa used say 'Rasunuma 'n poc' = 'Let's have a chat about this'. It was very practical reasoning, nothing cerebral about it.
On the other hand, grandma's comment on things was 'Un poc 'd religiön 'l rangia tüt' = 'a bit of religion (a sense of God) will fix things up', and 'Vorumsi ben' = 'Let's get on together'. Here 'religiön' has little to do with cult, rules and regulations and a lot to do with the primacy of God. And where 'amorevolezza' in Italian (loving kindness in English) seems to suggest me showing this to them (so one way, in a sense), note the communal aspect of 'vorumsi ben'."
That's very interesting indeed! Don Bosco, it seems, used these three terms in Italian (is there any record of him actually using their Piedmontese 'equivalent'?) but it would not be stretching things to suggest that he might well have had an ingrained Piedmontese mindset nurtured by just those same ideas expressed above. And if so, it is a whole new insight into the Preventive System that could be very appropriate for us today.
