WHAT ARE NEW MEMBERS JOINING?

“Rekindling our efforts to seek new members will in turn transform the heart of the Congregation and rediscover the precious gift of Brotherhood”
(Heart of Being Brother, 2002)

I am heartened to see the ‘rekindling of our efforts’ … Brothers taking up vocations ministry, setting up communities of welcome & discernment and gathering regularly in ‘Seeking new members’ groups. I enjoyed being with the Victoria group recently. I’ve also been privileged to meet many of the young men who are joining us from India, Africa and PNG.

I was fortunate to participate in the ‘Ferdinand’ workshop in the USA on fostering vocations. One piece of wisdom from there was that the crisis among the Sisters provoked a radical rediscovery of their Benedictine way of life which led to a major re-structuring of the way they lived that life, including the closure of their school. They told us of how painful it was for them to let go of their former way of life with its particular structures .

I believe we Brothers are on that journey of rediscovery of our Brotherhood. We are certainly putting enormous energy into ‘restructuring’. I suggest, though, that there is another level of restructuring yet to happen. Our present restructuring is, for the most part, a necessary rationalisation along continental lines naturally reflecting our present geographic distribution. However, it is evident from the recent actuarial study (highlighted in Mark McDonnell’s letter of this February) that our geographic distribution is certain to change radically over the next decade. This reality calls those of us in the developed world to ask the question ‘What are new members joining?’ at the same time as we ‘rekindle our efforts’.

“No one puts new wine into old wineskins … new wine, new skins!” (Mk.2: 22)

I believe that God is calling men to be Christian Brothers, even in the developed world – but not to the form – or in the ‘skins’ - that we are living now. What the shape of our emerging ‘way of Brotherhood’ is, is not yet clear but we do have some clues from our Chapters:
• Radically rooted in God
• International
• With and for the marginalized
• Prophetic ie. challenging church and society

I sense strongly that a vital step is for the developed world provinces to agree to call men to be Brothers for the world rather than for their own provinces. This would mean:
a) publicity having a common ‘message’ agreed across the Congregation whilst using local language, images etc
b) initial discernment / pre-novitiate would happen at local level, but novitiate and further formation and ministry would all be done ‘internationally’. So for the rest of their lives they would live and minister wherever needs were greatest in both developed and developing worlds. This requires a significant ‘letting go’ by each province and might see the death of some provinces, but could provide the ‘new skins’ for the emergence of a new Christian Brotherhood for this millennium.

It is my heartfelt sense that we are being called to this radical ‘transformation of hearts and minds’ …and structures before we are ready to receive the ‘new wine’. I hope this will provide a stimulus for prayer and discussion among us – especially among those charged with responsibility for calling and nurturing new members. I would welcome any feedback.

Francis Hall CRT Melbourne 2006