Translation of an article in French on the encouragement of Vincentian Youth by the Superiors General, and especially Fr. Robert Maloney.All Superior Generals of the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity have encouraged in a certain manner the life and apostolate of the Association, inviting Vincentian Priests, Missionaries and Sisters to commit themselves to the evangelization of the youth.
It started from Fr. Etienne who obtained the pontifical approval in 1847 then to Fr. Fiat who, on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Association, obtained new privileges from the Holy See, continued by Fr. Verdier, who in 1931 obtained for the Association the faculty to establish in all parishes, and up to the present successor of St. Vincent de Paul, Fr. Gregory Gay, who during the last two years worked as the National Advisor of the JMV in the Central American Province.
However, in the last 20 years interest has grown enormously among the Superior Generals for this Association that the Virgin Mary and the Church have given to the care of the sons and daughters of St. Vincent. This can be noted already during the last period of the generalship of Fr. Richard Mc Cullen (1986-1992) in which the youth became one of his growing concerns.
I believe that
• July 1984 – Fr. Mc Cullen visited for the first time the National Encounter of JMV Spain in Benagalbon, Malaga.
• December 1995 – The Superior General declared officially that the Association renamed in Spain as “Juventudes Marianas Vicencianas” (JMV/ Vincentian Marian Youth) is the updated form of the old Association of the “Children of Mary,” approved in 1847.
• June 1986 – Approval of the National Statutes of JMV Spain
• February 1988 – Approval of the new International Statutes by the Holy See
• July 1989 – At the Closing of the Visitors’ Encounter in Rio de Janeiro, Fr. Mc Cullen said, “If the poor of tomorrow must be evangelizers, we have to maintain in contact with the young people of today and commit to them. We do not have to withdraw ourselves before this continent emerging with youth. I would like to invite the Congregation, especially during the year 1990, to go forth valiantly and courageously towards this new continent of young people in order to assure their union to Christ and His Gospel.” (Cf. CLAPVI 64, 1989, p.191)
• August 1989 – Fr. Mc Cullen joined JMV Spain in the European Encounter of the Youth in Santiago de Compostela. On the month of November, dedicated his Advent Circular on the theme of the youth.
• July 1990 – Fr. Mc Cullen went to the JMV National Encounter in Benagalbon (Spain)
Fr. Maloney: A Story of a Shepherd in the Midst of the Young People
I believe that I do not exaggerate when I assert that no one like Fr. Maloney has left a deep mark in the history of JMV and in the hearts of thousands of young people in the five continents who have known him throughout the 12 years of his service as a shepherd among them. If something has distinguished his superiority (1992-2004), it has been the strong impulse that he gave to both communities to commit in favor of the Vincentian laity and in a special way to the JMV. I would like to recall simply some data that will make us aware of the concrete love that Fr. Maloney feels for the young people especially for the JMV.
On July 1995 the 2nd JMV Iberian-American Congress was held in Mexico. The young people decided to create a structure that would help them communicate and organize themselves better. Thus, the JMV Latin American Council was born, which from the start counted on the support of Fr. Maloney. The year after, during the month of May, Fr. Maloney took advantage of the canonization of St. John Gabriel Perboyre to meet in Rome national leaders from 10 countries (among them were from Spain, France, Italy and Poland,) who discussed the actual situation of the Association and decided to undertake a way of renewal and a new impulse, to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Pontifical Approval (1847-1997) and the 50th Anniversary of the canonization of St. Catherine Laboure.
1997 marked the beginning of the journey that through the guiding hands of Fr. Maloney brought us to what the Association is today. A French-Spanish commission started the work and convoked thrice.
1. JMV International Encounter in Paris (Villebon) on August 18-25 coinciding with the 12th World Youth Day (WYD,) wherein which the Pope beatified Frederic Ozanam. Some 2,300 young people participated in the internal activities as well those prepared by the WYD Organizing Committee.
2. JMV National Leaders Forum in the Mother House of the Daughters of Charity in Paris on August 26-29 under the theme “The Marian Youth, a Dynamic for the Third Millennium.” With the participation of 47 countries in this Forum they worked on the characteristic notes of our identity, a new proposal of the International Statutes and international coordination. There Fr. Maloney expressed with dazzling clarity the Vincentian character of the Association and gathered a strong support over the idea of organizing an International General Assembly next.
3. Exhibit about the origin, history and the present JMV with a general presentation and aspects of the specific realities of each country
In his speech during the Forum Paris ‘97, Fr. Maloney asked from the young people mobility, availability and a “reckless but disciplined love” that allows them to become capable of assuming three concrete challenges:
• “To organize more JMV groups wherever they go especially in parishes and schools”
• “To seek voluntary services, offering one, two, three or five years of their lives to the service of the poor”
• “To promote ministries for the young people coupled with good formation that leads them to commit themselves”
I believe that those words fell in the hearts of many of us as seeds in good soil and were like “warning pistol shots” to what is JMV International today.
Afterwards, in an International Encounter with the Visitatrices of the Daughters of charity, Fr. Maloney presented the same challenge, “Create youth groups. Is there any sector of society that Pope John Paul II has focused on more clearly than youth? Today everyone is talking about the new millennium. Young people are the third millennium. It belongs to them. If the Church is to be fully alive in the third millennium, it will be because it is energized by young people who believe deeply. The young will be the evangelizers and the servants of the poor in the third millennium. Most of us will hardly be there. If statistics hold true, I will not survive the second decade of the third millennium. But today’s young people will be alive and energy-filled long after that. And so I suggest to you today that there is no apostolic goal more important for the Church and for the Vincentian Family than to reach out to and to offer young people a vibrant, Christian, Vincentian formation.” (Cfr. The Youth and the Daughters of Charity)
On March 1998, an International Provisional Council was created, whose presidency was held by Edurne Urdampilleta (At that time she was the National President of JMV Spain and in my judgment was one of the young people who was closer and worked longer with Fr. Maloney to make this dream a reality.) The other members of the council were Anna Salis (Italy,) Gladys Abi- Said (Lebanon) and Danuta Piekarz (Poland.) Fr. Maloney also appointed as Sub-director General of the Association, Fr. Benjamin Romo and as Councilor of the Daughters of Charity, Sr. Margaret Barrett who was the General Councilor of the English-speaking countries at that time. Fr. Maloney encouraged the Provisional Council to realize a fundamental task of consultation and reflection to determine:
q Possible concrete means of International Coordination
q New proposals for the final draft of the International Statutes
q Convocation of the 1st official General Assembly
q How to set-off a new Permanent International Secretariat
During the 39th General Assembly of the Congregation of the Mission on July 1998, Fr. Maloney clearly insisted in the need of the Congregation of the Mission to commit more explicitly to the young people. And even if this concern was not included in the assumed commitments in the Final document, nevertheless, in his closing remarks of the Assembly, Fr. Maloney repeated his insistence to all the Vincentians, “I encourage you as you go forth from this Assembly to form our Vincentian Marian Youth groups wherever you go. See this as one of the great challenges of the third millennium. The future servants of the poor are the young. They are the evangelizers of the third millennium… If we can offer to the young people a deeply Christian, Vincentian formation our Vincentian Family will continue to grow as a powerful instrument in the service of the poor. We have a precious gift to offer the young: a vision of Christ as the evangelizer and the servant of the poor. To the extent that we can offer that gift generously to them, our family will be fully alive in the third millennium.” (Cfr. VINCENTIANA Year 42, No. 4-5, 1998, p.400
Then, after many consultations, on January 12, 1999, Fr. Maloney decided to establish an International Secretariat, with its seat in Madrid (Spain) and a preferential dedication of five persons who started its journey in middle September: Fr. Jose Eugenio Garcia (Spain,) Sr. Luzdari Jimenez Serna (Colombia,) Jose Juan Perez Ramos (Spain,) Deborah Pacheco Laboy (Puerto Rico) and Gloria del Carmen Santillan Martinez (Mexico.) Later, Gladys Abi- Said (Lebanon) and Ivanildo Dantas (Brazil) joined the team. On February 2 that same year, Fr. Maloney received the approval of the new Statutes by the Holy See.
The first tasked assigned to the new International Team (Provisional Council and Secretariat) was the organization and realization of the 1st General Assembly of the Association and the Vincentian Youth encounter, both of which took place on August 2000 in Rome on the occasion of the Jubilee of the Youth. The Assembly assumed a new impulse and opening of new perspectives for the JMV. Those of us who were in that Assembly recalled fondly that Fr. Maloney accompanied us in all the work, from morning till night time. He placed in the hands of the young people the responsibility of the youth itself, giving them total importance in the Assembly. During his talk on the first day, Fr. Maloney told us that, “I hope that this Assembly moves us to dream, we and our young members throughout the whole world. Dream dreams of the Kingdom of God and place those concrete blocks that transform this dream into a reality.”
And indeed those dreams have been made real! The result of that first General Assembly was the Final Document with the different commitments concerning the seven fundamental themes of our life as an association (spiritual life, formation, Marian dimension, life-witnessing, service-mission, internationality and relation with the Vincentian family) and the election of the first International Council, with Gladys Abi- Said as president and Gloria Santillan-Martinez (Mexico), Edurne Urdampilleta (Spain), Ana María Escaño (Philippines) and Francisco Pires (Portugal) as Councilors.
Since 1998 Fr. Maloney has been animating JMV Spain to work for the formation of a new association that facilitates the continuity and stability of the young people who have been doing missionary “ad gentes” experience and have been discovering their lay missionary vocation since 1984. On three occasions, he sent to the National Council of Spain varied documents containing his contributions to obtain a good framework that finally integrates the lay Vincentian Missionaries, through a formal civil letter, within our Vincentian Family. And thus, encouraged by Fr. Maloney, from the womb of JMV, MISEVI (Misioneros Seglares Vicencianos) was born. Its International Statutes was approved by the Holy See on April 7, 1999. Then on January 2001, it celebrated its 1st General Constitutive Assembly in Madrid, Spain. On August that same year, Fr. Maloney returned to Spain to participate the JMV National Encounter in Benagalbon.
In the middle of 2001, for varied reasons, Fr. Maloney saw the need to restructure the International Secretariat. On September 1, Sr. Asuncion Garcia (Spain) joined as the new Delegate and Fr. Pedro Castillo (Venezuela) as the new Director. Given the rapid growth of the work and the commitments in the Office of the Vincentian Family, on May 2002, Fr. Maloney appointed as a substitute of Fr. Romo, Fr. Pedro Castillo who assumed the position of the Sub-director General of the Association. On July 23-28, 2002, Fr. Maloney participated in the Vincentian Youth Festival organized on the occasion of the 17th World Youth Day in Toronto, Canada. It was a joyful experience that gathered 260 young people from 23 countries. This time, he invited the young people to sing a new song and told them, “Oh how I urge you to rouse the world to his presence. Do not settle for indifference. Do not be lulled to sleep by continual hunger for material possessions or an overabundant diet of them. Be deeply aware yourself of the presence of Jesus the Risen Lord, the Rising Sun, and develop a profoundly gospel-centered, service-centered spirituality in your own life.”
At the end of year 2002 the team of youth volunteers of the International Secretariat ended their term of office. On January 2003, Fr. Maloney appointed a new group young people to assume the service for three years: Yasmine Cajuste (Haiti), Pamela Mantuhac (Philippines), Dorys Castillo (Ecuador) and Gustavo Gomez (Venezuela). That same year, Fr. Maloney appointed Sr. Wiwine Kisu as the new JMV International Councilor to take the place of Sr. Margaret Barret, who could not continue the service being elected as the General Assistant of the Company of the Daughters of Charity. On December that same year, he participated in the European Encounter of JMV National Councils in Madrid. There he gave a conference entitled, “Spiritual Values to be Fostered in the leaders of the JMV in the New Millennium” that was being worked on in other two Continental Encounters of National Councils (for Asia which was held in the Philippines on April 24-27, 2004 and for America held in Peru on July 25- August 2, 2004) In my opinion, this is something like a spiritual testament of Fr. Maloney for the Association. Even if we hope that for many years his plume will continue to help us deepen in the Vincentian doctrine, however, this was practically his last official public intervention as Director General of JMV. Thus, from it springs its immeasurable value. Among other things, he said to the members of the Association, “I suggest to you today that, as leaders, there is no more important service that you can offer to young people than the creation of a fire-filled, gospel-centered environment…And so the challenge for us as leaders is this: Can we create fire-filled JMV associations?
• where evangelical charity reigns among us and then radiates out to the poor
• where we speak the truth among ourselves with simplicity, humility, and constancy, and then speak it with those outside in the same way
• where we pray faithfully with each other, and then share our prayer naturally with others too
• where we support one another and enjoy one another’s company as friends, and then share that friendship with the poor who surround us
• where we listen well to each other and discern the will of God together, and then are also able to listen well to the poor and discern the will of God with them
• where we renounce immediate gratification for the sake of life’s more important goals, and then manifest to those around us, by our lives, what life’s most important goals really are.”
Fr. Maloney: a Legacy to be Deepened, a Commitment to be Assumed
In these three years of working with Fr. Maloney, I can assure you that his dedication, guidance and companionship of our Association had been unique. In spite of his responsibilities as a Superior General, Fr. Maloney:
– Has talked in numerous occasions to the young people, using masterfully the modern means of communication and inviting them to be evangelizers and servants of the poor in the third millennium;
– Has pursued personally all the important themes;
– Has showed concern for each one of the members of the International team (Council and Secretariat);
– Has attended without fail all the meetings of the International Council
– Has encouraged and helped us look for financial resources that allow us to maintain the international structure;
– Has listened to the voice of the young people who brought the concerns and needs of the different countries;
– And, has given significant contributions for the pursuance of the commitments of the 1st General Assembly and for the drafting of the immense documents made by the International Secretariat for this period; in a special way the documents about the Advisorship, Formation Processes, Endways and the JMV Book of Prayers.
These touches are enough to make us aware of his valuable contribution to the JMV. To end these lines, a question surges spontaneously. ¿Have the Congregation of the Mission and the Company of the Daughters of Charity assumed the incessant call that Fr. Maloney made, through his words and his example, to share our charism with the young and accompany the JMV groups? Personally, I believe that in the major part of the countries, the Daughters of Charity live with enthusiasm this commitment, taking it as their own mission that the Blessed Mother entrusted to the Little Company in 1830. They are the ones who create new centers, accompany and many times offer their “houses” and economic resources to the young people. Many Sisters have discovered their vocation within the JMV. The Document “Lines of Action Inter-assemblies 2003-2009” speaks solely of the young people referring to the Pastoral Vocational Formation, and invites the Sisters to “gather young people who would like to share their services and prayer life.” That is already a step. But we have to be convinced that there will be not be a good Pastoral Vocational Formation (in an amplified sense) if there is no strong commitment for the Vincentian Youth Pastoral Formation as basis. Even though the Daughters of Charity plays an important role, and will continue to play the role in the future, in the advisorship of our groups, today however, its major difficulty perhaps is the formation of the young people for leadership and protagonism (in the Association, the Church and in the society) such that the Association will truly be of the young people for the young people. As for the Vincentian priests and missionaries, while it is true that many love the JMV and dedicate part of their time to the guidance of the groups (especially those whose vocations had been developed in JMV,) still much is yet to be done. At times I have the impression that the Congregation simply assumes this task due to the strong pressure from the higher ups, but not through its own conviction. It is enough to see the existing difficulty of appointing advisors who can make available time and economic resources needed for this apostolate among the youth. Fortunately, there are more Visitors who are trying to commit to their provinces in a decisive effort to strengthen the Vincentian Youth Pastoral Formation. It calls the attention that in the Final Document of the 40th General Assembly the term “youth/ young people” appear only thrice. In relation to the vocations and community life, we invite the young people to share our prayer, our life of brotherhood and the works of evangelization and in relation with our apostolic activity as well. Only the Conferences of Visitors from Latin America and USA have seen the need to include explicitly the young people among their commitments in the next six years. They commit respectively to “make their works and ministries schools of missionary formation and of charity, giving specific attention to the Vincentian Youth Pastoral Ministry and to study better the possibility of more structured opportunities so that the young people serve the poor from a Vincentian tradition.” Is this challenge not that urgent in other places?
Perhaps, Fr. Maloney himself placed the cherry on the cake upon suggesting to the international leaders from the different Vincentian Family branches on February 2004 the celebration of the Year of the Youth in order to share the Vincentian charism to all generations through prayer, formation and service to the poor. As a good teacher, he left us all, Vincentian groups, a pending task that will surely need more than one year to accomplish: to invite more young people to join us in the service to the poor. He also left us suggestions of concrete activities that we can make throughout 2005 in order to attain this objective. Surely, the Vincentian Youth Encounter that the JMV will have in Cologne (Germany,) on the occasion of the 20th World Youth Day on August 16-25, shall be a highlight to culminate this Year of the Vincentian Youth.
Everything that I have presented can affirm how as Director General, Fr. Maloney has left an indelible mark in the life of the Association. The International Council bade him farewell May 2004 and as a way of showing our gratitude and love, in behalf of all the members of the Association, he was presented with a complete set of equipments and gadgets needed for the pilgrimage “Camino de Santiago” (Way of St. James), an old wish that we knew he had.
I would like to end this with a short story that will show us how significant is Fr. Maloney to the JMV during these twelve years. On October 4, an unknown pilgrim from Rome arrived in Spain, who with a knapsack on his shoulders went on a pilgrimage for one week in Santiago de Compostela. He wanted to go alone so as to live more intensively this spiritual experience. Along the way, he prayed, communicated with people he met, took notes, admired the view, suffered the inclemency of rain which is very characteristic with the Galician lands and took rests that his body, accustomed to administrative tasks, needed. Three days later a group of young people from the JMV took the same road, the same adventure. They arrived in Santiago with a difference of three days to celebrate the feast of our Lady of the Pillar. The unknown pilgrim who arrived earlier was among the countless crowds and an inclement weather that did not allow him to at least enter the Cathedral. The young people arrived later with fewer people around the place and a splendidly shining sun. Perhaps the young people did not quite notice that they trudged a smoother road because they were trailing the footprints of that anonymous pilgrim who was simply following the steps of the other pilgrim, that of Emmaus. The young people did not experience much rain, because that man has endured it beforehand with his body. And, upon reaching the goal, they were able to enjoy the splendid sunrays and pray inside the Cathedral, because that man arrived in the same city in a harder and more difficult manner. Later they came across each other in Madrid, the unknown pilgrim and the young people, and they shared the unexpected events and the lessons that the very profound experience left in the soul. And, they realized that God has chosen that man to show the way to the young people; they are now following the footsteps that he left as bright signs that indicate the path of the dreams of God and commitment to the poor. That anonymous pilgrim was Fr. Robert Maloney and those young people were the members of the JMV International Secretariat. This man has been for us a prophet who taught us how to make our dreams a reality.
“When we dream alone, that is only a dream.
But when we dream together,
the dream can become a reality.”
Translation courtesy of Pamela Mantuac, English-speaking representative to the International JMV
Tags: Youth
