Interview At the End of a Twelve Year Mandate
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11 July 1992
Rome, Italy

1. What are your sentiments at this time? Have you any regrets?

The sentiment that is uppermost in my heart at this particular moment in my life is one of profound gratitude to God. Over the past twelve years God has mediated to me through my Confreres, the Daughters of Charity and lay members of our Vincentian Family a torrent of refreshing graces and blessings. They have introduced me to a series of worlds of human poverty, and it has been one of the joys of these twelve years to see the almost infinite variety of human poverty to which members of the Vincentian Family are present and are striving to alleviate. I have often thought that there is no form of human poverty or pain in the world to which at least one member of the Vincentian Family is not bringing some assistance. The members of our communities have been very considerate, kind and patient with me, so how can I have any other sentiment but one of gratitude to God for His goodness shown to me throughout these twelve years?

Regrets? The only regret I have is that I have left so much undone and so much done imperfectly. I can say that I regret now that I have not given myself more fully and wholeheartedly to the tasks of every day throughout these years. I feel that when I appear before God in judgment, my hands may look full of grain, but on closer inspection, there will be found much chaff. For that reason, I feel I have much need of the mercy of God and the prayers of others to win for me that mercy.

2. What has pleased you most during the period of your term of office as Superior General?

What has pleased me most during my period of office was to discover the goodness and holiness of so many members of our Vincentian Family. We have many Vincentian Saints in heaven, relatively few beatified or canonized. We have also many Vincentian Saints on earth and I have been privileged to meet a number of them. The faith of many members of our Communities has impressed me greatly, as indeed also has the charity and concern for the poor that exists among the members of our Vincentian Communities. The evangelical simplicity, humility and charity evidenced in so many priests, Brothers and Sisters, as well as in the laity, have been to me personally a stimulus to seek a deeper relationship with God from Whom all good things come. There have been natural joys also during these years. Visiting the various provinces and countries with the diversities of cultures and languages, customs and traditions, has been very enriching. It has been a source of joy to me also to find so many members of our Family ready to meet community, as well as my own personal, needs, once they recognized them. The cooperation I have received from those who worked closest with me here in Rome has also been a source of happiness to me. It would take me many pages of your review to set down an adequate list of all that has given me joy during these twelve years.

3. Now how will you insert yourself into your Province of origin?

I have placed myself at the disposal of the Father Provincial or Visitor of the Province of Ireland, expressing my readiness to assume whatever work in whatever place he would judge best. After some time, and having discussed the question with his Council, he suggested that I would go to a small community of ours in the city of Dublin. It is a college for third level education. The idea proposed to me is that in the coming months I would have some time to read and reflect and, I hope, pray more and at the same time be available for the preaching of retreats. I hope also on my return to Ireland to work a little with the members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Dublin city, who are constantly asking us for priests who would act as spiritual guides to the many Conferences which exist in the city. I jokingly have told my friends in Dublin that I am but a poor immigrant now, coming from Italy and seeking employment. It would seem, then, that for a little time I will be somewhat "unemployed," but the prospect does not disturb me.

4. What do you look for in the Community for the coming years?

There exists in the two Vincentian Communities and in the different lay organizations a great desire to serve the poor more effectively. Much has been done in the past few years to draw closer to the world of the poor. I hope that the movement, if one may call it so, will continue. However, I would like to see in our Communities a greater and deeper dedication to prayer. Many times during these years I have asked myself and others if we have not been too busy, too active and too horizontal, in our approach to the problems of society today. It may be that we are so busy about the work of the Lord that we forget the Lord of the work. I would like to see in our Communities a greater sensitivity to the presence of Christ, not only in the poor but in our tabernacles. Visiting many churches and oratories throughout the world and admiring the great artistic beauty of some of them, most often what I have found missing in them is a priest, a Brother, or Sister engaged in quiet contemplation and adoration of Our Lord and Master Who, as our faith teaches us, is really, truly and substantially present there. Perhaps it is a question of achieving a balance between acknowledging the presence of Christ in the poor and His presence in the Blessed Sacrament. We must not lose sight of the importance of adoring Him in the Blessed Sacrament. I have heard it said that we cannot really recognize Christ in the poor if we have not first recognized Him in the Eucharist. In a word, we may be overactive, hence less contemplative, and action that is not rooted in contemplation of God and the humanity of Christ will inevitably be shallow and will not be fruitful for eternal life.

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