29 September 1982
To the Provincial Directors

My dear Confrere,

May the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be with us forever!

For quite a while now, I have been thinking of writing to you, principally to express my appreciation of the work which, as Director, you are doing for the Daughters of Charity. It has been said to me on a number of occasions that, when a Confrere is appointed to be Director, he often experiences difficulty in seeing clearly what his precise task is, and that he would welcome more information than is available in the Constitutions of the Daughters or in the tradition of the Community as it is handed down from one Director to another. Perhaps in the future I may be able to place at your disposal some extracts from canonical studies that have been made on the "figura" of the Directors of the Daughters of Charity. For the moment let me just offer you some personal reflections on your office.

It is hardly necessary for me to tell you that the Daughters appreciate very much the help they receive from their Directors at a general, provincial, local and personal level. The institution of the Director goes back to the very origins of the Company, and the stability of the Company throughout the centuries, and especially during the last two decades, is due in no small measure to the help which the Directors have been able to give to Sisters in guiding them towards ever greater union with God and towards an ever more effective apostolate to the poor of Christ. The appreciation of the Daughters to their Directors is often expressed in prayer as well as in word and gift. Be assured that their gratitude to you goes even deeper than its expression. To their many expressions of gratitude to you, let me now add mine.

Reading the Constitutions of the Daughters, you will notice that the article which refers to the Director (C. 3.38) speaks of both responsibilities and faculties and that the responsibility which receives explicit mention is that of promoting with the Visitatrix and her Council the Vincentian spirit in the Province. The Constitutions immediately add the following sentence: "To fulfill that mission, he collaborates in the organization of all that concerns the spiritual formation of the sisters, particularly that of the Sister Servants." (Ibid.).

One sometimes hears it said that the role of the Director has been changed greatly, particularly since 1968. The role may have changed somewhat, in that the Director is now less involved in administration of the Province than he had been in the past, but has there ever been a time when the central role of the Director was other than collaborating with the Visitatrix in the organization of all that concerns the spiritual formation of the Sisters, and in particular the Sister Servants? What has evolved since 1968 is to place in greater relief the spiritual and priestly role of the Director. For that we can only be grateful.

You exercise your responsibilities, first through collaboration with the Visitatrix and the Council. As in all work of human collaboration, it may at times be difficult for a variety of reasons. Any work of collaboration in apostolates in the Church calls for kenosis, self- emptying. More difficult than a difference of opinion is the kenosis that is demanded of you on many occasions during a Council meeting. It is often difficult to remain silent for a long time in order to allow full expression of differing viewpoints to take place. It is pleasant to be able to announce the last word in any discussion. It calls for kenosis on our part to leave that to the Visitatrix to whom belongs "the immediate government of the province." (C 3.32).

Both inside and outside the Council, most appreciated in the Director is that he has a "listening heart." A good listener is not passive all the time. There is "a time to keep silence and a time to speak." (Ecc 3:7). It is the Spirit of God alone who can give us both a listening heart and enlightenment on when we should be silent and when we should speak.

The Constitutions state that the Director makes those visits of the local communities which are required by the Church. An obligatory canonical visitation of each house in the Province is made by the Director every five years. At the end of the canonical visit it is customary that the Director set down in writing a short reflection which the Sisters of the community can read from time to time and which will recall for them the assistance he tried to give them. In addition to such canonical visits, he will create other opportunities to visit the houses of the Province so that he can promote by prayer and by word the Vincentian spirit. Such visits, too, will give the opportunity to the Sisters of speaking with him.

It has been the custom now for a number of years that the Directors furnish a report to the Superior General annually on the state of the Province. A standard form for such reports was made available to the Directors to facilitate this task. I would like very much that the practice of making an annual report to the Superior General on the Province be maintained. It is not necessary, however, to use any particular form. What I would like to receive is an overall impression of how you see the Province, indicating to me any particular difficulties which you may be experiencing in your office or which you have observed in the Province. I would welcome, too, information on the number of canonical visits you have made in the course of the year. I would suggest that this annual report be made during the first three months of the new calendar year. As there will be a meeting of the Visitatrixes in Paris next May, you will appreciate that it will be very useful for me to have your next report here before the end of March 1983.

For some years now, Directors of a country, where there are a number of provinces of the Daughters, have met to discuss their work and to exchange ideas on how they could discharge their office more effectively. Such regional meetings can be of great benefit and they could possibly be extended to include a Director of a neighboring country. Reports on such meetings would be of help to me, for I could circulate them from time to time to other Directors who would appreciate very much the ideas and suggestions that were proposed and discussed.

This letter has been long enough. Its main purpose is to thank you and to encourage you in the work you are doing in an apostolate which gives glory to God and assistance to the Sisters, and through them to the poor of Christ. In His love I remain, your devoted confrere,