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,