PROGRAMME LAVIGERIE File no 5

RECONCILIATION, JUSTICE AND PEACE

“I am a man, and injustices towards others revolts my heart... oppression offends my nature… cruelties against such a great number of my fellow creatures fill me with horror” (Cardinal Lavigerie).

Violence, wars, injustices are part of the bad news experienced by millions of people on our planet and largely conveyed by the media. Even if we do not live in an area of open conflict, our eyes, our ears, our heart of women-apostles are touched by what we see and hear.

In his time, Cardinal Lavigerie was deeply moved by the injustices, therefore his cry and his revolt.  His Christian conscience and his priestly role made him react with his gifts of preacher and with the means he disposed of to fight, in particular, against slavery.

Today, the experiences have shown us that impartial justice and lasting peace are the fruits of reconciliation and forgiveness: “There is no future without pardon” (Desmond Tutu). It is on this road to individual conversion that our religious consecration commits us to become even more “channels of reconciliation, justice and mercy, in all our relationships and through our apostolic service” (Const. 21).

OUR LIFE’S EXPERIENCE
Having heard and read again the above texts, what do they provoke in you?
In how far does your own personal, community and apostolic experience confirm what has just been said?

OUR FOUNDING EXPERIENCE
One of the aspects which we mostly remember of Cardinal Lavigerie in his fight against injustice is his commitment to the anti-slavery campaign. In fact, it is after having heard the accounts of the explorers and the missionaries who made their way into the interior of Africa during the 19th century that the slave trade in West Africa as in Central Africa came to light. At the request of Pope Leo XIII, our Founder undertook a European tour to heighten public awareness and sensitive governments, so that they should use their power to make a halt to this trade.

Lavigerie was also a man of peace and reconciliation on a different level. Following his numerous visits to our first sisters, he urged them to keep “the spirit of unity and of mutual charity, which in reality is the most essential thing”.

Also, Mother Marie-Salomé, who was strongly influenced by the spirit of the Cardinal, constantly worked at the unity of hearts in view of the mission: “Always maintain perfect union among you. This will be the condition on which depends the success of our enterprises and the certain proof that we are the disciples of Jesus-Christ”. In her writings, she does not speak of reconciliation as such, but of peace – one of the fruits of reconciliation. She constantly recommends attitudes which favour an atmosphere of peace, humility, harmony of wills and of hearts among sisters, because upon this the mission depends.

Our first Superior General also warned us against those things which could destroy peace: rivalries, suspicions, jealousies and duplicities: “Always interpret in a good way the words and actions of all that your sisters and be convinced that you would be less mistaken in allowing them to have good intentions, than by judging them severely on sheer appearances”.

The constant concern for justice and peace, which devoured Cardinal Lavigerie and Mother Marie-Salomé, has allowed us to face world conflicts and the time of Independences, which inevitably did affect our apostolates and our communities. For instance, whereas the majority of the sisters of the Congregation originally came from colonising countries, they dissociated themselves from their own country and chose to stay and support their adoptive country. The House of Studies in Tunis was one of the many examples where our sisters worked in view of bringing together people through language and cultural studies, so that foreigners might discover their richness.

Another example: faced with the feeling of discomfort, experienced by our first African sisters, as to their integration into an Institute which consisted mostly of Europeans, the Congregation allowed them to live among themselves an apostolic and community life. This opportunity has strengthened their African identity, and encouraged them to contribute to the life of the Congregation.

The Lineamenta of the Second African Synod note that in some African countries, persistent social tensions impede progress and give rise to political disturbances, armed conflicts, tribalism, and border disputes. “The ravages of war are clearly an obstacle to any development process, causing the dramatic situation of refugees, a climate of suffering from conflicts and hunger, nakedness and disease, sorrow and fear, and humiliating situations which destroy the dignity of the human person created in the image and likeness of God” (Lineamenta n°12 and 13).

We are witnessing sexual discrimination and violence against women and girls, who are deprived of rights, which are due to every human being. Elderly persons, orphans, the sick are subjected to grave injustices by being abandoned more and more by their families and communities (See N° 12-13).

We are also witnessing a shift from political violence to globalised crime. Globalisation gives rise to an economy that flourishes outside the law and includes theft, corruption, bribery, prostitution, smuggling, human and drug trafficking. Again it is the poor and weak who are the victims.

One reaction to all this is the growing awareness that the real solutions to violence cannot be found in social justice alone;  if we want justice and peace, we need to change hearts and mentalities . While attempts to reduce injustice and violence by strengthening the civil institutions of law and order are needed and recommended, well -meaning people and policy-makers need to foster a new culture of non-violence, forgiveness and reconciliation.   This new culture is a conscious decision to start from a serious, on-going search for consensus, and must be built, taught and learned.

We are therefore seeing social sciences doing some laudable work in the fields of conflict resolution, mediation, arbitration and similar aspects.  People are being trained and specialized in these areas, using the media, radio and Internet. Experiences have been tried:  projects like Community Security, Community Policing, NGOs, projects targeting local communities, all working in violence prevention, studying the root causes of injustices, etc.
Today to talk about justice and peace is to talk about forgiveness and reconciliation, tenderness and compassion - to talk about a new creation. Tenderness and compassion may sound somewhat out of place in the 21st century. Yet, these words acquire special meaning in our world, where humanity is tearing itself apart, and blindly answering violence with violence. The logic of punitive justice definitely does not lead to democracy and peace, as the experience of centuries tells us. To counter the irrationality of violence we are challenged to advocate the irrationality of forgiveness and reconciliation!

BE RECONCILED
The first number of our Constitutions gives the tone: we are called, with Christ, to bring reconciled humanity back to the Father. It is a reference to 2 Corinthians 5:18-19: “God reconciled us to himself through Christ and he gave us the ministry of reconciliation…”

The word “reconciliation” as such does not occur in the Hebrew Scriptures, but the Old Testament tells us several stories of reconciliation: the stories of Esau and Jacob, Joseph and his brothers, etc. Most of all it shows how God is engaged in the process of reconciliation: time and again God forgives his people, reconciles them to Himself and gives them a new start. This culminates in the reconciliation of a sinful humanity to God’s own self through the death of the Only Son Jesus Christ:  “for if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more can we be sure that, being now reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Rm 5:10).

In Christ, God’s Plan of universal Salvation is revealed: “that he would bring everything together under Christ, as head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth” (Ep1: 9-10). Paul often insists on the fact that we are reconciled to God ‘by his death’. The central reconciling act is the death of Jesus: ‘through the cross, to reconcile them both to God in one body; in his own person, he killed the hostility’… (Ep 2:16) The building up of the Church from diverse peoples is a sign of the ultimate goal of God’s plan.

Paul’s understanding of reconciliation corresponds to the biblical notions of Shalom and the Kingdom of God:

Shalom, a peace that is much more than an absence of war and violence; it is the restored harmony and reconciliation with God, with one another and with the whole of creation.

The Kingdom of God is an eschatological concept designating a perfectly reconciled creation, a vision only wholly fulfilled when God is all in all. The Kingdom of God is at the heart of Jesus’ ministry: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news" (Mk 1:15).

This kingdom is said to be of God because its arrival signals the gracious, forgiving, and reconciling presence of Yahweh in the world: “How beautiful on the mountains, are the feet of the messenger announcing peace, of the messenger of good news, who proclaims salvation and says to Zion, 'Your God is king!’” (Is 52:7) This kingdom is open to all, and all are invited to enter it, but it is given especially or "preferentially" to the poor, the afflicted, the oppressed, those who suffer injustice.                                                                                                           

“The Church's social doctrine is an integral part of her evangelizing ministry. Nothing that concerns the community of men and women — situations and problems regarding justice, freedom, development, relations between peoples, peace — is foreign to evangelization.” (Id. n°66)

By the initiative of Pope Paul VI, beginning in 1968, the Church celebrates the first day of the year as the World Day of Peace. This is accompanied by an annual Message that deals with a specific theme.
Pope Paul VI says:  “Peace can only be maintained through peace, the peace which is inseparable from the demands of justice, but which is nourished through self-sacrifice, clemency, mercy and charity. And he insists on the fact that real peace is only possible through pardon and reconciliation. Mutual forgiveness does not cancel the demands for justice and even less blocks the way which leads to the truth: justice and truth are rather the concrete conditions for reconciliation”.

The participation of the Church in this mission of reconciliation is about participating in God’s healing of people and societies that have been deeply wounded and broken by oppression, injustice, discriminations, war and wanton destruction. The Church itself is in need of constant reconciliation, but becomes the vehicle for God’s saving grace to come to a broken and disheartened world. 

This is why for many years now, the Church has established in Africa and elsewhere in the world parish and diocesan committees for justice and peace, which are called to be the voice of the voiceless, and to develop a curriculum for the education towards peace and justice.

HOW DOES THE CONGREGATION TRY TO TAKE UP THIS CHALLENGE?
In our Constitutions, reconciliation and mission are linked, because it is our “being apostles”, our attachment to Jesus Christ, which urges us on to be missionaries of reconciliation, justice and peace
(See n° 1, 21, 22 and 37).

In 1987, the Congregation was challenged by the unjust situations which often reduce people to of mere objects. It is for us a call to liberation of all the poor so that their dignity as men and women be recognised. It is also a call to a change of mentality so as to look at the world through the eyes of the poor.

Chapter 1993: Women among women, we put ourselves next to them to give life and to promote an integral liberation of the whole human person. We recognise that we are vulnerable and wounded people; to be near to others and to accept us mutually is a way of finding peace and healing. Thus, we can be sent as women-apostles into a broken world which is in need of compassion and healing.

In 1999, we were troubled and challenged by the state of violence in Algeria and in Central Africa. We felt helpless in the face of this torn world, dominated by the abuse of power and oppression: “The violence that hits so many countries challenges us…” As women-apostles, consecrated for the mission, we feel called to build a culture of peace amongst ourselves and around us – to witness, at opportune and at inopportune moments, that all human beings are equal.

The Chapter commits us still more to justice, reconciliation and peace. We maintain that the fight against unjust structures should be at the heart of our preoccupations. The ‘all to all’ of Cardinal Lavigerie urges us to be builders of unity, to situate ourselves as people who gather together and to contribute to reconciliation, without letting ourselves be influenced by political tendencies. Several of our sisters have received a formation in the education for peace and the rebuilding of persons, and have committed themselves to work closely with refugees and prisoners, with young people, women and children.

In 2005, the Chapter mainly reconsiders the point made by Mother Marie-Salomé on unity and communion. We feel the need to strengthen and to live more and more our family spirit, because this is a sign of unity in a world which tends to exclude certain groups of people on the basis of age, nationality, culture and ethnic group.

The Circular Letter of 2006 reminds us that “the question of interculturality challenges us, as much on the level of our community life as in our life of prayer and our apostolate. We are all concerned and are invited to move towards conversion.” The “Salomé programme” is an answer to the request of the Chapter.

PROPOSALS

1. How do I/we express the above dimension of our charism for mission, to be instruments of reconciliation, justice and peace?

2. How does the living of my vows prepare me to promote justice, peace and reconciliation within myself, in community and in my milieu?

3. Which concrete steps can we make, personally, in community, in our apostolic commitments, in letting ourselves be inspired by what happens around us and in the world?

Read together the Circular Letters:

- April 2002 “We are God’s building - The Foundation is Jesus Christ”
- June 2006 “Interculturality, a Kairos for the Congregation”

N.B. Reading of “Mother Marie-Salomé, Our Heritage”

p. 95: May the peace of Christ reign in your hearts
p. 94: Do you know the secret of happiness?