From 1969 to 1978

As mentioned in yesterday's post, the SCC General Chapter of 1966 began to consider how to carry out the decisions of the Second Vatican Council, especially as articulated in the document, Perfectae Caritatis (Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life) issued on October 28, 1965.

In her book, Religious Life at the Crossroads (2013, Orbis Books), Sister Amy Hereford, CSJ, notes:
"Following the council, religious institutes began the task of renewal in earnest. The early twentieth century had been a time of homogenization of religious institutes, with women's communities mandated to conform their lives to myriad external and structural requirements.  The late twentieth century was a time to return to the sources of their founders, exploring the documents and stories of the founding generation.  As the Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life puts it:  'The adaptation and renewal of religious life includes both the constant return to the sources of all Christian life and to the original spirit of the institutes and their adaptation to the changed conditions of our time' (Perfectae Caritatis, no. 1).

"The council called in the same document for the balancing of the gospel, the founding stories, developments in theology, the signs of the times, and the spirit of renewal (no. 2). In the process of renewal, the council foresaw the need to involve all members of each institute, so that the renewal would not simply remain on paper, but would be an authentic renewal of the life and ministry of religious.  Finally, the renewal process would include revision of the documents that regulated the life: 'the constitutions, directories, custom books, books of prayers and ceremonies and such like'" (no. 3).

"Religious women undertook this work with diligence and dedication" (Chapter 1, "The History of Religious Life from an Evolutionary Perspective," "Second Vatican Council," e-book location 665).

For the Sisters of Christian Charity, the focus on renewal was important enough to convene an "extraordinary" Chapter in 1969.  That is, after the General Chapter of 1966 began the work of renewal, this work would ordinarily have been continued by the General Chapter of 1972, six years later.  However, the "diligence and dedication" with which renewal was approached required an "extraordinary" Chapter.

Sister Anna Schwanz, SCC, writes, "The revision of the Constitutions in the spirit of the Council was the main work of the extraordinary Chapter of 1969.  Beforehand, a commission of representatives from each Province was entrusted with the task of preparing a first draft.  The Constitutions were then revised based on this first draft and on the work of the Provincial Chapters.  The result was a greater emphasis on the responsibility of each Sister.  The Provinces and the individual houses were given more freedom regarding daily schedules and the choice of common prayers.  These new directives took effect in January 1970.

"The revision was continued in the Chapter of 1972 and brought to completion in the General Chapter of 1978. . . . In general, it was a time of renewal, but sometimes there was also unrest and confusion.  It was a time of searching, of experimenting, of constant re-evaluation, a 'time of enthusiasm and adventurousness, of imaginativeness and creative fidelity, but also of fragile certainty, of improvisation and bitter disappointments.'"
. . .
"The General Chapter of 1972 [also] directed each Province to newly research Mother Pauline's charism from the source materials on hand.  For our Congregation this was the beginning of a farther spiritual journey; because a 'reflection on the charism of the founder should basically serve, . . . to see her charismatic way anew and better, so that we are able to find our way, our apostolate, appropriate to our times.'

"In all Provinces, a large number of the Sisters participated in this work.  Letters (there were 3,450 in the Paderborn Archives) and other documents, e.g., travel diaries and retreat notes, were enthusiastically read and studied. . . ."
. . .
"In the summer of 1974 an international commission of five Sisters, one representative from each Province, met in the Motherhouse in Paderborn to study the work of the Provinces, to coordinate it and to produce a summary.  Every Sister received a copy of this expanded study, The Charism of Pauline von Mallinckrodt, because the mandate to live Mother Pauline's Charism, the Charism of our Congregation, in the here and now is directed to each individual."
. . .
"From today's viewpoint it becomes clear that the personality, the spirituality and the Charism of Pauline von Mallinckrodt is a strong bond uniting all despite the varied development of the Provinces.  It is the task of each Sister to live ever more deeply from the inner spiritual strength which has been given to us in our Charism"  (Als Antwort Auf Gottes Ruf, Bonifatius, 2016, pp. 134-139, English translation by Sister Mary Perpetua Rehle, SCC).
____________________
Do you have questions you would like us to address in these posts?  Please reply to this post and let us know!

The Sisters of Christian Charity of the North American Eastern Province will hold our Provincial Chapter from February 14-18, 2019.  Please join us in praying the prayer for our Provincial Chapter.