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PALLOTTINE FAMILY GATHERING MAY 16 -18th For us to gain a better understanding of the "Pallottine family" the Union of the Catholic Apostolate, we must firstly look at the spirituality of Vincent Pallotti and then consider what he intended when he founded the Society of the Catholic Apostolate. In that way we can see more clearly what we are called to do in carrying out our vocations as Christians inspired by the vision of Vincent Pallotti. Vincent Pallotti had a number of images which I believe can simply explain his spirituality. He was convinced that God loved the whole world which he created and all that lives within it. This love is infinite and led him to coin the term "God, the Infinite Love". Through baptism we are all called to follow the example of Jesus and be apostles - messengers of the Good News. Jesus was the model the "Apostle of the Eternal Father." Vincent had a keen understanding of the place of Mary in God's plan. Vincent saw that Mary as heavenly Mother continued to help the Church and placed his "little society" under the protection of "Mary, Queen of Apostles". Fr. Pat Jackson SAC has a more comprehensive exploration of Vincent Pallotti's spirituality in his book "Empowered by Love". What did Pallotti intend? The well respected Pallotti scholar, Fr Bruno Bayer SAC, wrote in a paper he presented to a symposium at Vallendar in I992, that, in the Provincial house in Friedberg, South Germany, a plaque states the following: "Vincent Pallotti is regarded as a Saint and bears the honorary name "Apostle of Rome". A priest of the people, he cared for his fellow men and women. He was committed to the marginalized people of society and the lowest class of people, orphans, prisoners and foreign workers." It continues by mentioning Pallotti's care for the soldiers, the youth, for educational institutes, for religious publications and for the missions. It ends with Vincent Pallotti's message: "All the faithful have to proclaim Christ through their lives and their commitment for all people. To better realize this idea he founded a religious community: "The Pallottines" (i.e. Pallottine Priests and Brothers). Fr. Bayer went on to explain that this is exactly what Vincent Pallotti did not want to do, to found a religious community of Priests and Brothers. Pallotti in fact founded a Society of Lay people and Religious. There are at least two reasons for Pallotti to found this society: Firstly the work was too great and too varied for Pallotti to do all by himself. He did not want it to peter out after he died. Secondly, "Since everyone is called, rather, obliged to imitate Jesus in accordance with his condition and state, everyone is called to the apostolate….. Therefore the love of our Lord Jesus Christ should impel everyone to the works of the apostolate so that he be honoured with the name of apostle, have its merit and enjoy its glory through the intercession of most holy Mary, Queen of Apostles." "Catholic Apostolate", then, which means "universal" because it is common to every class of people, is to do whatever one can and must for the greater glory of God and for his own and his neighbour's salvation". (Destruction of sin). This needed some organization. Paul Rheinbay wrote about Pallotti, that "he saw himself as an animator rather than a legislator. He let himself be "Pushed" by divine providence to the gradual realization of his vision and saw this in the fulfillment of his task. Thereby he adapted himself to the prevailing situation in the concrete form of his work, and made use of every possibility. Nevertheless a restriction in what was possible was for him never synonymous with a restriction of his vision. He always regarded the realization of his vision as God's work, not man's." "With this breadth of vision the foundation of Pallotti had to have, right from the outset, an 'unfinished Character'. The strength, the essential dimension of the Work, could never exist in the qualified, necessarily imperfect structure, but rather in the vision, which always calls for new possibilities of the realization." The society began with three classes of members: i) Congregation of Priests and Brothers, ii) Congregations of Sisters, iii) Everyone else. Pallotti wrote one Rule for the Congregations. "Everyone of the three classes in the Society (UAC) is, with regards to the others, autonomous and of equal value. The thought never occurred that the second and the third were mere support services of the first. All three classes act in public with the same rights." Perhaps this unfortunate use of the term class has led us to a misunderstanding of the structure that Pallotti intended. Instead of a hierarchical structure of classes the term categories would be better. With such a change in terminology we can easily see the egalitarian nature of what Pallotti presented - we are all called equally, although in different ways. This radical call to a universal Apostolate meant a great struggle for Vincent in his day to get recognition of the Society. This led to the suppression of the name after his death and still persists to this day with the struggle for recognition of the "General Statutes of the Union of the Catholic Apostolate". Fired on by a belief in the call of all the baptized to be apostles Pallotti on 9th January I835 wrote a prayer (a founding prayer ?) which outlines a three dimensional work for the Society. 1. propagate faith - missionary element What does this mean for us at the beginning of the
third millennium? We, as the inheritors of Pallotti's vision, are called
to be apostles - messengers of the Good News. How? We need to take up
the opportunities that are given to us each day. There are numerous
accounts of Vincent using a variety of methods to achieve this.
He was
fully aware that the circumstances of each of us are different and
Dean Bradbury, SAC
BEDE GRIFFITH'S DAY. May 13th was the tenth anniversary of the death of Bede Griffiths. Here at Montserrat, we always try to commemorate that day in a special way - usually on the Saturday or Sunday nearest to 13th May. This year we invited people to come and join us on Sunday May 11th (Mothers' Day) We thought this was rather appropriate because, just after he had his first stroke, Bede gave a talk which was called "Discovering the Feminine". In this talk, he explained how, when he thought he was going to die, he felt a very strong inspiration to "Surrender to the Mother" This, he did, in a prayerful way and then he said that he was being "overwhelmed by love". At our commemoration, we celebrated a special Mass with some Indian Rites - flowers, incense and light. Then we had time for talks and discussion and shared a meal. We finished by viewing the video " Discovering the Feminine" and shared thoughts and insights. About twenty-four people had accepted our invitation and everyone commented on how good a day it was. It is interesting to recall that St. Vincent Pallotti was also overwhelmed by love" all his life as is clearly manifested in his sermons, letters and writings. For me, as a Pallottine, this is very reassuring that, in venerating Bede Griffiths, I am honouring a 'soul friend' of St. Vincent. Roger McGinley SAC
PRAYER OF TRUST You know the way for us, You know the time Thanks to Joseph Sans, long term member of the Pallotti team, for his reflection on this beautiful prayer. Prayer is turning to God. By praying to God, we acknowledge that God exists, that we are dependent on him, that he is our loving Father waiting to help us in many ways, that He is in control of everything. We pray also to thank God for our lives, for our knowledge of Him and to tell Him that we desire a deeper relationship with him. We also pray to thank him for sending His Son, Jesus, to become one of us, to suffer and to die on the cross to redeem us. We thank him for past favours and ask him for our present needs. We begin the Prayer of Trust with "You (Jesus) know the way for us". Jesus has a plan for every life to follow so that we come to know, love and serve Him. We may be praying for help in a problem area, and acknowledging that Jesus knows the way we should go. When we say "You know the time" we realize that Jesus' timing is perfect, that he knows when things should happen: and, knowing that Jesus knows the time, we can say we are prepared to wait for this time, his time, the right time. "Into your bands we trustingly place ours" is a tremendous act of faith in Jesus, on our part. We are acknowledging that Jesus knows the way for us, as he knows the time. We accept this even if we cannot see the way ourselves. It expresses that our only desire is to be united with Him in a special way. When we say, "Your plan is perfect, born of perfect love" we tell Jesus that His plan for us, or his solution to our problem is perfect because it is born out of His tremendous love for each one of us. A love that desires that we live in Jesus, and, living in Jesus, we let him work through us for the salvation of others. In the last line, "You know the way for us, this way is love" we sum up our reply to Jesus, telling him that we want our way through life to be a love relationship with Him and with all whom we come into contact with. Our Amen is our acceptance.
A CHANGE OF PLANS!! Were we listening to the Spirit when we planned a Congress for 2003? Were we looking back to the great gathering in our Jubilee year (2001) and expecting 'more of the same'? Did we not tune in to the 'signs of the times', here in Australia, in 2003? The lack of response, after extensive advertising and sending many invitations, was disappointing. It obviously didn't 'hit the spot' despite the fact that we know many, many people are proud to call themselves members of the Pallottine family. There seemed to be no option but to cancel the booking at Pallotti College and the request to Brendan McKeague to come from Perth to facilitate 'Open Space technology'. Those who had booked had to be notified also. Thanks to the team at Pallotti College for renewing our hope and encouraging us to continue, to find a simpler format - a real Cenacle situation. We had heard at the 2001 Congress that the people who came were the right people. The 40-50 people who did come were the right people. They were the right people because of the way they shared their life as apostles, not in 'reports' but in conversations over meals, during supper, in prayer! They were the right people too because of the many suggestions which came out as a result of asking the question "How do you see the future of the Pallottine family?" How can you, how would you like to keep in touch? What will encourage and empower you in your life as an apostle? Are there user friendly ways we can meet? Are days or evenings better than weekends? Where would it suit you to gather? Kew, Millgrove, Syndal? Lots of suggestions were recorded and will be the basis for the Co- ordination committee when it meets soon. And something we CAN do, all the time, starting NOW. We can link our thoughts, our hopes, our needs and our offerings with each other and with Mary at 9 am. and 9 pm. In the aftermath of the weekend, Fr Walter did some praying and some reflecting on the big questions that were challenging us all. Here are some of his thoughts. "I am full of wonderment at how the great God works, shows us, inspires us, helps us to sort out our wayward dreams, even allows 'Old Nick' to lead us up the garden path - away from what we gathered to do, what we hoped to take home. Let's continue to be part of the search of many seeking sisters and brothers to find a new way of 'being church' in 2003, to find a way for the visionary Pallotti's dream and mission in this new millennium. Have courage and endless trust that in this land of the Holy Spirit. we will find this new way but it will need plenty of time and plenty of 'guts' to persevere in the search. I'd like to remind you of an old, wise principle..
What do I mean by 'Binding as little as necessary. I suggest:
St. Vincent prayed: 'My Jesus, grant that the Universe may be all love'. Let us pray with him. Greetings Walter
PALLOTTI COLLEGE PROGRAM The program interweaves a range of topics for 'all comers and some which will be of special interest to teachers. Bookings: P.0 Box 838 Warburton Vic 3799. Eucharist: Faith Development
August. 4-5
The Taize Community has given us great gifts in their Prayer and their Music which enable our reflection, our openness to the Spirit, gifts which give life and encouragement, and they speak a universal language reaching women and men in many parts of the world. Would an opportunity for some quiet and peace, in the ambience of Taize be good for your spirit? There will be such an opportunity at the Pallottine Community, 85 Studley Park Rd. Kew on some Friday, evenings. Ring Mary Anne and Bill Henderson, 9876 1876 for details. ALL MOST WELCOME.
ABOUT PEOPLE!!! Mrs. Barbara Lacy, a Catholic delegate to the Victorian Council of Churches since 1990, was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (CAM) in January. Barbara has also been delegate to the Australian Church Women (Victorian Unit) since 1984 and was, for many years, a member of the Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission. She is a parishioner of Our Lady of the Assumption parish, Cheltenham and a representative on the Cheltenham Combined Churches group. From 1998-2002, Barbara ventured further a field and was an executive member and Australian representative on the Asian Church Women's conference. On her visits to Asian countries, she liaised with both Christian and interfaith groups. She has taken 'crash courses' in other religions but believes it all 'starts at the local level'. Why are we mentioning this? How did we get to know about it? I (Merle) receive the Ecumenical and Interfaith Bulletin (Archdiocese of Melbourne) and Barbara's name 'jumped out' of the front page at me. I remembered her from the apostolic groups in Kew I just had to write my/our congratulations and Barbara graciously acknowledged my letter. She confirmed that the wording on the citation for her award was " service to the community, particularly through organizations fostering ecumenism". She also told of the gathering to celebrate her award and that a guest was Sr. Joan Power, a group member with Barbara. To quote Barbara "Of course, we discussed our apostolic group days, when the mustard seeds were sown. How grateful we are!"
GREETINGS also from Geraldton! I was delighted to receive an E mail from Marilyn and Greg van Eede who said that, despite long years of silence, they remain avid readers of the Pallottine Family Newsletter. Two years ago, they were able to join in some of the activities when the Jubilee pilgrims visited W.A. That included time in Beagle Bay, Lombadina and of course, Geraldton . Greg sends special greetings to Irene Munsey. He remembers how well she looked after him, sending him off to Yarra Junction Hospital after an 'accident' during the demolition of the old dairy at Wesburn. That was in 1969. Do you remember, Irene?
Thanks to the Kimberley Community Profile for permission to share some of their news First: from, in Pallottine terms, historical
Beagle Bay... Then, the presentation of Pallottine Scholarships. These are given to assist indigenous recipients to access tertiary education and are funded from investments of monies received from the sale of Pallottine property in Perth. In addressing the recipients, Fr. Ray Hevern encouraged them to persevere in their studies and take their places as pioneers in Aboriginal participation in tertiary education in the Kimberley. He expressed the hope that they would go on to complete their studies successfully and become leaders within their own communities. The scholarship winners were: Lesley Hodges, Shannon Hodges, Marcella Fielding, Hartini The, Vanessa Gregory and Cathleen Carter( nee O'Connor).... Our congratulations and best wishes to them all. Thirdly: Luurnpa School (Lake Gregory) held an open day early in April. Parents and friends were invited to a special showing of the Walytja Family Education Programme paintings that had been produced at the school by local artists. Two of the artists are members of the school staff. The purpose of the exhibition was to give people an understanding of some of the important things which make families strong. The use of specially prepared paintings, with the artists telling their stories, plays an important part in the main liturgical feasts celebrated in our Wirrimanu parish. Ecumenical Stations of the Cross. On Good Friday, a large crowd of Broome townsfolk and visitors attended the annual Stations of the Cross in the Court House Gardens.
EDITOR PALLOTTINE FAMILY UAC NEWSLETTER 85 Studley Park Rd Kew Vic 3101 Email: merle.gilbo@blaze.net.au past editions
December 2007 June 2007
March 2007 Extracts from 2000 - 2002 [ Top of Page ] |
so he
encouraged those who could be active in the apostolate to be so. For
those who couldn't be, he suggested, other ways, such as an apostolate
of prayer, support for those who were active, awareness of the needs of
the people around him and the world. Basically then, we can work for the
Kingdom of God within and throughout our everyday lives.
