Canadian religious urged to be signs of hope for humanity

Dominican father calls for leaders with 'tremendous flexibility'

- CNS photo Dominican Fr. Timothy Radcliffe told 400 leaders of Canadian religious congregations to resist the culture of control.

By PETER NOVECOSKY, osb
Canadian Catholic News
Quebec City

Though religious congregations are passing through a difficult time in Canada, "our vocation as religious is more important than ever before," Dominican Father Timothy Radcliffe told leaders of Canadian religious congregations here.

The vocation of religious is more important than ever before, Radcliffe said, because "we are called to be signs of hope for humanity.

"We religious may be passing through a moment in which we have doubts about our own future, but the whole of humanity is facing a severe crisis of hope."

The internationally renowned speaker and author spoke to 400 leaders of religious congregations from across Canada at the June 5-9 general assembly of the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC).

Radcliffe, a former master general of the Dominican order, gave two presentations: one on the future of religious life and one on Christian leadership.

He contrasted the optimism of the 1960s when society believed in "a wonderful future" to the crises society faces today: the ecological crisis, the spread of religious fundamentalism, terrorism, the epidemic of AIDS, a growing gap between the rich and the poor, states in Africa on the brink of collapse, and a disastrous drop in the birth rate.

Parenthood rejected

"People fear to bring children into a world without hope and without a future," he said.

Radcliffe said a religious vocation is "an expression of a deeper truth - the truth that every human being is called by God. God calls us into existence and he calls us to find our happiness in him."

Religious embody a fundamental and hopeful Christian conviction about the future of humanity. They are "an explicit sign of what it means to be a human being."

Religious will be a sign of hope to a world in crisis only if they face their own crises and uncertain future "with joy and serenity . . . as moments of grace and new life," he said.

Religious embrace diversity in community, he said. Society searches for community with like-minded people. This is not a sign of the kingdom of God. Religious communities "should be like a good casserole, in which it is the different tastes that give the savour."

New leadership model

Speaking on the role of religious leadership, Radcliffe said Jesus provided the world with a new model of leadership.

"We tend to think of leadership in terms of management and administration. The business world dominates our imagination," Radcliffe said.

"If we look to the Gospels, then the model that Jesus offers us is that of service. My theory is that Christian leadership is the service of God's grace. We serve people by serving the happening of God's grace."

Radcliffe used the parable of the prodigal son to explore the "happening of grace" in people's lives. It is not only the father in the parable who is a model for leaders, he said, but also the two sons.

"The parable is about the loss and restoration of unity of family," he said.

Diversity within community often leads to drama, he said. In the parable of the prodigal son, "there are no hints that the father treats (the departure of his younger son) as a dramatic event. . . . Life carries on."

The father resists "the culture of control." He lets things happen, even though he does not know where this will lead. Leadership means being unafraid, however much chaos threatens.

This will mean letting things die. Leadership is in part "the art of dying so that the future may break in," he said. "It is creating the space for the young to do what we cannot imagine or anticipate, loosing the grip of the present, stirring in a bit of unpredictability."

The younger son models leadership by stepping out in faith and vulnerability. "Christian leadership is fundamentally about stepping out in front, going ahead, as the prodigal son steps out to go and seek his father, and his father steps out to go and greet his son" Radcliffe said.

The elder son models the jealousy religious leaders may feel. They can be jealous of those who have given in to their "wildest fantasies and still come home and get the best robe," he said.

Stay flexible

Leaders who serve "the happening of grace" need "tremendous flexibility and refuse to be stuck in predetermined roles."

The CRC leaders represent more then 21,000 religious women and men from across Canada. The theme of the assembly was Remembering for the future!

"We are remembering the contribution of women and men religious in such areas as education, health care, the promotion of women in society and being present to the poor," said outgoing CRC president Sister Donna Geernaert, a Sister of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Halifax.

This is not a nostalgia for the past, "but an openness to new horizons, forging new pathways in the Church and in contemporary society," Geernaert said.

The CRC also chose a new executive with Dominican Father Yvon Pomerleau as president, Ursuline Sister Anne Lewans as vice-president and Marianhill Missionary Father Alain Rodrigue as secretary-treasurer.

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