In the ordinary course of the Order, a provincial chapter is something ordinary. It signifies a brief stop, a pause for reflection, every three or four years. In fact, this year will see to the convocation of four chapters, corresponding to four of the eight provinces that compose the Order.
Special traits
However, the chapter that was inaugurated in Marcilla (Navarra) last Monday, 18 May, features special characteristics. The Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine is not only the oldest in the Order, originating in 1621; it also has, by far, the biggest number of religious, 302, almost a third of all Augustinian Recollects. These friars are spread in 49 communities, which attend to 158 ministries in 8 different countries (Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, China, United States, Mexico, Costa Rica and Brazil). It’s not surprising therefore that the delegates to this 126th provincial chapter total 31 and come from 6 different countries.
A totally new thing happens in Marcilla too: it is the first time that a provincial chapter starts already with a provincial-elect. The reformed Constitutions of 2010 offer to the provinces two ways of electing the prior provincial. The first is the traditional one: the chapter elects him from among a ternary voted by all the religious. The second, introduced then, consists in a two-round voting of the prior provincial by the religious at large. Each province opted for one way or the other. The Saint Nicholas Province chose the latter, by which fray Sergio Sanchez y Moreno was elected, who attends the chapter in Marcilla as provincial-elect.
There is another novelty, which refers to the person of the provincial-elect. Sanchez y Moreno is Mexican, and in the almost four centuries of the Province, it is the first time that its prior provincial is not a Spaniard. Which should not be too surprising either, considering that the Spanish component has progressively decreased to only 61.37% at present, while the number of Latin American religious has grown to 27.84%.
First sessions
After the mandated invocation to the Holy Spirit, pleading for enlightenment, prior general Miguel Miro inaugurated the assembly, and exhorted the chapter participants to be courageous and creative, to distinguish between goals and structures, ever in pursuit of revitalization.
The information phase of the chapter immediately followed, delivered by the outgoing prior provincial, Francisco Javier Jimenez. He took off from the program byword of the previous chapter, held in 2012: “Revitalization and New Evangelization”. He confessed that he did not perceive a deep renewal on the whole, though he observed progress in the charismatic identity of the ministries of the Province. In his opinion, the time has come to take care of the restructuring.
Then, the outgoing governing team gave an overview of the spiritual panorama of the Province. They highlighted the novelty and importance of the Augustinian Recollect Centers of Spirituality (CEAR in Spanish), created especially in Mexico and Costa Rica. They also noted the work accomplished in attending to the 24 secular fraternities, whose members total almost 800, that are part of the Province.
In regard to initial formation, Jimenez reviewed one by one the eight formation houses that the Province maintains and urged the responsibility that having 85 young seminarians entails. He then insisted on the necessary formation of formators, the urgency of forming more stable formation teams and on the particular attention needed in the formation of Chinese candidates. In relation to all this, the outgoing prior provincial made a special reflection on the conspicuous phenomenon of departure from religious life by religious below the age of 45.
In the missionary aspect, finally, a certain sadness was felt in the chapter hall when it was announced that, after 18 years, the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine has stopped collaborating with personnel in the African mission of Sierra Leone.