Since the General Chapter of 2010 gave the starting signal of an intensive sixennium dedicated to the deep renewal of the Order of the Augustinian Recollects, the General Council came out helping in close cooperation with the chief executives of the eight provinces, its provincial priors.
What has been done
Following the directions of the General Chapter towards the end of 2010, the General Council look for a way to walk hand in hand with the prior provincials and his counselors. In less than a year after the conclusion of the Chapter when, from the 8 to 12 of November 2011, the two government bodies already met in Rome for the first time. The principal topic of that meeting was to have a common vovitiate, which from then on will be under the jurisdiction of the Prior General.
The second meeting took place also in Rome, between 8 and 13 of April 2013. This served to gauge the process of revitalization that the prior provincials have to steer in his corresponding areas.
Between June 30 and July 7 of 2014, was celebrated in San Millan de la Cogolla (La Rioja, Spain) a transcendental meeting in which both the government bodies reflected together about the current situation of the augustinian recollect charism and tried to embody it in the Life and Mission Project (LAMP) which later on was passed unto all the recollect communities, and in turn serve to mark the norm to the rest of the other provincial projects.
In that same year 2014 a second meeting was celebrated in Rome (17-21 november), which served to conclude in working out the LAMP incorporating in it more than 600 corrections coming from its sources. Having done this, this important document was enacted by the Prior General on the Day of the Order (December 5) of last year.
In Monachil
A year after the next meeting was held in the Convento de Nuestra Senora del Buen Consejo, in the neighborhood of Monachil, Granda, Spain, last November 30 to December 4. In the hall “Beato Vicente Soler” of this historical House of Formation of the Order, the eight representatives of the provinces with its six general counselors met on the scheduled date.
The Prior General, Miguel Miro, presided the sessions, who opened the deliberations with words of gratitude and exhortation for everybody to be a people of dialogue and encounter: “They are not valid ways, he warned, nor of dominance nor feeling victimized”. And at once he encouraged those present to “face up squarely the things with evangelical spirit, of conversion; and to march together through the way of renewal, which requires joint responsibility and humility”.
Restructuring of the provinces
The single subject of the meeting was that of the restructuring of the provinces. About
this were previous reflections made by all the provincial councils, on which they presented here their proposals. In this joint meeting they tried to agree on possible models of territorial redistribution, which in a short time will be presented to all the religious, asking for their opinion. In the end, the one who will take the final word is the General Chapter, convened for October 2016.
The three basic models agreed in Monachil come with from the possibility of suppressing the present existing provinces and then build four provinces with new personnel, in a way of maintaining all of them and giving them a feasibility project and internal restructuring, giving way to the possibility of maintaining four of the existing provinces in which the others will be incorporated to them, the weaker ones.
General Restructuring
Time and time again it can be noticed in the assembly that the topic of restructuring of the provinces is not something isolated, but belonging to the totality of five sections which conform to the global program revitalization and restructuring of the Order: the first to be revitalized is the consecrated life; then comes the revitalization and restructuring of the apostolate, formation, the government of the Order and as a consequence to all of these, the provinces as well.
In any case, it’s a very delicate topic, which in Monachil has been treated with prudence and discernment. And quiet rightly so, in his final address, the Prior General was able to congratulate everybody for the good dispositions of the provinces, which each one has shown openness to whatever possible restructuring. Likewise, Miro has shown hopeful in the continuation of the process; and has shown his conviction that, once the participation of the religious is guaranteed, they themselves will undoubtedly show a great sense of joint responsibility.