Letter to Consolata Lay Missionaries

ISTITUTO MISSIONI CONSOLATA
Viale delle Mura Aurelie, 11-13 - 00165 Roma
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LA DIREZIONE GENERALE

November 15, 2002

My dearest Consolata Lay Missionaries,
"You go too. The call is a concern not only of Pastors, clergy, and men and women religious. The call is addressed to everyone: lay people as well are personally called by the Lord, from whom they receive a mission on behalf of the Church and the world." (Christifideles laici, 2).
The Missions need you. The Call/Invitation to the Missions is the vocation of every baptized person in every Christian community. "The lay faithful, precisely because they are members of the Church, have the vocation and mission of proclaiming the Gospel: they are prepared for this work by the sacraments of Christian initiation and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit" (CL 33). Your Baptism gives you the "right and the duty" to commit yourselves "to making the proclamation of salvation known and accepted by all people throughout the world" (Redemptoris Missio, 71).
In spite of a long tradition of working with lay people that dates from the very beginning of our Institute we recognize that recent developments in the lay missionary movement and your own insistence constitute a sign of the times to which we must pay heed. Otherwise - as the XCG tells us - "we would neglect a genuine service to the missions and deprive the missions of potentially precious assistance" (XCG, 60). The Institute recognizes and joyfully accepts your lay missionary vocation; it is certain that your presence will "raise the value of witness, strengthen our ability to work together and to live out the mission in communion and complementarity" (XCG, 60).
Our common commitment to the missio ad gentes constitutes a first and fundamental bond between the Institute and you. This bond is strengthened by your desire to share directly in the charism, spirituality and heritage bequeathed to us by Blessed Joseph Allamano.
We see in this desire another gift of the Spirit which helps unfold the riches of our charism in complementary life-styles and in an understanding of the Church as communion.
In recent years reflection and discussion of these realities have become more intense. We have sought out better ways and methods to live our mission with the same spirit.
We believe the time has finally come for the Institute and the Consolata Lay Missionaries (CLM) to adopt concrete guidelines to launch our common mission apostolate and our sharing in the charism and spirituality of Blessed Allamano.
The General Secretariat of the Missions has carefully supervised the various editorial stages through which this document has passed. It is by no means a set of bylaws or statutes in the juridical sense of the world, but rather an outline, a point of departure. It contains:
- elements that have emerged in our recent discussions that are to be preserved and promoted; we think these elements are indispensable if we are to speak of "Consolata" lay missionaries.
- guidelines and suggestions offered purely as examples to assist you in the determining responsibly your own organization and mission commitment in the context of the real-world situation and the social-cultural environment in which you live.
On this basis we assure you of the Institute's commitment to welcoming you, guiding you, helping you grow, supporting you in every way possible, working together so that the good seed you represent will grow into a fruitful harvest for the sake of the missions and of the world.

We are well aware that we still have a long way to go. And we would like to travel this road together - IMC and CLM. This document expresses the feelings of the IMC on the principles that will govern its relations with the CLM. Since we are convinced that these principles are to a large extent shared by you as well, we would ask that this document be considered a starting point for the journey we are making together.
We call upon you, Consolata Lay Missionaries to give greater definition to your organization on a national level; to assume - even officially - commitment for CLM; to establish the first CLM local communities; to set up some form - even embryonic - of national organization. We would propose a date by which to accomplish these tasks: June 20, 2003, the Feast of Our Lady the Consolata.
A CLM gathering with IMC delegates for the specific purpose of studying (correct discrepancies, enrich the text) the document we are proposing should be convened at some date we both agree upon. This could be the occasion for officially inaugurating the Consolata Lay Missionaries.
This present document will remain in force ad experimentum until 2005. At that time the IMC General Chapter can undertake a complete evaluation of the project. Genuine experience will show us what changes or adaptations need be made. May the Lord bless the efforts and good will of everyone involved.
We entrust the path of sharing and communion that is opening up before us to the trusted guidance of the Spirit, the prime mover in the missions, to the maternal protection of Our dear Lady, the Consolata, and to the care of one we all consider our father - Blessed Joseph Allamano.
Father Piero Trabucco, IMC
(Father General)
Father Antonio Bellagamba, IMC
Father Norberto Ribeiro Louro, IMC
Father Aquiléo Fiorentini, IMC
Father Jean André Benedetti, IMC