For the Spiritans, the journey into the future is not a guided tour, but rather an around-the-world adventure. On this adventure, the Holy Spirit is in charge, and the needs of the people on the side of the road will determine the stops made.
"Where the spirit leads us." Our mission is consistent; we respond to our changing world. Recently, some leaders in the Spiritan order sat down to reflect on their Order and its vision for the near future. The following are some of their primary initiatives for their life with God and the world.
Technology is a fact in our daily lives. In itself it is neither good nor evil, but it is a powerful tool with enormous potential to aid us in our work of preaching the Gospel in a credible way in today's world. Spiritans face the challenge of putting technology at the service of the Gospel.
We live in a global village. Where it used to take ten days to get information to some of our missionaries in Africa, e-mail has reduced that to almost instant communication. Used creatively, technology is a dynamic tool that enhances our ability to help one another. Besides daily contact with our missionaries around the world, we can also provide online ESL training to our refugee camps and other forms of long-distance learning. A national Spiritan list-serve is on the horizon as well as web-based discussion boards for our lay groups and individuals considering a vocation to the Spiritan way of life. The Internet is a vital tool. It expands our community. It increases our presence.
Youth Ministry
I see the coming years witnessing a dynamic emphasis within our Order on work with youth and young adults throughout the world. This imperative has taken on an intensified, concrete focus here in the States. It is quickly becoming a working mandate that more of our work be specifically for and with young people.
By making the intersection of liturgical life and parish community more appealing to today's youth, we can see this happening at the parish level. So too, in creating houses of hospitality for young people in transition and also those particularly interested in social justice issues, we can share common life with them and offer a spirituality lived on the edge of culture.
Traditionally, young people have always challenged institutions and older generations to action on important moral issues. In reaching out to them and sharing life with them where they are, we can call our youth to action as well, encouraging them even as we challenge them to forge their adolescent dreams and ideals (of a better world) into daily realities.
Laity
No matter what new identity or new forms of membership may emerge in the future for our Congregation, we believe that there will always be a core group of vowed permanent members. These Spiritans who are "vowed" religious will be surrounded by -- and enriched by -- a dedicated group of laymen and laywomen brought together by a common vision. The future is also going to require ever increasing collaboration with dedicated lay ministers in all of our communities and our ministries.
What new form of religious life will emerge we cannot yet say, but the laity will not be deterred. Many may not express a formal desire for religious life as a vowed permanent commitment. Yet the witness of their lives in collaborative ministry with us reveals an unceasing dedication to Spiritan life and ministry. Our mission and the mission of Lay Spiritans and other laity who work closely with us will continue to bring us together in a common vision of Church.
The Spiritan Congregation is committed to imagine new ways to encourage their gifts so as to further extend this shared mission and shared community life. Our current lay organization, under the Spirit's guidance, continues to develop its own identity and sense of mission. Through it all, we recognize our connection primarily in deep friendships that are rooted in the Spirit.
We are all part of the Spiritan family and, like family, we continue to find ways to live, work, and pray together.
In reflecting on our current community in light of the recent 300th anniversary of our Order, I imagine a central focus for our continued growth over the next several years will be a renewed emphasis on living our mission in the context of community life. For us, community is the coming together of all of us in celebration of our diverse ministries. Spiritan community is lived out usually in small group communities where we live a common life of work and prayer. In the coming years we seek to see more inter-cultural communities throughout the world where religious and laity celebrate the unity of our common Spiritan life.
As we deepen our global presence, we must especially seek to create new frontiers of Christianity in Asia. If Venerable Libermann the Apostle of Africa were here today leading us, he would probably impel us to do in Asia what we did in those days in Africa with the great push to the interior. Asian peoples make up one-fourth of the world's population. We believe we are called to provide a Christian witness in Asia. Even in countries where we are forbidden to openly evangelize, such as in most Islamic countries, we can have a witness of presence, solidarity, and service. We are called to cross these boundaries in the hope of broadening Christ's community on earth, and to seek a new face of Christ in other cultures.
We must not forget the important work of cultivating deeper community among our current Spiritan institutions. How do our particular legacy institutions such as Holy Ghost Prep and Duquesne University fit into the broader Spiritan mission? What does it mean to live, work, and study at a Spiritan school? We must join our university professors and high school students and their families as they raise these questions. They are our questions as well.
