There are many Gospel texts to help us reflect on our ministry. Each of them offers us a different perspective, and this helps us to understand the richness of the mission we have received as an inheritance. The central text is undoubtedly the one in which Christ identifies himself with the children (Mt 18:5), and it is for this reason that we proclaim it so often in our Piarist celebrations. But there are other texts from the Gospel that can inspire us creatively in the present time in which we live in the Pious Schools.
As you all know, the General Congregation has proposed four “keys of inspiration” for the entire six-year period, and as such they should also inspire our ministry. I will try to suggest four small reflections that can help in this exciting task: that our ministry is truly irreplaceable. I remind you of the four “Keys of Inspiration”: “Going Forth”, “Synodality”, “Integral Sustainability” and“Authenticity and Identity”.
With the first, “Pious Schools Going Forth” I thought of the beautiful narrative from John’s Gospel at the pool of Bethesda (John 1:1-9). In that place there were “a “multitude of sick, lame, blind, paralytic…” A multitude. This is how the evangelist describes the reality into which Jesus enters. They were all waiting for the water to move. One had been waiting for thirty-eight years. But it never came on time. It needed someone to give it that “little push” to make it reach the water. And that someone was Jesus.
I like this text to suggest an important key for our Order: to be there where a young person or a child needs a “little push”. That is all he needs. The Lord says to this man a new and demanding word: take your stretcher, you can do it; I will accompany you. And this man overcomes himself and breaks through his “passive waiting” and becomes a fighter for his future.
We have so many examples of “little pushes” that we give to so many children and young people… we could publish an exciting book (more than one) telling the stories of lives changed by Piarists who knew how to be where they needed to be, in that place of “multitudes of children and young people in need”. I believe that this is a key we need to reflect on so that our ministry is truly irreplaceable: that the Pious Schools reach Bethesda. Let us not forget what Bethesda means: “House of Mercy, House of Grace”. Let us dive deep into the challenge that the Pious Schools Going Forth, in the direction of Bethesda.
On the second point, “synodality”, I thought of the passage about the first Pentecost (Acts 2:1-8). This first Pentecost shows us the way to live others, always as a gift from God. This first Pentecost teaches us what kind of synodality we need and what kind of synodality offers us new possibilities to ministerially proclaim the message of which we are the bearers.
This first Pentecost, like all the others, happened because it was God’s will. It was a gift. But there were some things about these disciples that can help us greatly. They were all united, in the same place; they were gathered in the name of Jesus; they had a deep need for the Holy Spirit because they were living in fear. It is in this context that the Holy Spirit breaks in and provokes the mission. Pentecost provokes the mission, the proclamation, the witness.
The dynamic of synodality into which Pope Francis has led the Church and which has been embraced with full readiness by our Order is the key to discerning our mission. For this reason, from the General Congregation, we gather the directors of the schools or the juniors of the Order (last June we gathered all the juniors to speak about their formation for a synodal Church). For this reason, in all the Provinces, try to grow in this dynamic of shared work, community discernment and common search.
This is what the Church expects of us today. I am always impressed when I read the number 100 of our Rules. Sometimes we are not aware of the numbers of the Rules, which are not “juridical” but which indicate the direction we must follow. This precious text says: “The reason for our Order’s existence is derived from its office of evangelization entrusted to it by the Church. For this reason, it proceeds with all humanity, experiences the world situation, and endeavors to accomplish its own renovation and transformation through the integral promotion of man, as the Gospel requires.” [1] And today our Church strives for Communion, Participation and Mission. This is the way. Let us walk it.
For the third “integral sustainability”, what comes to mind is what the Acts of the Apostles tells us shortly after Pentecost (Acts 2:9-47). Our Order has defined integral sustainability in terms of three keys: charismatic identity, leadership and resources. Only through an appropriate combination and nurturing of these three keys will we move forward.
I am particularly pleased that the first meeting of the Calasanctian Family of Africa focused on the challenge of integral sustainability. If you read the conclusions of their meeting, they give us three powerful pointers: “identity is not a concept but a life that should be sought to be concretised in the priority options of our founders”; “the Piarist leadership that our mission needs can only be achieved if it enters fully into our spiritual life and is worked from the first formation”; “the generation of a new identity is not a concept but a life that should seek to be concretised in the priority options of our founders”; “the leadership that our mission needs can only be achieved if it enters fully into our spiritual life and is worked from the initial formation”. “The generation of resources is only possible through a growth of co-responsibility”.[2]
It seems particularly significant to me that the circumscription of Africa, and in the dynamics of the Calasanctian Family, has “set to work” to grow in sustainability and to do so in an integral way. This is how the Church began, as the Acts of the Apostles tell us: The apostles lived and worked out of a renewed and distinct identity; they assumed a deeply spiritual leadership and achieved the co-responsibility of the brothers who offered their resources for the proclamation of the Gospel.
Resources that are so necessary sometimes come from unexpected sources. For example, the multiplication of loaves and fishes was possible because an anonymous young man had a basket of five barley loaves and two fish (John 6:9). Resources, however small, are all important. Even the big ones, which are often the fruit of the systematic and organised work of our shared mission networks, are important. For example, we can build a school in Kinshasha (Congo) or finance our mission in Bolivia because the “Itaka-Escolapios” network has raised funds, not small or symbolic funds, but important funds.
Integral sustainability requires us to look at our reality and the challenges of our mission in a new way. For this reason, we are facing a “key of inspiration”. For example, I am very happy that the General Secretariat for Irreplaceable Ministry is designing a Piarist Leadership Course; we need it.
For the fourth key, “authenticity and identity“, I have chosen the precious text from the Gospel of the Good Shepherd (John 10). As I reflect on our Ministry, and look for it to be truly irreplaceable, I like to read this text as the Gospel of the “Good Educator”. A few years ago (2014) the Order organised a Congress on Calasanctian Spirituality, coordinated by Fr Alejandro Solórzano from the Nazareth Province. At this congress there was a talk by Fr Fidel Oñoro (Eudist) which focused on the kind of educator we need. The talk consisted of a reflection on the parable of the Good Shepherd. Sometimes it is good to “dust off” materials that once helped us, but which we risk wasting at the speed we move.
I will not summarise Fr. Oñoro (it would be better if you read him), but I will offer you three little lights that can help us understand the type of educator we need for a ministry that is truly irreplaceable: a reliable shepherd-educator who “enters through the door” and makes himself known to his sheep, who knows them one by one and therefore, because he is seen as authentic, can lead them to new pastures; a shepherd-educator who is able to give tools to his sheep so that they can go forward in spite of the dangers, and who is with them; a shepherd-educator who gives his life for his sheep because he has a great dream for them: that there is only one flock with only one shepherd.
What kind of educator do we need? How can we move forward in this exciting challenge? What experiences can we share in terms of training our educators? What formative suggestions do we make to our young religious so that they become the authentic and identified educators we need?
“Irreplaceable” is the word Calasanz uses to try to convince Cardinal Michelangelo Tonti of the importance of the Pious Schools, which are to be established as a religious Order of solemn vows: “And among the latter is the Work of the Poor of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools, with an irreplaceable ministry – in the common opinion of all, clergy and laity, princes and citizens, and perhaps the most important for the reform of corrupt customs; a ministry which consists in the good education of the young, inasmuch as on it depends all the rest of the good or bad life of the future man.”[3]
I have always felt that the word “irreplaceable” has much to say to all of us today. I believe that we need to deal with this word resolutely, and from many angles. I offer one to start with. But there are many.
I have more than once heard things like this: that our schools no longer make sense if education is now taken over by the states. I have also heard that if a Piarist school is closed, the students will find another school where they can continue learning, because the governments will take care of it.
Calasanz founded the Pious Schools not out of a “replacement” mentality, but as an integral response to an integral need. We should not adopt what is not in our genes. The educational project of the Piarist School will never cease to be indispensable, because it will never – neither before, nor now, nor in the future – be fully taken over by the States. The Piarist School has something more, and it must bring it in. The Piarist School must believe in its project and offer it without doubt and with conviction for the benefit of children and young people. For this reason, the training of educators and the joint work of all of us who believe in this educational proposal are fundamental. This is the only way to move forward. There are still many children and young people who do not attend school, and many more who need school. And there will always be a need for a school that evangelises education, that brings Christ, that engages with the poor, that smells of the Kingdom of God. That is not offered by any official curriculum. And that is what Calasanz wanted. That is why he founded the Pious Schools. The word “irreplaceable” means that if we leave it, no one can do it in the same way or with the same keys. Therefore, this word is a profound challenge of Calasanctian fidelity to our impulse of Piarist Ministry.
It seems good to me to reflect on how the “keys of inspiration” can illuminate the different areas of our life and mission. On this occasion, I would like to offer some hints on how these keys can inspire our ministry: the preference for the poor and needy, the synodal dynamic in discernment and promotion of ministry, the responsible and sustainable leadership we need, and the proper training of educators. All four are obviously fundamental to our Order at this time.
I would like to end this simple fraternal letter with a quote from Calasanz that can help us understand what the word “irreplaceable” means to him. Calasanz says: “Therefore, if our work is carried out with proper diligence, there is no doubt that the insistent petitions for foundations by numerous countries, cities and towns will persist as we have seen.” [4] The holy Founder even included this phrase in his Constitutions. In other words, he assures the Piarists that if we do it well, we will continue to be needed. That is the Founder’s word. More obviously: water.
Receive a fraternal embrace.
Fr. Pedro Aguado Sch.P.
Father General
[1] Common Rules of the Order of the Pious Schools, ed. 2022, number 100.
[2] Félicien MOUENDJI. “Meeting of the Calasanctian Family of Africa. Synthesis of the work. Daloa, May 31, 2023.
[3] St. Joseph Calasanz. Memorial to Cardinal Tonti. Opera Omnia, volume IX, page 302.
[4] St. Joseph Calasanz. Constitutions of the Pauline Congregation, 175.
