Rougemont

 

 

Theme 3

 

The role of the community coordinator

 

 

 To speak of the role, the profession, or the art of the coordinator is to broach a very complex issue, one involving sociological, economic, emotional and spiritual factors. Each of these areas would need long explanations, especially since it would normally be necessary to take into account not only the history of the institute but also the history of each local community, since both so strongly condition the leadership style and the obedience found in our monasteries.

We shall select only a few aspects, those dealing with the dynamism of the contemplative life and the coordinator's contribution to it.

As a first step we shall examine through the eyes of faith,

the task of the coordinator,

then in a second step

a few laws governing the dynamism of a community,

to finish we shall consider, in compassion,

the coordinator herself at the heart of her mission

              impossible and splendid.

 

 

1.   THE TASK OF THE COORDINATOR IN THE LIGHT OF FAITH

 

 

What does theology say about the service of authority in religious life? It states two principles, very simple, but very fruitful:

1. Like all forms of authority in the Church, the authority of the coordinator comes from Christ. It is a participation in the authority (exousia) of the risen Christ, Pastor of his flock, and Head of the Body being built on earth in the power of the Spirit.

2. The coordinator receives her authority from Christ, through the Church of Christ. Already at the very beginning, the successors to the apostles, in hierarchical communion with Peter's successor, discerned as authentic the charism of our founders. But the Church, throughout an Institute's history, "continues to mediate the consecratory action of God". In particular, it is the Church of Christ that "confers on the institute, in accordance with her own common law and with the constitutions she has approved, the religious authority necessary for the life of vowed obedience" (Essentials Elements in the Church's Teaching on Religious Life, SCRIS, May 31,1983, n°42).

 

The origin of religious authority in Christ, the constant mediation of the Church concerning its exercise: these two theological premises immediately entail a series of very concrete consequences.

 

1.       Religious authority calls for a double act of faith: on the sister's part, to receive it as a gift of God; on the coordinator's part, to assume it as a call of Jesus, Servant and Lord.

Notwithstanding the coordinator's personality, notwithstanding her influence or her limitations, religious obedience retains its fundamental function, which is: to render each sister identical to Christ in the mystery of his obedience to the Father and to his plan. The Council highlights this aspect when it speaks about the ways and means to holiness, chief among them being the evangelical counsels:

"Mother Church rejoices at finding within her bosom men and women who more closely follow and more clearly demonstrate the Saviour's self­giving by embracing poverty with the free choice of God's sons, and by renouncing their own wills. They subject the latter to another person on God's behalf, in pursuit of an excellence surpassing what is commanded. Thus they liken themselves more thoroughly to Christ in his obedience" (Lumen gentium, n° 42).

 

And this is the same teaching proposed by Perfectae Caritatis, in a trinitarian perspective, when it reminds us:

- that the Holy Spirit moves religious when they "submit themselves their superiors whom faith presents as God's representatives",

- that by their profession of obedience religious "unite themselves with greater steadiness and security to the saving will of God", and "offer to God a total dedication of their own wills as a sacrifice of themselves",

- that this spiritual sacrifice of obedience leads to a configuration with Christ, "who, out of submission to the Father, did minister to the brethren and surrender his life as a ransom for many" (P.C., n° 14).

 

All the improvements effected in conventual life, all the efforts made by the coordinator to render her leadership style a dialogue, a more creative process, can be devaluated and remain fruitless in the long run if a certain number of sisters have let their lives become laicized to the point of no longer recognizing religious obedience as a daily call from Christ, the Servant. That is why the Rules of our Institutes exhort our brothers and sisters to integrate their obedience within a faith vision. Wherever contempt of the coordinator or of her role is found, there also the authenticity of religious life is degenerating. Wherever a sister's relationship with her coordinator is warped and reduced to a clash of wills, the sister, sometimes without knowing it, slows her own progress towards the fulness of Christ, feels the bonds linking her to the service of the Church become loose, and finally turns her back on true freedom.

 

But a daily act of faith is required of the coordinator herself, an act that is often just as crucifying. She must believe that she is the coordinator even though her election was a surprise for her as well as for others. She must in faith repeatedly tell herself that Christ wishes to use her actions, her intelligence, her heart, to gather, lead, and nourish her community. At the same time she must acknowledge her limitations, her failures, and trust in Christ's power; he is acting within her weaknesses and in spite of them. "Do you love me ?" Jesus asks her every day. "If you love me feed my sheep, accept being a shepherdess for the Shepherd, agree to serve as a poor human being, to give all but remain 'empty­handed'.

 

2.    The coordinator's authority does not spring from the community; it comes from God. No doubt the community can intervene, and must intervene, to determine by vote who will wield this authority for several years, or for many years. But this authority of the coordinator, as religious authority, is not measured by the number of votes cast in her favour.

Even with a majority of only one vote, the elected sister will be welcomed wholeheartedly, in faith, as the coordinator of the community. Some prioresses were elected by a plebiscite vote, others more unobtrusively or less joyfully; but in a monastery there is never a holiday from religious authority, never a strike against obedience.

 

3.    One must distinguish between religious authority and the natural authority of the person in charge. Of course, it is to be hoped that the elected coordinator will enjoy a certain degree of esteem in the community, show a gift for relating, dialogue, analysis and decision-making, but even if she lacked several of these qualities she would still be invested with religious authority. It is in relation with this authority that the religious will live obedience.

 

4.    Religious authority is personalized. That is the reason for one coordinator in each community - and normally only one ! This in no way hinders the sisters from working for the common good: "Each one of you has received a special grace; so, like good stewards responsible for all these varied graces of God, put it at the service of others" (1 P 4, 10).

Part of the responsibilities are widely shared; this is usually a sign of good health in a community. But the specific pastoral responsibility of the coordinator, shepherdess in the name of the Shepherd, cannot be transferred to a group, and rigorously speaking, it is impossible to talk about obedience to the community. Gracefully accepting the community's legitimate choices or orientations taken during a shared dialogue is related to the area of fraternal life and the adult concept of community living, but not directly to obedience.

 

5.    The religious authority of the coordinator is extensive but never absolute. It is an authority wielded within a promised obedience since it is exercised according to an evangelical mission authenticated by the Church, that is: according to the Rule and the Constitutions of the Institute, texts inspired by life and oriented towards life. The knowledge that the coordinator recognizes herself as the very first member of the community who must obey, and truly wishes to do so, is of prime importance for the spiritual dynamism of the community. Since she must vouch for the authenticity of community life and goals, the coordinator will be the first to react as a daughter of the Church, and her own obedience will provide an opportunity to experience deeply the mystery of the Church's mediation role as a sacrament of salvation. In fact, the mission of an institute, before being community property, is that of the Church which the coordinator intends to serve and to which she submits herself. It is her responsibility before anybody else's to guide the experience of community by referring to the ecclesial and missionary mission of the Institute, to scrutinize the founder's texts with objectivity and openness of heart in order to discover new roads of Gospel fidelity. Whatever may be her experience, charism or intuition, the coordinator is not given the responsibility of molding a community into her own likeness, but to make it grow (auctoritas) in the image of Jesus Christ. And this poverty of the heart, which the coordinator must constantly face, becomes for her a source of peace. For she does not have to achieve personal success, but to advance the work of the Church, for her sisters and with them, "for the glory of God and the salvation of humankind".

 

6.     Religious authority places the coordinator in a position of service to a cause beyond herself, because each lamb in the fold, and the fold itself, belong to the Lord. Called by Jesus, each sister has personally become part of the Paschal mystery; each one lives the Covenant and the Exodus while striving with all the power of her faith towards the Encounter with God; each one is involved in the spiritual monastic experience a personal way, an irreplaceable way in the eyes of the Lord. So much so that when the coordinator accepts her mandate, she becomes responsible for sisters who are already responsible: for their own response, their generosity, their community commitment, their decisive choice of the Beatitudes,  res-ponsible in short for their fidelity to the vows they have pronounced.

 

The coordinator, though she may be very dedicated, very unselfish and desirous of fostering in all the desire to live every day a genuinely religious life, can never substitute her will for some else's will, and from this point of view, a certain incapacity is part of her role. In the cloister, as in the world, each baptized must answer personally to God; each one keeps the power of misusing her freedom, or using it for a total gift of one's self to the Spirit.

What is properly the role of the coordinator is to gather together as a bouquet these lives already given to God, these destinies already committed for ever to the sequela Christi.

 

 

2.   THE COMMUNITY IN PROGRESS

 

 

Keeping in mind the preceding theological guidelines in this second part, we shall ask ourselves one simple question: what levers can be activated to improve community dynamism?

To answer this question thoroughly we would have to consider all the elements involved in achieving community cohesiveness and growth but retaining only the following four points will lead to a more concrete reflection:

 

. a set of common values,

. a cluster of common goals,

. leadership style,

. quality communication.

 

1.    A set of values shared by all

 

Above all the dynamic quality of a community rests on the values it considers important. Already at this level the coordinator's animation can be a decisive factor.

At certain times, certain decisive moments in the life of a community, the coordinator's words recalling the broad, unchanging objectives of the Institute, or the mutual contract between each sister and the Institute on her profession day, can help many sisters "fan into a flame the gift that God gave them" (2 Tm 1:6).

In fact, numerous pressures create in the mind and heart a smoke screen that obscures the truly important issues of life such as: the stress of daily life, the demands of a salaried employment, the energy spent in physical work, health concerns, the emotional impact of community conflicts, and added to all this, the difficulty of remaining ever faithful to praising God in poverty and nakedness of spirit; to these difficulties is added an intellectual and emotional laicization unconsciously absorbed from contemporary culture. When the true horizon of monastic life - the universal mission of the Church - becomes lost, obscured by the sur-rounding shadows of daily life, the risk of degeneration and sclerosis appear. A mature community will always be grateful to the coordinator who fends off ambivalent attitudes whenever essential values are at stake, who reminds the sisters in time, gently but firmly, who is the Lord who gathered them together, what life style and witnessing he expects from them in his Church, and how important it is to constantly make a fresh start.

 

It is not a question of feelings, nor of rhetoric. In such serious circumstances as these, the coordinator does not approach a sister or sisters with "any particular eloquence or wisdom to proclaim God's testimony". It can very well happen that she speaks "in weakness and in fear and with much trepidation, that her message and preaching have none of the persuasive force of vise argumentation"; but her intervention will have "the convincing power of the Spirit", if the only knowledge she seeks is "Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ crucified" (1 Co 2:1-5).

Evidently, the coordinator often faces the need to revive in herself and for herself the basic beliefs which underlie her adherence to monastic life, but neither exhaustion nor personal failings disqualify her for the role of guardian. "I have appointed you as watchman for the House of Israel," said God to Ezekiel. "When you hear a word from my mouth, you shall warn them for me. If you do not warn the wicked man to renounce his wicked ways, so that he may live, that wicked man shall die for his sin, but I shall hold you responsible for his death" (Ez 3:16 ff.). There are times when the coordinator must speak out even though her chances of being heard are slim. This is one way the coordinator can love very deeply, and through her courageous action the sisters can perceive her as a person who has placed her trust in them and with them. When the stakes are high, facing courageously a wave of unpopularity is truly risking one's life for the flock and trusting absolutely in the power of God. "God's gift, in fact, is not a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power, and love and self-control" (2 Tm 1:7). It is preferable to have a coordinator confide her fears to Christ and steadfastly keep her hands to the ploughshare than let the awareness of her own weakness engender in her a despairing paralysis fraught with regret for the past.

 

2.    Clear common goals

 

It is a sign of good health when a community can lucidly set its goals and programme its efforts to achieve them. Here again the coordinator's constructive role is indispensable since her authority is geared to the growth of both the individual and the group.

 

She first plays a role in the development of projects, those she initiated herself, those the council designated as urgent, and also those arising spontaneously from the community experience, the local Church, or as a priority request from the Generalate of the Institute if such a body exists. Even when a project has been matured within the context of communal dialogue, it is often desirable to have the coordinator ratify it so it may be officially recognized as a duty for all.

 

Drawing up the specific details of the programme normally rests with the coordinator. She sets the stages and deadlines, distributes the tasks, and sees to the continuity and stability of efforts. Nothing exhausts communities and wrecks communitarian planning so much as meetings with no visible results, projects falling flat, situations left to disintegrate, simply because at the crucial moment timely, Gospel-inspired clarifications were not made. Contrary to what one may suppose, sisters of good will feel understood and seconded when the coordinator takes the trouble to hold periodical evaluations of the progress accomplished, recall the commitments taken together, assess an ongoing experiment when its allotted time is about to run out.

 

From this point of view, the coordinator acts somewhat like the memory of the community. By giving the community leeway to organize its schedule and its rhythm, the coordinator can contribute immensely to the life and creativity of the monastery, and especially to its peace of mind.

This supposes that the coordinator knows how to distance herself regarding the lived experience of the community, and willingly does so; that she remain, in fidelity to herself and to others, in an attitude of expectation and openness to the peace that comes from God alone. "Seek peace, pursue it always" (Ps 34:15).

 

3.       Leadership style

 

The life and active energy of any human group presupposes not only a set of common values as reference points, and common goals fully assumed, but also a network of intertwining roles and authority that facilitates task differentiation and integration.

 

Setting aside the question of relations between coordinator, council and formation director - which alone would require extensive examination - let us focus on one single concrete problem: the coordinator's leadership style.

 

In connection with this leadership problem, one of the coordinator's difficulties stems from the obligation to serve both the individual and the group. Sometimes the care of sick sisters and the problems of maintenance monopolize so much energy she can hardly manage "to make both ends meet". She is aware of the urgent need to show each individual attention, interest, and esteem, to stimulate each one to self-motivation spiritually and theologically. But sometimes her strength has been sapped to such a point that no energy, courage, or inner freedom remain. She loses precious time arbitrating personal conflicts, often enough childish ones; she becomes paralyzed by open or latent criticism, at a loss  when facing the spiritual inertia of some sisters, or the explosions of unbridled aggressiveness in others; and also, she is stunned, taken aback by evident discrepancies between word and deed.

 

These handicaps, which come to light every day and which constitute a source of anguish, are often a veiled but real cry for help from numerous sisters. Many will say, "The coordinator should set aside some time for us, listen to each one of us". It must be noted however, that sometimes these complaints about the coordinator's lack of availability are not at all followed up by any attempt to lighten her material responsibilities, and thus allow her to retreat to some haven for reflection and discernment in God's presence.

But the problem is vaster and deeper, for it strongly conditions the spiritual role of the coordinator.

 

From the viewpoint of leadership style in animation and government, three concisely worded requisites for coordinators would be:

 

 . take the lead,

 . deal impartially,

 . stay at the helm.

 

Take the lead: give the example of a cloistered nun happily and permanently committed to a life of prayer and praise; the example of an authentic sister whose profession has bound her destiny, individually and jointly to those of her fifteen, twenty, thirty, or more... companions searching for God. No doubt the sisters do manifest some understanding of the coordinator, but it would be an impossible mission to try persuading them to accomplish in faith some concrete acts of obedience to the coordinator if she herself trails far behind the caravan, or when her authority, month by month, becomes more laicized, stripped of any spiritual meaning.

 

Deal impartially in small things as in important ones, for community dynamics is a reality always in delicate balance: influences of all kinds have an impact on it, and for a sister, the temptation to win the coordinator to her plans and views can be a strong temptation indeed. Because the coordinator's task has been given her by Jesus, the Pastor, she can never allow herself to become a manipulator, or be manipulated. And because her goals are Gospel goals, she will not tolerate devious approaches, neither in herself nor in her sisters.

Stay at the helm, that is to say, continue assuming her responsibilities, and taking the means to do so with the power and gentleness of the Holy Spirit. It is not a normal situation when a coordinator feels obliged to do all things herself, render service everywhere, substitute for everybody, and this at the expense of her primary role of striving for cohesiveness and drive in each individual and in the whole community. It would also be detrimental to the community if the coordinator, through exhaustion, discouragement or timidity relinquished her right to speak, or let it be taken from her. For authority is a service inasmuch as it remains authority, that is, a power given to foster growth. The Vatican Council, on this point, gave religious superiors some very well-balanced directives:

"Let them give the kind of leadership which will encourage religious to bring an active and responsible obedience to the offices they shoulder and the activities they undertake. They should listen willingly to their subjects and encourage them to make a personal contribution to the welfare of the community and of the Church. Not to be weakened, however, is the superior's authority to decide what must be done and to require the doing of it" (PC 1 14).

 

The dynamic quality of a community can be strongly bolstered by a fourth factor:

 

4.        Quality communication among the sisters

 

Apart from community meetings, many other areas of communication call for the coordinator's cooperation or require her to play a role.

 

In numerous monasteries the post-conciliar aggiornamento led to a certain freedom of speech. A flood of things were said, many uncorked bottles spilled their contents, many lifted lids let off steam; but once these first explosive, euphoric moments had passed, communities had to seek in a fairly new context, an integration of speech and silence, community dialogue and personal conversation.

 

Here and there some problems surfaced or re-surfaced.

 

For example the endemic problem of uncontrolled gossiping, against which most monastic Rules contain warnings: gossiping sessions are like wall lizards that gnaw cracks in a well through which the living waters of the community seep out; the living waters of contemplative silence, obedience and constructive charity. On this point, a very vigilant self-control will be needed by the coordinator herself, harassed as she is by a thousand tasks, and left wide open to the risk of squandering her energy or underestimating her words as coordinator. But sometimes she herself, so reticent about her own personal concerns, finds herself con-fronted by chattering habits that have become prevalent in the community and are defended by certain sisters eagerly trying to justify them in theory. Some communities, formerly very attentive to the quality of silence, have developed during the last few years some community habits which are cause for anxiety. Here and there the situation partly stems from an imprudent re-shuffling of the time-table: to foster solitude and counterbalance work stress, recreation hours were overly shortened. Sometimes the result was a proliferation of very lengthy conversations, carried on outside designated times and places.

 

Concerning personal dialogue between the coordinator and each sister, a survey followed by precise analyses should precede any effort to evaluate the situation. In any case it is clear that this type of dialogue is a test of the religious spirit as well as the inner freedom of each sister; it is also an excellent opportunity for the coordinator to evaluate her own life in the peaceful presence of the Lord. The following are suggestions, questions the coordinator may ask herself in order to restore and enrich these dialogues.

 

- Which sisters have I met in personal dialogue during the last two months?

- Which sisters avoid me or I myself avoid? Those towards whom I have resigned myself to silence?

- Are there some sisters who take up too much of my time at the expense of more needy ones? Or who latch on to me hundreds of times in the halls but without ever responding to my invitations to dialogue?

- Do the sick and elderly sisters have their place in my schedule?

- When a sister comes to see me, am I able to really listen to her, or do I monopolize the conversation and dwell on my own concerns?

- What do the silences of my sisters reveal?

- Do I let myself become paralyzed at the thought that a sister is older then I am, more experienced, more cultured, more esteemed in the community?

- Do I face difficult dialogues in a truly evangelical spirit, so the Lord may grow even if I have to diminish? Do I prepare such dialogues in prayer?

- Do I place enough trust in the power of the Spirit who lives in both of us, the sister and me?

- What can be said about my aggressiveness, my discretion, my desire to please?

 

What a difficult task, what a beautiful task is that of a coordinator... One could continue listing roads to conversion but each coordinator can herself intensify the search for personal authenticity. As conclusion to these reflections on quality communication in our communities, I would like to insist on one practical detail: sometimes coordinators too easily presume the sisters know what is going on. If it is a question of problems concerning all the sisters, their present or their future, simply discussing them in council or mentioning them in an aside at recreation time is not sufficient. Otherwise the more timid sisters and the more discreet ones will get the impression they do not count, their opinions are negligible, and their agreement superfluous. In a family, one always knows in time, with no stress involved, what should be known. In a community, not being informed is often felt as a rejection, as being shunted aside. Jesus himself saw this as a sign of servitude: "I shall not call you a servant anymore, because a servant does not know his master's business" (In 15:15).

 

It is easy to dispel this useless impression of secrecy by widely diffusing community information and important or unimportant news items; one can also ask a quick and gifted writer to keep a community diary and encapsulate therein decisions taken and goals retained for the benefit of the hard of hearing, the sick, the absent-minded, the victims of amnesia.

 

Always with an eye alert to improve communication, and consequently the communion of hearts, to avoid often forcing the sisters to conjecture, it may be a good idea to explain sufficiently to the community, or to a sister, the reasons for this proposition, or that choice. Sometimes, for example, devious ways are chosen to bar a certain sister from a particular position, when a gentle and honest explanation, though momentarily painful, would be more humane and finally less traumatic. Also that is one way of expressing hope. Finally, there should be no fear of pinpointing problems and coolly analysing a situation if it can be done peacefully and objectively.

 

 

 

III.              THE DYNAMISM OF THE COORDINATOR

 

 

 Now that we have reviewed several means the coordinator can use to energize the community, in the last part let us look at the coordinator herself, caught as she is in the eddies of her own responsibilities, and ask ourselves two questions:

 

A. In the coordinator's task what factors cause instability and insecurity?

B. How can the coordinator find peace and joy in her personal Exodus?

 

A.   FACTORS CAUSING INSECURITY IN THE COORDINATOR'S TASK

 

1. The first cause of insecurity is the impression of helplessness often felt by the coordinator. To some extent it is due to a lack of preparation and this is absolutely normal, for it would be strange, and sometimes dangerous, for anyone to prepare herself for such a responsibility. In any case, even though life has prepared a cloistered nun in many ways - technical, intellectual, manual, and even on the judgment level - she is never truly trained to occupy such a place in the life and heart of sisters, to mobilize so much trust or so much aggressiveness (sometimes both). And even though a coordinator were extremely gifted, it would be impossible to please one and all continually, to prevent all tensions, to anticipate all conflicts.

A certain degree of helplessness is therefore inherent in the role of coordinator, since she has to deal with free persons, who have a past history, who need time to evolve, to understand. But this helpless feeling sometimes is hard for the coordinator to bear, especially when she must confront, day after day, the discontent or the criticism of those who should be more understanding, the inertia or the self-centeredness of some who should be serving others.

To tell the truth, although not much can be done, one can always love. In every community ordeal or conflict one finds a part of sinfulness and a part of guiltless human failings stemming from fatigue, poor health, limitations, psychological frailties, the encroachments of old age, or a premature spiritual schlerosis of the heart. On these two levels there is place for an active ministry of compassion.

 

2. The solitude of a coordinator is equally a source of insecurity. Even in the best of communities, with the best of councils, the inner torments of solitude cannot be shared, for they are made up of the secrets belonging to the hearts and lives of others. The more perspicacious and aware a coordinator is, the more solitude weighs on her; and sometimes when the burden of incomprehension is added to that of anxiety, this solitude is experienced as an injustice. In a community, rarely does one find sisters who are sufficiently free of their own interests to truly understand the preoccupations of a coordinator and discreetly support her.

In those moments the coordinator shares the solitude of Christ, the Servant of God, who 'had trodden the winepress alone' (Is 63:3). The more she takes her task of gatherer to heart by 'putting up with her share of difficulties' (2 Tm 2:3), the more she finds she is obliged to carry others, but she herself is carried by nobody except God. When all means leading to dialogue have been tried, the only recourse left is to remain in this beautiful solitude with Christ, the Saviour; this is one of the most authentic forms of contemplative silence.

 

3. Another cause of insecurity for the coordinator is the deterioration of her self-image. The responsibility entrusted to her by her sisters rapidly and inevitably leads to the discovery of her limitations, and she is sometimes quick to pass from "limitations to guilt," or let herself be imprisoned in a feeling of incompetence: "I am the one who is failing, or has failed; the one who could not see, who could not measure up to expectations". To this impression - justified or not - of being observed, of an imminent downfall, is often added the fear of an irreparable defeat: "Nothing will ever be the same again... I have lost friends, sisters, because they will always see me as the one who wanted this, refused that... I shall live as a stranger in my own home."

In moments of exhaustion this self-depreciation can lead to negative reactions: "From now on, let them go their own way..." But thinking one can simply wash her hands off a situation or just walk a path parallel to that of the community is pure illusion, and a brief one at that. This is the temptation of discouragement experienced by the prophet Elijah as he walked towards the mountain of God: "I have had enough, O Lord ! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers !" (1 Kg 19,4).

Surely nothing disappoints us as much as the feeling we have disappointed others; but the mandate of Saint Paul is there to reassure us: "It is Christ, the Lord, whom you are serving" (Col 3:24). We continue serving Christ in our sisters even though we suspect our way of serving reveals our failures and limitations. In the service of the Lord we have nothing to lose, since we have sacrificed everything for him.

 

After depreciating our own efforts two remedies can check the tendency to distance ourselves from the community. First of all, curbing our memory, which is a means directly related to hope, and which prevents indiscriminate emotions from "invoking the heart". The second remedy is these words from the wise author of 'The Imitation of Christ', which are worth their weight, in spiritual wisdom: "You are not better because you are praised, you are not worse because you are blamed; you are what you are before God as a witness - Deo teste". No matter what self-image our actions reflect to us, it is only in the eyes of God watching over us that we can read our true identity, and it is in prayer and in our relation to Christ that me can find emotional and spiritual autonomy. "Jesus must be my all", we can repeat to ourselves; not to live a kind of isolated existence but to find the way to love deeply in all circumstances.

 

Some may say: when facing failures and limitations, humility alone should preserve us from sadness. Quite true, but a bit theoretical. Paradoxical as it may seem, we could say that at certain moments of a coordinator's life true humility consists in trusting one's best efforts, and "those strong desires, those holy desires", as mentioned in the Liturgy, and which God, through his Spirit, has placed in our heart. Therefore, one should not let these waves of self-depreciation overly disturb us; it would be just another way of becoming self-centered. "Each of you must judge himself soberly, by the standard of the faith God has given him" (Rm 12:3).

 

4. In closing this list of factors causing instability one must add the coordinator's obligation to carry a major part of the community's own insecurity.

 

. Insecurity for the present - Certain worrisome financial situations cannot usefully be borne by the whole group of sisters. Even though it is good for them to be aware of present difficulties, the price of commodities, savings to be made, various contradictions in their religious lifestyle, it is often useless and sometimes harmful to upset their peace of heart when in conscience they are doing all in their power to help.

Always on the lookout to detect material causes for anxiety, the coordinator is more aware than anybody else of human frailties, psychological disorders, failing health, and lack of community training to welcome young people in their midst. Confronted by the daily onslaught of worries, the typical temptation is to compile all that is dying rather than bring to full bloom what is still alive. Nobody can obtain a burst of energy from a group by reproaching its decreasing vital forces; but persons can become energized if asked to contribute with all the life forces left to them. A sister can harbour a beautiful hope for future monastic expansion even when the aging community is declining in numbers. 'The Spirit blows where it wills".

 

. Insecurity for the future.            One must prepare for the future but it belongs to God alone: "The horse is equipped for the day of battle, but the victory is the Lord's" (Pr 21:31). "In your hands is my destiny" (Ps 31:16). It is one thing to forecast the future by looking at the average age of members, the economic and ecclesial environment, but God's designs for the community may be quite another thing; that is why focusing the community's concerns too exclusively on a human outlook of the future would be taking the wrong direction.

"The horse is equipped..." The community cannot renounce building the future, or striving for a heart renewed; but at the same time it must be open to the new heart God himself wishes to give to it. An aging group, however, may have a tendency to organize its old age, and mechanically choose solutions compatible with the fast approaching or already arrived last years of their lives, without being overly concerned about the future issues such as new formation needs. To prevent these unconscious resignations the coordinator can play a dynamic role, not only by looking forward to future goals, but by helping the community live peace­fully while facing death in all its forms.

 

Every community must accept the eventual impact of death forces, even though signs may indicate it will live for another century. All human reality, individual and communal, is matter for our daily spiritual offering - not only work, liturgy, joyful encounters, but also sickness, limitations, infirmary solitude, and the long agony marking the twilight days of life - realities our brothers and sisters in the world must also assume. What Paul says of early believers is also true of communities: "If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord (Rm 14:7­8)". And even though our congregation should die, the important thing, for all sisters, is to have lived.

Whatever may be the foreseeable future, the Lord has chosen all our communities, flourishing or diminished, young or old, to be forerunners bearing the standard of hope - hope in the Church and in the world. The essential is to focus our hope in the right place. Oftentimes we are tempted to place our trust in ourselves, in present structures, or in the living forces of the community. But theological hope always redirects our intentions towards God alone, towards his promises, and his fidelity to them.

 

 

B.    HOW CAN A COORDINATOR FIND PEACE, KEEP PEACE, IN SPITE OF THE DAILY EXODUS REQUIRED BY THE LORD ? HOW CAN SHE BE LIFE-GIVING AND YET CONSERVE HER OWN LIFE FORCES ?

 

On this subject the essential facts can be encapsulated in five spiritual goals.

 

1.    Follow God's will as indicated at the coordinator's election

 

This theological anchor enables the coordinator to tell herself again and again: "Today, God wants me as coordinator among my sisters; he calls me to serve and love him in this leadership ministry. I do not consider my position as coordinator as just a brief digression in my life or just a stop-gap measure. Today I have no better way of reaching God, and my love for him cannot flourish anywhere else...." Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep".

Even though I were the coordinator the community elected, but not the one desired, I am not here as a stop-gap, to mark time : Jesus asks me to be coordinator to the fullest measure possible. To fulfill this leadership mandate, I will have to strive for maximum liberation, especially in personal dialogue with the sisters, even to the point of forsaking certain activities where I am at ease, see what I accomplish, and feel useful. I must convince myself that action is possible even though limited, that the rhythm of individual conversions cannot be predetermined, that in the best of cases time will be needed, and that true dedication to the Lord's service does not consist in succeeding but in trying.

 

When new community elections become imminent, the coordinator should not relinquish her duties too soon, for sisters quickly perceive this withdrawal and sometimes harmful community habits may take root during the "interregnum". When the time is ripe the coordinator will serenely break ground for her successor, like the gardener who insists on leaving behind a fallow field ready to be sown. Then when the changeover takes place, she will fade into the background without complicating the process and with graceful good humour.

 

2.             Observe the community as objectively as possible

 

Evidently one must not avoid facing weaknesses; on the contrary one must learn to concentrate on all remaining possibilities.

 

In relation to individuals, especially those living a difficult phase, a coordinator can always ask herself: "What makes this sister still respond positively ? What still stimulates her to fresh efforts, both human and spiritual ? In her opinion what areas boost her self-image and are life-giving ? Have all means been tried ?"

 

In relation to community vitality, the coordinator is never at a complete loss; in general she can depend on several basic values:

- spending time in prayer; this is always a basic value that elicits agreement and efforts;

- certain times fostering greater openness;

- acts of fidelity evident to all (and secret ones too);

- some sisters available for any task (who sometimes need to be shielded and protected from their own zeal);

- and most importantly, activities and persons of good will capable of rendering services within the initial formation milieu, in periodic projects within the ongoing formation context, or in special liturgical celebrations, Church-events or community happenings.

 

This objective view can prevent the coordinator from thinking in terms of guilt about certain acts, attitudes and situations really due to sickness. Why be astonished at finding abnormal behaviour in a sick person ? In particular many aggressive actions deemed unacceptable in a healthy person should be seen as neurotic behaviour in some people. This in no way means the sister cannot make any effort and nobody can ask her for any; but such conditions enable us to forgive more easily, and especially avoid the futile cramming of our memory with such events. Accepting things as they are, as results of sickness and temporary instability, is both wisdom and charity; moreover, the suffering sister may feel comforted, if in spite of her failings she sees at her side a coordinator always willing to start afresh, "renewed each morning" as is the compassion of the Lord (Lm 3:23).

Looking objectively at the present and the future also facilitates the reconciliation of creativity and reality. One's goal is then to advance with the community in all areas, and at all possible times, without fearing repercussions, hours of suffering, or the slow pace of progress towards maturity.

 

3.    Return to Shiloah

 

The "gently flowing" waters of Shiloah (Is 8:6), main water supply for Jerusalem, could not be compared to the swelling waters of the Assyrian Euphrates which threatened to flood the whole of Judah. And yet it is to these two peaceful water sources that Isaiah redirects the people of Judah, as if they were a symbol of God's protection on which their faith must rest. If we wish to re-energize our lives, or rather let Christ send the "life-giving powers" of his Spirit, once again we have to find the waters of Shiloah, sometimes forgotten, sometimes disdained, and yet still flowing faithfully and discreetly, under the tall grasses of our adult life.

This requires that the coordinator effect a triple return, over and above many others she will have to make.

 

a) Return to the source of her call.

 

She is led:

 - to ratify anew her choice of the Lord... "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening; Lord, what would you have me do ?"

- to stabilize her commitment with all the might of past experience;

- to look disappointing sectors squarely in the eye and accept them with a loving 'yes';

- and finally, to tell herself, again and again, that all these trials inherent in a coordinator's task, are part of the spiritual adventure described or experienced by the holy founders of our institutes. A person consecrated to God is usually quick to recognize in sickness, in personal or family difficulties, the cross of the Lord; but it is much more difficult to discern any spiritual value in things that should not be, in all these aberrant, unjustifiable, quasi scandalous acts or behaviour, which we sooner or later face in community life, and which are a never-ending source of discouragement for the coordinator. The coordinator, obliged to live side by side with all these difficulties, must also keep the greater good of the community in mind while trying to cope with them, she can find peace again by reminding herself that all these unforeseen disappointments, including the weight of her own failings, are an integral part of the loving commitment, the everlasting covenant she contracted with the Lord.

 

b)    Return to the sacramental source.

 

The heavier responsibilities become, the more necessary it is to renew the sacramental celebration of Christ's forgiveness. The more a coordinator's time is fragmented and consumed, the more each Eucharistic thanksgiving must become her most fruitful moment - moments that are intense and arid, overflowing with faith, self-offering, and barren hope.

 

c)    Return to the fountain of God's life-giving Word, with true moments of gratuitous listening and interiorisation, which prepare and facilitate a prophetic reading of community events. The "lectio divina" is as necessary to the coordinator as it is to others, even more so; and for those who had and still have deeper needs for intellectual nourishment, taking time to absorb a few reliable books on theology or exegesis can be another form of service to others.

The fundamental attitude commanding these return processes is a daily act of self-openness to a new Pentecost, to a very gentle call for the coming of the Spirit, the Advocate, who witnesses to Jesus and empowers us to become witnesses too. "Abandonment to the Spirit", as Monsieur Olier used to say, almost naturally induces another docility, one that revives filial responses towards our Blessed Mother. This happens when the coordinator touches the very heart of her task, when to a certain extent she becomes a mother in order to become sufficiently a sister, and when she begins to have an insight into the meaning of the words 'to stand' at the foot of the Cross. Stabat Mater.

 

d)    Finally let us mention a return most useful to the coordinator in renewing or refocusing her own spiritual energies - a humble, human means, but one that turns out to be a powerful lever when lived within a faith experience: a periodic return to her own lived experience, to narrow her life down to its essentials with the help of a trustworthy person, if possible; in short, to judge with the eyes of the Church:

- what influences her relationship with God: her prayer life, her insight into the mystery of the Passover of Jesus, and her nearness to it;

- what concerns her mission: her place in the community, her Gospel witnessing, her interior freedom when taking a stand;

- finally, what affects her personal stability: her fidelity to the major community options, her emotional stability, her happiness in living the All through Nothingness, and her positively lived solitude as spouse of Christ.

 

If, in her milieu, it is impossible to find a person able to listen to her with the necessary objectivity and discretion, the coordinator will discover that it is still useful to examine objectively and conscientiously, from time to time, the various aspects of her life as they appear to her in the light of Christ, and to let the Spirit scrutinize the depth of her being.

 

4.             Maintain freedom of spirit in the midst of failings

 

To remain free of all success-oriented initiatives, all acts of impatience, any insistence on set patterns and time frames, any imaginary self-images, any proprietary instinct over her time, her ideas and her life; all this is matter for daily asceticism in the life of a coordinator. Naming ten modest ascetic means will suffice as illustration:

 

. Knowing that she herself 'beset by weakness' (He 5:2); being aware of her own fragile and vulnerable areas, of her tolerance level, of issues or times threatening to submerge her objectivity.

. Learning how to separate the objective analysis of an event from the suspicion of (eventual) guilt.

. Choosing examples from her own life, experiences, temptations, failings as little as possible when she is in the context of a helping relationship. Avoiding labels such as: "it is a typical case of...." For it is always disappointing, paralysing and sometimes heart-breaking when a sister feels she is being reduced to a typical case... or being compared to the exemplary model, her coordinator.

. Resisting the temptation to add in her mind the sisters' difficulties, and then living under the impression that the community as a whole is fragile.

. Working with time, or better still, letting God act in his own good time, walking in step with the Holy Spirit without taking the lead, giving God freedom to take all the time he wants.

. Never identifying a sister by her weakness or her difficulty.

. Aiming for a strong charity but at the same time neither expecting from a sister what she is unable to do, nor requesting she do it immediately.

. Giving each sister breathing space, and opportunity to surpass herself; and with this aim in mind, avoiding precipitation in trying to fill a void only Jesus can fill, and accepting to carry for a reasonable length of time, a certain insecurity in one or more sisters.

. Being an attentive listener, full of sympathy and understanding. This in no way implies taking unto herself all the suffering, the agitation, the confusion of a sister. The important point is the sister's conviction that her suffering and confusion are being understood, and that her woes are not shattering the listener. It is a question of "rejoicing with those who rejoice and being sad with those in sorrow" (Rm 12:15), but not being upset with the sister who is upset, or equivocal with the sister who equivocates. Otherwise it will be a question of 'one blind man leading another; both will fall into a pit' (Mt 15;14).

. Finally cleansing her memory by constantly referring to Christ the Shepherd. Everything that has to be considered, proved, retained, must be done with Christ and for Christ.

 

5.    Love to the very end

 

Christ, 'Master and Lord', placed a towel around his waist, took a basin of water, and began to wash the feet of each disciple. Coordinator you may be, but you also are in a position of service, in imitation of Christ, obedient unto death.

 

The good Shepherd knows his sheep, calls them by name, leads them, feeds them, and lays down his life for them. Just so, a coordinator's fidelity to the Lord consists in this: to know and understand each sister; to learn her true name, and assist her in cooperating with the discreet work of the Spirit; to begin each day with fresh hope for each one, refuse to accept resignation in the absence of dialogue, focus on the best qualities of each, even though failings are flagrant and attitudes reprehensible.

 

The coordinator is entrusted with the government of a community for three years, six years, or even longer; but this community is composed of persons who are in the same cloister and must manage their whole life there: the last days of their youth, their strong adult years, the downhill, old-age phase. Coordinators come and go: problems remain. Even the best of coordinators will have succeeded in leading her sisters only part way on their journey, without ever having had sufficient time to know them well enough to influence their growth in a decisive way. Every sister, even the most open and trusting, remains partly veiled in mystery. What sorrow is she harbouring ? Where is her anguish hiding ? What is the cause of this crisis ? What is the meaning of her confusion ? Oftentimes the coordinator finds no answer to these questions, or sometimes the answer is but a fragment of the whole. But the fact these questions are asked, as shepherdess in the name of the Shepherd, changes her outlook and her approach. This daily caring, this determination to hope for each sister, and with her, even against all hope, will leave an indelible mark in the coordinator's heart: a reflection of the Shepherd's mercy.

 

"Jesus had always loved his own in this world,

and would show his love for them to the end.

Knowing that the Father had put everything into his hands,

Jesus began to wash the disciple's feet" (Jn 13:1-3).

 

 

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