After the Society's restoration, on August 7th, 1814, the Jesuits started forming Sodalities as they had always done. Yet the diocesan ones continued to develop too, but with little or no influence from Ignatian spirituality. There were, therefore, Diocesan Sodalities and Sodalities attached to Jesuit apostolic works. The uneven quality of the Sodalities, diocesan or run by Jesuits, was evident.

There was an urgent need of renewal. In 1922 Father Ledokowski, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, called to Rome forty Jesuits, all of them Sodality Directors, for a thorough reflection on the movement. A Central Secretariat was created at the Jesuit Curia for the promotion and renewal of the Sodalities^[3]. On 1948, Pope Pius XII, a former sodalist himself, published the Apostolic Constitution Bis Saeculari, clarifying the identity of the Sodalities of our Lady and inviting them to go back to their original inspiration. The Constitution placed the Spiritual Exercises at the heart of the Sodalities spirituality.

Father Carrillo de Albornoz was head of the World Secretariat at the time. A personal friend of the Pope, father Carrillo was very influential in the preparation of the Apostolic Constitution. Unfortunately, two years later he left the Priesthood, married and became a Protestant. It was a deadly blow to the renewal movement.

To replace him father Jansens, Superior General at the time, chose a holy and enterprising young Jesuit from Holland: Louis Paulussen. Father Paulussen had some clear ideas about the renewal of the Sodalities as a lay association, run by lay people, rooted in Ignatian spirituality, particularly on the Spiritual Exercises. He tried to open the World Secretariat to lay people, and the opportunity was offered in 1966 when the offices on Borgo S.Spirito 8 were vacated. Ms Edythe M. Westenhaver came to Rome from the United States, becoming the first lay person at the World Secretariat.

On 1954 the World Federation of the Sodalities of our Lady was born. The World Congresses ^[4], organized every five years, prepared the General Principles with the collaboration of the Central Secretariat and the National Federations. The Second Vatican Council (1963-65) started opening windows in the Church. Lay people were given a new protagonism and importance in the Church. At the Bombay World Assembly the new General Principle were ready, but it was decided to wait until the closing of the Council. On 1967 a special World Assembly was called, in Rome.

The 1967 Assembly was a re-founding of the Sodalities. It was not an easy gathering because there were different traditions and experiences among the National Sodalities. Some ‘traditional’ Sodalities numbered hundreds and even thousands of members ^[5] and did not feel any urgent need for a radical renewal. While others had already experienced a fruitful renewal, particularly in making the Spiritual Exercises ^[6].

The desire for renewal prevailed. Looking for new ways, France provided leadership, vision and experience. Since World War II, the Sodalities had died in France, and what had flourished was a spiritual movement, “Vie Chretienne”, deeply rooted in Ignatian Spirituality. When the French delegates spoke, their message was welcome as prophetic. At the end, the French model and even the French name was adopted: the Sodalities of our Lady would become Christian Life Communities. The new General Principles were approved too.

On 1970 Ms Josée Gsell, a talented and charismatic French leader, came to Rome as Executive Secretary. For the next twenty years Ms Josée Gsell would foster the new vision and way of life at world level.

The new World Federation followed new juridical norms. The spirit’s authenticity was to be assured by the General Principles and not by the affiliation to the Prima Primaria. The authority to affiliate a community was entrusted to the World Assembly and its World Executive Council. The Holy See approved these General Principles and Norms; the Superior General of the Society of Jesus willingly renounced his authority in favour of the World Assembly and its World ExCo.

Many Sodalities, however, felt betrayed and abandoned. Some continued to operated outside the new model, like in Medellin (Colombia), the Koskas of Madrid. Others accepted the General Principles only as a formality, while going along their own way, like the Sodalities of Madagascar and Lebanon. Others, like Italy, would only accept the renewal years later.

The emphasis of this renewal was on the formation of each individual member and of community life (in small groups of up to twelve members). The person joining the CLC would go through different stages of growth, patterned along the spiritual itinerary of the Spiritual Exercises, starting from the Principle and Foundation, reaching the Contemplation to attain Love, learning about individual and communal discernment, and having individual spiritual guidance.

The renewed communities offered to laypeople in the Church a formation process, a lifestyle and communal structures of Ignatian inspiration. This Ignatian way to live the lay vocation and mission has been developed in the process of formulating the General Principles of 1967 and later improved in 1990. The General Assemblies have also offered a precious contribution to the development of this lay-ignatian-charism. After 1967 the World Congresses were organized every three years, after Providence '82, every four years, after Itaici ’98, every five years. Of special importance are Providence '82 where CLC ceased to be a Federation and became One World Community and Guadalajara '90, where the Renewed General Principles were discussed and approved. The General Assemblies until 1990 helped clarifying CLC's identity and formation process. The last ones, especially Hong Kong '94 and Itaici ‘98, focused on CLC’s common mission.

However, the General Assemblies have little or no impact on the lifestyle of most local communities. The spiritual support and friendship offered by the local group seems to meet the needs and aspirations of most CLC members. Regarding the wider community, especially at the national and world levels, most members show limited interest and only take part in those events, gatherings and mission drives which interest them at the moment.

Many members of our communities are not familiar with the General Principles or even with the Ignatian spirituality; only a few do the Spiritual Exercises every year or go beyond the local group and collaborate with the national and world community’s projects. There are deep differences in formation, lifestyle and apostolic dynamism between the National Communities. In many aspects CLC continues to be a “Federation of National Communities” rather than “One World Community”. One of the main reasons for this inconsistency is the lack of adequate channels for communicating the charism to the national and local communities. The danger of General Assemblies is pretending that the mere formulation of bold statements is an adequate answer to the needs and challenges from within as well as from around the association.

The second danger in the General Assemblies comes from the way reports are presented. Most delegates simply enumerate the events and activities that have taken place in the last five years at national or world levels. The main question seems to be: What good have we done? The exercise becomes a display of vitality and commitment. The prevailing feeling is complacency. We are really brave! In this general atmosphere, no national community wants to be dissonant by offering a more sober view of their life and service in the context of the surrounding urgent needs and challenges. The guiding question should, therefore, be: What are the needs and aspirations of people around us to whom we feel called to serve? What have we actually done? How much we were not able to do? Why?

It is especially in the field of mission that the CLC needs to continue the transformation from its roots, the Sodalities of our Lady. The mission statements in the General Principle are particularly generous, aware of the spiritual needs as well as of the social injustices and critical situations around us. The Itaici ’98 document clearly states: “First, we want to bring the freeing power of Christ to our social reality. Secondly, we want to find Christ in all our varied cultures and to let His grace illuminate all that needs transformation. Thirdly, we want to live Christ so as to bring him to every aspect of our daily life in the world”.

Once more, there is a great distance between the World Assembly’s statement and the reality of the local communities. Unlike the old Sodalities of our Lady, which had a tradition and a specific style in the field of service, the CLC has developed a deep spirituality and community lifestyle, but not yet its own apostolic strategies in the service of families and marriage preparation, youth, the marginalized, professionals or people with special needs. Many communities are not even aware of the existence of such bold statements in our documents ^[7].

It is true that many CLC members actively collaborate with other institutions in the fields of culture, catechesis or social action. In some national communities there are rich experiences of service in specific fields such as marriage preparation, education and social involvement. But these experiences remain local, and the only field in which World CLC has developed important strategies and tools is in the Spiritual Exercises, Spiritual Direction and Ignatian Spirituality.

Writing the CLC history. An inspiring way to celebrate our golden jubilee would be writing the history of the CLC along the last 50 years. This history can be read at “world level” through the General Assemblies, or at “national level”, gathering the information about the struggles, success and difficulties faced by the national community in the past 50 years. The history of CLC at world level has often been written. It is at the national level that the history of the past 50 years needs to be known. Some articles may already exist. The task of the national communities would be to gather these articles, witnesses and documents, adding what still is missing. It is still possible to document the situation of the National Sodalities before 1967. Though delicate in many cases, it is also possible to document and describe the transition process from the Sodalities to CLC:

- the background of the transition: the Sodalities’ situation before 1967, the leadership at the time;

- how the need for renewal was felt or less;

- the answers offered along the past 50 years;

- stages of change, crisis, adaptation and growth;

- Jesuits’ collaboration before and after the transition in terms of facilities, leadership, and collaboration.

Hopefully CLC keeps bringing up many committed men and women who love Jesus very dearly and generously serve people. Let us hope too that the Association develops ways and means to make this service more efficient and accessible to more people, becoming a better instrument in God’s hands.

Vietnam, June 12th 2008

• • •

Appendix A

Appendix B