17_anno9_num2_0457-0464


17_anno9_num2_0457-0464



1 Page 1

▲back to top


REFOUNDING OR RENEWAL? A HISTORICAL CASE STUDY
W. John Dickson
Refounding versus renewal
Out of Chaos is certainly a title calculated to capture the attention and inter-
est of religious superiors and those interested in the future of religious life in the
Church. To offer strategies for bringing new creativity out of the experience of
declining numbers of vocations and ageing communities must seem like the long
awaited light at the end of the tunnel. One statistic which marks the seriousness of
the position is that in the last twenty-five years the numbers in the largest single
men's religious order have declined by a third. Fr Gerry Arbuckle's thesis, devel-
oped in his book with the above title, suggests that religious life has to face up to
the chaos and find and encourage 'refounding persons' or 'intrapreneurs' if it is to
survive. This thesis has produced a considerable debate among religious and I
would like to offer the insights of my own study of The Foundation and Devel-
opment of the Salesians in England as a historical case study in refounding or
renewal as a contribution to the discussion.
To a student of the history of religious life, one feature of Fr Arbuckle's dis-
cussion is very striking, namely the emphasis which he places on a multidiscipli-
nary approach to the problems of religious life. He combines insights from cul-
tural anthropology, management studies with Biblical insights, especially the Old
Testament idea of Prophecy in the development of his thesis. I admit to being
surprised that there is not more reference to the New Testament and to my own
interest, the history of
The two books referred to are: G.A. ARBUCKLE, Out of Chaos (London 1988). Raymond
HOSTIE, Vie et Morts des ordres religieux. (Desclée de Brouwer, 1972).
Charles Booth's Life and Labour in London studied by means of huge survey of the capi-
tal, the levels of poverty and also of religious affiliation and practice at the turn of the century
and was published in 17 volumes (1902-3). The original reports are in a special Booth Collec-
tion at the London School of Economics.
My own Thesis on which these remarks are based is called The Foundation and Devel-
opment of the Salesians in England— the Dynamics of Growth, and was presented at the Univer-
sity of Durham in 1988.

2 Page 2

▲back to top


458 W. John Dickson
religious life itself. Another study of the Life and Death of Religious Orders from
a 'socio-psychological point of view' by Raymond Hostie develops a parallel the-
sis but from a wide study of the history of religious orders. Hostie suggests that
there is a natural life span for a religious order but that for it to survive and de-
velop after that it must go through a process of renewal. The key element which
he identifies in this process is what he calls, 'the creative ferment' which occurs
when the religious concerned rediscover the essential Charism of their order and
at the same time see its contemporary urgency and relevance which compel them
to revive it.
Fr Arbuckle's analysis seems at first sight to follow a similar path but he
puts his emphasis very heavily on the need for religious to correspond to current
pastoral needs and sits very lightly with the equally important and fundamentally
historical task of clarifying the original charism of the founder situated as it is in
a specific historical and geographical context and being creatively faithful to it in
a new context.
The Salesians in England A case study
The Salesians were founded by St. John Bosco in Turin working out of his
practical experience among the young apprentices' and poor and abandoned
youngsters on the streets of Piedmont's rapidly expanding capital. Though he
began his work in 1841 it was only in 1874 that he received final approval from
Rome for the Constitutions of the Pious Society of St Francis de Sales. He defined
the aim of the Society in the earliest extant form of the constitutions of 1858,
thus:
The first exercise of Charity (of the Society's members) will be to gather
together poor and abandoned youngsters to instruct them in the holy
Catholic religion particularly at weekends and holidays, as is now being
done in this city of Turin at the Oratory of St Francis de Sales...1
Don Bosco's own life and desperate concern to be a sign and bearer of God's
love for poor and abandoned youngsters starting in their own surroundings be-
came the founding inspiration of the Society.
DISCOURAGING BEGINNINGS
The first Salesians were sent to England in November 1887, just before
1 G. Bosco, Costituzioni della Società di S. Francesco di Sales (1858-1875). Testi critici a
cura di F. Motto (Roma, 1982), p. 74 (my translation).

3 Page 3

▲back to top


Refounding or renewal? A historical case study
459
Don Bosco's death, to take over the abandoned Sacred Heart Catholic Mission
Chapel, a corrugated iron shed in a back street near Clapham Junction. Of the
first three pioneers, Fr Edward McKiernan, the first superior died of T.B. in little
over a year, another, an Italian brother, returned to Italy within the year and the
third, Fr Charles Macey (1864-1928), only ordained in time to go to England in
November 1887, with less than a year's parish experience, was left without
enough funds even to pay for Fr McKiernan's funeral, with a leaking chapel, apt
to be demolished by the next high wind, according to the Surveyor of public
works, and an irate Franco-Irish Papal countess for a patron. Astonishingly in this
situation of rather desolate chaos round Fr Macey there arose a remarkable flour-
ishing of vocations. This was due no doubt to the interest shown in youngsters by
the new community and inspiration of Fr McKiernan's heroic death. But it also
arose from the deep faith and affection of Battersea's Irish and with the sympathy
and help of Fr Francis (later Cardinal) Bourne and some of the other local clergy,
though largely financed from Turin.
EARLY FLOURISHING
Between 1887 and 1898 the number of Salesians grew from 3 to 40, five of
whom were stationed in Cape Town, the vast majority of whom were English and
Irish boys accepted free of charge for education to the priesthood. This was an
extraordinary success when one considers that Battersea in the 1890's was con-
sidered something of a hellhole with a nearby street well known for its gambling
dens and 'common boarding houses', where even the police were unable to enter.
The personal charisma of Fr Macey must surely qualify him as a 'refounding
person'.
DISTURBING DEVELOPMENTS
However by the time the first canonical Visitation of the Province took place
in 1908, the Salesians found themselves facing the problems consequent on such
a 'refounding person' producing a very personal, not to say ideosyncratic regime.
Fr Paul Virion, the French Provincial and Visitor commented thus:
The Provincial looks after the different houses with diligence (excepting
Cape Town) and is much loved by all his dependents, the greater part of
whom were his pupils. It appears, however, that he shows a certain par-
tiality and weakness for some of them. The Irish, on the other hand,

4 Page 4

▲back to top


460
W. John Dickson
do not show much confidence and complain that he does not like them
and the same for the Coadjutors (lay brothers)...2
As to the government of the Province,
The Provincial Chapter (a Council of senior members) do not have re-
guar meetings, only getting together for particular topics, there is no
freedom of discussion. The Provincial is absolute in his opinions and
does not allow contradiction.3
Refounded in a different style
Under Fr Macey the Salesians in England had developed a style quite differ-
ent to that on the continent. He was born in Salisbury in 1864, and became a
Catholic in 1870. His own initial experience of religious life had been at Down-
side shortly after his conversion, when it was heavily influenced by the gothic
revival and it seems that he tended to adopt something of their style, rather than
that of Don Bosco and the Oratory. In fact, during Fr Macey's first six years in
the Society before he came to England he had only lived there very briefly, hav-
ing spent two years of his training in Marseilles and the rest at the studentate
outside Turin. As Fr Virion said,
Thus the Ispettore is called Fr Provincial... The clerics (students for the
priesthood) are called Brothers (Fratres) and change their name for a re-
ligious name. They say that this is how it is done in England, while in
reality it seems that this is not done in the Seminaries, nor even do the
other religious Congregations e.g. Redemptorists, Jesuits. The coadju-
tors wear clerical dress.4
These changes of custom may seem insignificant details but they indicated a
real modification of the style of life and probably of founding charism of Don
Bosco which valued the informality of contact between the Salesians and street
kids which formal titles and the adoption of obscure, antique names might have
discouraged. Furthermore in Don Bosco's view the Coadjutors or Brothers were
professional craftsmen and professed laymen, whose role in the Society was to
infiltrate the world where youngsters worked and Christianise it. Instead, Fr Ma-
cey saw them much
2 Archivio Salesiano Centrale (Via della Pisana, 1111, Roma; S31 (24)12 Inghilterra Don
Paulo Virion, Visitatore p. lb.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.

5 Page 5

▲back to top


Refounding or renewal? A historical case study
461
more as the equivalent of religious domestic servants, which the Italian coadju-
tors who came to England stongly resented.
Perhaps at a deeper level Fr Macey's failure to found the most characteristic
Salesian work of charity, an Oratory or Boy's Club, maikeu his farthest departure
from Don Bosco's vision. That even in darkest Battersea this was not impossible
is proved by the fact that C. Booth's survey Life and Labour in London recorded a
most favourable impression of just such a Catholic Boys' club which had been
founded during the same period in the East Battersea parish by Charlotte De-
spard, that extraordinarily courageous convert to Catholicism, Women's Suffrage
and the Irish Independence Movement. This failure meant that the Salesian's
main work in England in this period, as was also noted by Booth's interviewer,
became restricted to the isolated, inward looking boarding school at Battersea
which certainly provided secondary education for less well off Catholic boys and
nurtured ecclesiastical vocations in many of them, but which was almost totally
insulated from the poor and abandoned youngsters that Don Bosco wanted to
bring God's Love to.
A crisis of growth
By 1907 the numbers of Salesians in the Province had reached its peak of
growth and fell from 90 members in 1907 to 76 in 1908. In fact the 1907 figure
was not to be surpassed till 1921, and the intervening period might be character-
ised as one of stagnation. The refounding activity of Fr Macey appears to have
run its course. The school at Battersea, with the vast concentration of young Sale-
sians living and working in it (never less than 40) quickly appears to have taken
up the prevailing middle class model of education and the clerical-gentleman
model of Priesthood, both far removed from Don Bosco's outlook.
A new departure
Although Fr Macey was succeeded as Provincial in 1909 by Fr Francis Sca-
loni (1865-1926) he retained effective control till 1919 as he remained Rector of
the house at Battersea, with by far the largest community with 44 confreres. This
position was further emphasised since the new Provincial still had to look after
the Belgian Province, and in fact spent the war years on the German side of the
lines unable to communicate with England.

6 Page 6

▲back to top


462 W. John Dickson
However while the decade from 1908-1918 marked the doldrums as to the num-
ber of vocations, still in the post-war period there was a remarkable and sustained
period of growth which took the numbers of Salesians from 83 in 1918 to 180 in
1928.5
This period marked a second stage of growth for the Province one based on
a very different style of leadership and inspiration. After the war Fr Scaloni was
relieved of his duties in Belgium and reappointed Provincial of the English Prov-
ince. His work in Belgium was remarkable because not only had he put the Sale-
sians in the forefront of the development of technical education but also in his
pamphlet on Christian Socialism he had brought the Salesian name and the politi-
cal education of young workers to the notice of the Belgian Parliament. He was a
man of wide vision and genuine culture but his impact in England was somewhat
blunted by his lack of facility with the language. However, his period in office
saw the Salesian work spread outside London and the South East to Thornleigh
College, Bolton and to two agricultural colleges in Ireland at Limerick and War-
renstown in Meath. Perhaps more significantly it saw the development of a Stu-
dentate at Cowley near Oxford.
His chief collaborator in this transformation of the Province was Fr Angelo
Franco (1885-1966) who in his turn was helped by a remarkable communicator
and enthusiast Fr Joseph Ciantar who scoured England and Ireland looking for
candidates for the Society and finance to educate them. Together, they master-
minded and put into practice a new systematic programme of study and spiritual
preparation for the young Salesians in the Province.
Franco's contribution
Fr Franco brought to the Province an originality of mind and fine education
which he combined with the living experience of having been a private secretary
to Don Bosco's second successor Fr Paul Albera, a first hand witness to the life
and work of the founder whom Don Bosco had repeatedly asked for on his death
bed. In combination with the immensely practical and immediately appealing Fr
Ciantar, Fr Franco became a powerful force for change in the Province. Three
concerns dominated his outlook, his belief in the dynamic power of education, his
love for England and his concern for the foreign Missions. As a result of their
work, they not
5 Elenco Salesiano (Torino, 1908-1928).

7 Page 7

▲back to top


Refounding or renewal? A historical case study
463
only inspired a generation of young Salesians with a love for Don Bosco's educa-
tional outlook but prepared a steady stream of young idealists ready to go out to
work for poor youngsters in the Mission fields of North East India, China and
South America.
Fr Franco's initial experience was as Rector of the novices at Burwash,
known by the English confreres as the 'tomb' of the Province. He wrote of his
experience to Fr Albera:
They (the novices) come here with their heads full of prejudice against
the life of the Novitiate and against the Italians. In these first weeks we
have shown them (patience?) and watched over them with much in-
dulgence and compassion in order to gain their confidence. And now
my dear Fr Albera permit me to make a suggestion, why not consider
preparing the better of our clerics abroad... to Rome so that they can
complete their philosophical studies so that besides acquiring a serious
ecclesiastical culture, they may also gain a practical knowledge of the lan-
guage, of Salesian life, of the superiors... and then... they could commu-
nicate to their countrymen that Salesian Spirit which certainly given the
fervour of their first years of religious life they could not fail to learn in
Italy.6
STUDENTATE AT OXFORD
His other plan was to open a new house of studies at Oxford in a property
recently vacated by the Franciscan Capuchins where the Salesians would be in a
centre of learning near the other religious orders who had opened training houses
there, the Jesuits, Benedictines, Dominicans and Franciscans, but also close to the
university which he described as 'the centre of learned Anglicanism'. From this
house he sent the first group of Salesians to take their degrees, thus preparing to
have them make a serious impact on the world of education. His breadth of cul-
ture, his personal warmth and delightful simplicity attracted students and encour-
aged them to have a serious regard for their own intellectual preparation as well
as a deep regard for the Salesians Spirit.
LATER FOUNDATIONS
In later years he followed up his foundation at Cowley by founding a Junior
Seminary at Shrigley Park in Cheshire (1929) and a Theology House at Blaisdon
Hall near Gloucester (1934). He transformed the process of
6 ASC (as above) S.389 Burwash. Franco-Albera (3.6.1920).

8 Page 8

▲back to top


464
W. John Dickson
Salesian Formation from being a haphazard affair to becoming a real programme
of serious preparation. Characteristically, moved as he was by the concerns of
Don Bosco, at Cowley he encouraged the students to begin a Boy's Club which
was open to all the local youngsters, not just the Catholics.
Fr Franco represents that style of 'renewal' rather than 'refounding' which is
deeply in touch with the charism of the Founder and yet is able to adapt it both
faithfully and creatively to the prevailing pastoral needs.
Conclusion
The revitalisation of religious life is essential in the Church in every age and
particularly our own when the church seeks to present itself as the 'Light to the
Nations'. In the figures of Fr Macey and Fr Scaloni who must both qualify as
'refounding persons' one can see illustrated the dangers of Fr Arbuckle's approach
to development. With Fr Macey's imperfect grasp of, and attachment to, the origi-
nal charism of Don Bosco and his tendency to a non-consultative style of gov-
ernment, he was shaped far more by his own idiosyncrasies and the prevailing
ideology of his times than by the original charism maintained in the community
and guaranteed by the Church's approval. In contrast, Fr Franco's collaborative
style of government and personal grasp of and attachment to the Spirit of the
Founder promoted a much more sustained path of growth and personal develop-
ment for the Salesians involved and for the youngsters whom they served. The
problem with 'refounders' as such, is that they do just that. 'Renewal', in contrast
is at heart more Catholic in that it insists on the importance of creative continuity.
It recognises the Holy Spirit as being at work in the Church in every age in au-
thentic religious communities discerned by the church as such. Being in commun-
ion with that continuity and yet able to adapt is the hallmark of what Vatican II
called The Appropriate Renewal of Religious Life.