ROME: 3rd April 2006: Let's at least be historically
clear - what you see above is good headline stuff, not necessarily good
history. Today, 3rd April is not the feast of Richard the
Lionheart , Richard I of England, but of St. Richard of
Chichester. Fr Ric Fernando SDB, canon lawyer at the Direzione
Generale, more commonly known as the Pisana, had no idea it would
be his namesake's day when, by mutual agreement with his professors, he
chose 3rd April to defend his doctoral thesis in Canon Law at the
UPS. He did not realise, either, that it was also the day the
head of the organisation which is subject of his doctoral
investigations would be celebrating the fourth anniversary of his
appointment as Rector Major of the Salesian Society, the SSJB (Salesian
Society of St. John Bosco) as Ric calls it henceforth in his
thesis. All of that calls for a fervent prayer! St Richard
of Chichester, then, is just the man. 'Jesus Christ Superstar'
immortalised Richard's very own prayer: "May I know thee more clearly,
Love thee more dearly, Follow thee more nearly, Day by day".
Ric, a Filipino, has exactly the right form of this
famous name, which is Germanic in origin. 'Ric', the spelling as
Anglosaxon as you can get, really, means 'power, leader, ruler,
braveheart'. He needs all of that today as he tackles the
question of the higher organisational levels of SSJB. He looks at
the governance structures of Religious Institutes with particular
application to SSJB. The thesis came out of the personal
experience of one trained in canon law, arriving in Rome and expecting
to be appointed to a juridical office with a job description, with
clear directions for action and so forth. Alas, life isn't quite
like that. This was Rome, and a particular part of Rome at
that. So he set too wondering about what the difference might be
between a 'Casa Generalizia' and a 'Curia Generalizia', the latter
having perhaps more of the accoutrements
of legal setting and structure. This is not every man's favourite
territory, and one has to fight one's way through the jungle of
distinctions between Procurator Generals and Secretary Generals - Ric's
thesis seems to suggest that these distinctions are less clearly
delineated in a 'Casa' than they are in a 'Curia'!
This is qualitative research at its most
interesting, especially as the thesis wrestles with balance between a
central form of governance in fidelity to Don Bosco, and a style which
also bespeaks familiarity, decentralisation, co-responsibility,
participation....
While not calling into question of the existence of
regional organisation as such, the thesis does call into question the
precise links in the structure between top level (Superior General and
Council) as understood across religious Institutes like ourselves, and
Provinces. At the very least, coming at a time when the whole
Council has gathered to think in detail of GC26, the thesis has
something to offer to wider thinking about future top-level structure
and how it is spelled out. It is the 'spelling out' which is a
particular concern of the thesis.
Here in the Region, we are with Fr Ric as he fronts
up for this culminating moment of his studies. It doesn't matter
what we think of the topic - all that matters is what his professors
think today! Good luck.
GLOSSARY
accoutrements: French, pure and
simple, but common enough in English too: means quipment in general,
but perhaps more the equipment of a soldier, so suitable in this
context.
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