Inter-Institute-Collaboration-en


Inter-Institute-Collaboration-en

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CONGREGATION FOR INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED LIFE
AND FOR SOCIETIES OF APOSTOLIC LIFE
INTER-INSTITUTE COLLABORATION FOR FORMATION
Instruction
ABBREVIATIONS
Documents of the Second Vatican Council
LG - Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 1965.
OT - Decree Optatam totius, 1965.
PC - Decree Perfectae caritatis, 1965.
Documents of the Popes
ChL - Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles laici, John Paul II, 1988.
PDV - Apostolic Exhortation Pastores dabo vobis, John Paul II, 1992.
RM .Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, John Paul II, 1990.
VC - Apostolic Exhortation Vita consecrata, John Paul II, 1996.
Documents of the Holy See
Can. - Canon or canons of Codex Iuris Canonici, 1983.
EE - Essential Elements in the Church's Teaching on Religious Life, SCRIS,
1983.
FLC - Fraternal Life in Community, CICLSAL, 1994.
MR - Mutuae relationes, SCRIS and the Sacred Congregation for Bishops,
1978.
PI - Potissimum institutioni, CICLSAL, 1990.
RC - Renovationis causam, SCRIS, 1969.
RFIS - Ratio fundamentalis institutionis sacerdotalis, Sacred Congregation
for Catholic Education, 1970.
RHP - Religious and Human Promotion, SCRIS, 1980.
INTRODUCTION
1. Attentive to the conditions of the present moment and under the guidance
of the Lord, the Church is continuously required to provide, in view of the
growth of the Body of Christ,(1) for the formation of her members.
Aware of the significance which religious life has for the People of God,(2)
the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of
Apostolic Life judges it an obligation to reflect on the formation of
members of religious institutes in today's circumstances and to propose
some directives which guarantee a formation which is complete, solid, and
consistent with the journey of the Church. One fruit of this commitment
was publication of the Instruction Potissimum institutioni.(3)
2. By this new document, the Congregation wishes to develop one of the

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questions of which that Instruction speaks, the question about collaboration
among institutes involved in works of the apostolate(4) for the formation of
their own members.(5)
What is said in this document about religious institutes applies also to
societies of apostolic life, taking into account their own character.(6)
3. Collaboration among institutes in the area of formation arose from the
need to answer the challenges arising from concrete situations and from
specific pedagogical needs. At the beginning, it developed mainly in places
where religious families had a limited number of candidates either because
of a reduced number of vocations or because the vocations were the first
fruits of the apostolic work of the young Churches. In addition, there were a
lack of formators and a small number of qualified teaching personnel. This
situation brought numerous institutes to join forces, aware of the need to
offer their members a more complete and deeper formation.
At the same time, in many cases there was a need to carry out initial
formation in a setting not alien to the culture of the candidates, so as to
promote a positive integration between the life of each institute and the
culture of the members received into it. Such a need, encountered in diverse
geographical and cultural settings, found an effective answer in “inter-
institute(7) centers”. These have helped to avoid an exodus of candidates
into other cultures during the initial process of religious life.
A more clear understanding of the many demands and difficulties found on
the formative journey has also brought institutes to create such centers. A
growing number of institutes wishes to offer their young members in
formation the most complete educational course possible. In their formative
communities, they continue the task of handing on the spiritual patrimony
of the institute. But they also feel the need to offer those elements which
have always constituted the precious common patrimony of consecrated
life, a richness which flows from the centuries long experience of the
Church and from the pressing needs and yearnings of our time. A deep and
integral synthesis of all these elements is a very complex task that can not
always be carried out by the formators and professors of one institute by
itself.
The establishment of inter-congregational centers of formation, properly
carried out, is positive and helps build an awareness of ecclesial
communion in the variety of vocations and charisms and the multiple forms
of service in the mission of the Church. His Holiness, Pope John Paul II,
has said: “in order to assure the new generations, those responsible for
formation, and all men and women religious of an adequate preparation,
you have begun many forms of cooperation”.(8) In this way, it is possible
to “take advantage of the work of the best collaborators of each institute
and offer services that not only help to overcome eventual limitations, but
that create a valid style of formation to religious life”.(9)
In the same message, the Holy Father also emphasizes that these inter-
institute initiatives “will at the same time help to make the most of specific
charisms, developing communion and the awareness of complementarity in

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fraternity, and extending the horizons of charity to the universal Church and
the entire local Church”.(10)
In this way, the Holy Father re-affirms the fundamental orientations of
Vatican Council II in relation to formation. These have been ratified by the
experience which religious life has known in recent years. The doctrine
taught by the Council and found in subsequent documents of the
Magisterium shows the profound integration which exists among
formation, renewal, and the mission of the religious institutes.(11) Even
more, he underscores the fact that formation is a primary factor for the
renewal of the institutes and for a more vital assimilation of their
charismatic identity in view of the continuing evolution of our time. High
quality formative programs are indispensable for carrying out the mission
of the institutes in a world which poses fundamental questions about faith
and consecrated life, in relation to scientific, human, ethical, and religious
problems.
I. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICAL DIRECTIVES
4. In order to understand and accompany the development of these
initiatives, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for
Societies of Apostolic Life has gathered extensive documentation on the
inter-institute centers which already exist. Study of this material has helped
us reflect on some fundamental conditions for the educational effectiveness
of the centers and their various initiatives: clarity about the purpose of the
center, determination of ultimate responsibility and of the authorities for
running the center, quality and preparation of professors, integrated design
of the program and of its gradual implementation. Of fundamental
importance for creating an atmosphere which helps in the living and
deepening of the call to consecrated life, however, is the presence of the
formators in these initiatives, and the smooth meshing and complementarity
of the inter-congregational program with the programs of the individual
institutes.
5. Given the diversity of circumstances in which these centers have arisen
and their somewhat recent experience, questions and problems have also
arisen which it is helpful to recognize in order to make appropriate
discernment and clarification. Some have to do with the relationship
between the identity of each institute and communion in diversity, between
the goal of the centers to offer a service to all and the freedom of institutes
to take advantage of centers or not. Other questions concern the vision of
apostolic religious life which underlies the pedagogical structure, and thus
of the design of the programs and of the criteria for choosing the teaching
personnel. Still others are concerned with the effective participation of
those responsible for formation in the institutes, monitoring formation, the
real conditions which make it possible to transform temporarily living
together in the centers into an experience of deep ecclesial communion and
of authentic spiritual and apostolic formation, open to the needs of
evangelization.(12)
Fundamental Principles

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6. In face of this rich and complex situation, and attentive to the various
initiatives already functioning, the Congregation considers itself
responsible to offer some reflections and timely directives for the
monitoring, consolidation, and development of these experiences and of
others like them.
Such directives are based on the principles which regulate initial and
continuing formation for religious life, in the variety of its charisms and in
its specific role in the communion and mission of the Church.(13)
a) Formation: Inalienable right and duty of every institute
7. Before entering into specifics, it seems necessary to recall that formation
is an inalienable right and duty of every institute.(14) This fundamental
principle is basic to this entire document and needs to be given prominence
right from the beginning so that collaboration among institutes in the
overall formative process can be properly understood.
7.1. Every institute has a primary responsibility for its own identity. In fact,
“the charism of the founders, an experience of the Holy Spirit transmitted
to their disciples to be lived, safeguarded, deepened, and constantly
developed by them, in harmony with the Body of Christ continually in the
process of growth”,(15) is entrusted to each institute as its original
patrimony for the benefit of the entire Church.(16) Cultivating their own
identity in “creative fidelity”,(17) then, means harmoniously blending in
the life and mission of the People of God, the gifts and experiences which
enrich it,(18) as well as taking care that religious not “become part of the
life of the Church in a vague and ambiguous way”.(19)
It follows that each institute is recognized as having a rightful autonomy of
life, especially of government, by means of which it has in the Church its
own discipline and can keep intact and develop its spiritual and apostolic
patrimony. It is the responsibility of local Ordinaries to preserve and
safeguard this autonomy.(20) Autonomy of life and of government implies
a corresponding autonomy in the area of formation, because “the first
responsibility for the formation of religious belongs by law to each
institute”.(21)
7.2. It is in the process of formation that the charismatic identity is
acquired. This identity is necessary not only for the maturity of the
members in order to live and work in conformity with the foundational
charism, but also for the identity and unity of the institute, as well as for the
authenticity of its expressions in diverse cultures,(22) and for the Church's
communion-mission. “In fact, taking into consideration that initial and
continuing formation in regard to one's own charism is the responsibility of
the institute, inter-congregational formation cannot entirely fulfill the task
of the continuing formation of the members. This formation must be
imbued, under many aspects, with the characteristics proper to the charism
of each institute”.(23)
Thus, in keeping with these principles, when the Code of Canon Law
speaks of formation in the strict sense, it refers only to the formation of

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religious within the context of their own institutes.(24) This does not
preclude, however, the possibility of collaboration which is indeed
recognized and encouraged by Pope John Paul II in his post-synodal
Apostolic Exhortation Vita consecrata. He asks that “in the perspective of a
communion open to the challenges of our time, Superiors, men and women,
'working in harmony with the Bishops', should seek 'to make use of the
accomplishments of the best members of each Institute'”.(25)
7.3. For its part, the Church must safeguard and promote the proper
character and the charismatic awareness of the institutes, making of both
one of the fundamental principles of renewal for the institutes,(26) because
the state which is constituted by profession of the evangelical counsels is a
“precious and necessary gift for the present and future of the People of
God, since it is an intimate part of her life, her holiness and her mission”.
(27) Further, since the charism of each institute is an original and singular
gift which the Spirit makes to the Church, she is concerned to assure the
spiritual conditions and the juridic instruments which guarantee its
fruitfulness, development, and harmony in the ecclesial communion.(28)
b) Collaboration and solidarity in formation
8. The principle of collaboration(29) and solidarity among the various
institutes, especially among those present in a determined geographic-
cultural area, also needs to be emphasized, in connection with the preceding
principle. In fact, religious life has acquired a deeper consciousness of the
uniqueness of each charism, of its specific ecclesial role, and also of the
characteristics and responsibilities common to all institutes.
Formation has a deep common root. In fact, it is the action of God the
Father who forms in those called the image of his Son by means of the
sanctifying action of the Spirit, according to a particular charismatic design.
(30)
Further, collaboration finds its soul in the pneumatic-mysterious dimension
of the Church from which, by the work of the Spirit, arises the multiplicity
of charisms and toward whose communion and mission the life and
missionary mandate of the institutes converge. It is founded on the richness,
vitality, and beauty of the Church,(31) and it is fruitful because the various
charismatic initiatives complement and illumine one another; one
uncovering for the other its own gifts by being together and by sharing,(32)
in fraternity.
A concrete expression of collaboration and solidarity among religious
families is the initiative, now spread in various contexts, of creating inter-
institute centers of formation, especially where individual institutes do not
have sufficient means to offer a complete formation to their members.
The Holy Father spoke about this collaboration in an audience granted to
the International Union of Superiors General, saying: “The essential thing
is that on the part of religious families there should be absolute co-
operation in forming their members in a total, sincere and joyous love for

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Jesus Christ, who is deeply known, followed and obeyed”.(33)
Experience gathered suggests that, when this collaboration is well done, it
contributes to a greater appreciation of the charism of one's own institute as
well as that of others, manifests concrete solidarity among communities
which are richer and poorer in both members and means, offers an eloquent
testimony of the communion to which the Church is called by divine
vocation, and helps formation achieve the level and breadth that the mission
of religious life requires in today's world.
c) Inter-institute centers and formation
9. In order to carry out the function proper to these inter-institute centers,
i.e. the purpose of their being a “center of studies” at the service of
formation, they need to bear in mind that:
– formation is an integral process whose elements inter-penetrate one
another. There is a deep correlation between life and truth; between
theology and the human sciences; between the search for truth and the
expectations, hopes, and values of young people; between study and
consistency in personal commitments; between the signs of the times and a
pastoral formative orientation.(34)
– intellectual preparation is an irreplaceable dimension of formation. The
ordering of subjects to be studied and scientific seriousness ought to
contribute to harmonizing the attitudes proper to consecrated life. Thus the
centers should offer a service of high quality to contribute wisely to the
integral growth of the students.
– the inter-institute character of the centers requires a special respect for
the aspects which are common to all. At the same time, collaboration and
solidarity also require respect and appreciation of the diversities. If this
were not so, the centers would probably contribute to a sameness which
would impoverish them and would bring about the risk of spiritual and
pastoral uniformity, inadequate for the complexity of the world which is to
be evangelized, and harmful to the specific identity of each institute. In this
case, the centers would lose their identity as a service to religious life.
Practical Directives
From the fundamental principles stated, some practical directives derive for
religious institutes and inter-institute centers:
10. Religious institutes
a) Chapters and Major Superiors
Through their Chapters and Major Superiors, institutes are responsible for
determining in their own Ratio the principles and norms of formation,(35)
for assigning the mission to the formators and teachers, and for taking care
that the formative process be carried out in conformity with the character
and mission of the institute and according to law. When Superiors decide to

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send their members to an inter-institute center of formation, they do not
cede to others the responsibility that is theirs, but they continue to exercise
it (cf. nn. 11, 17, and 22) with “their full responsibility as guardians and
teachers”.(36)
b) The formation community
In all forms of inter-institute collaboration, it is necessary to apply the
necessary distinction between the formation community and an inter-
institute center of studies.(37) The formation community is a primary point
of reference for which no center can substitute. It is the setting in which
personal identity and response to the vocation received grow and develop,
in the spirit of the respective founders or foundresses.(38) Deepening in
charismatic identity is achieved, in the first place, by living contact with the
formators and with the brothers and sisters with whom are shared the same
experiences of life, the same challenges posed by society, and the traditions
of the institute.(39) This community is always the place where the vital
synthesis of the formation experience is lived.(40) “Fidelity to one's own
charism needs to be deepened through an ever increasing knowledge of the
history of the institute, of its particular mission and the spirit of the founder,
at the same time making the corresponding effort to incarnate it in one's
personal and community life”.(41)
Should it happen that circumstances not allow religious to live in their own
formation community while enrolled in an inter-institute center, Superiors
are to provide regular and intense periods of formation and community life
in their own institute.(42)
11. Inter-congregational centers(43)
a) Centers and their constitution
Conferences of Major Superiors, which have as their purpose “fostering
more effective cooperation for the good of the Church”,(44) or a group of
Major Superiors who wish to collaborate among themselves in the area of
formation may for this purpose organize services or constitute inter-institute
centers.(45)
These have very diverse configurations. Some are designed to provide
complementary services; others provide for the formation of religious from
the doctrinal aspect; still others set up specific structures to prepare
religious who are candidates for the priesthood. The norms and directives
which follow take these differences into account.
The formal establishing of an inter-institute center of formation requires the
written consent of the Ordinary of the place.
b) Directive responsibilities
The Superiors who initiate the project also bear the ultimate responsibility
for the center. In the spirit of Mutuae relationes, they shall seek the most
appropriate way to inform the Bishops about the activities of the center and

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to maintain with them an open dialogue that will contribute to the richness
and advancement of the center.(46) The Holy Father reminds us that they
are responsible for following the activity of the centers and for
guaranteeing that the teaching in them conform to the Magisterium of the
Church.(47)
All inter-institute initiatives should be run directly by a team, under the
responsibility of one person, who enjoys assured stability and is competent
in formation.
c) Professors
In choosing professors, attention is to be given to sound doctrine, specific
competence, pedagogical ability, and ability to work as part of a team.
Consideration shall also be given to their knowledge and esteem for
religious life in its various forms and developments, according to the
Second Vatican Council and the Magisterium.
The centers should promote a lively formational sensitivity in the
professors, organizing meetings with the formators for the exchange of
ideas and for evaluation.
II. COLLABORATION IN THE VARIOUS PHASES OF
FORMATION
12. Collaborative initiatives take place in the various phases of religious
formation. They can be part of initial formation: preparation for novitiate,
formation of novices, formation of religious in temporary vows, formation
of candidates for ordained ministries; and part of continuing formation.
Services should be organized by the Conferences of Major Superiors, or by
a group of Major Superiors, who bear ultimate responsibility for them.
These Superiors are responsible for informing this Congregation every
three years about the life and activities of the centers.
The organization of the programs ought to offer effective help for doctrinal
formation and for the vocational growth of the candidates, according to the
criteria indicated by the Code of Canon Law(48) and by complementary
norms issued by competent authorities.
The courses should be based on the mystery of Christ(49) and developed
with gradualness and attention to persons and cultures. They should
propose to the students the theology of consecrated life and help them
deepen the sense “of that one ecclesial charity by which all work to build
up the organic communion — charismatic and at the same time
hierarchically structured — of the whole People of God”.(50)
Preparation for novitiate
13. Given the diversity of human experience and of religious formation in
the candidates, preparation for the novitiate, in today's socio-cultural
circumstances, is seen to be ever more necessary and demanding.(51) Inter-

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congregational initiatives should offer candidates from the various institutes
programs which address, with competence and solidity, the fundamental
contents of human and Christian formation so as to promote an integral
formation and satisfy any existing gaps. Further, formators themselves need
to be able to take part in programs designed to enliven religious life and to
apply instruments and criteria for careful vocational discernment. This
collaboration is particularly helpful for formators who work in cultures
different from their own or who accompany candidates from diverse
cultures.
Novitiate
14. Novitiate constitutes a formative phase which is fundamental and
delicate.(52) Here the young person begins the journey of vocational
identity in religious life.(53) This phase has as its purpose forming the
novice well in the spirit and praxis of the specific vocation of the institute
and further evaluating the motives of vocational choice, spiritual
commitment, and the necessary suitability. In each institute, this phase
requires a personalized accompanying, attentive to the growth of each
novice, a formative atmosphere which is evangelical, serene, rich in values,
sustained by the joyous testimony of the formators and of the community,
nourished by authentic and deep experience of the foundational charism.
(54)
Where circumstances make it advisable, an inter-institute program can
contribute to the adequate doctrinal formation of those who are beginning
their formation for consecrated life, helping them to define themselves, in
their own specific identity, as members of the Church mystery-communion
and mission and to act as such, developing, in the rub of daily life, attitudes
of fraternal co-responsibility. We must be mindful, however, that “one can
speak of 'inter-congregational courses for novices,' men or women, separate
from one another, but it is impossible to speak of an 'inter-congregational
novitiate'”.(55)
15. Inter-institute collaboration in the novitiate phase is one of the
“complementary services”. Not included under the category of
collaboration is the creation of so-called “inter-congregational novitiates”,
which would have male and female novices living in the same community.
Indeed, such an arrangement does not correspond to the proper character of
the beginning of religious life, which ought to introduce the novice to what
characterizes the patrimony of every institute. Consequently, every institute
should have its own novitiate.
16. In organizing such “complementary services”, the following points
should be kept in mind:
a) The necessary harmonizing of the courses offered by the center and the
process of initiation into the religious life of each institute require as
appropriate, if not necessary, that the novice directors be present for the
courses in order to help the novices integrate the contents.
b) The program should offer basic courses on different subjects in such a

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way that institutes can choose those which will complete the formation they
themselves give. The program should be well structured and harmonious,
include fundamental elements of Sacred Scripture, spiritual theology, moral
theology, ecclesiology, theology and the law of religious life — in
particular of each of the evangelical counsels — liturgy, and also
fundamental concepts of anthropology and psychology which should give
to the novice, at the beginning of the formative journey, the possibility of
knowing himself or herself better, particularly in those areas most needing
formation.(56) These subjects should be treated as contributors to
formation.
c) During the novitiate, the courses should not be programmed with a
frequency or intensity which impede the purpose proper to this phase of
formation.(57) They should be carried out in such a way that residing
outside the novitiate is avoided. In the event that novices must go to another
place for this purpose, for brief periods of time and sporadically, the Major
Superior shall observe canons 647.2, 648.1 and 648.3, and 649.1.
d) Also to be promoted is knowledge of the respective institutes, of the
founders and foundresses, and of the various spiritualities. In fact, fraternal
exchange contributes to the maturing of a more lively appreciation of one's
own foundational originality and to discovering the value of each founder
or foundress in helping articulate the mission of the Church, in promoting
collaboration and a mentality of communion.(58)
e) Formators, according to their specific responsibilities,(59) are to meet at
regular intervals with the team responsible for the center — also listening to
the views of those in formation — to monitor the program and, in relation
to the reports received from the various parties, the purpose of the courses.
Because of their primary responsibility in formation, Major Superiors
should follow these initiatives attentively.
f) The courses can offer the directors of novices the opportunity for
constant updating, for monitoring their own formative role, and for mutual
support in a concrete and enlightened dialogue. Given the nature of this
initial phase, characterized by the process of psychological maturing and of
charismatic identification by the novices, a process which allows them to
acquire a new way of living, the programs of collaboration should foresee,
to the extent possible, meetings of the formation directors to consider
specific pedagogical subjects which would then be taken up in more detail
in the novitiates; among these are psycho-physical development, affective-
sexual maturity, and other aspects of human maturity.(60)
Formation of those with temporary vows
17. The Instruction Potissimum institutioni, referring to the norms of the
Code(61) and to the requirements of formation of religious in temporary
vows, indicates the fundamental lines and offers appropriate indications
about the objectives and program of studies.(62)
Every institute, according to its own plan of formation, has “the grave
responsibility of providing for the organization and duration of this period

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of formation, and of furnishing the young religious with favorable
conditions for a real increase in their donation to the Lord”.(63)
a) In this phase also, inter-congregational initiatives are designed to
promote the training of young religious in relation to their consecration and
the deepening of their spiritual, doctrinal, and pastoral formation, with
particular attention to the history, theology, and mission of consecrated life,
and to their pastoral preparation. This is especially so for institutes which
are unable to provide for their needs in other ways.
b) In particular, in order to respond better to the demands proper to this
phase of formation, inter-institute initiatives of collaboration should be
mindful of the characteristics and circumstances of life of those professed
of temporary vows.
In fact, the time of temporary profession is characterized as a propitious
moment for the maturing of an intimate relationship with Christ(64) and the
maturing of a faith-filled vision of the world, the Church, and history. It is a
time for committing oneself to the kingly, priestly, and prophetic mission of
the People of God. It requires, in a kind of sapiential integration, both a
study of theological disciplines and a deepening of the biblical foundations
of a vocation to the radical following of Christ. To this must be added
adequate knowledge of the means and steps which lead to human and
Christian maturity. Thus, this phase of formation continues the study of
Sacred Scripture and other theological subjects such as Christology,
ecclesiology, Mariology, moral theology, and the theology of history, and
the additional fields of spirituality, ascetical theology, and human sciences,
which contribute to a maturity in Christ of the human person,(65) should
also be included.
c) Because community life, right from the beginning, should disclose “the
essential missionary dimension of consecration”,(66) and because this stage
is characterized by the apostolic commitments taken in the name of the
community, courses in catechetics and pedagogy, especially for pastoral
work with youth, will be of great value. Apostolic commitments require a
deepened knowledge of some themes of the ecclesiology promoted by the
Second Vatican Council, e.g. the pastoral collaboration of religious with
priests and lay persons under the guidance of the Pastors,(67) the law of the
Church, the missio ad gentes, ecumenism, inter-religious dialogue,(68) the
relation of the Church to the world, the social and political duties of
Christians and the specific responsibility of consecrated persons in this
sector.(69) All these themes should offer a solid foundation for the pastoral
and missionary action of the Church-mystery and communion in the New
Evangelization. In this phase of temporary profession, it will be helpful to
deepen the charismatic contribution by which the various institutes share in
the mission of the Church.
d) Such goals can be satisfied by the specialized centers of study which will
be considered in Part III or by initiatives or courses which are more
accessible, whether by reason of the level of studies, or the basic level of
courses offered, or the short duration of the commitment.

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Inter-institute collaboration has particular importance in initiatives or
courses which help prepare for perpetual profession.(70)
For initiatives and courses in this phase also, the formators should be
involved in the programming, execution, and evaluation. This involvement
can become a stimulus for their own renewal in view of their responsibility
as well as a reminder for all to respond more effectively to the expectations
of the young.
e) Religious who attend other centers of study, especially civil centers
(universities, academies, etc.) in order to study the humanities or engage in
other scientific or technical studies can find in the inter-institute centers the
possibility of integrating their formation, especially by courses in theology
and pastoral studies.
Continuing formation
18. “Continuing formation, whether in institutes of apostolic or
contemplative life, is an intrinsic requirement of religious consecration”.
(71) It promotes theological and pastoral renewal, enhances the quality of
life of each member and of the whole community through careful attention
to the moments of particular commitment or when the interior life is
challenged to grow.(72) In relation to these dynamics of formation, “there
is a youthfulness of spirit which lasts through time; it arises from the fact
that at every stage of life a person seeks and finds a new task to fulfill, a
particular way of being, of serving and loving.... If the subject of formation
is the individual at every stage of life, the object of formation is the whole
person, called to seek and love God ?with all one's heart, and with all one's
soul, and with all one's might' (cf. Dt 6:5), and one's neighbour as oneself.
Love of God and of the brethren is a powerful force which can ceaselessly
inspire the process of growth and fidelity”.(73) Each institute is called to
provide continuing formation in an organized manner, consistent with its
own character. In this way, it can become a model of consecrated life,
fraternity, and apostolic commitment for new generations in formation and
attract, by its vitality and fruitfulness, new vocations.(74)
The Instruction Potissimum institutioni and the Exhortation Vita consecrata
give ample space to continuing formation,(75) describing its nature,
identifying its objectives and contents, asking Superiors, according to the
norm of the Code, to provide for their members the “assistance and the
time”(76) necessary and to designate a member as responsible for
continuing formation.
Inter-institute collaboration can be helpful for organizing temporary and
permanent services which should give new impulse to the spiritual life, to
theological-pastoral updating, and to a renewed professional training for
carrying out the responsibilities entrusted. It will give an important place to
deepening the general lines and pastoral priorities of the Church for
carrying out better her mission of evangelizing today's world. Hopefully,
religious families will offer their best trained members for this purpose.
Conferences of Major Superiors and those responsible for centers of study

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should include among their objectives and programs adequate initiatives for
the continuing formation of religious. In this way, more effective
collaboration and complementarity among them will be achieved.
III. INSTITUTES OF RELIGIOUS SCIENCES
AND OF PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL FORMATION
19. In Part I and Part II, some fundamental criteria referring to inter-
institute initiatives of formation and some forms of collaboration in the
various phases of formation itself were considered. In Part III, institutes of
religious sciences and institutes of philosophy and theology which provide
a complete academic formation and have their own juridic structure and
particular organizational requirements will be considered.
It is helpful to recall that the formation of religious brothers, sisters, and
permanent deacons, and the formation of religious who are candidates for
priesthood, all have specific requirements which must be respected. In
order to respect the identity of each one, it is necessary to distinguish
between priestly formation, diaconal formation, and the formation required
for other ecclesial services.(77) Consequently, in organizing the contents of
its programs, a center of studies which prepares such religious should be
mindful of the characteristics proper to each group.
Institutes of religious sciences
20. Institutes of religious sciences arose to provide religious brothers and
sisters an adequate level of formation in the humanities and in theological-
pastoral areas, keeping in mind the social and cultural contexts of those to
whom the courses are offered, in order to qualify and prepare them for
diverse ecclesial services, according to the purposes of their institutes.(78)
It is necessary to offer the participants a solid philosophical and theological
foundation; to prepare them to be educators of the faith; to prepare them for
the explicit proclamation of the Gospel and for human and social
promotion; to make them sensitive to the relationship between the Gospel
and culture, to ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue, to discerning the
signs of the times, to being part of an overall pastoral program, and to
missionary openness in communion with the universal and particular
Church.
Also, such institutes should offer a good preparation, permeated with
evangelical values, in the human sciences (pedagogy, psychology,
sociology, communications sciences), enabling the participants to use them
for transmitting the faith and forming disciples of Christ.
Attention should also be given to assure a knowledge of the human groups
and the cultural contexts which they are to evangelize, collaborating in this
way to overcome the danger of a dichotomy between the formation which
religious receive and an evangelization correctly inculturated.(79)
Finally, these institutes should provide courses suitable for training
religious to carry out more effectively their specific apostolate in the

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Church: courses for pastoral work with youth, the infirm, the elderly, the
marginalized, or other particular apostolic activities proper to the mission of
each institute.
21. The founding and running of these institutes depend on the Conferences
of Major Superiors of men or of women, or on a group of Major Superiors.
This group bears ultimate responsibility for the institutes. It is necessary
that every center have its own Statutes, in which are defined its purpose,
those for whom it is intended, the services it offers, and the body which
bears immediate responsibility for it. Confirmation of erection and approval
of the Statutes is reserved to the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated
Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life.
To assure its adequate functioning, the center must be run by a team with a
person designated as responsible for the team. In carrying out
responsibilities, this person is to assure stability and formational
competence. Every three years, he or she shall send a report of activities to
this Congregation.
For the organization of courses, the prescriptions of canons 659, 660, and
661 along with Potissimum institutioni, n. 61, apply.(80)
Institutes of religious sciences, intended for the formation of those who are
not candidates for priesthood, are encouraged to establish a relationship
with a Faculty of Theology. In this way, a better doctrinal formation can be
promoted, so that the participants will eventually be able to earn
appropriate academic degrees or diplomas.(81)
Possible civil recognition of these institutes is of great benefit, but ought
not prejudice or alter the formative goals proper to them.
In this area, Catholic universities as well as other organisms at the level of
local Churches can offer helpful initiatives of study to be carried out in
collaboration with the Bishops and Major Superiors.(82)
Institutes of theological and philosophical formation
for religious who are candidates for priesthood
22. The following are the fundamental norms which regulate inter-institute
centers of philosophical-theological formation for religious who are
candidates for priesthood:
a) Canonical erection. Before proceeding to the canonical erection of an
inter-institute center of philosophical and theological studies, it is necessary
to receive approval both for erection of the center and for its Statutes from
the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of
Apostolic Life(83) which, prior to giving approval, will request the
authoritative judgment of the Congregation for Evangelization of Peoples
for territories of mission and the approval of the Congregation for Catholic
Education(84) regarding the programming of philosophical and theological
studies as well as academic degrees. In this connection, institutes of
philosophy and theology reserved for candidates to the priesthood are

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encouraged to affiliate to a philosophical or theological Faculty(85)
respectively.
b) Authority over the institute. The Statutes shall define clearly how the
Major Superiors who constitute the organism which bears ultimate
responsibility for the center are to exercise their authority.
This authority, or the one delegated by it — usually the Board of Directors
— appoints, confirms, or substitutes the professors, in conformity with the
procedure indicated in the Statutes,(86) and also requests the consent of the
competent Superior, and receives the “profession of faith” which is
required.(87) The “mandate” for teaching in the name of the Church(88)
goes together with appointment as professor. The teaching which the
professors give shall be “an objective and complete presentation of
doctrine, structured in harmony with the Church's Magisterium”.(89)
The same authority shall, with reference to the instruction which is given
and the progress of the center, regularly inform the Major Superiors who
send students and who must guarantee to the Church and their own
congregation the adequate formation of their future priest-religious. It is
necessary that the authority inform the president of the Mixed Commission
of Bishops and Major Superiors in order to promote mutual knowledge and
collaboration.(90) The Superiors of the students — whether religious
Superiors or responsible Bishops — or, where it might be the case, their
representatives, should be invited to regular meetings of consultation
regarding the progress of the center. Where the ecclesial and pastoral
importance of the center requires it, it is recommended, in the spirit of
communion, that a Bishop be a member of the Board of Directors.(91)
c) Programs. The intellectual formation of a future priest is based and
constructed above all upon the study of Sacra Doctrina.
“True theology proceeds from the faith and aims at leading to the faith”.
(92) “Theological formation, given in the light of faith and under the
guidance of the Magisterium, is to be imparted in such a way that the
students learn the whole of Catholic teaching, based on divine revelation,
that they make it a nourishment of their own spiritual lives, and that in the
exercise of the ministry they may be able properly to proclaim and defend
it”.(93)
In relation to studies, special attention shall be given to the completeness of
the subjects and to the content prescribed for the six year period of
philosophical and theological studies.(94) While respecting the demands
proper to priestly religious life and to the “intrinsic unity of the Catholic
priesthood”, whether secular or religious,(95) these studies should be
carried out in light of the plan for priestly formation established by the
Holy See and by the episcopal conference of the country,(96) and provide
that there always be included a course on the theology and spirituality of
the religious life and the theology of the particular Church.(97) Also in this
case, possible civil recognition should not prejudice or alter the program of
studies prescribed by the Church.

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Where centers for the formation of religious candidates for the priesthood,
for serious reasons, also admit as students candidates for the permanent
diaconate or religious brothers or sisters preparing for other apostolic
activities, the program of studies for future priests must appear as a unit
which is special and fully recognizable,(98) in such a way that the
formation not be a generic ministerial formation common to all. Thus, the
specific requirements of the other students are to be respected, offering
them an appropriate program which prepares them for the ministry of
permanent diaconate or for the other ecclesial services consistent with their
vocation.
d) Professors. The formative validity and the consistency of the initiatives
described depend in great part on the professional quality, on the sensus
Ecclesiae, and on the religious qualities of the professors, in addition to the
organization of the programs and the life of the center itself. The professors
should be mindful that their teaching ought to “open and communicate to
others the understanding of the faith, in the last analysis in the name of the
Lord and his Church”.(99) Major Superiors shall be mindful of this in their
choice of professors. Above other pastoral commitments, the preparation of
future generations is to be privileged, assigning to them the best professors
and formators. This is an ecclesial responsibility which they may not
neglect, for the good of the People of God, of religious life, and of their
own institute, both in the present and in the future.
In addition to academic competence, the professors shall be attentive to the
didactic art required by their office. (100) There should be special care to
assure the quality of teaching for the disciplines which constitute the
fundamental part of the curriculum of studies.
Every professor of theological disciplines must possess the mandate to
teach. (101) Competent Superiors, before consenting to the appointment of
a professor, shall be sure that the person in question have the proper
preparation, fidelity to the Magisterium, and respect for the tradition which
are necessary, and the ability to prepare priests for the service of the men
and women of our time. (102)
e) Admission. For admission to a center of philosophical-theological
studies, it is necessary that the candidate have achieved the level of studies
indicated in the Statutes, taking into account the canonical norms and the
needs of places and times. Written authorization of the Major Superior or of
the Superior of the house of formation to which the candidate belongs is
also necessary.
Candidates of the diocesan clergy can also be admitted upon written request
of their respective Bishop, who assumes, according to the norm of the
Statutes of the center, the rights and duties of Superiors who send students
there.
The center has the right to exclude from its programs a student who during
the course of the year shows himself incapable of measuring up to the
center's objectives and conditions for admission, even if he shows superior
intellectual ability and diligence in studies. Such dismissal does not impede

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his respective Major Superior from providing other options for him in
another place.
f) Formation community and center of philosophical-theological studies.
The Superior and the formation team of every religious institute are always
the ones primarily responsible for the religious and priestly formation of
their own members. They should guide and coordinate community life, the
overall program of formation and the complementary courses proper to
their institute, according to the institute's own spirituality and pastoral
purpose, as the unifying basis of human, doctrinal, spiritual, and pastoral
formation. They should maintain regular contact with the center of studies
and be actively interested in its programs.
In the process of discerning and evaluating the suitability of their religious
candidates for the priesthood, Superiors should also consult the professors
and those who collaborate in pastoral formation. This exchange can be a
source of advantage for both the formation community and the center of
studies, who will feel that their responsibility in the formative journey of
future priests is sought.
Finally, it is to be hoped that every religious institute which sends students
to the center also be committed to contribute a qualified member for
teaching or for animating the life of the center.
g) Proper initiatives. The initiatives of inter-institute collaboration
described are distinct from a philosophical or theological center erected
under the responsibility of one religious institute which, maintaining its
own autonomy, admits as students religious of other institutes. (103) These
centers follow their own norms.
IV. INTER-INSTITUTE COLLABORATION
FOR THE FORMATION OF FORMATORS
The service of formation
23. The service of formation, an authentic “ecclesial ministry” (Paul VI), is
an art, “the art of arts”. (104) Formators must come to know the world of
the young and should develop pedagogical ability to accompany and guide
those being formed. Theirs is a service marked by the mystery of the
Trinity: “formation then is a sharing in the work of the Father who, through
the Spirit, fashions the inner attitudes of the Son in the hearts of young men
and women”. In exercising this ?participative mediation,' “those in charge
of formation must therefore be very familiar with the path of seeking God,
so as to be able to accompany others on this journey... They will combine
the illumination of spiritual wisdom with the light shed by human means,
which can be a help both in discerning the call and in forming the new man
or woman, until they are genuinely free”. (105) This task requires of
formators a serious and solid preparation, and a generous and total
dedication in their commitment to be imitators of Christ in the service of
their brothers and sisters. (106) “Notwithstanding the great apostolic
demands and the urgent situations in which religious families are working,
careful attention in the selection and preparation of those responsible for

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formation remains a top priority. This ministry is one of the most difficult
and delicate... Young men and women above all need teachers who will be
for them: men and women of God, respectful discerners of the human heart
and the ways of the Spirit, capable of responding to their needs for greater
interiority, experience of God, fraternity and initiation to their mission.
Those responsible for formation must know how to teach discernment,
docility and obedience, reading the signs of the times and people's needs,
teaching their charges to respond to those needs with solicitude and
courage, in full ecclesial communion”. (107)
Careful choice and solid preparation of formators
24. Major Superiors, as their primary responsibility, should choose future
formators carefully so that a religious family have available members
qualified for such a ministry. The criteria for choosing, the qualities
required, the preparation and updating should be defined by the norms
proper to each institute and developed in the Ratio Institutionis.
Major Superiors should offer the formators programs and opportunities
which assure the necessary theological and pedagogical formation, spiritual
formation, competence in the human sciences, and specific training for the
tasks to be carried out on the journey of formation. Formators should be
expert particularly in the matters which refer to the spiritual patrimony of
the founder or foundress.
This Dicastery again urges religious families to continue developing efforts
toward the adequate preparation of those responsible for initial and
continuing formation.
Inter-institute collaboration
25. The experiences of inter-institute collaboration reveal a broad panorama
of models in the preparation of formators. There are centers at the level of
university or comparable institutions with systematic programs offering the
possibility of academic degrees or degrees recognized by the Congregation
for Catholic Education; intensive courses spread over a year or a semester,
designed for formators at the beginning of their charge as well as for those
already serving in formation communities. There are courses for updating,
regular meetings for formators engaged in the same phase of formation and
sessions of study, exchange, and reflection on specific educational topics.
Many of these courses are organized by the Conferences of Major
Superiors, others by a consortium of institutes, or are initiatives promoted
by specialized centers or by university Faculties.
Given the urgent need for qualified formators, this Dicastery invites
institutes to intensify inter-institute collaboration, making available for each
other programs, experiences, and, to the extent possible, even the most
qualified personnel for mutual enrichment in benefit of the institutes, of the
Church, and of her mission in the world. (108)
Courses

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26. Among the criteria which guide the organization of such courses, we
underline the following:
a) Their specific organization should have as its purpose preparing
educators for the task of the integral formation of a religious in the unity
and uniqueness of the person, developing all the dimensions of baptismal
and religious consecration. Thus, courses should contribute to a formation
which is doctrinal, spiritual, canonical, and pedagogical-pastoral. In
particular they should ensure solid theological formation, especially in the
fields of spirituality, moral theology, and religious life. Further they should
make the formators aware of the organic unity of the formation process and
of the specific goals of each stage of formation.
The courses should above all help the formators in transmitting the art of a
theological reading of the signs of the times (109) so as to discern the
presence, the love, and the will of God in all things: in revelation and in
creation, in the Church, in the sacraments, and in persons, in the ordinary
and extraordinary circumstances of life, in the unfolding of history. (110)
They should be a help in acquiring the art of inspiring and nourishing a
deep love for the Persons of the Blessed Trinity and the Eucharist; as well
as for Our Lady, Mother of Jesus and of the Church; and for the holy
founders and foundresses, and in leading to a deeper life of prayer. (111)
The organization of the courses should give proper importance to the topic
of fraternal life in community and to the mission of the institutes (112) and
should offer the means adequate for consolidating or recovering the spirit of
unity and co-responsibility among the members, an apostolic spirit and an
attitude of justice, solidarity, and mercy toward the most needy.
“Consecrated persons are asked to be true experts of communion and to
practise the spirituality of communion as 'witnesses and architects of the
plan for unity which is the crowning point of human history in God's
design'”. (113) They should remember to underline the dignity of the
vocation of the laity and of the diocesan clergy, promoting collaboration
with them and a sharing in the spirit and mission of the institute. (114)
b) The courses
– should develop the formators' ability to relate, listen, discern vocations,
guide, and educate young people and adults to discernment and
commitment.
– should develop the ability to accompany another spiritually,
pedagogically, and psychologically; the purposes of these and the levels of
intervention differ, even though they converge in the integral maturing of
the person consecrated to God. They should offer skills for handling and
knowing how to face particular situations and personal problems, with the
help of experts when necessary.
– should help one read and understand the diverse cultural contexts in order
to promote a formation consonant with the demands of the culture of origin
of the religious or with the culture of the people among whom they will be
working. It is important that they learn to appreciate those authentic values

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which bear the stamp of the Gospel or are open to it and to discern those
elements which ought to be purified or rejected. (115)
– should help formators know and respond to the challenges which the
Church faces in our time and take up the pastoral priorities which the Holy
Father and the Bishops in union with him propose for the reflection of the
faithful. “Institutes of consecrated life are thus invited courageously to
propose anew the enterprising initiative, creativity and holiness of their
founders and foundresses in response to the signs of the times emerging in
today's world. This invitation is first of all a call to perseverance on the path
of holiness in the midst of the material and spiritual difficulties of daily
life”. (116)
c) Formators should learn how to prepare the members of their
communities for the task of the New Evangelization: announcing Christ,
the Good News of the Father, to all men and women. This implies
preparation for the evangelization of cultures, for pastoral work in favor of
life, the family and solidarity, for the evangelical option for the poor, for the
formation of youth, for the mission ad gentes, for ecumenical commitment
and inter-religious dialogue, social communications, etc. (117) They should
learn to welcome the hopes and questions of youth, children of our time,
who are entering communities and prepare them to incarnate the best of
their own epoch and give a response of holiness and of effective charity to
the needs of our times. To form is always to prepare for the service which
the Church and society need in a determined epoch and cultural setting.
A formation which is integral, precisely because its hinge is in the
education of faith and in maturing the commitment of consecration-
mission, must be mindful also of the new forms of poverty and injustice of
our time. In this area, inter-institute courses, without falling into simplistic
formulas, can be a helpful support for formators.
d) Courses for formators should provide an experience of spiritual growth
and contribute to their continuing formation. The responsibility of
accompanying young people on their journey of growth includes a constant
invitation from Christ, Master and Lord, to intensify the life of prayer,
intimacy with him, and to embrace the cross which seals this delicate
ministry of formation, placing always one's own trust in his guidance and
his grace.
The work of formation is carried out along the axis of the following of
“Christ chaste, poor, and obedient – the One who prays, the Consecrated
One, and the Missionary of the Father” (118) – and has at its center the
Paschal mystery. Thus the preparation of formators may not be merely
intellectual, doctrinal, pastoral, and professional; it is, above all, a deep,
human, and religious experience of sharing in the mystery of Christ while
respectfully approaching the mystery of the human person. In Christ is the
experience of sonship before the Father and of docility to the Spirit, of
fraternity and sharing, of fatherhood and motherhood in the Spirit: “My
little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in
you!” (Gal 4:19). In this light it is helpful that formators be able to meet
among themselves as consecrated persons, to support one another on their

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journey of faith, to pray together, to let themselves be questioned by the
Word, and to celebrate the Eucharist. They can be enriched by experiencing
the goodness and wisdom of the Master who, by the outpouring of his Spirit
and by the mediation of the maternal action of Mary, continues his work
and, in a privileged way, by means of their own mediation in the life and
experiences of those whom they help to live as “fellow citizens with the
saints and members of the household of God” (Eph 2:19).
CONCLUSION
27. “Awareness of the times in which we are living and of our
responsibilities demands that we assure young men and women religious of
an adequate formation, more complete than ever, in dynamic fidelity to
Christ and the Church, to the charism of the founder and to mankind
today”. (119)
In offering the criteria and the directives presented in this document, the
Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic
Life, has intended to evaluate, order, and promote the vast and varied
experience in the area of inter-institute collaboration, supported by the
Second Vatican Council and developed in these years.
Inter-institute collaboration, which respects the sharing of charismatic gifts,
respects their diversity, and is placed at their service, is a concrete response
to the calls of the Church to help form a religious by promoting his or her
unity of life in Christ through the Spirit. (120) Consecrated persons are
called to insert themselves in the contemporary world to offer valid models
of human and Christian fullness, according to the form of life which Christ
the Lord chose, which Mary, Virgin and Mother embraced, (121) and which
he himself proposed to his disciples. (122)
Thus religious will fulfill their mission as Christians called to be “a living
memorial of Jesus' way of living and acting”, (123) and “moved by God to
be pioneers on the missionary road and the paths of the Spirit”. (124) With
the new ardor of their lives and of their word, with new methods and new
expressions of their works, they will be faithful and bold instruments of
God, signs of hope in “serv[ing] man by revealing to him the love of God
made manifest in Jesus Christ”. (125)
On 31 October 1998, the Holy Father approved this document of the
Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of
Apostolic Life and authorized its publication.
Rome, 8 December 1998, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the
Blessed Virgin Mary.
Eduardo Card. Martínez Somalo
Prefect
Piergiorgio Silvano Nesti

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Secretary
SUMMARY
Introduction
I. Fundamental principles and practical directives
– Fundamental principles
a) Formation: Inalienable right and duty of every institute
b) Collaboration and solidarity in formation
c) Inter-institute centers and formation
Practical directives
– Religious institutes
a) Chapters and Major Superiors
b) The formation community
– Inter-congregational centers
a) Centers and their constitution
b) Directive responsibilities
c) Professors
II. Collaboration in the various phases of formation
– Preparation for novititiate
– Novitiate
– Formation of those with temporary vows
– Continuing formation
III. Institutes of religious sciences and of philosophical and theological
formation
– Institutes of religious sciences
– Institutes of theological and philosophical formation for religious
candidates for priesthood

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a) Canonical erection
b) Authority over the institute
c) Programs
d) Professors
e) Admission
f) Formation community and center of philosophical-theological studies
g) Proper initiatives
IV. Inter-Institute collaboration for the formation of formators
– The service of formation
– Careful selection and solid preparation of formators
– Inter-institute collaboration
– Courses
Conclusion
(1) Cf. LG 7; ChL 21, 24.
(2) Cf. LG 43-44; VC 1-3.
(3) Cf. Potissimum institutioni, CICLSAL, 2 February 1990.
(4) Cf. PC 8; can. 675.
(5) PI 98-100.
(6) PI 72-85.
(7) By “inter-institute centers” of formation (sometimes called “inter-
congregational centers”) is understood the diverse forms of collaboration
among religious institutes, at the service of formation.
(8) John Paul II, Message to the XIV General Assembly of the Conference
of Religious of Brasil, 11 July 1986, n. 2. Found in L'Osservatore Romano
(English version) 1986, n. 35, p. 2.
(9) Ibid., n. 4; cf. VC 53.
(10) Ibid., n. 4. Found in L'Osservatore Romano (English version) 1986, n.
35, p. 10.

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(11) Cf. PC 18; ET 52; VC 68.
(12) Cf. RM 2; VC 67, 73.
(13) Cf. PC 1; RHP 22; ChL 18-21, 32.
(14) Cf. can. 646-53 and 659-61.
(15) Cf. MR 11.
(16) Cf. MR 14b; can. 574.1; VC 4-5, 29, 33-34.
(17) VC 37.
(18) Cf. PC 1; can. 577; VC 19, 47-48.
(19) MR 11.
(20) Cf. can. 586.2; VC 48.
(21) PI 98; cf. can. 587.1, 646, and 659.
(22) Cf. PI 46, 90-91; can. 577.
(23) John Paul II, Address to the Bishops of Northeast Region II of the
National Conference of Bishops of Brasil, 11 July 1995. Found in
L'Osservatore Romano (English version) 1995, n. 29, p. 5.
(24) Cf. can. 646-53 for the formation of novices; can. 659-60 for the
formation of those temporarily professed; can. 661 for continuing
formation.
(25) Cf. VC 52, 53.
(26) PC 2; can. 576, 578.
(27) VC 3, cf. VC 29.
(28) Cf. LG 44; MR 11; can. 576-578; 587.1; VC 25, 35, 92-95.
(29) Cf. VC 52.
(30) Cf. VC 66, 93; Pontifical Work for Ecclesiastical Vocations, New
Vocations for a New Europe (Final Document of the Congress on Vocations
to the Priesthood and to Consecrated Life in Europe: Rome, 5-10 May
1997), nn. 15-19.
(31) Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, IIa-IIae, q. 184, art. 4.
(32) Cf. VC 52.
(33) John Paul II, Address to the International Union of Superiors General

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(UISG), 18 May 1995. Found in L'Osservatore Romano (English version)
1995, n. 23, p. 3.
(34) Cf. VC 73.
(35) Can. 659.2 and 659.3; PI 103.
(36) John Paul II, Address to the Bishops of Northeast Region II of the
National Conference of Bishops of Brasil, 11 July 1995, n. 6. Found in
L'Osservatore Romano (English version) 1995, n. 29, p. 5.
(37) Cf. PI 99.
(38) Cf. EE 47; PI 60.
(39) Cf. PI 26-27.
(40) FLC 43.
(41) John Paul II, Address to Women Religious, Florianopolis, 18 October
1991, n. 6. Found in L'Osservatore Romano (English version) 1991, n. 43,
p. 14.
(42) Cf. EE III 12; MR 46; RHP 9; can. 659, 665. 1.
(43) In this document, “inter-congregational centers” of formation (as
indicated in note 7) are all inter-congregational institutions which
collaborate in the formation of their own members, whether they offer
complementary courses or complete programs of study. In this document,
centers which give a complete academic formation are called “institutes of
religious sciences” andor “institutes of philosophical and theological
formation”.
(44) PC 23.
(45) Cf. PI 98-100.
(46) Cf. MR 28, 31; VC 46, 50.
(47) John Paul II, Address to the Bishops of Northeast Region II of the
National Conference of Bishops of Brasil, 11 July 1995. Found in
L'Osservatore Romano (English version) 1995, n. 29, p. 5.
(48) Cf. can. 646, 659-61; PDV 42-59.
(49) Cf. OT 14; VC 14-16.
(50) VC 49; cf. PI 24-25.
(51) Cf. PI 42-44.

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(52) Cf. RC 4.
(53) Cf. PI 45; can. 646.
(54) Cf. can. 646, 652.2, 652.3, and 652.4.
(55) John Paul II, Address to the Bishops of Northeast Region II of the
Conference of Bishops of Brasil, 11 July 1995, n. 6. Found in
L'Osservatore Romano (English version) 1995, n. 29, p. 5.
(56) Cf. can. 652.2.
(57) Cf. can. 646, 648, 652.5.
(58) Cf. VC 46, 52.
(59) Cf. can. 652.1.
(60) Cf. PI 13, 39-41.
(61) Cf. can. 659-61; PI 58.
(62) Cf. PI 58-65.
(63) PI 60.
(64) Cf. VC 16, 65.
(65) Cf. PI 35-38.
(66) VC 67.
(67) Cf. MR 18, 36, 37, 40, 56-58; can. 675.3, 678, 680, 680.1, VC 16, 31,
54-55.
(68) Cf. VC 102.
(69) Cf. RHP.
(70) Cf. PI 64.
(71) VC 69.
(72) Cf. PI 70.
(73) VC 70-71.
(74) Cf. FLC 43, 54-57; VC 64.
(75) Cf. PI 66-71; VC 69-71.

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(76) Can. 661.
(77) Cf. can. 659-60.
(78) Cf. MR 31.
(79) Cf. John Paul II, Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in
Africa (14 September 1995), 55-71.
(80) It is necessary to distinguish institutes of religious sciences (which are
considered in this document) from higher institutes of religious sciences
which are erected by the Holy See and are sponsored by a Theological
Faculty. Cf. Norms for Higher Institutes of Religious Sciences, Seminarium
1 (1991), pp. 194-201.
(81) Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Constitution Sapientia Christiana, 1979,
Part I: Common Norms, art. 62 § 1, and Part II (Congregation for Catholic
Education), Applied Norms, art. 47.
(82) MR 31.
(83) Cf. can. 237.2. Given the lack of specific law in this area, canonical
references should be interpreted “by analogy”.
(84) Cf. Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus (28 June 1988), 108.2.
(85) Cf. Sapientia Christiana, Part I: Common Norms, art. 62, and Part II:
Applied Norms, art. 47.
(86) Cf. Sapientia Christiana, Part I: Common Norms, art. 24.
(87) Cf. can. 833.
(88) Cf. can. 812.
(89) MR 31.
(90) Cf. VC 50.
(91) Cf. VC 48-50.
(92) PDV 53.
(93) Can. 252.1.
(94) Cf. can. 250, 252-58; 1032.
(95) Cf. OT Introduction; RFIS I, 1-4; PI 108-09.
(96) Cf. can. 242; RFIS I, 2.

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(97) Cf. VC 50.
(98) Cf. PDV 61.
(99) PDV 67.
(100) Cf. can. 254.
(101) Cf. can. 812.
(102) Cf. can. 248, 253. Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae On
Catholic Universities (15 August 1990) Part II General Norms, 4, 3.
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction Donum Veritatis On
the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian (24 May 1990), 6 and 7.
(103) Cf. can. 586.
(104) RFIS V 30.
(105) VC 66.
(106) Cf. 1 Cor 11:1; 1 Thes 1:6. Cf. Jean Galot, S.J., “Mutual Esteem in
Community”, Informationes SCRIS 1980, 269-74.
(107) John Paul II, Message to the XIV General Assembly of the
Conference of Religious of Brasil, 11 July 1986, par. 4. Found in
L'Osservatore Romano (English version) 1986, n. 35, pp. 2, 10. Cf. also
John Paul II, Address to the Plenary of CICLSAL, 1 December 1988:
Insegnamenti, XI4 (1988), pp. 1703-06.
(108) Cf. “Directives Concerning the Preparation of Seminary Educators”,
Congregation for Catholic Education, 4 November 1993, nn. 79, 82; CD 5,
35; MR 31, 37; VC 53.
(109) Cf. VC 73, 94.
(110) Cf. VC 53.
(111) Cf. VC 94, 95.
(112) Cf. VC 41-42; 72.
(113) VC 46; cf. RHP 24.
(114) Cf. MR 37; VC 4, 15, 31, 56.
(115) Cf. VC 79-80.
(116) Cf. VC 37.
(117) Cf. VC 77-83, 96-99; 101-03.

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(118) Cf. VC 77.
(119) John Paul II, Message to the XIV General Assembly of the
Conference of Religious of Brasil, 11 July 1986, n. 4. Found in
L'Osservatore Romano (English version) 1986, n. 35, p. 2.
(120) Cf. PI 1.
(121) Cf. LG 46; VC 18.
(122) Cf. LG 44.
(123) VC 22.
(124) John Paul II, Message to the XIV General Assembly of the
Conference of Religious of Brasil, 11 July 1986, par. 1. Found in
L'Osservatore Romano (English version) 1986, n. 35, p. 2.
(125) Cf. RM 2; VC 110.