From Lay Member Danny Gmeiner (California)

Editor's Note: This letter has been emailed to me. It offers some thoughts for all of the lay members of the Jules Chevalier Family.  I encourage you to share your comments below. If you wish to mail me your coments directly at WPerr7777@aol.com, I will place your comments here on the blog.--Brother Warren Perrotto, MSC

Greetings, 

It has been suggested, and I fully agree, that it is time for all of the MSC family (priest, brothers, sisters, laity) in southern California to come together for a 1 or 2 day conference on the state of and future options for the laity of the Chevalier Family. I propose that the theme of this conference be “Parables and Miracles” which was presented to me by Fr. Ben Alforque as follows:

“I once had a paper on “parables and miracles” as the two sides of the ministry of Jesus. He spoke in parables to explain what he was doing and what he was all about. He did miracles to effect changes in the world, no matter how temporary and weak, to prove what he said, and what he was all about: for the event of the fullness of God’s Reign on earth. My own sense is that the parable-tellers … are the clergy and religious among us. And you, the lay … are the miracle workers, because you effect the change in the world, no matter how temporary and tinged with the weakness of the human condition for the event of God’s Reign! And together we proclaim the love of God without frontiers: May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere, now and forever! Because we proclaim and sacramentally celebrate God’s love, and you make that proclamation happen, and that love real in the world!”

These are some of the main points on the discussion on the Laity at the MSC General Chapter which I noted. [Fr. Ben]

     1. The Laity is integral to the Church. There is no Church 
         without the Laity.
     2. The Laity has its proper role and vocation in the Church. The
          lay is distinct from the clergy. But there can be no clergy or
          religious without the laity. It is from the laity that vocations to
          the clergy and the religious life are taken from and to which
          the clergy and the religious are sent.
     3. In the mind of Fr. Chevalier, the MSC Charism, Mission and
         Spirituality are to be shared with the laity and the diocesan
         clergy.
     4. The laity has its proper role in the living out of the shared
         charism, mission and spirituality of the Missionaries of the
         Sacred Heart. But the laity are not adjuncts nor instruments of
         the MSC in their missionary endeavor or in the maintenance 
         of their institutions.
     5. The lay people who are now partners of the MSC, of the
         FNDSC and of the MSC Sisters need to come together to
         discern their “title/name”, their missionary activity and their
         role in the Chevalier Family. (The Tri-Generalate has an
         unpublished position paper/reflection paper on this matter,
         which they will release publicly soon).
    6. As one autonomous group, they can sit together with the Tri-
        Generalate to discern the living out of our Charism and
        Spirituality today, and to discern together our concrete
        missionary calling and activities today.
    7. Common formation for the cultivation of the Charism,
        Spirituality and Mission of the Founder, Fr. Jules
        Chevalier, among the Laity is crucial. Hence, the Cor Novum
        and the cooperation of the Chevalier Family in the local areas
        are essential in the formation of the Laity.
    8. Missionary collaboration and partnership in the fields of
        mission and promotion of vocation are fruits of this shared
        identity among the Chevalier Family.

How do we respond: what really is the Missionary Task of the Chevalier Family in the Diocese of San Bernardino?
How can you be the heart of God in the world?


How can you effect a new world emerging from the pierced heart of Jesus?


How can we be agents of Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation?


How can you effect the emergence of a new world from the pierced heart of Christ?


Must you allow your heart to be pierced too, in order to hear the cry of the poor, the groaning of creation? How?


How can we be more involved in Vocation promotion?


How can we better address virtual reality – technology?


How do we promote marriage and family?


What does it mean to be missionary in the lives of the laity?


I present this as a beginning for the conference of The Chevalier Family in the Diocese of San Bernardino - Parables and Miracles.

I would like to ask all of you for your input and thoughts on this simple outline. I also ask for volunteers to help with the planning and administration of this conference.

Thank You and God Bless ….. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere!

Danny Gmeiner, LCF, LMSC