Paris, 28th February 2025
Mr. Goulard, Mr. Bonga, les Membres des conseils courant et futur, membres de l’assemblée provinciale, my dear confrères :
I want to take this opportunity, at the closure of this assembly, to thank you for your service as representatives of your brothers throughout the Province, and for your work during these days.
From many different points of view, the good news is that the French province is living our Sulpician mission with great vitality. We can see the signs of God’s providence in the two areas that are often a great challenge: in terms of finance and in terms of personnel. In terms of finance, we can be grateful to God to have what we need to fulfill our mission. While it is true, that we do not have an abundance of means, we have “ our daily bread”, what we need, thanks to divine providence and the good governance of those responsible. In terms of personnel, we have been blessed with a steady stream of aspirants, candidates, and new members. May the Lord of the harvest continue to bring forth labourers into his harvest!
Given these many blessings, we are nonetheless aware of some of the great challenges, challenges that are different in the different regions of the Province, challenges that are complex and not easily soluble. This is why discernment is so important, discernment that is born of both prudence and audacity: a prudence which is careful and considered, and an audacity which places great confidence in God as our strength and hope. As our founder said, it is necessary to have a great confidence in God, in the Spirit of our Lord Jesus.
I saw such discernment in your selection of the new Provincial Council. As difficult as it was, you made a historic decision in calling forth Fr. Bonga as our first non-French Provincial Superior! Audacious, and prudent – as was the choice of our First Consultor, Fr. Goulard, who will serve alongside him offering his good counsel and experience. Similarly, in the choice of our other consultors I see the various poles of the Province being represented, and men who will seek the common good of all the confrères… Fr. Pamphile who is generously continuing his service, and our newly elected members Fr. Jean-Baptiste and Fr. Vincent, who will be following in the footsteps of those who went before them. My thanks especially to those who have now completed two terms and who will not be continuing: Fr. Henri and Fr. Pierre.
In the resolutions that you voted upon, you addressed questions that are current and important for our confrères and our mission. You focused on formation, which is vital at this moment of our history, and considered questions not only theoretically but practically. You were almost Anglo-Saxon in your approach! Similarly, your focus on the mission, and how that mission is lived out in our various contexts was considered with good suggestions and emphases. You concluded with a renewed attention to the essence of our charism, and the necessity that we have to promote that charism and to guard it as a gift of the Spirit.
I want to thank you for your work during these days, for the work that the Provincial Council put into the preparation of this Assembly – but most of all, I would like to thank you for the joy of being with you during these days. I have been blessed to spent time with most of you either here, when you visit, or when I have been able to visit you. The French province has been very successful in overcoming the distances that could risk separating us – physical distances, but also distances of language, culture, and context. You have done so through various practical decisions – such as coming here for studies, and regular moments of contact afterward – but also through an attention to what unites us: our faith in Christ, our vocation as Priests, and our charism in the formation and reformation of the Pastors, for the service of our Church. This common Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, draws us into the communion of the Divine Life, which alone can be the source of any real unity that overcomes divisions that come from our natural differences and our sin. With great gratitude to God for this Trinitarian grace, which I see at work in you, I offer my heartfelt thanks also to you, for your faithfulness and your generosity, and I hope to be of service to you in that regard. May the good work that God has begun continue, in our little Company.
Amen.
Shayne CRAIG, PSS
General of the Society of St. Sulpice