Fides News Agency
August, 2008

Fides News Agency publishes interview
with the Founder of the Sodalit Family
in Dossier about Church realities

The Fides Agency, of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples of the Holy See, has published a Dossier which includes an interview with Luis Fernando Figari, Founder of the Sodalit Family. The publication has been released in Italian, Spanish and English by the news agency.

Could you explain this new ecclesial reality known as the Sodalit Family?

The Sodalit Family arose around the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, an institution which after a process of ecclesial maturation and discernment of its Canonic form was approved by Servant of God, John Paul II, on July 8th, 1997 as a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right. From its beginnings in 1971, the Sodalitium arose in the trough of the Second Vatican Council. The Sodalitium was fascinated by the conciliar diffusion of the layperson and his mission as a baptized person. The inspiration of the Christian community of the Apostolic Era moves us to build communities of Christian life in the world within which the different states of life and vocational characteristics exist in a living harmony. The idea of cooperation between laymen and priests supporting one another mutually to serve the mission of the Church arose from an impulse to commit fully to the renewal of Christian life and to the transformation of the world according to the Plan of God. Since the 70s, various groups and associations have grown out of the Sodalitium that, though living the same charism, are distinct from one another. This, for example, is how the Christian Life Movement was born in 1985 and later on in 1994 received the Pontifical recognition. There are two associations of consecrated women that are oriented to be Societies of Apostolic Life. There exist other associations, organizations of solidarity and cultural service through which thousands of people personally participate in the Sodalit spirituality and identify themselves with this spiritual family. The most widespread and most numerous of them, already reaching five continents with a membership in the tens of thousands, is the Christian Life Movement. All of these ecclesial realities are included in the Sodalit Family.

Is it common that a layman be the founder of an Ecclesial Movement that includes priests, religious and consecrated laymen?

In fact it’s not that strange. Think of St. Francis of Assisi, who upon founding was a layman. We can also recall the layman John Ciudad Duarte, more widely known as St. John of God, founder of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God, comprised of laymen and priests. Likewise we can remember Conception Cabrera de Armida, foundress of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit. There have been more than a few laymen that the Lord has invited to found forms of associated life in the Church. This can be seen in our own times in Pierre Goursat, Chiara Lubic, Kiko Arguello, Jean Vanier and others in the line of movements and new associations. All of them are lay. I think that it speaks of a charism as an unbounded blessing that God gives and the person receives. By responding to such a charism from his/her freedom a person is converted, by pure gift, into a founder or initiator of an Ecclesial Movement, a Society of Apostolic Life, a Congregation or more than one.

What moved you to found a Society of Apostolic Life, an Ecclesial Movement, and two Societies of consecrated women?

Let’s get right to the answer: God! Yes, it is precisely Him that awakened in me a process of searching for the meaning of my own life and also the awareness that it was extremely urgent to build a more just society, one more respectful of human dignity and rights, one more fraternal and peaceful. It was an intense process, illuminated by faith, that became life and led me to the deep conviction that the key to all change is within the human being. At the same time, there appeared the certainty that the only force that can produce this change in the person is faith. The grace of God and the aid of Holy Mary enliven an inner ardor, a living fire that sometimes I describe as fed by the oil of the Holy Spirit, that continues leading me to interiorize this horizon and turn it into action. That’s how the idea was born to join with other people for the great dream to live the reconciliation brought by Jesus and to become servants of the Word, announcing to all that the mirages and false substitutes that so abound are not the solution, but that the solution can only be found in the Lord Jesus. Thus the circumstances presented themselves as conditions for living a Christian Life and for radiating the faith to a world that is changing so rapidly that it seems to have lost its course. More than some clear plans, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae grew and took shape by the breath of the Holy Spirit. Reflecting upon the fruits from the first years, it was clear that there was a disproportion between them and the poor clay jar that saw itself urged to undertake such a great commitment. Precisely in this way the light of God shined more clearly showing that these fruits and all that was happening came from Him. From the beginning the closeness and accompaniment of various Successors of the Apostles were reason for greater ardor in the commitment to adhere to the faith, bring it to the heart and give it shape in action, cooperating with the loving grace that the Spirit pours into hearts, searching in everything to respond to the divine Plan. Today with immense gratitude to God the "least" Sodalitium is serving the mission of the Church in numerous countries.

The Christian Life Movement was born on the heels of an intense spiritual experience had in Rome on the occasion of the Youth Jubilee in 1984. I perceived an interior impulse that brought me to the conviction that in order to guide this family which had begun to form around the Sodalitium, an Ecclesial Movement would be wonderful – if it was God’s Plan. After a process of prayer and discernment the Christian Life Movement was born in 1985.

The two foundations of female consecrated life had to wait, like everything, for the rhythm of God. That, after all, is what it’s all about, since the initiative always comes from Him. The first attempt at female consecrated life was in 1975, but it didn’t work out. After a prayer and discernment processes, which lasted some years, the Marian Community of Reconciliation was born. This Community for consecrated women was approved in the Archdiocese of Lima in 1991. Then, in face of new signs, the Servants of the Plan of God were born and approved at the Archdiocesan level in 1998. Both have been growing consistently, which leads me to exclaim with a grateful heart: Praised be Jesus Christ!

In a short time the Movement has extended throughout the world, especially in Latin America. To what do you attribute its growth?

I believe that there is a great hunger for God that must be attended to. Today we live a painful crisis of identity as children of the Church. Only a short while ago Pope Benedict XVI had shown on Latin American soil the existence of a certain weakening in the affiliation to the Church. Some twenty years ago, in Peru, the Servant of God John Paul II had warned of something similar, as he had done in other places. There are many socio-cultural factors that demand a greater coherence in the knowledge of the faith, in the life of the faith, and in the celebration of the faith.

At the same time the existential adherence to Jesus, to his teachings, and to love of the Church go together with the concern to build a more just, fraternal and reconciled society, from the only perspective that can make it possible - the reconciliation with God and with oneself. Only from this dimension will a change be generated that, centered in love and solidarity, carries a reconciling dynamism that constructs a more just and peaceful world. This vision and commitment are part of the worldview and action of the members of the Christian Life Movement.

This perspective directed to the whole human being is rooted in the life of the Movement, but I don’t think its growth can be attributed to it, nor to the pedagogical method with which the itinerary of faith is lived, nor to the sense of communion and brotherhood, but perhaps to the invitation made to each person, that he take responsibility for his own freedom according to his dignity as a human person. Perhaps there is a key there? In hearts so disposed, the loving grace that the Spirit pours out finds an effective cooperation. Ultimately all goodness, everything good, comes from God.

There are those who affirm that the language of the Church doesn’t reach young people. From the Sodalit experience, how would you respond to this criticism?

Pope John Paul II and now Pope Benedict XVI have impelled the process of the New Evangelization. This process allows that the perennial truths of the faith be presented in an existential way that better helps them to be understood, as it also helps people to open themselves to the grace to live them daily giving glory to God. The One who calls to the interior of the person is the Lord Jesus and He does so from his Mission and the fascination that his Mystery produces. Whoever really encounters Him experiences the overwhelming attraction of the Truth. Such an encounter with Him moves one to an affective adherence as much as it does to an adherence to the truth that his Person reveals. It is that the Lord Jesus appeals to the mind with the Truth, his beauty awakens emotion and invites one to follow his path seeking to do good, “as He went about doing good.” Upon encountering Jesus without fear, reason ignites and feelings are enlivened surpassing the ruptures and tensions that burden the person since He, who is the Reconciler, offers the human being the reconciling response to all ruptures, opening the way to the harmony of reason and affection, and in this way recovering the transcendent horizon of existence.

The heart of the Church’s message is the Lord Jesus, and He is the “same yesterday, today and forever.” It is He whom young people search for, even if some are blind before the light, others stumble in the darkness of the world, others allow themselves to be the fascinated by false substitutes. But millions and millions open their heart to Him. Perhaps we have forgotten those millions of young people in Tor Vergata? Or perhaps we don’t perceive the internal search of the immense multitude of youth gathered at the last World Youth Day in Germany?

There is a sense of adventure and of search of the truth, of longing for the infinite, of nostalgia for reconciliation that is rooted in the profundity of each young person. When these interior fibers are touched, young people respond yearning to be and to live authentically, listening to the depth of their hearts. It requires courage and leaving fear behind. There’s a reason the Magisterium of the Church keeps repeating the phrase, “Do not be afraid!”, as a living echo of Jesus. The young people who overcome fear can audaciously live the great adventure of the encounter of friendship with the Lord Jesus. And indeed many do!

What role do you consider that the Ecclesial Movements have today inside the Church?

Yesterday as today I believe their role is fundamental. Historically the movements have been gifts of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. For example, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, upon analyzing historically the reality of the movements pointed out that already in the third century the characteristics of a movement could be identified in monastic life. He said that “without any difficulty monasticism could be defined as ‘movement.’” I am convinced that there have been many waves of “movements” throughout the history of the Church. It is one of the ways the Spirit vitalizes the People of God. Today a new flowering of them has appeared. It’s astounding this surge of movements with characteristics and forms so diverse, with distinct styles, responding to diverse necessities but solidly linked to ecclesial communion. The great gift of the Spirit that is expressed in the Ecclesial Movements that are born in the today of our history, in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, has been splendidly emphasized by the Magisterium of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. These waves of Ecclesial associative expressions that we call movements are answers of the Holy Spirit in the face of the challenges and new situations with which the Church continues encountering in her history. Today, especially linked to the See of Peter and at the same time in communion with local bishops, the Ecclesial Movements enrich the reality of the People of God with charisms that they receive from the Holy Spirit. It speaks much of the vitality of the movements and astonishment arises in response to the spiritual impulse and the radical nature of the Gospel that they contribute in the particular churches. This constitutes a gift for the apostolic mission and a responsibility for the members of the Ecclesial Movements to respond to the impulse received from the Spirit and to express fidelity to the faith of the Church, always seeking to live with Christian coherence in daily life.

What are the new challenges facing youth at the beginning of the 21st Century?

There are a number of crises that weaken the faith, especially of those who are less formed in it. Secularism, rationalism, functional agnosticism, hedonism, epistemological distrust, the devaluation of the intellect, reductionisms of all kinds and other widespread tendencies and ideologies today are like a negative cultural humus in which the person struggles without ceasing to aspire to overcome the obstacles to his being that which he aspires to be from his interior. There is a generalized resignation from what is properly human, from human dignity. This adverse climate could be synthesized in three crises: of thought, of desires, and of action. Youth, in general, suffer them very strongly because they are more prone to falling into subjectivism, fomented by fear. For this reason the proclamation of faith must be integral and must respond to these three critical areas.

In face of the series of problems concerning truth and subjectivism, it is necessary to announce He who is “the Truth” with clarity, helping the knowledge of Jesus to go hand in hand with his teachings, the faith that the Church keeps. In the face of a confusion between “I like it” and therefore it is good, “I don’t like it” and therefore it is bad, in the face of the crisis of values and of desires, one must present the Way of the Lord, of He who went about doing good and who assumes situations that are difficult and that bring him suffering for the sake of authentic and greater values. The young person must be helped to understand that his desires are not the norm, that on occasion he does indeed desire things which are bad. When Pope John Paul II spoke of “sin as a suicidal act,” he implied that there are fatal desires. It’s a question of presenting the meaning and importance of the good on the path to happiness. There is always a danger of acting badly, before which it is important to present the value of right action. Prudence and charity are not alien to a right exercise of action. In this rapidly changing world we can even speak of a spirituality of action which is expressed in the charity that is the force capable of changing man and the world. We don’t say that “Only the saints will change the world” for nothing. And we have to remember that every baptized person is called to be a saint.

What is the answer that the Christian Life Movement gives in the face of the new problems posed in society and in the Church?

To really answer that question would take a lot of time. But something can be said about it. Above all, the conviction that without God neither man nor society can attain their goals. The Movement’s answer is born out of the faith and of affective and effective adherence to the Church. Today in which so many things are put in question, the firm conviction that the faith and the active ecclesial life constitute the key for the realization of the human person and for the finding of answers to the difficulties which are presented in economic, social and cultural life is essential.

Diagnoses about today’s situation abound. There are catalogues of different diagnoses! What cannot be denied is that we are living in a time ruled by the culture of death, by the relinquishing of the human. We have investigated and reflected about the challenges and possible solutions. In March of this year an important Conference Seminar with distinguished participants from different Latin American countries took place. The result was of the greatest importance and serenity. It was confirmed that the same old problems had to be attended to, and that there are new problems requiring equal attention. This is a fact, as is the fact that the root of all of these situations is the rupture with God, with oneself, with others, with the cosmos, introduced by original sin and increased by personal sins. The fundamental problem is spiritual! The other real problems, which should be attended to, are sequels of this spiritual problematic. History offers reliable proof of it. The failures of so many programs, ideologies, and governments tragically mark history. Many, attending to what is urgent, neglect the essential and necessary. It is fundamental to go to what is essential. Setting off from this perspective it is possible to attempt answers to the other problems. It is like having a compass. With it the basic coordinates are marked out and a route can be established. Without it we go around in circles. Today it seems that there is too much going around in circles.

A little more than three years after the Movement’s foundation, Pope John Paul II proposed a highly indicative way: Hunger for God, yes! But, hunger for bread, no! “I see that there is a hunger for God, hunger that constitutes a true richness, the richness of the poor that ought not be lost with any program.” And he added: “There is hunger for bread. For this reason the Lord has taught us to pray: ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ Everything possible has to be done to bring this daily bread to the hungry.” These are the coordinates that speak of an integral program that goes out to meet the needs of the concrete human being. That is what it’s about! Pope Benedict in his first visit to Latin America has moved within these coordinates orienting the People of God of these lands in the face of the problems that are posed in the Church and society. He said from the beginning, “the principal motive of my trip has a Latin American scope and an essentially religious character”. His teachings are extensive and of prudent wisdom. One can’t intend to summarize them in one interview, but his repeated invitation to implement an intense evangelization that employs the Catechism of the Church, and in living social charity the resource to the Social Teaching of the Church cannot help but attract attention. In this line the Christian Life Movement has been developing its activities, seeking to actively attend to the hunger for God, as well as with solidarity and fraternity to the hunger of bread, hunger of health, hunger of housing, hunger of clothing, hunger of reconciled social life together, for structures that respond to the dignity and rights of the human being following the Divine Plan. Evangelization as such, in which is essential the proclamation of the Lord Jesus and his Kingdom, in the face of the growing de-Christianization of our times, should not allow us to forget that following Christ has consequences in social life that ought to be implemented.

July 2008 - FIDES Agency
The interview made by the Vatican agency has been offered to you in a special English translation based on the one published by Fides.
 

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