Partnership

Description

What is Montfortian Gabrielite Partnership (MGP)?

The 29th General Chapter gifted us with the idea of partnership and it suggested that we could realize the partnership in four stages:

  1. Formation to leadership and partnership;
  2. Sharing of the Montfortian Gabrielite charism;
  3. Sharing of the Montfortian Gabrielite mission;
  4. Sharing of our identity and way of life. (29th G.C. 2.9).

Various Forms of Montfortian Gabrielite Partnership

  1. Collaborators are lay people who work with the Brothers or the persons with whom the Brothers work. They share our mission in various degrees according to the quality of their commitments, their competencies, and their sense of mission.
  2. Certain collaborators wish to commit themselves to a greater degree in the missionary project (in a wide sense of meaning) of the Brothers of St Gabriel. This occurs only within the framework of a voluntary choice. It is open to any person of good will, Christian or not. They are partners in the educational project of the Brothers worldwide.
  3. The Institution may call some lay people to share responsibilities (leadership, management, administration, etc.).
  4. Other people, not necessarily sharing our mission, are interested in Montfortian charism and spirituality. They are “Montfortian Associate Members”.
  5. Others, yet, desire to live close to the Brothers by sharing their community life. For some, this life sharing can reach the desire of sharing the identity with the Brothers by a personal religious commitment in the Congregation. They become members of the Congregation.
  6. Finally, others who are collaborating in our mission actively or remotely like organisations (NGOs, Associations, International Organisations…) with which we work in a particular way in the fields of development, justice, peace and integrity of creation. This is called networking.

The context of Montfortian Gabrielite Partnership

We see more and more, today, the awareness of the personal dignity and freedom, of rights and equality, among the people.

There is a desire for democratic participation in planning, decision making and execution. Many feel that participation will not be authentic and meaningful if it is not lived through sharing in planning, decision-making and execution.

Here and there, we see protests against hierarchical domination in the society.

Similar moves are noticed for participation among the subaltern groups like immigrants, Dalits, minorities and women.

Hence there arises the need to respect secularism and pluralism of identities. This leads to a plural, participative democracy.

Today, laypeople want to be partners in the life and mission of the Church and not merely servants or helpers or even collaborators.

There are various reasons for it.

A new paradigm in the Church

In the light of the dignity and equality of all Christians, the role of the clergy and the religious is facilitation and coordination, not domination, representation or mediation.

These individuals are only functionally different and not essentially different. We all understand that the universality and diversity of charisms is for the service of community (1 Cor 12); leadership is also a special charism, but not a title for special honour or power.

Those persons in leadership are recognized and set apart for a role by the community but not separated.

The existence of associate groups (one form of partnership) has been a growing reality within the Church over the last 50 years.

As a result of Vatican II’s invitation to renewal, interest was sparked in ways of connecting and living common charisms through different lifestyles.

Associate groups formed as laypersons and members of religious Congregations found in one another a shared attraction to an Institute’s charism and mission.

(Partnership – general guidelines – pages 22-24)

International Commission

During the 32nd General Chapter, the desire was expressed to give more dynamism topartnership in our congregation : Conviction 5: To Work in Communion with People of Good Will . 

We are convinced of  the necessity of working in communion with other members of the Church, with the Montfortian Family, with our Associates and Collaborators, with other people inspired by the Montfortian spirituality, and with all people of good will.

3.5.1 Action 5: We will take the necessary steps to share the Montfortian Gabrielite spirituality and mission.

3.5.1.1 Strategy 5-a: We will create an International Commission of Brothers and Lay people, who will work in close collaboration with the Central Administration, to carry our Partnership initiatives forward. (Acts of the 32nd General Chapter p. 19)

For this reason, the new General Administration, among the first actions carried out in 2018 at  the beginning of its mandate, has created an International Commission composed of 5 brothers and 4 lay people representing the different continents.

The mission of this Commission is to organize and accompany the partnership in the Congregation of the Brothers of Saint Gabriel, taking into account its different expressions and thinking in particular about the formation of all those lay people who share the charism and mission of the Brothers.

MGA

Montfortian Gabrielite Associates (MGA), is a Christian Association of people who are spiritually oriented and are willing to share the Charism, Spirituality and Mission of the Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel – Called to be Lay Montfortian Gabrielites.

The MGA is a deeply committed group of Christians, who are Montfortians in their spirit and spirituality.

Being close partners of the Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel, they participate in the mission of the Congregation and become an inspiring presence of Christian life in the Church.

Along with the Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel, the Montfortian Gabrielite Associates are engaged in the world, through the privileged field of education, to transform humanity into a fraternal community of the children of God – The Gospel vision of the Kingdom of God.

Membership is normally open to all Christians of good will, who feel called to be associated with the Montfortian Gabrielite way of life and mission. (MGA Charter n.1-4)