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| CHALLENGES TO THE "TERESIANUM" ON COMPLETING 75 YEARS |
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| Fr Silvano Giordano: "it was a week of deep reflection, organized and rich in ideas" |
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Communicationes
Rome (27-02-2010).- Fr Silvano Giordano, in charge of the Teresianum Spirituality Week, judged successful the outcome of the 51st Spirituality Week which came to a close recently in Rome on 25th February.
During an interview offered to Communicationes, he praised the deep reflection, that was organized and rich in ideas” and also noted “a good response from the public”, with more that one hundred registered daily in attendance.
In his interview, the Vice-President of the “Teresianum” Pontifical Faculty, Fr Silvano, explained the special features of the Week which the Spirituality Institute has organized for more than fifty years. He also reviewed the history and the significance of this Faculty of the Order which, on the 16th July this year, celebrates it 75 years of establishment.
Communicationes: How did the Spirituality Week come about?
Silvano Giordano: It began in 1960, as a series of conferences on spirituality topics in the form of a formation course directed mainly to religious women, shortly after the founding the Spirituality Institute, while Fr Anastasio Ballestrero was General. The idea was brought to fruition by means of the “Teresianum” and use was made of their professors.
C: On what subject matter does the Week centre?
SG: Normally, the Spirituality Weeks is structured around a single topic developed under distinct aspects. They are mainly topics related to the Carmelite tradition of spirituality, such as “The mystery of Christian prayer”, with which the first Week was inaugurated in 1960, and combined with precise events in the present-day Church. For example, in 1966 it was devoted to Sanctity in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, of the Second Vatican Council. This year we reflected on the encyclical “Caritas in veritate” published by Benedict XVI on 29th June, 2009.
C: What has this Encyclical, which is so social, to do with spirituality?
SG: It is true that the Pope in the Encyclical does not deal with spiritual topics in the traditional sense, rather anthropological. He analyses the present economic situation, however since the Pope is not an economist, the attitudes of man faced with the social and economic situation are much better explained. Benedict XVI sets out from Populorum Progressio of Paul VI (1967) with the idea that integral humanism is identified with integral growth. If we wish to grow then it is necessary to chose an economy of “gratuitous gift” in which relations between persons are based on gratitude and mutual respect. Objectively, the encyclical does not try to speak about the economy, but about the attitude of people faced with daily life and other people. For the Pope, the model for relationships between persons is the Trinitarian model. There is nothing more spiritual than that.
C: So it is from this that came the slogan for these days: “Development needs Christians”?
SG: Exactly. It is a phrase taken from number 79 of the encyclical. After presenting the various attitudes of the homo oeconomicus, the homo faber, the Pope ends up with Spirituality. However, it is not a banal spirituality reduced to “being good”, rather he deals with the theologic and anthropological basis of Spirituality.
C: Could we say that there is a new approach in the Week after 50 years?
SG: This Week sought to be a “tiny break-away” from what has always been dealt with from the very tradition of the Order in order to involve us in a more ecclesial theological reflection. We set rather high objectives and demanded of the lecturers a theological reflection of truth, not just beautiful words or pious exhortations, rather a good theology reflecting on what is man and, at the same time, connecting with present theological trends. All in all, we tried to have spirituality connecting with present theological and philosophical currents.
C: How do you assess the Week?
SG: I am fairly satisfied. The speakers responded to what was asked of them with a deep reflection, well set out and rich in ideas. We reached the objective we planned at the beginning. We also relied on response from the public, since the change of approach could result in a lesser number than usual attending. We had hoped for between 40 to 60 people, given the wide opportunities on offer in Rome, besides we are not a well-known university. Despite all this we had around one hundred attending. This means our approach drew interest.
C: This year is the 75th anniversary of the “Teresianum”. How did it begin?
SG: It was at the time of the General, William of St Albert, from the Roman Province. He was a very active General. During his mandate, the International College began again after the First World War; plans were begun for Mount Carmel and a Biblical Institute in Jerusalem which came to nothing because of the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1931, Pope Pius XI promulgated the Apostolic Constitution “Deus scientiarum dominus” in which global norms for seminaries and Catholic faculties throughout the world were drawn up for the first time. Then Fr William, in consultation with the Congregation for Studies, attained the title of Faculty for the International College of the Discalced Carmelites, which had been founded in Corso d’Italia at the beginning of the century, where the present General House is. In 1955 the present building on the Gianiculum was officially inaugurated and in 1963, Pope John XXIII granted the Faculty the title of “Pontifical”. Later on, during the 1982 Centenary of Saint Teresa, it became known as the “Teresianum”.
C: What has the founding of the “Teresianum” meant for the Order?
SG: It was something quite novel for us, since from the time of the 1581 Constitutions it was prohibited to Discalced Carmelite to attend universities and receive academic degrees and the attending privileges. For this reason, it was the first time in history that Discalced Carmelites were allowed to acquire an academic degree.
C: What has the “Teresianum” contributed to the Order in these 75 years?
SG: Two things stand out. The first has been assisting the process of internationalization of the Order. Until the 70's of the XX century, the Order was mainly formed of Spanish and Italian friars. There were other nationalities, but the strongest groups were these. After the Second Vatican Council, there was a growth of Africans, Asians, Latin-Americans . . . which led to an exchange of ideas on how to live Carmelite life, at times different from what each one had experienced in their country of origin.
Secondly, I believe that the Teresianum helped to form a certain academic awareness, that goes beyond a simple seminary training, with a better planned theological approach, contributing to the stimulation of a specific intellectual preparation.
C: Facing the future: What ought the role of the Teresianum be?
SG: Going deeper into this approach, it ought to be a centre of theological reflection and investigation. I believe that, in the short or long term, it is still lacking and is what the Order is demanding of the Teresianum. Energies need to be mobilized, in dialogue with other cultural environments, in order to site Saint Teresa, Saint John of the Cross, Edith Stein and Saint Therese in the eye of the cyclone. It is to be hoped that it leads to new guidelines for investigation.
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