FR. CHEVALIER AND THE MINISTRY OF FORMATION

      The first MSC Constitutions of 1877 clearly express Chevalier’s expectations concerning the MSCs. MSCs are called “to imitate the virtues of the divine Heart and to propagate more widely the knowledge and veneration of this Heart.” They should commit themselves to live the Devotion to the Sacred Heart in such a way that it becomes an effective remedy for the ills of the time. The best way to carry out this mission is, according to Chevalier, by the ministry of formation. Hearts afflicted by indifference towards God’s commandments and by egoism to the needs of the poor, should be transformed into obedient and caring hearts, while taking the Heart of Christ as a model.
      To reach that purpose, Chevalier declares that first of all the MSCs themselves should enter into an ongoing process of self-formation, while committing themselves, “to acquiring knowledge of devotion to the Sacred Heart,” in the broad sense as understood by Chevalier himself. “We should certainly know what we are required to teach” he says.
      Furthermore, the ministry of formation of the youth, Chevalier specifies as one of “the principal aims” of the congregation. He highlights “the sublimity of so great a mission,” even if “human nature often may find (this ministry) unpleasant and unattractive.” After all, he says, “the well-being of society, both civil and ecclesiastical, hinges especially on the Christian education of youth.”
      In the same Constitutions Chevalier declares that the formation of associated diocesan priests and lay people, might be done by founding aggregations as well as by giving retreats and offer Spiritual Exercises. To make this happen, he built a large compound in Issoudun. After all, there the many rooms would not only serve as residence for the MSC community, but also provide facilities for a formation and retreat center, as still is its purpose today.
Also the first draft of the Constitutions of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, written in 1874, stipulates that education and formation should be the chief ministry of their apostolate of the Sacred Heart. Consequently, their first Constitutions, published in 1874, specifies that the Daughters would make “a thorough study of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. For it is essential that they themselves know what they are to practice all their life and to impart to others.” The Christian education of girls, Chevalier considered to be the basis of the Christian family and the very foundation of the regeneration of society.
      However, since 1876 the French Republican Government started taking measures against teaching Congregations in France. Its regulations made the implementation of the ministry of formation as a special aim of Chevalier’s congregations, at least in France, impossible.
      In the MSC Constitutions of 1907, the ministry of formation is still mentioned among the special apostolic activities of the Congregation. However, in the missionary tradition of the MSC Congregation, another element of Chevalier’s spirit, also included in the MSC Constitutions of 1877, began to predominate, namely that the members “must be ever ready to undertake any kind of apostolic ministry.”
      The renewed MSC Constitutions of 1985 only outline the internal formation of the members of the Congregation itself. Nothing is said on formation of our spirituality, today called a Spirituality of the Heart, as a specific ministry and missionary activity. Yet, in their latest editions of the Constitutions, the MSC Sisters and the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, still explicitly refer to education and faith-formation as one of the forms of their apostolic ministries.

Fr. Hans KWACKMAN

Province of Netherlands