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Workshop Day on Associates with
Sr. Katherine Schwermer (bottom row, left)


Recently Sr. Catherine Schwemer, a member of the Community of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ spoke to a group of La Salette Associates at the National Shrine in Attleboro. MA. She is the Executive Director of NACAR (North American Conference of Associates and Religious) which includes 200 Associate congregations. It serves Associates and Vowed members as they proclaim their call from God to live the Spirit, charism and mission of their particular Religious Congregation. Its Vision Statement is as follows:

True to our founding charisms, we, the members of NACAR, strive to broaden and deepen our understanding of the Associate-Religious relationship by:
 


 

  • joining our collective wisdom in service of God and one another,
  • affirming that the call to Association and Professed Life are distinct and complementary vocations,
  • identifying trends and growing edges of the Associate-Religious relationship,
  • proclaiming the unique gifts of the Associate-Religious relationship.

 As People with a Call from God

Sr. Catherine proudly stated that the Spirit has moved a lot in the last ten years in the areas of associates. In fact, she stated  “For me, I can no longer look at the world through the lenses that are not the lenses of the Poor Handmaids.” For members of the La Salette Missionaries and La Salette Associates, she said that, as we become more committed and knowledgeable in in our vocation, we will soon realize that we religious and associates have the same call and we have must claim that call for ourselves.

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Promises Ceremony at Novena Mass, September 18, 2010

As associates or soon-to-be-associates, the Holy Spirit is calling to us. Sometimes we are drawn to the Associate ministry or some join because they know a particular La Salette Missionary and want to know more about that community, its charism and mission.

We stay connected to or a part of the La Salette Associates because the Spirit is calling us to do so. It is good to remember that this is our vocational call, not an accident of connection. It is God’s design. As La Salette Associates, we are a group of people called into this faith community to be about La Salette. Like the two children during the La Salette Apparition, we are actually called to share Mary’s message with the world.

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman once spoke about the meaning of God’s call to each of us. He said:
“God has created me to do him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught…Therefore I will trust Him, whatever I am… He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me—still, He knows what He is about.”

La Salette Associates and the La Salette Missionaries

As La Salette Associates, you are an organized group with a preparation program for candidates and expectations for your members. Therefore your Mission Statement should be revisited every five years because your response to God’s call may change in some ways over the years. You must continually listen to God’s guidance, refresh your purpose and commitment.

Concern your vision for your life and ministry: it is a shared vision and not merely an idea. It is a force of impressive power in the hearts and lives of your membership. Here are a few introductory ideas within which to understand properly your position in the Church as Associates.

1) Associates do not exist in Canon Law. (This is the fully developed legal system of the Catholic Church, with all the necessary elements: courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated legal code and principles of legal interpretation.)
2) Third orders are under the authority of a bishop. Associates are under the sponsorship of the congregations.
3) Many groups of Associates are from various Christians faiths.

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La Salette Associates with La Salette seminarians, priests
and brothers before Novena Mass and Promises Ceremony
September 18, 2010

Among the essentials for Associates, we feel that members need formation, not  merely a brief orientation. Our formation should be in line with the formation of the vowed religious. We can share their own resources. Although as Associates, we don’t take vows, nevertheless we can answer our own special call. Because we have a different expression, we are not just second class citizens. Associate candidates and members have their own call and need to realize and celebrate it. She believes that it is best to recommit each year.

We should use the terms “discernment” (describes the process of understanding and responding to God's will for one's life) and “spirituality” (the practice of living out a personal act of faith) to understand our special call within the Church. We need to follow a process of discernment with our candidates. When it comes to deciding what the process of discernment will be, Associates need to have a part in deciding that process, not just the religious order. It is also important to allow for a way that those who feel that they do not want to become Associates, can leave with dignity and grace.

Three Trends in NACAR

In the North American Conference of Associates and Religious the three biggest trends are:
1) Membership: inviting others to become a part of your community.
2) Avoid the use of the word “program” in explaining our Associate formation. It is not a “necessary evil to endure” but rather than opportunity to be formed and grow in “wisdom and age and favor before God and [all] (Luke 2:52).”
3) Understand and accept our own call as unique and special (to be an Associate or a vowed religious).

In conclusion, we are called to stay true to who we are, build mutuality and model it with others. We are to invite others lovingly into our community, be willing to speak with them and love them as Christ would have us do. Our call is not to debate, argue or convince another. We are simply “similar but different” and that’s a very good thing to realize!

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Shrine and Site of the Apparition,
La Salette Holy Mountain, France