From March 19 to 21, 28 of the 41 religious who belong to the Vicariate of the United States, Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine of the Order of Augustinian Recollects met in Oxnard (California), summoned and accompanied by the prior provincial.
At the ringing of the bell, this is how the Assembly of Augustinian Recollects religious has developed in the United States. The person in charge of calling those who are going to meet is one of the older participants, Anthony Torretti. His family, along with that of Michael Stechmann, donated years ago a well-ringed bell named “Santa Rita”. To its ringing, everyone rushes toward the chapel, the dining room, or the meeting room, depending on the tone of community hours.
The Assemblies have long been incorporated into the government system of the Augustinian Recollects. The prior provincial summons the religious of a certain geographical area to analyze the situation of the ministries and communities of the area in question.
There is an agenda and a list of proposed issues that the communities have also discussed previously separately. All the religious who have wished to attend the Assembly, with the sole purpose of exception have to stay in the communities to continue attending to the ministries.
Frater Carlos González, current prior provincial of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine, has described the assemblies in their convocation letters as a “profound process of discernment and dialogue”. This is the same synodal dynamic underway today in the Church. Despite having a consultative character, the assembly can propose to the major superiors the adoption of measures on organizational matters: prioritization of needs, the definition of geographical presences or areas of service to the Church, the dedication of concrete religious services measures to reinforce or improve them, restructuring of ministries…
In the United States, the assembly took place from March 19 to 21, on the eve of the Holy Week and from the solemnity of Saint Joseph, patron, and protector of the Order, in Oxnard, a coastal town of 200,000 inhabitants about 90 minutes from Los Angeles.
Most of the communities in the country are dedicated to parish activity; some parishes have educational centers, and there is also a convent with various functions. The wide variety of its facilities makes it the appropriate center for inter-community meetings (exercises, ongoing formation, charismatic celebrations, or this same assembly). It is also the residence assigned for the elderly and sick religious. It has some rooms specially prepared for religious with reduced mobility, it is also the reference community for religious people in a situation of dependency treated at the nearby Mary Health Home, Health of the Sick, of the Servants of Mary in Newbury Park.
28 of out of the 41 Augustinian Recollect religious present in this Vicariate attended the Assembly, which has nine communities spread across three geographic areas: six within the greater Los Angeles in California, two communities on the East Coast (in New York and New Jersey), and one community in New Mexico.
The Assembly was presided over by the prior provincial, Carlos González, who had traveled there for the occasion and who had previously sent the agenda of four central chapters on other possible ones:
Care of elderly and sick religious; permanent training and support; ARY ( Augustinian Recollect Yuoth) and vocational promotion; reorganization of ministries.
The way of working was based on discussion of each topic in small groups -random, generally, although also, at some point, by communities – and the subsequent implementation of the conclusions before the plenary session of the Assembly. There was a good atmosphere and general advantage.
There were two agreements of special acceptance. The first reviewed the general satisfaction, both of those affected as well as the rest of the religious, of the attention given by the Servants of Mary to religious people in a situation of dependency, so it seems like a solution that should be continued. The second agreement dealt with the necessary reinforcement of youth and vocational ministry.
The exhibition in Oxnard of the venerable Monsignor Alfonso Gallegos objects, Augustinian Recollect currently in the process of beatification also attracted attention. The vice-postulator of his cause, the Augustinian Recollect Eliseo González, highlighted during the Assembly the interest that the figure and promotion of Gallegos, known as the bishop of the Hispanics, has for the apostolate in general and for vocational promotion.
The Parishes served by the Augustinian Recollects in the United States are of enormous vitality, both for the volume of faithful, who fill the temples to overflowing, and for the variety of groups and the intense collaboration they provide for the development of community life parish in all its aspects: celebratory-liturgical, formation-catechetical, general pastoral and of specific groups, charismatic movements and socio-evangelizing services.
In the Parishes the Hispanic element predominates, the majority Mexican, especially in the City of Santa Ana has the highest percentage of Hispanics in the entire United States which the Augustinian Recollects serve in two Parishes. Consequently, taking for granted the knowledge of the English language as the vehicle and common in social life, Spanish is the language of common use, for example, in most liturgical celebrations. And, if the composition of the parishioner is varied, that of the religious in the Vicariate is no less so. In its list, we find the greatest variety of the entire Order of Augustinian Recollects, with friars from Colombia, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Ireland, Philippines, Portugal, Ecuador, and Spain, in addition to those born in the USA.
