Exactly one year ago, the Augustinian Family worldwide joyfully welcomed the election of the first Augustinian Pope in history. In these twelve months, we have come to understand and appreciate many of his insights, among which we can cite the urgent need for decentralization to overcome institutional paralysis.
Pope Leo XIII wants to promote synodism, identify structures that no longer meet current challenges, and commit to the Global South, social justice, integral ecology, and human dignity. He does so courageously in the face of powers that promote, manipulate, and operate through imposition, violence, exclusionary nationalism, racism, classism, and war.
Pope Leo insists on the inadequacy of the Church’s responses of other times to a current world marked by polycrisis: inequality, climate emergency, social fragmentation, distrust between peoples, war, hunger, mass migrations.
The Church, as a counterpoint, walks with the people, engages in dialogue with diverse cultures and religions, and acts locally with a global vision. These values, ideas, and proposals are perfectly applicable, within their own spheres, to religious orders and congregations. For the Augustinian Recollects, a Chapter is a privileged space to introduce these papal insights into their reality. Five key points stand out:
- The solidarity DNA of the Augustinian Recollects
Decentralization adds adaptability to social scenarios from its charismatic roots. It is not enough to preserve a solidarity-based identity: it must be updated and embodied in the excluded and vulnerable of today.
- Reach everyone
Decentralization means breaking with centralist logic, reaching the margins, the borders, the invisible, the forgotten. It means promoting a real presence and flexible structures to listen, respond, and cultivate spirituality in everyone, without distinction.
- Presence and leadership with a community face
Decentralization transforms leadership, which is measured by its real impact on people. It means being out in the community, participating in community organizations, and sharing processes with the local community. It means providing support, encouragement, and fostering co-participation based on one’s own charismatic identity.
- Delegate, empower, and work with multiple stakeholders
Decentralization means abandoning paternalism and clericalism and empowering lay people, associations, and collectives. It means sharing responsibilities and decisions, trusting others to become involved in social transformation.
- Perseverance, generational change, and a non-captive gaze
Decentralization is about long-term thinking. To ensure the continuity and stability of projects, training, generational renewal, and moving beyond a “captive audience” are essential: if we only work with “our own people,” we won’t progress. Opening ourselves to new horizons is a prerequisite for a truly transformative, meaningful, and lasting presence.
Decentralization is not an end in itself, but a means to serve better, listen more, walk with the People of God, and love better. The Chapter is an opportunity to discern together how to maintain and increase a meaningful presence of the Church and the Gospel amidst complex realities. It is a time to sit at the table as equals, based on a logic of horizontality and cooperation. Only in this way will the Church and the Augustinian Recollect Family be closer, more humble, and more faithful to the Gospel.
