Leadership in the SVD as an International Missionary Congregation and the Participation of the Indonesian Members
Leadership in the SVD as an International Missionary Congregation and the Participation of the Indonesian Members
SVD Mission in Contexts: Creative Responses in a Wounded World
Paulus Budi Kleden, SVD
Leadership is seen as one of the five important aspects of life and ministry of an SVD missionary, in addition to spirituality, community, finance, and formation. This was outlined in the 16th General Chapter of the SVD in 2006.[1] There are two reasons for this. Firstly, because being a religious missionary always means taking part in the task of leadership. In addition to baptism conferring on every Christian a participation in Christ’s task of leadership, the vows that bind a person in a religious community carry with them the consequence of assuming responsibility for the whole life and mission of the community (Constitutions 604). The ideal and practice of subsidiarity-participative leadership is part of the history of religious life. Secondly, because the members live concretely in communities, there is a need for leaders who are in charge of animating the members in consecrated life, coordinating missionary service and administering the things necessary for life and work. Although not entirely, the quality of leadership has an influence on the quality of life and ministry as religious and missionaries.
These two thoughts are also the reason for writing this article on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the SVD. Firstly, as an occasion for renewal of commitment, this celebration is also a good time to reflect on the extent to which the life and mission of the SVD members, individually and as a congregation, take part in the task of leadership in the midst of the people, meaning the extent to which our lives as religious missionaries have encouraged people to become mature in faith, take responsibility in the life of the Church, and together with them strive for a decent life as human beings. Secondly, this celebration invites us to look back into history, and there we will find figures who have been entrusted with leadership. While not without fault, they have helped shape and define the history of our congregation and its missionary work over the past hundred and fifty years. Now, the trust is given to us both to be leaders and to prepare the leaders of our union. As the quantity of Indonesian SVDs becomes larger, our contribution in the field of leadership is also expected.
Based on the above reasons, this reflection is pursued in three steps. Firstly, we will look at Arnold Janssen’s concept and praxis of leadership. From there, in the second step we will explore some of the main dimensions of religious leadership in an international missionary congregation like the SVD. The third step is to look at the development of the participation ot the Indonesian SVDs in the leadership service of the congregation.
[1] “Documents of the XVI General Chapter SVD 2006,” in In Dialogue With the Word 6/September 2006 (Roma: SVD Generalate Publications, 2006).
