lesson 13: corporate and social discernment

Lesson 13: Corporate and Social Discernment

Ignatian Spirituality and Leadership Lesson 13

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CORPORATE & SOCIAL DISCERNMENT

A. INTRODUCTION

The dynamics underlying personal discernment which you explored in Lesson 12 will now be applied to corporate and social discernment. Central is the seeking of God, or, to put it in less religious terms, since most groups have little or no concern for what God wants, we search for the wisest and most loving thing to do. This phrase is derived from Newman’s Praise to the Holiest. ‘O loving wisdom...O wisest love...’ How does God make decisions, other than by choosing the wisest and most loving option? Since then God works by ‘wisest love’ in deciding what to do, we try to do the same. Decisions shape or contort our world and our lives. Since power lies with groups, group decision making is highly important. Think of the UN debating a resolution that will affect whole nations, or the Cabinet preparing a budget, or 2500 bishops at Vatican Two working at aggiornamento. Corporate discernment could helpfully be used where the trustees of a Catholic fee-paying school are considering entering the free education system, or a Parish Council is debating how to respond to the introduction of a Travellers’ settlement within the parish.

Terms By ‘Corporate Discernment’ we mean that a whole group is trying to discern together, following a decision-making process guided by Christian principles. Here we have in mind Christian groups: a religious Order, a diocese, a Christian school, a parish, the Legion of Mary, the Society of St Vincent de Paul, a group of concerned Christians lobbying for some issue or trying to decide how to provide support for a vulnerable group in society. The term ‘corporate’ in this context is borrowed from the ground-breaking manual ISECP (Ignatian Spiritual Exercises for the Corporate Person). See the Recommended Reading below.

‘Social Discernment’ means that an individual Christian is trying to use the dynamics of discernment socially within a group which is not focused on God’s concerns in an explicit way. Think of a concerned parent who joins an anti-drugs group, or a director in a multinational, or a member of a University Senate. Brady & Grogan’s Meetings Matter! is written from this perspective, and takes up the challenge of what the lone voice can achieve.

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Christian Discernment in history From the beginning, Christian groups have been trying to discern together. Think of the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15, at which there was strong disagreement as to whether the gentiles should be admitted to membership of the early Church without obeying the Mosaic Law. Finally a solution was reached which is magnificently termed ‘the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us’ (Acts 15:28). The great Councils which set the foundations of belief about Jesus Christ were exercises in communal discernment. In reading the history of Vatican Two we can watch a great corporate effort to discern how the Church should proceed in the changing world. We can also see what a struggle it was for 2500 well-intentioned bishops to decide on the ‘wisest and most loving’ courses of action (See J W O’Malley, What Happened at Vatican Two. Harvard, 2008). We may say that wherever Christians gather to make decisions, they are, at least in theory, intent on doing what God wants. Hence, if they feel that a decision is sinful, they will reject it. However, most Christian groups have little awareness of what might be a good process for discerning, and this is where Ignatian spirituality has so much to offer. What Ignatius brought to discernment, both personal and communal, was a reflective understanding of the process and its dynamics. At the heart of the Spiritual Exercises is a set of guidelines on how an individual can be helped to make good decisions (Exx 169-189). The process of communal discernment is more complex than that of personal discernment, but the elements are similar.

B. LESSON CONTENT

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS IN CORPORATE DISCERNMENT

A sincere desire to find what God wants done. God, who is wisdom and love, knows what is the wisest and most loving thing for us to do in any situation, but God does not force this wisdom on us. Instead, God respects our choices and shapes the world through them. The ‘will of God’ is not a static blueprint: what God wants done is tahat we make decisions that are wise and loving, whatever their content may be. God chooses to work along with us in an open plan, like a game plan in a competitive sport. A helpful image of God is as a great choir conductor who can integrate even our innumerable false notes into a complex harmony. We can develop a strong sense of God as being within the group, trying to communicate with us.

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This comes

- through others,

- through the facts,

- through the tugging of our hearts.

In corporate discernment, each member is trying to ‘tune in’ to the divine frequency. Ignatius speaks of God as one who labours in the world: this is the image of God presented in the opening pages of the Bible. There God worked alone, but now he labours with everyone and with every group. Some are easier to communicate with, while others are tuned out, but God works on indefatigably. Ignatian spirituality helps us to be open and receptive to what God might wish us to do. Thus we become collaborators with God in the divine project of bringing the world to its destiny. We have seen that ‘consolation’ follows when we are in tune with God, while ‘desolation’ hints to us that we may be losing the plot.

Inner Freedom

The group needs to be aware both individually and corporately of the factors that can impede good decision making. Inner freedom will be a variable among the members. The Chairperson of an ailing firm might wonder: ‘Who in this group is capable of making a free choice in regard to a pay cut? Will the proposal be defeated, not because it’s a bad idea, but because the members are not free enough?’ The members must challenge one another respectfully in such a way that group freedom is enhanced and openness to the common good is achieved. Hidden agendas must be brought to light. But unless the members practise personal discernment and its demands on personal freedom, they will find group discernment difficult. The following three statements indicate the disposition which we call inner freedom: We are to be ‘like a balance at equilibrium’ (Exx 15). The love that moves us to one option or another should be ‘from above’ – that is, from God Exx 184). ‘We will try to avoid making up our minds until the last minute, because we want God to be able to move our hearts when he chooses.’ This is called the Uncertainty Principle, to offset the fact that otherwise many good people go into meetings with their minds made up already (on who to vote for, etc).

Attention to Consolation/Desolation

The corporate dimension of Consolation/Desolation is embedded in the history of the group, its original vision and mission, its good and bad times, its successes and failures. It can help to draw a Time Line of the story of the group and its members. The group can ask: ‘Where were we truly at our best?’ ‘Which option better harmonises with those times when we were most authentic?’ ‘Where is the energy, enthusiasm, commitment, willingness to make sacrifices?’

Keeping God before our Eyes

The group must believe that God is engaged, concerned, and ready to help, and that prayer makes a difference. Discernment is a contemplative process: we prepare and dispose ourselves; we beg God to show us what is best to do; we pray contemplatively on the gospels or other Biblical texts. Then we wait on God to reveal Godself. This is not a dramatic event: instead, God works through the members, and so each shares humbly on where God might be hidden. They look for ‘news of God.’ A member might say: ‘When I prayed about the rich young man, a strange sense of joy came to me about letting go of my

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security.’ Another might add: ”I couldn’t get away from Jesus’ words ‘What you did to the least of my friends you did to me.’” Sooner or later the group begins to gel around one of the

options as being ‘the wisest and most loving’ course of action. Grace proceeds gently in each heart, bringing a conviction as to which side of the scales God is putting his finger.

Facts

Data-gathering is needed, to achieve clarity about the matter in hand and about the realism of certain options. Surveys, analysis etc may be required, e.g., ‘Is there a market for an Irish- speaking school in this area?’

Criteria

The members need to agree on practical criteria such as: ‘Whichever option we choose must fit the budget’, but also on Gospel-related criteria, such as: ‘How will this choice (to put up a new building, or to have a lavish celebration) help the poor?’

For/Against

Everyone is asked to engage in setting out firstly the arguments for and then the arguments against each option. Searching together in this way melts opposition: it reveals our willingness to let go of our own preferred option in favour of what God might want.

Seeking consensus

There are many modes of leadership: here we are engaging with the consensual mode. If there is a good level of openness and trust, often the majority view becomes acceptable to all, even to those who held contrary views, and so unanimity is achieved. Think of the election of a pope: when one candidate receives the required number of votes, all accept him as their new leader.

Confirmation

Rather than dashing into action, it is good to postpone implementation for a while to see if the decision still sits well with the group. There may also be other levels of authority to refer to.

Implementation

Strategies for implementation have to be worked out, if not by the group, then by delegated members, with timetables, deadlines, etc..

The above schema may appear complex, and it is so, but only because the process of any decision is complex. Decisions affect us, so the bring out the good and the bad in human nature. We often find ourselves asking about other groups, ‘How on earth did they make that decision?’ or ‘How did they end up choosing so-and-so?’ No schema is infallible, but if a

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group sincerely were to work through the elements outlined above, it can say, ’We did our best, and we’d be willing to change our decision if we came to see that it wasn’t in fact the wisest and most loving thing to do.’

The Deliberation of the First Jesuits, 1539

For a concrete working out of the principles of corporate discernment we can turn to an event in Spring 1539, which you will already have read of in Alone and on Foot. Ignatius and his companions had agreed to make themselves available for the pope’s service anywhere in the world. So it appeared that their long and life-giving relationship with one another was about to terminate through this scattering. This caused them uncertainty, and so to find what God wanted done, they decided to work it through the issue. How did they go about it?

Clear Issue: They clarified that the issue at hand was as follows: ‘What should be our vocation and way of life?’ Should we stay together or dissolve our bonds so as to be freer for service? If we decide to stay together, should we have a superior - which would be tantamount to founding a religious order?’ Self-awareness: This was a high-quality group. They were men whose hearts and souls were set on God: they had given up everything in life to be available ‘to help others’. They were bonded together around Ignatius in love and mutual support, and had endured much together. They had made the Spiritual Exercises under his guidance. They were an exceptional group of friends. Yet they could acknowledge that they were divided on the matter in hand. Lengthy Process: They spent their days working in humble tasks for others, and met in the evening to deliberate. They shared their views honestly and independently. The freedom of each was fully respected. They tried to listen deeply to one another. Each took turn to imagine that he was a newcomer to the group, in order to look at their companionship from an objective perspective. God before their Eyes: They committed themselves to consistent prayer, waiting on God to show what he wished of them, and noticing the movements of consolation and desolation in their hearts in relation to the conflicting options. For/Against: Each listed on one day the disadvantages of the options, and on another day, the advantages. Consensus: After many days, they reached unanimity about remaining together, and about having a superior. All signed the document which expressed their agreement. Confirmation: The pope accepted their decision and the Society of Jesus was founded. The first companions never met again as a group: they were missioned across the world, either directly by the pope, but more ordinarily by their superior who acted according to the mind of the pope. But they remained bonded, by obedience to their superior (Ignatius), by love, by letters and in other ways. Realistic Implementation: Ignatius spent the remaining years of his life organising the new Society of Jesus, and writing its Constitutions. Without this the Society would have been stillborn. The above process became known as the Deliberation of the First Fathers. It is not clear that this discernment process was ever repeated in such an intensive way. However, the dynamics remain permanently valid, and must be adapted to meet new situations, which is what the ISECP schema does, as referred to above.

SOCIAL DISCERNMENT We turn now to what we have named social discernment. The challenge is to see how the dynamics of Ignatian discernment as given in the Exercises and in the Deliberation

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of the First Fathers can be applied to any meeting, and not only to meetings in which all

the members are ‘earnestly seeking God’! This is a huge challenge and it requires a strong Spirituality of Meetings.

A SPIRITUALITY OF MEETINGS

Spirituality: The living out of one’s relationship with God, in relation to some aspect of life (hence a spirituality of marriage, of martyrdom, of justice, of ageing, of work, of sexuality…) A Spirituality of Meetings indicates how you can live out your relationship with God within meetings. It answers the question: ‘How can meetings help me to find God?’ A Spirituality of Meetings offered here addresses such issues as: ‘Should faith be kept out of politics?’ and ‘One lone voice at a meeting will never be heard!’ Why Do Meetings Matter? Meetings matter because the decisions made at them shape the world and its people. The TV News and the dailies illustrate how decisions impact on people’s lives – in the world, in the Church, in Ireland … But the world is God’s, so decisions made at meetings are shaping God’s world and God’s people God has a project for humankind and for all creation God then is involved in every meeting God’s agenda for meetings is known to us: to bring about the Kingdom of God – that is, to promote the good relationships that should exist between God, ourselves and all others. A central aspect of the Kingdom of God, therefore, is inclusive community. Everyone desires to be listened to and respected, to be wanted, to be safe within the community. God respects these desires: Jesus died ‘to gather into one the scattered children of God’ (Jn 11: 52). The koinonia or fellowship intended by God is a community – a network of good relationships between the three divine Persons and all humankind (see 1 Jn 1: 1-7). Our agenda as Christians at meetings should be in tune with the divine agenda. Do I know or care about the concerns of God? How far am I a ‘practising’ Christian?’ This may be a wake-up call for me as a Christian! All decisions at meetings should address the divine concern for inclusive community. God should preside at meetings. ‘Bidden or unbidden, God is present’ (CG Jung) but the divine agenda is often ignored, even by Christians. There is an ongoing struggle between the divine and the human agenda. ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord’ (Isaiah 55:8). Likewise, Jesus to Peter: ‘Get behind me, Satan, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things’ (Mk 8:33). Even with goodwill we find it hard to catch on to God’s thoughts: ‘How inscrutable are God’s judgements and how unsearchable his ways!’ (Rom 11:33). But we know enough from Revelation to advance God’s agenda at meetings. Sensitivity to the divine agenda requires prayerful study of Scripture, and also of the social teaching of the Church. There the divine values which underpin the project of inclusive community are applied to concrete situations. It also requires sensitivity to conscience, the voice in my own heart, where God meets me directly.

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Christians should engage fully in meetings as an effective way to further the divine agenda, which is inclusive community. God needs us to be spokespersons for the Spirit who works silently and unseen at meetings. The Spirit is a Prompter! If we are alert to these promptings we will be good ambassadors for Christ (2Cor 5:20) at meetings! God needs us to interpret the divine agenda to others by what we say. ‘Who speaks for God?’ A Christian must, even if no one else does. It may not be helpful to name God, but I must lobby for divine values that promote inclusive community. The goal in all decision making should be to choose the wisest and most loving thing, or whatever will best foster the common good, even if the choice be costly. At meetings, we are to labour closely with God who is labouring for the good of the world. This is our way of advancing the Kingdom of God. Inner transformation will occur if we stay with the task. The experience, of course, can be either exciting or frustrating, depending on how decisions emerge. But in either case, energy for meetings grows: they contain hidden divine energy. God doesn’t weary of meetings, and I’m in God’s corner! The TV news reveals how the divine agenda is moving along. Then the News becomes the raw material for prayer - prayer that the divine agenda may succeed. A further prayer is to ask God: ‘What ought I do?’ because God may be needing me to respond actively to an emerging need, with, of course, divine help and support. Summary: In a spirituality focused on ‘finding God in all things’ we must include meetings too, because God is active in them all!

C. REFLECTION

Can you remember having had any experience that could be called corporate discernment? Reflect on your last group meeting , notice the dynamics that operated in it, and what your own contribution was.

D. RECOMMENDED READING

Brady P., and Grogan, B: Meetings Matter! Spirituality and Skills for Meetings. Dublin: Veritas, 2009. This book focuses on social discernment. Recognising that most groups pay little attention to God’s agenda, it argues that the task of committed Christians is to be spokespersons for the Holy Spirit in unobtrusive ways. The book also elaborates the skills required for effective interventions. English, John: Spiritual Intimacy and Community: An Ignatian View of the Small Faith Community. London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1992. This book is devoted to communal discernment, its presuppositions and process. Grogan, B., The Deliberation in the Market Place, The Way, April 2010, 83-95. The article shows how the dynamics of the Deliberation can be of help to the Christian who feels like a lone voince in a ‘secular’ meeting. Houlihan, R A., RC: ‘Discernment of Ministries: Fad, Fetish or New Panacea?’ See below. ISECP: Ignatian Spiritual Exercises for the Corporate Person – Structured Resources for Group Development. Compiled by the ISECP Group, 2nd ed. Scranton: University of Scranton, 1989. This provides a comprehensive schema, based on the Spiritual Exercises, for groups who wish to discern their decisions. O’Leary, B., The Deliberation of the First Fathers, 1539 (see below) Toner, J.: ‘The Deliberation that Started the Jesuits’ in SSJ (Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits) 6 (1974), 1719-212. Further reading on the Deliberation in the Diccionario de Espiritualidad Ignaciana.

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F. INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES A grasp of the essential dynamics of Corporate Discernment A grasp of the possibilities open to the individual Christian to further the divine agenda at any meeting.

G. ASSIGNMENT

Write a page indicating how you might use some elements of corporate or social discernment at your next meeting.

Read the other articles in Lesson 13 to flesh out aspects of Corporate and Social Discernment.

1. Discernment of Ministries by Rita Anne Houlihan 2. The Deliberation of the First Fathers (1539) by Brian O’Leary, S.

End of Lesson Thirteen.

Thank you!

lesson 13: corporate and social discernment

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