The mistake of charism succession in Communion and Liberation

close up of Generating Traces book

“charism succession … seriously contrary to the teachings of the Church”

On June 10, 2022, Kevin Farrell, Cardinal, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life wrote a letter to Davide Prosperi, President of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation. Below I quote two full paragraphs from Farrell’s letter and I omit the paragraph between them. I have the full document, but am just looking at this one aspect.

“First of all, I would like to point out that the doctrine of “charism succession”–proposed and nurtured during the last decade within CL by those who were in charge of its leadership, with implications that are still being cultivated and fostered during public speeches–is seriously contrary to the teachings of the Church. Moderators and Presidents of ecclesial Movements do not receive the charism of the founder by personal succession and are not, therefore, its sole interpreters. If this were the case, we would be faced with an undue and misleading attempt at appropriation and personalization of the charism by those who have been entrusted the role of guide; this would lead to self-referentiality that is not permissible in the Church.

[…]

The charism of CL, therefore, like the charisms that have given rise to multiple aggregative realities in the Church, has a collective and communal dimension: it has given rise to a community of people called to live and make that charism operative in history. Not even the founder can be considered the 'point of origin' of the charism or its 'owner'; they are the conduit through which the Holy Spirit has bestowed a specific charism ad utilitatem of the whole People of God (cf. Letter Iuvenescit Ecclesia nn. 5-7), that is, participated in by all those who receive this gift from the Holy Spirit, for the benefit of the whole Church. All those who receive the call to live according to this charism–as clarified by Fr. Gianfranco Ghirlanda SJ during the assembly of the Memores Domini via video link on June 27, 2021–are invested with the same responsibility to live it, guard it, deepen it and develop it in harmony with the universal Church. The charisms bestowed by the Spirit are an inheritance that no one is the master of; these are recognized and welcomed in view of the common good.” (June 10, 2022 letter from Farrell to Davide Prosperi, emphasis mine)

Farrell references paragraphs 5-7 of Letter Iuvenescit Ecclesia, but 5-7 speak in a generic way about charisms while 15-17 speak in a very specific way of charisms as forms of life which help the baptized live their mission in their circumstances and times. For those looking for teaching on charisms, I’d recommend reading 15-17 as well. For example:

“Because these charisms ‘are perfectly suited to and useful for the needs of the Church’,[61] through their diverse richness, the People of God are able fully to live their evangelical mission, discerning the signs of the times and interpreting them in the light of the Gospel.[62]” (from paragraph 15 of Letter Iuvenescit Ecclesia).

My background with Communion and Liberation

I’ve been involved with CL for about 20 years, most of that in the Fraternity. During this time, I’ve never had any opportunity to vote for anyone or anything. In fact, the workings of the movement have always been a bit vague to me. There have been times when actions have been indicated by “the center of the movement,” which I generally took to mean Milan. For most of my time, CL responsibles or leaders in my area were from Memores Domini, a branch of CL made up of unmarried lay people. Before Giussani’s death, I was not worried about the continued existence of CL because Giussani gave me a method; after, I perhaps expected Carrón would serve for life similar to the Superior General of the Jesuits.

From event to charism in Communion and Liberation

The current notion of charism (i.e. that expressed in Letter Iuvenescit Ecclesia) is pretty recent, having developed after the Second Vatican Council. Lumen Gentium called for hierarchical oversight so that orders “may grow and flourish according to the spirit of the founders” (Lumen Gentium, paragraph 45). The theology of charism seems to have developed as a result of research into the origins of religious orders. For example, Hans Urs von Balthasar studied that history and wrote much about orders, Catholic Action (laity acting in the world at the direction of clergy), secular institutes (a form of consecrated laity), ecclesial movements, and charisms.

Giussani grappled with this new meaning of charism in 1992. The Life of Luigi Giussani by Savorana (published in Italian in 2013) recounts a meeting in Madrid in December 1992 (Life of Luigi Giussani, 855-858). As Giussani said at the time “the most important leaders of the movement in Spain are here” (856), including Javier Prades and Julián Carrón. Carrón would take over leadership of CL after Giussani’s death. At this meeting, charism was a main topic of discussion. Giussani says, for example, that “Every charism is a charism because it is a particular that introduces one to the totality” (857). As a result of this meeting, Giussani began working on a new book “together with Fathers Stefano Alberto and Prades, assisted by Carmine Di Martino and Onorato Grassi” (857). This book, written during the years 1992 to 1998, would be a new synthesis of CL: Generating Traces in the History of the World (published in Italian in November 1998, English translation 2010). The Life of Giussani 1023-1027 discusses publication.

Generating Traces Part 9 of Section 2: “The Event Goes on in History” is titled “The Persuasive Way in which the Holy Spirit Intervenes in History — Charism.” This part culminates in a beautiful series of paragraphs synthesizing the charism of CL, the responsibility of every person for the charism, and the ways charism is expressed in the diversity of persons. Toward the end of this part on charisms, however, it addresses the possibility of wrong interpretations and a recommended solution.

“…the charism becomes a pretext and a cue for what we want; it covers up and justifies what we want. To limit this temptation common to everyone, we must make it our normal behavior to compare ourselves with the charism as correction and as a continually re-awakened ideal. For now, the comparison is with the person with whom everything began. This person can be dissolved, but the texts left behind and the uninterrupted succession— if God wills— of the people indicated as the reference point, as true interpretation of what happened, become the instrument for correction and for reawakening; they become the instrument for morality. The line of references indicated is the most living thing in the present, because a text alone can be interpreted wrongly. It is difficult to interpret it wrongly, but it can happen.” (Generating Traces, 84)

In my reading of Farrell’s letter and this passage by Giussani, it looks like Giussani made a mistake here. That would not scandalize me or Giussani. As Giussani said at that meeting in Madrid in 1992: “I can only serve Christ with the particular nose I have, with the face I have, with the character I have, with the tendency I have to make mistakes. My mistakes aren’t consecrated— the charism doesn’t consecrate my mistakes, or my character” (Life of Giussani, 856).

*All my citations refer to published English translations.

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Update 7/23/2022. On July 18, clonline.org posted an excerpt of an interview with Davide Prosperi in which he says in response to the correction:

“Fr. Giussani has never systematically carried out a doctrinal study of the nature of charism, rather on a few occasions he used images to illustrate what it means for us.”

In this excerpt, Prosperi does not confront Generating Traces in the History of the World, which discusses charism in a methodical way for 6 1/2 pages. This section on charisms explicitly proposes comparison with the “uninterrupted succession” of leaders as a method for adhering to the “true interpretation” of the charism.