WHAT TO DO DURING THE CANONICAL VISITATION

(Br. Robert Karris, ofm)

1. First, study with utmost diligence the province’s financial statements. Don’t say that you are incompetent to do this. Do not say that it is easier to understand the Blessed Trinity than to understand financial charts and columns of figures. Get someone to assist you if you need such help. The province’s financial report and annual budget are political and religious documents. Does a province spend more money on the friars’ annual vacations than on care for its sick and aging friars? The amount of money a province gives to the poor or uses to support programs for the poor tells you more about a province’s preferential option for the poor than all its beautifully written documents. Take the financial reports of the General Curia, for example. How many present here realize that the money from the collections taken up at the Sunday Masses at the Curia is given to the poor of the neighborhood? I can raise a question the 1997 General Chapter raised: How much money does the annual budget of the General Curia give in salary, book purchases, medical insurance, and retirement benefits to the professors who teach at the Antonianum? In brief, money matters. See # 31 of the Statutes for Canonical Visitation.

2. Second, do not write your report to the provincial chapter and to the general definitorium before you start your visitation. I see enough graybeards in front of me to realize that some in this audience have had the same experience that I have had in my province. General Visitors did not even have to visit all the friars, for they had written their report well in advance of doing their actual visitation. It is a huge temptation for any visitor to formulate his conclusions before he has listened to all of the friars. In brief, do a full-fledged visitation, hear what the individual friars have to say, and create a report from what you have actually heard.

3. Third, do not abuse the little power you have as Father General’s representative. That’s right: You have very little power. Read the Statutes for General Visitation very carefully to determine what power you have. Look at # 16 for all the things you cannot do, for example, the General Visitor cannot assign or transfer friars. As a cynic once said: A General Visitor can do great harm and a little good. Come into a province with great humility, meekness, and kindness, and you may accomplish much good.

4. Fourth, study the province’s legislation with great care. I have found to my great surprise that a province may not have attended to its statutes and norms for years. As a result, their legislation is woefully out of date. For example, the provincial minister may be authorized to spend a mere $1,000 without the consent of his Definitorium. Or procedures for applying for continuing education programs may be non-existent or poorly formulated. As you visit the friaries of the province, you may well find that the phone system, the computer system, the kitchen equipment, the TV and entertainment system, and the automobiles are up to date. But the provincial legislation is from the Dark Ages.

5. Fifth, say day after day during the visitation: This is their province, not mine. While you will have to challenge the friars to be more faithful to the gospel, you are not entitled to remake them in your own image and likeness. Let cultural differences prevail, even in the same country and on the same continent. For example, I will have to remind myself time and again during my next visitation that Canada is not the United States. Canada’s political system, health system, and educational system – to name just a few points – are significantly different from those in the United States. So I will have to stop myself from saying: In my province and in my country we don’t do things this way. For I am implying that my way of doing things is better. In reality my way of doing things may not be better. My way is only different.

6. Sixth, be sure to get sufficient rest and relaxation during the visitation. Do not rush the visitation as if it were a Blitzkrieg. Give each friar as much time as he needs to tell you about the state of his religious life with God, how the province is doing, what recommendations he would make for leadership in the local fraternity and in the province as a whole. If you are well rested and not rushed, you will more easily see patterns emerge from what the friars are actually telling you. If you don’t get sufficient rest, you will not be sharp and have a ready and eager ear to listen to the friars. If you don’t get adequate sleep, you will be a ready target for various bugs and ailments. If you don’t spend time with the friars in the recreation room, you may never learn about some of their customs and drinking habits. Furthermore, during recreation the friars will be delighted to regale you with tales about the exploits of some of the friars who are living legends in the province. Who knows, during the province’s next visitation they may have added you to their list of living legends.

7. Seventh, I say something that is self-evident, but may not be during the heat of a general visitation. The self-evident truth is that there are two sides to every story. How often has it happened that someone has gotten to the visitor’s ear first and told in an eloquent manner how another friar has unjustly treated him! Let the general visitor remember the simple truth that there is another side to this story. I have no need to share with you stories of how a general visitor has undermined a province’s trust in him because he has precipitously come to the aid of a friar who claimed he was unjustly wronged. In sum, the story you first hear from a friar may not be the whole truth.

8. Eighth, be prepared to receive the many gifts of general visitation. Here I’m not referring to festive food and special drink and laudatory speeches. I’m referring to the new bonds of fraternity and even friendship that may be formed during general visitation. I’m also referring to the moments when you will be deeply edified by the good works and marvelous lives of the friars. Bishops and lay people and fellow friars will sing the praises of the friars. Rejoice with the friars in the good that God has accomplished and is accomplishing among them. It will be your responsibility to reflect back to the friars in your report to them at the provincial chapter what great instruments the friars are in the hands of their gracious God. Also, I have heard many times from a friar on visitation: "I have never said this to another friar, but you seem trustworthy and kind." Then they tell me a secret of conscience or prayer or work that is absolutely wonderful.

9. Ninth, don’t forget that your regional general definitor is a phone call, or a fax message, or an email message away. Seek assistance, if you need it. Or call upon a trusted confrere who has been a General Visitor. Perhaps, someone you are meeting here at General Visitors’ School will become a helpful pair of ears as you seek his counsel. "A brother helped by a brother is a strong city" (Proverbs 18:19). Yours is an awe-filled task. Reach for all the guidance you can find. The booklet of Statutes for Canonical Visitation is like a cookbook. You may well need the actual experience of a chef to turn a recipe from this cookbook into a culinary work of art.

10. Tenth, don’t forget to pray each and every day for God’s enlightenment. I’m not referring here just to daily Eucharist and the divine office, but to personal prayer. At times this may be prayer for discernment in a difficult situation. At times it may be the prayer of thanksgiving for the ministry of the friars. And let’s be honest and say that sometimes this prayer will consist of the psalms of lament and complaint. Complaint that you said Yes to this responsibility of General Visitor. "Why me, Lord?" "Woe is me, Lord." "Into your hands I commend my spirit." "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Or we may complain about the General Definitorium that assigned us this awesome responsibility. Pray to God from your heart. "God, help me!" After all, it’s the Lord’s work that we are doing, not our own!

11. Finally, trust deeply in the Lord. Trust in the Spirit of God who through the General Definitorium has given you this office of General Visitor. And trust in your own goodness and talents that you will do an absolutely magnificent job. Go about your work with the confidence born of the Holy Spirit and the support of your brothers. Firmly believe that you will do an excellent job. Amen. Amen. Alleluia. Alleluia.