The Vision and Mission of TICLA

THE VISION AND MISSION OF TICLA

Very Rev. Fr. Henry Omonisaye, CMF General Consultor and President of the Board of the Institutes of Consecrated Life, Claretian Missionaries General curia, Rome

Your Excellencies, Superiors General, Major Superiors, my Sisters and Brothers. I wish to use this medium to welcome you all to the third conference on Consecrated Life organized by the Claretian Missionaries as a step towards bringing into greater lime light the establishment of the Theological Institute of Consecrated Life in Africa. It is particularly heart-warming to acknowledge the presence of your Excellencies at this edition of the Conference. It is a clear demonstration of the communion that exists with the local Church. This is more imperative when taken within the context of the theme chosen for these days- Collaborative Ministry in Mission.

The Vision and Mission of TICLA

What is TICLA?

TICLA is the acronym for Theological Institute of Consecrated Life for Africa. It is a Theological Institute that will focus primarily on Consecrated Life as a form of life and vocation in the Church. This will of course take into cognizance all the theological implications and dimensions. The Claretian Congregation has been involved in the Institutes of Consecrated Life with the establishment of Claretianun, Rome in 1935. Claretianum officially became an Institute with all the rights and privileges of an ecclesiastical Institute with the decrees 5 of the Vatican on 6th June 1971, 47 years and about 5 months ago. With the official establishment of the Theological Institute of Consecrated Life (Claretianum) in Rome and the Instituto Teológico de Vida Religiosa in Madrid, same year, 1971. We have over the years consolidated this service to Consecrated Life in the other Continents with the establishment of a similar Institute- 1996 in Quezon City, Philippines and in 1998 in Sanyasa, Bangalore (Bangaluru) in India.

Thus, we have:

· The Istituto di Teologia della Vita Consecrata - Claretianum (ITVC) in Rome, Italy, incorporated to the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.

· The Instituto Teológico de Vida Religiosa (ITVR), in Madrid, Spain, a section of the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical University of Salamanca.

· The Institute for Consecrated Life in Asia (ICLA) in Culiat Quezon City, Philippines, affiliated to the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical University of Santo Tomas in Manila and recognized also by “St. Anthony Mary Claret College” in Quezon City.

 · The Sanyasa Institute of Consecrated Life (SICL), in Bangalore, India, affiliated to the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome and associated with “Christ University” of Bangalore.

You can obviously see that we have 2 Institutes each in Europe and Asia. Africa is up till now, visibly absent in the whole project. We think it would be important to establish one in Africa given the number of Religious Institutes in Africa and some locally founded Institutes that would require a lot of help and formation in building up their vision and charism for the good of the Church in Africa. We have the same vision and mission for Africa that is part of the raison d'etre here today.

With this seminar, we want to start this project which will involve building of Structures- physical, academic, spiritual and formative in service of the Church in Africa. The project is also on in Colombia For the American Continent.

Let me just quickly add that the service to the Church in the Area of Consecrated Life is not restricted to the Academic (the different Institutes) level but more practically many of our brothers work in the Congregation for Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in the Vatican and some are Consultants to the Holy See in this and other spheres especially in the discipline of Canon Law.

Mission

In our Corporate Statement of the Theological Institutes of Consecrated Life (TICL) the set of principles, motivations and criteria that guide the mission of the Claretian centers serving Consecrated Life (CL) within the Church and the entire evangelizing mission of the Church as a whole is presented. Therefore, we conceive and develop our mission within the evangelizing mission of the universal Church, under the guidance of the Magisterium of the Church directed to Consecrated Life and the guidelines and directives issued by the particular churches. We are inspired also by the very special dedication of St. Anthony Mary Claret, our founder, to Consecrated Life and heirs to a long history of missionary service to Consecrated Life in the world developed by our Congregation. Therefore, following his explicit desire, our theological Institutes unreservedly offer their service with renewed dynamism to Consecrated Life in its rich diversity.

This diversity is an important aspect of this Institute as it stands to contextualize the reflection on Consecrated Life taking into cognizance the diversity, fecundity and values of different cultural milieu where it serves. Therefore, the African values and points of view will be part of the ingredients of TICLA.

Motivation and purpose of our missionary work

We unite our efforts to better support the process of formation and renewal of CL in today's world, meeting the guidelines of the Church and in permanent dialogue with the various socio-cultural contexts.

We are living in the era of globalization. Therefore, working together, we intend to give a qualified answer to the challenges posed to Consecrated Life today especially in Africa. We also take seriously into account the ecclesiology of communion and the new theology of the forms of Christian life. These are not also strange to us in Africa.

We adopt as a priority the specific theological reflection on Consecrated Life in tune with the guidelines of Vatican II. We continue to further deepen the prophetic and eschatological dimension of Consecrated Life.

We opt for a comprehensive and thorough training of those who will be the future leaders of the Church's mission or will have responsibilities in formation.

Therefore, we develop this qualified service to Consecrated Life through,

· The systematic theological research on Consecrated Life in its various dimensions and aspects.

· The academic training (by conferring academic degrees, Doctorate, Licentiate and Master).

· The research and publication of various works on Consecrated Life · Other services to Consecrated Life, such as counselling, animation of retreats, chapters, etc.

Priorities, areas of cooperation and coordination structures;

Guidelines, criteria and priorities of our curriculum:

Our missionary work in the TICLA will start with an accurate attention to the cultural, religious, socio-political, etc. context, both globally and locally. In our service to Consecrated Life we adopt a holistic approach that aims to address the student's person comprehensively, covering both the academic and life experience.
Our academic plans give priority to fundamental subjects such as:

· The inspiration and biblical foundation of CL.

· The history and experience of CL.

· The theological reflection on the various forms of CL and of evangelical life (monastic, contemplative life, apostolic life, secular institutes, new forms of consecrated life).

· The systematic study of the theological elements of CL (consecrated life, relative to other forms of Christian life, evangelical counsels, community life, mission).

· The study of CL as a gift of God to the Church in its various charisms.

· The development of the theology CL benefits also of the contributions of those sciences that provide essential insights into human baseline (anthropology, psychology, sociology, law). Some of our students will probably become formators in their respective institutes. This is why a particular attention to educational matters is given in our academic plans.

Areas and forms of cooperation/collaboration

We join forces to optimize the results of the research and teaching of the theology of CL. For this purpose, we want to increase the collaboration of professors from various institutes, (intracongregational) and different other Religious Institutes and societies of Apostolic Life (Inter-congregational).

Conclusion

The TICLA project has the objective of enhancing and promoting quality of Consecrated Life in Africa through the service of the Institute. We consider this kind of Institute as being indispensable for the continent now because of its epistemological, religious and institutional advantages for the Church in Africa and the different religious institutes that are in the continent. Permit me to conclude by saying that we thank God for the numerous vocations that we have in Africa, especially for the growth of the Church not only in Africa but universally. It would, therefore, be our collective responsibility to prepare, train and make people available for the Mission Dei. This is what TICLA aims at and with the cooperation of the Nigeria Church and gracious permission of his Eminence, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, the Archbishop of Abuja in whose territory the institute will be established. It is our hope that the construction of the Institute will begin a new phase in the growth of the theology of Consecrated Life in Africa.

Fr. Henry Omonisaye, CMF