He has only been at the Vatican for four months, but Brazilian Archbishop Joao Braz de Aviz is already getting good reviews.
As the head of the Vatican office that oversees the world's religious
orders, the 64-year-old archbishop inherited an inbox full of tensions
and an assignment that in some ways resembled a battleground.
In addition to wrapping up a contentious apostolic visitation of women's
religious orders in the United States, he faced the challenge of
rebuilding trust and channels of communication with the heads of
religious orders worldwide.
Archbishop Aviz replaced Slovenian Cardinal Franc Rode, who believed
that modern religious orders were in a crisis caused in part by the
adoption of a secularist mentality and the abandonment of traditional
practices. Cardinal Rode said many religious had misunderstood the
Second Vatican Council, and he faulted women's orders for adopting a
"feminist" spirit.
When Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop Aviz as the new prefect of the
Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of
Apostolic Life, the choice surprised many religious superiors. Surprise
has now turned to optimism about the future.
"The windows have been opened to fresh approaches. I definitely feel
there's a new hope for building deeper and better relationships between
(the Vatican congregation) and men and women religious," said U.S.
Sister Mary Lou Wirtz, president of the International Union of Superiors
General.
Sister Wirtz, superior general of the Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of
Jesus and Mary, said Archbishop Aviz and Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin,
secretary of the Vatican congregation, had met recently with leading
superiors of religious orders in Rome to talk about problems and
prospects for the future.
"It was a very open and good sharing. We really felt their eagerness to
build bridges with religious men and women and to rebuild the trust --
especially with the sisters in the United States following the
visitation, and all the feelings that surrounded that and the way it
happened," Sister Wirtz said in an interview June 2.
Rarely does a newly appointed Vatican official announce publicly that
he's going to do things differently. Yet that's the way most people read
the interview given by Archbishop Aviz to the Vatican newspaper June 1.
The archbishop began by expressing appreciation for the tremendous
contribution made by the approximately 2,000 religious orders around the
world. He added that "we bishops and superiors of the church need to
have a more positive idea of religious."
He said rebuilding mutual trust between the Vatican and religious orders
was a task that needed to be "rediscovered" by his congregation. The
Vatican congregation, he said, has been too distant from religious, and
he's making it a priority to approach religious superiors on a simple
and personal level.
"Only after we've established a dialogue do we discuss issues and try to
clear things up if there's a problem. This seems much more fruitful
that simply going in with a prejudiced attitude," he said.
Archbishop Aviz said he also wanted to help improve relations between
bishops and religious orders. Often this is not a matter of resolving
doctrinal or disciplinary problems, but of speaking calmly with each
other and "knowing how to listen," he said.
All this seems to be music to the ears of religious superiors.
"From our point of view, this is a different approach. The congregation
seems to understand that its role is one of collaboration, and not so
much of confrontation," Father Pascual Chavez Villanueva, the Salesian
rector major and president of the Union of Superiors General, told Catholic News Service.
Father Chavez said he appreciates the fact that the Vatican congregation
has to deal with problems and issues involving religious orders. But
under the new leadership, he said, it is taking a wider view and
engaging religious superiors on the questions of mission and new forms
of cooperation in evangelization.
"We feel this is a turning point in our relationship with the
congregation, and we also think it may be an important element in our
future relations with other Vatican congregations -- those dealing with
clergy, bishops and doctrine of the faith," Father Chavez said.
Religious superiors carefully read one section of Archbishop Aviz's
newspaper interview, in which he spoke of the need to balance a
religious order's original charism with the contemporary reality.
"We need to have the courage, on the one hand, to look to the founders
as models of fidelity to the rule, and on the other hand to pay
attention to today's culture," the archbishop said. "There's always
something inside religious orders that needs adaptation to the present
moment."
Father Chavez said religious superiors were "on the same wavelength."
"We always speak of a creative fidelity, or dynamic fidelity, to the
charism of an order, which takes into account the times in which we
live. This ensures that the charism does not become a museum piece,
anchored to the past, but remains valid today. Otherwise it wouldn't be
able to attract vocations among young people," the Salesian said.