The Superiors of the Comboni Missionaries reflect about the ‛Service of Authority’

The General Administration of the Comboni Missionaries with the Superiors of Circumscriptions spent two days reflecting upon the exercise of the ‛Service of Authority’. The Provincial and Delegation Superiors are gathered in Rome with the General Administration from February 20^th until March 13^th 2011.

The Superior-General, Fr. Enrique Sánchez González, initiated the reflection by drawing the attention of the Superiors present to the danger of perverting the understanding and exercise of authority. The guiding theme of his conference was ‛Authority’ as service to the Mission. With regard to the values inherent in understanding and exercising ‛Authority’ as service, Father Enrique underlined: authenticity, coherence, the ability to listen, compassion, mercy and truth.

Fr. David Glenday, in his conference on the ministry of authority and leadership, expressed his personal conviction that a renewal of this ministry is vital for the renewal of the Institute, with the Superiors exercising their role as ‛promoters of implementation’ of the insights of the Chapters of recent years. Authority in the Institute, he said, is exercised in the context of two defining relationships, that with Jesus, the source of all authority in the Christian community, and in him, that with St Daniel Comboni. Any Confrérè who is entrusted with the ministry of authority among us must expect a growth and change in his relationship both with the Lord and the Founder. In referring to the way Daniel Comboni exercised authority, Fr Glenday, a former Superior-General of the Comboni Missionaries, drew attention to four aspects of ‛Authority’: at the service of Mission

in starting from what God is already doing in the world of today; as the promotion of discernment and reflection; as an expression of deep communion; and as the concrete realization of agreed plans and decisions.