Br. Álvaro Rodríguez Echeverría, Superior General of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, President of the Union of Superiors General, was appointed by Pope John Paul II as a consultant to the Synod of Bishops who are meeting at the Vatican from September 30 - October 27 to discuss and examine the role of the bishop in the Church. The following address was delivered by Br. Alvaro on Saturday October 6th:

My intervention deals with what was mentioned in No. 92 of the Working Document, in particular with regard to the religious charisms which should characterize the ministry of bishops. In reference to this, it is important to recall that, according to the statistics published in the Working Document of the Synod regarding Consecrated Life, 82.2% of those in religious life is made up of laity. In turn, Vatican Council II states: "lay religious life, for men and women, is a state for the profession of the evangelical counsels which is complete in itself." (PC, 10). Nevertheless, lay religious life is not always valued and understood by other members of the People of God, or it is considered as incomplete or secondary. I believe it is important for the bishops to know the situation of the lay consecrated life. They need to appreciate and foster this original vocation which enriches the variety of the gifts of the Church, while recognizing its "ecclesial ministry", and facilitating that which may openly involve them in the various organizations and councils, where pastoral plans are studied and decided, such as those regarding the nature and proposals of religious life on both universal and local levels.

As regards non-ordained religious it is important for them also to know the situation of the local and diocesan Church, and for them to be assigned in a creative way so as to avoid being there as a foreign body. The Union of Superiors General hopes that the special commission set up to study the special case of mixed Institutes can find as soon as possible a solution which responds to the wish shown by the Synod Fathers (VC 61).

Of course, lay congregations do have their challenges, particularly at a time when some ask themselves if the life cycle of religious life has not reached an end. I believe we should start from a religious life which is not focused on itself but is open to the needs of the world in the perspective of a God "who wants everyone to be saved" (1 Tm 2:4). It is here that we need the support and guidance of our bishops so that our religious life is not merely a 'memory of the past', but above all a 'prophecy of the future' (NM 3).