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The Mission

Fr. Dennis Gallagher, A.A. '69, Vice President for Mission

Of Monuments and Ruins (Summer 2005)

Every six years, Assumptionists from around the world gather in General Chapter to discuss major orientations and priorities for the congregation in the years ahead. At this year’s meeting during the month of May in Rome, Fr. Richard Lamoureux AP’60, '64, former provost and professor of art history at the College and pride of Worcester’s French Hill, was elected superior general for another term of office. As the second American to serve as superior general, Fr. Richard has guided the congregation during a period marked by a significant opening toward the continent of Asia, the beatification of three of our brothers from the Oriental Mission, impressive growth of the community in the southern hemisphere, and efforts toward consolidation of resources in those provinces where aging and decline in numbers are a reality.

During his first term, Fr. Richard visited every community in the 27 countries where Assumptionists live and work. This pastoral dimension of his office, which encourages the strengthening and revitalizing of our apostolic communities, also draws upon the power of the written word in the form of congregation-wide letters on themes pertinent to the living out of our charism in the contemporary world. In the course of his writings in the last two years, Fr. Richard has referred to his education at Assumption College on several occasions, and in particular important lessons learned from Fr. Denys Gonthier A.A.’44, former French teacher and mentor to many alumni. In response to the customary complaint about the difficulty of understanding and making oneself understood in a foreign language, Fr. Denys was wont to remind his students that the principal obstacle may reside less in the strangeness of a different language than in the attentiveness required for any effort at genuine communication. Appreciating those exigencies makes one more sober about invoking the name of community too easily, as if the goal of common understanding and common attachment to the truth were not always a painstaking matter.

During a brief speech accepting his re-election by the Chapter delegates, Fr. Richard joked about the implications of a second term: “In Rome, they say in six years you become a monument, in twelve you become a ruin.” As the Chapter unfolded within days of the election of Benedict XVI, the congregation itself lived an important moment of transition, looking to a future which is not really about monuments and ruins, but a re-appropriation for our time of Fr. d’Alzon’s great passion for God’s kingdom.