num. 395 - November 2000

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+ FR. FERNAND JETTÉ, OMI

Biographical sketch

Born in 1921 at Sainte-Rose-de-Laval, near Montreal, Fr. Fernand Jetté made his first religious profession in 1941 and was ordained a priest in Ottawa in 1947. After studies in Rome and Paris, he taught missiology and spirituality at Ottawa University and Saint Paul University and was, a member of the staff of Saint-Joseph Scholasticate, of which he was Superior from 1965 to 1967. He had been Vicar Provincial of Saint-Joseph Province since 1968 when he was elected delegate to the General Chapter of 1972. At Chapter he was elected to the newly-created post of Vicar General of the Congregation. On November 26, 1974 he was elected Superior General to succeed Fr. Richard Hanley, who had resigned the previous June. Father Jetté was reelected to that post in 1980. As Superior General, he had the joy of seeing the Founder beatified in 1975, and he presided over the definitive postconciliar revision of the Constitutions and Rules approved by the General Chapter of 1980 and by the Holy See in 1982. From 1986, he lived in retirement at Édifice Deschâtelets in Ottawa consecrating most of his time to writing, spiritual direction and prayer.

In recent years he suffered much from osteoporosis and cardiac problems. His last letter to the Superior General, Wilhelm Steckling, dated three weeks before his death, hints at the burden of his infirmities.

Telegram from the Holy Father

Having learned of the recent death of Father Fernand Jetté, the Holy Father wishes to offer his sympathy and his participation in the sense of loss suffered by your Institute and while remembering the exemplary religious life of the deceased in the Congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate of which he was Superior General and his love for Christ and for the Church,

His Holiness prays fervently for the repose of his soul and, with faith in the resurrection, he willingly sends his apostolic blessing to all your religious members and to all who have benefited from his intellectual and spiritual gifts.

I also wish to assure you of my personal participation in your sorrow and of my prayers.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State.

Vatican City, November 8, 2000

Fr. Jetté’s last letter to Fr. Steckling, October 18 (translation)

Dear Father Steckling,

A brief word to greet you and assure you of my prayer. I often return to Rome in my heart, thinking of the graces of the Holy Year and of the various meetings of Oblates that it has occasioned.

My attachment to the Congregation remains intense, even if sometimes I feel that it is drawing me closer to the Oblates in heaven! For three weeks now I have been suffering a lot from the osteoporosis and am in the infirmary.

I offer it all for the Congregation and for the salvation of the men and women of today. I try to live with confidence and love. Pray for me, as I pray for you.

Sincerely yours in Our Lord and M.I.

Fernand Jetté, o.m.i.

A man for the times

Report on the State of the Congregation (1974) [OMI Doc. 54/74]
If before the Chapter there had been some hesitancy about his possible candidacy as General, it was soon dispelled when he presented the customary Report on the State of the Congregation.. It was evident that after only two and a half brief years as Vicar General he had an amazing grasp of the situation. His 26 page report and his clear and concise answers to questions from the assembly also left no doubt as to what he meant by straightforward language. He was not afraid to speak of a crisis in the Church and in the Congregation, nor did he fear to point out what he saw as the problem areas, and to ask pertinent questions.

“Please allow me to speak simply and to express my thoughts freely….. My purpose is to endeavor to take a look at the situation together, in order to find together solutions and, above all, the men who will rise to face the actual situation.” [page 1]

On the rapid decrease in membership:
“The above [chart of statistics] is somewhat discouraging; it reflects the problems of the Church today, and to read it fairly, one must consider it in the larger context of the life of the Church. In this crisis through which both we and the Church are passing, some see the call of the Spirit to develop the ministries of the Christian laity, while others see the call of the same to reform ourselves and to interest ourselves more deeply in recruiting and in our survival. Both interpretations of the call are probably true, and it is to work at both levels that the Spirit beckons us.” [page 3]

On the crisis
From an interview with Vatican Radio[OMI Info. 102/74 pp. 6-7]

Question: Today there is much talk of a more or less unsettling crisis taking place in religious Orders and Congregations. Are the Oblates experiencing this crisis?

Answer: “Certainly, like the Church and the world, and like so many other religious families, we too are feeling the present crisis. It has various symptoms: a considerable drop in vocations, more requests for laicization – a little over fifty annually for the past few years – an evolution of works and ministries, and the anxiety which has taken hold of some members….. Yet this crisis does have its bright side: it is forcing us to rethink our life and our work in the light of the Gospel, in the light of present needs in the world, and in the light of the Founder’s charism. Our profound attitude throughout this crisis remains one of confidence and faith. We do not live for ourselves but for the Lord and for the poor to whom we have been sent to bring the Good News of salvation.”

Question: What are the problems on the agenda of your Congregation’s Chapter?

Answer: “Its first aim was to give the Congregation a new Superior General. That’s done now. Another Chapter aim is to open up a serious evaluation of the Congregation’s life and missionary action. For the past ten years there have been all kinds of experiments carried out in formation and community life as well as in the mission. Now is the time to evaluate those experiences and to direct them toward deeper and more stable action. We must also arrive at a more definite text of our Constitutions and Rules, as well as at more precise norms in matters of formation and missionary commitment.”

The Report on the State of the Congregation outlines honestly and with great clarity the questions and problem areas to be addressed. Fr. Jetté saw the difficult agenda clearly and was confident the Lord would help us through. He concluded his report this way:

“The suffering experienced by Fr Hanley’s leaving, we realize, was real and deep in every place where Oblates dedicate themselves and fight courageously for authentic liberation… and the extension of the Reign of Christ.

“We express our admiration for these Oblate priests and brothers. ‘The times are hard on unselfish vocations,’ wrote Cardinal Suenens, some years ago. It is perhaps even truer today and more than ever the world has need of such vocations.

“It is such a call, heard one day in your life and mine, which unites us together in this Chapter. We are not here for ourselves; we are here for our brother Oblates, and we are here in the footsteps of many generations of missionaries who, with love and fidelity, gave their lives for the evangelization of the poor. Are we going to let ourselves be depressed or discouraged by the difficulties we face? Certainly not! Throughout the Congregation there is a feeling of deep need for renewal and for life, and an abundance of good will. Suffice it for us to look together to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to go forward together in confidence into the future! ‘A servant is not greater than his master….. In the world you will have trouble, but be brave: I have conquered the world.’ (John 15:20 and 16:33).” [OMI Doc. 54/74, p. 25]

Going forward with confidence - 1974 to 1980

During the next six years Father Jetté kept his promises, first in his clearly worded and inspiring messages to the Congregation, then at provincial and international gatherings, and finally in his visits to Oblates throughout the world: listening, questioning, encouraging, quietly insisting on the interior elements of Oblate vocation and life, on the Oblate as an apostolic man. [OMI Info. 167/80 p. 1]

Several events marked these years: the beatification of the Founder (1975), the expulsion of missionaries from Laos (1975), the Charism Congress (1976), the Congregation wide involvement in the preparation of a final revised text of the Constitutions and Rules.

The 70s were troubled years. A time of uncertainty, of questioning. Priests and religious were leaving in unprecedented numbers. We had lost 538 members in two years. The abrupt resignation and departure from the priesthood of its Superior General was a traumatic experience for the Congregation. It only served to raise the level of uncertainty and the questioning of the validity of religious life itself and of the future of the Congregation. There was need for a calm and steady hand on the tiller.

Prior to the election at the 1974 Chapter, the candidates were asked to state their views before the assembly. Fr Jetté remarked wryly that he was a man “whose spontaneity is rather well controlled.” He then spelled out what the Congregation could expect of him: straightforward language in making his insights known, an invitation to study and to work, with animation coming from the Provincials and the Regional Conferences, and a greater insistence on the interior elements of Oblate vocation and life, on the Oblate as an apostolic man.

“Father de Mazenod,” he said, “knew what kind of men he was looking for: men at the service of the poor, yes, but men of a special quality – men who would be authentic disciples and descendants of the Apostles…. The Congregation’s unity stems from that fact. If we continue to look first to external commitments, whatever they might be, we will never make it, we will become divided more and more.” [OMI Info. 101/74 p. 1A and 167/80 p. 1]

The Beatification of Bishop de Mazenod

In his report to the 1974 General Chapter he wrote: [OMI Doc. 54/74, § 27. ]
“Granted that we may not like this or that aspect of the beatification or the canonization of a saint, a religious family, nonetheless, needs the sign of approval on its way of life and its mission through producing saints, and it may be good that one or other its members be officially recognized by the Church. It is in this light that we must consider the coming beatification of Bishop de Mazenod. We are neither for Peter, nor Paul, nor John, but for Jesus Christ through the Founder whom He gave us as Father, and by whom we are dedicated to the poor to bring them the Good News of salvation. Without De Mazenod we would not be here today, and without him, we would have no place as Oblates in the Church. His beatification, I hope, will be for the whole Institute a source of authentic spiritual and missionary renewal. The Founder has a message for the world of today and for us as his sons.”

From a letter inviting the Congregation to prepare for the beatification
[Letters to the Oblates... pp. 21-26)]

“For us the beatification is both a grace and a challenge. It is a grace which confirms and invites us to joy… A challenge which weighs our fidelity to the quality of being which the Founder wanted for his Oblates.

“In today’s world are we still the kind of missionaries to the poor envisaged by Father de Mazenod? Do we still go to the poor with the same preference, the same zeal, the same boldness, the same feeling of solidarity, the same love of the Church…? Do we still have the same deep attachment to Jesus Christ, the same concern for self-denial, the same inner thirst for holiness, the same conviction that the quality of our being is as important for the welfare of people as is the intensity of our activity…?

“The Lord who has guided the Congregation from the beginning is still at work within it. Examples of fidelity and even of heroism are no less present among us today than in the past…. To all of you I repeat what I told the 1974 Chapter: In the name of God be strong! Be strong in faith and in obedience to the mission you have received. Be strong in your love. Be capable of holding on and going ahead, out of love for the poor and fidelity to Jesus Christ – to Jesus Christ in his poor!”

The Oblate Charism, Yesterday and Today

Addressing a group of nearly 300 Oblates at Cap-de-la-Madeleine (Canada) in April 1975 Fr. Jetté spoke on The Oblate Charism – Yesterday and Today. [OMI Doc. 59/75] He was laying the groundwork for the Charism Congress foreseen for 1976.

The charism yesterday
“The idea of the Oblate as an apostolic man existed in the mind and heart of this priest (E. de Mazenod) before it ever became a concrete reality, and before it took expression through the Rule. The fact that it took one specific form rather than another when it became an actuality can be explained in large part by Father de Mazenod’s double experience: his inner spiritual experience and his experience of the Church’s life during the era wherein he lived.

“Father de Mazenod loved the Church passionately because, first of all, in his own life he had encountered Christ and had come to know experientially the value of Christ’s blood. You do not begin by loving an institution. No. First of all you love a person. And if anyone loves an institution as much as the Founder loved the Church it is because of the person seen in the institution.” [page 3]

The charism today
“In the light of the foregoing, the Oblate charism is, first of all, a view, a love – and a faith-filled view, of the world and of the Church, a view which lets us see things that others miss and to hear appeals to which others are oblivious.

“As an Oblate I look at people and am struck by their suffering, their poverty: material poverty, exploitation of some by others, social rejection, a state of human decline, marginalization….. I perceive such suffering profoundly and suffer from it as though it were my own. And beyond it I perceive another kind of suffering infinitely more serious: ignorance of Jesus Christ. How many people there are, among the poor especially, who do not know Jesus Christ, who cannot believe in His love, because there is no one to show them the way!

“Such a vision of faith – his [the Oblate’s] view of Church and world – cannot leave him indifferent. It triggers in him an efficacious will to give himself totally in order thereby to dare all, to undertake anything so as to free men from their suffering and to show them who Christ is and the meaning of their own dignity in Jesus Christ.” [page 7]

The challenges today
“The present problem runs much deeper than a simple question of Constitutions. It touches religious life in its very being and is not something exclusive to the Oblates. It is a challenge that goes to the very roots of religious life, a challenge coming, first of all, from outside, and resulting from a change in our whole civilization…. [page 8]

“For our Oblate charism it is both a time of purification and a challenge. It obliges us to go beyond the social and human level of the Oblate vocation and to truly consider it at the faith level where personal options must be taken. This is a grace.

“It seems to me that a major challenge … consists in finding an effective answer in the evangelical order to the appeals of the poor today….. Today, as before, we must go to those ‘who are far away’, far away from the faith or from religious practice, far away from the respect and love and understanding of their fellow man, their brother, far away from the social statutes and living conditions to which every human being is entitled. It is to those people that we must go.

“And to tell them what? -- That they are beloved of God, that they are our brothers and that we want to help them liberate themselves from their miseries so as to know with us the meaning of true salvation in Christ.

“Are we still capable of telling them that? Can we say it effectively to today’s poor, be they workers, marginalized people, youthful protesters or peoples of the Third World? Do we have a different answer, an answer that would be acceptable, an answer other than one which consists solely in political liberation or social development?”

“There is a second challenge, no less important than the first. It especially concerns our own personal consecration as religious and priests. It is the challenge to reestablish confidence in certain fundamental values of our lives as priests and religious in the context of today’s world. It means believing in prayer, in free and silent prayer, enough to consecrate prolonged periods to it daily. It means believing in the vows of religion and in fraternal community enough to be radically committed to them with the necessary discipline entailed. [page 9]

“The world expects more from us than theoretical answers and statements of belief that these matters are of inherent value. The world wants a practical answer. It wants us to show clearly that these are truly values ‘for us’, and consequently we fully commit ourselves to them. Such a course of action presupposes that over and above these values, and through them, we have met the living person of Jesus Christ and that we have based our entire life on Him.” [page 10]

“The charism of a worldwide missionary Institute such as ours will live in the measure that its men are spiritually living well, in the measure that they are holy. [page 13]

“ ‘We ourselves must be outright saints,’ the Abbé de Mazenod declared at the Congregation’s outset. ‘That word contains all that we can say.’ If he returned today he would not say otherwise….”

Expulsion of the Oblates from Laos (1975)

Less than a year in office, Fr. Jetté was confronted with the communist expulsion of missionaries from Laos. Meeting with the French group in August 1975 he shared their suffering. (OMI Info.110/75, page 22)

“I feel I’ve gained much from this encounter. I came gladly, with sympathy. I knew I would be coming to men who have suffered much, men who suffer for the sake of Christ’s Gospel, men who suffer out of love for the poor.

“There is suffering caused by abrupt separation from persons, from the people to whom you had given yourselves. Some ties are never broken. You continue to bear within yourselves the responsibility for those who are and were loved.

“There is suffering, too, caused by the breakup of a team. That also is very painful. The feeling of solitude and emptiness.

“Even as a General one feels overshadowed indeed by men who have known such sufferings. These past three days spent together have only increased my admiration and affection for you.

“To be ready to give one’s goods, one’s health, one’s very life for God and the poor, as our Founder demands, that is what I have found among you. And even after an apparent reversal and the rejection of your services, the same desire persists, the same love without bitterness, and the same faith, riding above the storm which has not yet blown itself out. And the same readiness to serve again wherever the needs of the Church call….”

“I don’t think that the best Oblates from the Founder’s times would have been much different, and I shall certainly say so in Rome and to the Congregation.

“For me a conviction has become even firmer during this meeting: as long as the heart of man (be he capitalist, Marxist or communist) is not liberated from personal egoism and greed for power, men will continue crushing their brothers while changing political regimes. The ultimate end of our activity, of the Church’s activity, is to finally bring about that profound liberation in the hearts of men by evangelical ways which appear to us to be most appropriate in a given place at a given time.

“Once again, thank you. Go forward toward the future with confidence and courage! The Lord cannot fail you.”

1980 Re-elected to a second term 1980

Father Jetté’s positive approach to problems, his capacity to be decisive in moments of stress, his deep commitment to the Church, to the Immaculate and to the Institute – all these factors undoubtedly contributed to the 1980 Chapter’s decision to re-elect him for a second term.

Before his election as Superior General in 1974, some Chapter members had expressed doubts that Fr Jetté would travel as his predecessor had. He appeared to them as the administrative type of person who had been a good Vicar and should continue on as Vicar. They had underestimated him. At the beginning of his Report to the 1980 General Chapter he said:

“During the course of these last six years, I was able to visit all the Provinces, Vice Provinces and Delegations, except Tahiti and the two Delegations of Borneo…. The impression that remains with me… is one of profound admiration for the generosity, the dedication, the love of the Oblates for the poor.” [OMI Doc. 98/80, §2]

On the missionary action of the Congregation – Progress or Regress? [§11-15]
“If I now consider the evaluation presented to the 1974 Chapter and the questions that were raised there, what do I say?

1. “The last six years were years of continuity and progress along the lines traced at that time. They were years of maturing. Above all, the furrow has been ploughed. There have been rather few new options – except for the commitment to justice – but there has been a deepening and implementing of the options chosen: a review of our commitments in the light of the Oblate charism, response to new missionary appeals….

2. “Concerning certain controverted questions, such as, for example, practical interpretations of the Missionary Outlook, the place of personal charisms, the attitude is more calm, more qualified than it was six years ago, even though deep differences remain but which – so it seems to me – are expressed less.

3. “Have serious and planned evaluations been made during and after the various experiments? Sometimes yes, often not…. This is an attitude that has not yet established itself with us. We are getting there little by little. We have to speed up the process.”

On the religious life of the Congregation [§17-19]
“There is an attitude of greater humility and simplicity. As a whole, we are less sure of ourselves, we have come to realize the limitations of our own formulae and experience, and have become more receptive to other formulae, be this in regard to prayer life or to apostolic activity. [17]

“Another attitude is the search for spiritual deepening…. At the same time, however, in many there persists a clear repugnance for spiritual exercises and for discipline in their life….. And yet, the witness of experience is at hand which says: no one will ever became a man of prayer unless he pauses to pray, and we will never succeed in making such a pause unless we adopt a program of life, flexible and adapted, yes, but nevertheless real. To wait until one has the time for it is quite simply an illusion.” [18]

“A last attitude: the need for unity, for integrating religious life and the apostolate…. Many are still apprehensive of dualism. Unity between prayer and action, between religious life and the apostolate is essential in a vocation such as ours. This search for unity was a major concern in the work of revising the Constitutions. Our prayer, our community life, our vows, far from taking us away from people and from activity, rather impel us thereto; and the reverse is also true: meeting people and apostolic activity become a source and nourishment for our prayer….” [19]

Reflections on the crisis we have just passed through
“The years of crisis which we have just experienced have made us wiser…. “As a matter of fact – and we must admit this – we have been, as a group, as weak and as vulnerable as all the others, and sometimes even more so….. While we should have been strengthening Christians, confirming our brothers in the priesthood, many among us have simply given up the struggle. Why?

“The times were difficult. The Church and the world were shaken. But being tried does not make us weaker: it only reveals the weaknesses which we already bear within ourselves. [20-21]

“Today, we are about to set out anew. We know ourselves better with our greatness and our miseries, we know better what our Founder was and what he expects from us, we are on the eve of giving ourselves new Constitutions; we must not miss this new departure. This is another grace, and a grace which is to last. Further, the Congregation continues to count in its ranks many who are truly spiritual men and real apostles. These fervent Oblates, Fathers and Brothers, of whom little is said but whom one meets in all the Provinces and in all the ministries, are the greatest treasure of the Institute. By their prayer, their humble dedication, their indefectible fidelity, they remain the Congregation’s most solid support in the present and for the future.” [22]

On the challenge to be taken up
“In regard to future, what do we have to do? … To begin with, the first prophetic witness of a religious family, no matter how missionary it might be, will always be the quality of its being and the holiness of its members. The Church needs our activity; she needs our holiness even more….” [23]

“Secondly, our apostolate is ecclesial and communitarian. Again, as the Founder asks us, we must ‘dare to attempt everything to extend the Kingdom of Jesus Christ’ (Preface) and to preach the Gospel to the poor; but, we have to do this within community discernment, in the clarity of obedience, and in union with the Church. Such dependence can be a source of suffering. That is part of the paschal mystery and of the commitment made on the day of our religious profession. [24]

“Thirdly, we need to rediscover Gospel poverty. Above I stated that the option for the poor exists among us. This I firmly believe. Is there also a corresponding choice of poverty in our lives, or at least an orientation towards such a choice? In some Provinces, yes; but in several others, I strongly doubt it.”

“It is true that the social context, especially in the West, does not help us. To assure our future, we rarely have to entrust ourselves to Providence, and we have little inclination to do so….. Given the tasks which are ours, and especially because of our aging personnel, business advisers will tell us, ‘You are not rich!’ but the ordinary people, the salaried workers who have a family and little financial security, will find us quite rich! Rich good people, certainly, who are generous, who share much of their surplus, but who remain rich themselves.

“There is a real danger for the Congregation in this…. In this area, a serious examination is in order… not in the light of an economic system, be it liberal or socialist, but in the light of the Gospel. Is our heart really free? Is our lifestyle sufficiently simple? Do we share enough? Do we provide for the future too much. What, in this domain, is the Lord asking of me, and of the Congregation, today?” [25]

Typical Jetté style, there is no triumphalism in this report, but rather an exact estimation of the reality, especially that concerning community life, the great importance of the struggle for justice, the need to be apostles in an ecclesial and communitarian dimension. Filled with faith, this report inspired confidence. The report was received by the Chapter with a prolonged standing ovation. November 5, 1980, he was re-elected on the first ballot with 104 out of the 111 ballots cast. (OMI Info. 168/80, page 3)

From his homily at the Mass of Thanksgiving after the election [OMI Info. 169/80]
“I begin this second term as Superior General, first of all, with a great confidence. I know myself better, with my limitations and weaknesses….. I have the very firm conviction that during these six years Christ has not failed us… He has remained with us, He has worked in us, He has worked together with us…, and this in spite of all our miseries. He will certainly continue to do so, especially if we exert ourselves to be better disciples of Him and even more living sons of his Mother.” [pages 1-2]

“Openness to the world, openness to Christ…. A good look onto the world, our gaze fixed upon Christ…. For us Oblates, these two things are inseparable. We must not fear either the one or the other. The challenge consists in this: never to separate these two visions, and to make our eyes so pure and so simple and so apostolic that when they turn to see the world, they meet Christ in it and bring Christ to it; and when they focus on Christ, they discover in Him the world and all its dignity, the full price that it cost the Son of God. As long as these two aspects are not united in the same single vision, there will be no deep unity in our lives as Oblates.

“The Congregation will be all the stronger, more stable, more effective in the measure that a greater number of its members will have achieved this interior unity.” [page 3]

Approbation of the revised text of the Constitutions and Rules (1982)
A high point of Fr. Jetté’s twelve years in office was without a doubt the approbation of a revised text of the Constitutions and Rules. It brought to a close a process that had begun in 1953, twenty-seven years previously. Fr. Jetté involved the whole Congregation in the preparation of this text which was drafted by the 1980 General Chapter and approved by the Holy See in 1982. The conclusion of his letter to the Congregation on the occasion of the approbation describes in a way the major contribution of his twelve years in office.

“With this approbation, one more step is taken in committing ourselves to a new phase and moving resolutely toward the future….

“Strengthened by this approbation, let us all renew ourselves in the spirit of our vocation, ‘a spirit of total dedication for the glory of God, the service of the Church and the salvation of souls’ (Letter to Fr. Tempier, August 22, 1817). Let us head into the future filled with great desires, with unshakable hope and courage, eyes fixed on the vastness of the apostolic field opening up before us.” [Letters to the Oblates, pp. 120-121]

A Short Bibliography

His letters and addresses reveal a man of a profound Mazenodian spirituality, a spiritual master, God’s gift to lead the Congregation through a difficult period of its history. They will no doubt be a timeless source of inspiration for all who wish to be apostolic men according to the heart of Eugene de Mazenod.

Letters to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. (30 letters from the first nine years as Superior General). General House, Rome, 1984. (English, French and Spanish)

The Missionary Oblate of Mary Immaculate. Addresses and Written Texts, 1975-1985. General House, Rome, 1985. (English, French, Spanish, Italian)

O.M.I. The Apostolic Man. A Commentary on the Constitutions and Rules of 1982, General House, Rome, 1992. (English and French)

Lettres et Homélies. (8 letters [1984-1986] and 30 selected homilies [1978-1986]) General House, Rome, 1993. (French)