The Father Carlos Zancajo, LC, concludes his term this Saturday, August 1st, as the territorial director of the Legionaries of Christ in Spain and a member of the Territorial Governing College of Regnum Christi. He has experienced six years of significant transformation and change. He is the last territorial director of the Congregation in Spain who has also served as the director of the entire Regnum Christi. In addition to the Constitution of the Regnum Christi Federation at the international level, during his leadership in Spain, issues such as consolidating the educational work, addressing and cleaning up the debt, promoting life in the lay sections, and relocating the Legion of Christ novitiate from Salamanca to Madrid have been tackled.<\/p>\n
Mission accomplished?<\/strong> Returning to Venezuela. What do you hope to find there and what will be your mission?<\/strong> What do you take with you?<\/strong> What do you leave behind in Spain?<\/strong> Perhaps I will have time again to read\u2026<\/strong> Possibly these years have been among the most beautiful and mature pages of Regnum Christi in general, which has crystallized in the constitution of the Societies of Apostolic Life of the Consecrated<\/a> and the Consecrated Laity of Regnum Christi<\/a>, and the very Federation of Regnum Christi. What lessons has this stage left you?<\/strong> God’s ways are inscrutable and His paths are not our paths<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He is the last Territorial Director of the Congregation in Spain who is also the director of all of Regnum Christi: since the entry into the Statutes, Regnum Christi has a collegiate government as a Federation. What has been your experience with collegiate governance?<\/strong> In these six years, you have had to deal with very complex situations: managing the territory\u2019s debt, relocating the Salamanca novitiate to Madrid\u2026 You arrived at a time when two schools were still pending consolidation, and you leave with all schools confirmed and growing. Are you satisfied? Any pending issues?<\/strong> These have also been tough times in which you have decided to continue facing the truth of your history and abuses\u2026<\/strong> Renewal is returning to the original strength of the Spirit that revives dry bones.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If you think of all your brother Legionaries in the territory of Spain, what comes to your heart?<\/strong> What is the main challenge for the Legionaries of Christ in Spain in the coming years?<\/strong> What do you think has been the most significant advance of the Congregation in the territory during your six-year term as territorial director?<\/strong> What is the number one message or piece of advice you leave to Father Javier Cereceda as the next territorial director of the congregation and member of the Territorial Governing College of Regnum Christi in Spain?<\/strong> What has changed in your priestly heart during these years?<\/strong> The conviction that I am dispensable, like the conductor\u2019s baton<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Any memory that has been engraved in your mind from this time?<\/strong> When you are a territorial director, do you pray more? Do you need to pray more? Do you hold on to God more tightly than before? How does the relationship with the Lord change when you have that responsibility over so many people?<\/strong>
\nOnly God knows!<\/p>\n
\nFrom the news I receive, it seems I will find an economically broken country, demoralized in its institutions, and emotionally hopeless. From here, it\u2019s not easy to make plans until I understand the reality well.<\/p>\n
\nA few more years of life, some very enriching human experiences, and the desire to make good use of the last stretch of life.<\/p>\n
\nWhat remains of my family and a good group of brother Legionaries with whom I have worked very comfortably.<\/p>\n
\nI have read little in these 6 years. Better said, I have read too many pages related to my role: essential bureaucratic documents that are soon forgotten. I hope to read again the classics of perennial philosophy, universal literature, and essays on current hot topics.<\/p>\n
\nThat God’s ways are inscrutable and His paths are not our paths. One thing the donkey thinks, and another the one who puts the yoke on it. With the poet, \u201cI go singing, traveler along the path.\u201d And I wonder: \u201cWhere will the road lead?\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nLearning. Usually, the final product of teamwork reflects and synthesizes the quality of the parts that make up the whole (council, college\u2026). The ability and attitude each one brings to work, debate, and reach consensus are very important.<\/p>\n
\nThanks to God, there are many pending issues, because if not, it would already be the end of the world, the end of entropy due to the exhaustion of challenges. For example: vocations, consolidating educational institutions to evangelize thoroughly and educate the new generations with excellence, family pastoral programs, committed laity more present in temporal realities to transform them with evangelical ferment\u2026<\/p>\n
\nI believe we have made a very sincere effort to \u201cprotect and heal,\u201d as well as \u201cconversion and reparation.\u201d Perhaps some find it too much, and others too little. Anyone who knows these sad realities knows how difficult it is to practice justice, prudence, and charity at the same time. I trust that the Holy Spirit and the Church guide us.<\/p>\n
\nThe harvest is plentiful, and the workers are few. Either we multiply, or we fall into the \u201cdemographic winter\u201d from which it is very difficult to emerge. Renewal is returning to the original strength of the Spirit that revives dry bones, to the First Love, to whom nothing seems impossible or too much in giving.<\/p>\n
\nI already said: there are several: young vocations, forming apostles and Christian leaders, caring for and valuing our charism, strengthening our social programs to alleviate poverty for many, stepping out of personal and institutional comfort zones\u2026<\/p>\n
\nDifficult to say; perhaps, turning the page on the last decade and sailing further out to sea; leaving behind comfort and security of the port, and navigating fearlessly through unlimited and stormy seas where the catch is abundant and the Lord rules the storms.<\/p>\n
\nDress me slowly, for I am in a hurry. \u201cNatura non facit saltus\u201d<\/em>, or in other words: at the pace of God and the Church!<\/p>\n
\nThe conviction that I am dispensable, like the conductor\u2019s baton: sometimes used, sometimes left on the stand\u2026 but the music continues, and each instrument plays its melody.<\/p>\n
\nOur house in Salamanca, empty and filled with a silence that tightens the heart.<\/p>\n
\nMany complex questions! Saint Paul says: \u201cGod comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction\u201d (2 Cor 1). I bring before the Lord the worries of the day, specific people, what is possible and impossible\u2026 to pacify the spirit.<\/p>\n