Global Research

Assembly: Chicago

July '75

THE TASK	Task Force AA examined the arena of prior training by reviewing the shifting images and articulating the current role and task of priorship in an imaginal way to grasp anew the profound objective of prior training, identifying and analyzing the contradictions to prior training, preparing proposals for the short range corrections to the training system, and discussing the issues in the long term evolution of priorship training.
FOUR SIGNAL BREAKTHRUS	1) Identified training as fourth missional priority, behind Global Community Forum, Global Social Demonstration and Primal Community experimentation. Adding 100 trained order adults per year requires accelerating the training of about 3000 people beginning now. In the training dynamic the current tyrant is the "sink­or­swim" method, in spite of the high rising associated with the turn to the world More formal training needs to undergird the indirect methods of training. 3) The movement core, including order interns and Troikas, need individual tracking of their training journey by an intimately knowledgeable yet detached team. A team of people assigned to training responsibilities for a whole area can create the perspective for standing in the tension between the local missional urgencies and the global need for trained priorship.
PRACTICAL PRODUCT	1) Procedure for creating area training task force 2) Imaginal re­articulation of priorship in 52 pithy pearls suitable for send­outs or lunch bag graffiti for one year 3) List of support tasks for centrums to expand their enablement of local forces 4) Discussion of futuric issues in training for initiating further study and analysis 5) Guidelines for the local prior to increase his training effectiveness through empowered collegiums, Ecclesiolas, House Churches, etc.
IMPLICATIONS FOR THE COUNCIL	The long range issues in the evolution of priorship training are related to the new needs for excellence in social methods, for working with non­Christian people, for secular approaches to the spirit deeps, and for handling complexity with so few human and material resources The immediate need is to develop leadership resources to meet the minimal needs of the next two years. The flaw in the present system is that no one grasps himself as able to handle the complexity. The Centrum has become too remote and the local priorship has inadequate training models, unclarity about the training task, and insufficient time to create the whole solution on his own. Four proposals have been written to deal with the contradictions in the short range need for trained priorship: 1) Short range priority image, 2) Area training task force, 3) Quality formal training events in every House, Centrum, and Metro Cadre, and 4) Centrum production of training resources The Council does not need to deal with the long range issues at this time. However, the short range corrections contained in the four proposals require consideration and even implementation by the Council. For example, the area training task force proposal reveals that the increasing local engagement of House and Cadre forces and the increasing complexity of the inclusive mission attended to by Centrums have resulted in inadequacies in training. This proposal presents a plan for expanding the responsibility of the area dynamic in the training mission. It calls for the creation of an area training task force which will design a one year plan, make assignments, and hold accountability for the training journey of the movement core and order.
THE TASK APPROACH NEW IMAGE OF THE PRIOR LONG RANGE EDGES SHORT RANGE CORRECTIONS	Task Force Al approached the issue of prior training by examining the existing prior training situation and imaginally depicting the profound task of prior training. The contradictions were identified and analyzed. Issues in the long term evolution of priorship training were discussed and ordered. Proposals were prepared for short range corrections in the training system. The aim of priorship training is defined by the image of the prior. In the light of the demand that the times are laying upon the spirit movement, calling it to engage more extensively and intensively in the world, new images of the prior are emerging. The prior embraces the style of one who holds all of life to be utterly significant. He calls his fellows from unconsciousness to profound decisional engagement in life and history. He practices diligently to increase his skills as catalytic servant, and to impart them to others. He releases others to live creatively and fully their authentic humanness in caring for the world within their local situation and so participate in the civilizing process. He lives in the spirit deeps and by invitation and example opens the way for others to increase their spirit prowess. The long range edges in the evolution of priorship training are related to the new needs for excellence in social methods, for working with non­Christian people, for secular approaches to the spirit deeps, and for handling complexity with so few human and material resources. The immediate need is to develop leadership resources to meet the minimal needs of the next two years. The flaw in the present system is that no one grasps himself as able to handle the complexity. The centrum has become too remote and the local priorship has inadequate training models, unclarity about the training task, and insufficient time to create the whole solution on his own. Four proposals have been written to deal with the contradictions in the short range need for trained priorship: 1) Short range priority image, 2) Area training task force, 3) Quality formal training events in every house, centrum and Metro Cadre, and 4) Centrum production of training resources.

INTRODUCTION

BASIC INTENT PROJECTED PRIORSHIP NEEDS SHORT RANGE CONTRADICTIONS THREE RHYTHMS OF TRAINING

Two types of contradictions emerged from the extensive brainstorming on the many aspects of priorship training. One type speaks of long range qualitative changes in the shape of training in relation to the new kind of prior needed in the new kind of future we are entering. Another type of contradiction speaks of the need for immediate attention to developing the leadership resources to meet the need of the next two years. This section includes an outline of proposals dealing with the latter type of contradiction. Every year brings a need for more trained priorship in both the Order and the Metro Cadre. What new strength will it take for each of the next two years to add eight new Global Social Demonstrations per year, plus strengthen the houses and centrums, plus meet the demands for new houses. A modest estimate would be 100 additional trained Order adults for each of the next two years. If one out of ten freshly impacted persona who receive effective training can become a prior in two years, we are probably already a year behind. In order to occasion 200 additional priors in two years, about 3000 people need to experience profound acceleration in training, beginning now. All such projections are wild statistical estimated. One can be very disappointed because a trained prior means many miracles in a single life over a substantial period of time. One can also be surprised by the speed with which human beings change But one correlation is certain s far fewer miracles happen when the systematic praying over individual lives is neglected. The fundamental flaw in the present system of caring for the journey of 1000's is that no one grasps himself as able to handle the complexity of it. The centrum has become too remote to know intimately the needs of individual people in the movement and the Order, The already over­loaded local troikas find that planning the training journey of each person in the Order and movement falls upon them because they alone know the people. But without any inclusive models for how to do it, without any knowledgeable accountability for their efforts, with much unclarity on what is crucial, and with many other burdens which consume their time, the entire task suffers from a quantitative and qualitative neglect. CONTEXT FOR PROPOSALS An initial consideration for beginning to think about proposals is the manner of ordering, for practical planning, all the training events that occasion the emergence of effective priors. The categories in the following chart have proved more helpful than previous attempts. Ecclesiolas, collegiums, etc., are planned on a weekly basis to handle needs visible in the day­to­day life of a local cadre, house or centrum. Courses, PSUs, etc., are planned on a quarterly Week II time schedule and must consider values as wide as an entire area. Academies, research assemblies, etc., Are planned on an annual rhythm and must consider the issues for priorship training on a global basis.

FORMAL AND INFORMAL TRAINING ROLES OF RESPONSIBILITY WEEKLY RHYTHM QUARTERLY RHYTHM	Formal training means times set aside with the express purpose of advancing the methodological eptitude or the spiritual prowess of the assembled group of people, Indirect training is expressing the point that the entire round of missional life and work occasions training. An effective prior integrates training into the times of work, research and celebration, Indirect t training is especially helpful for shaping style and practical competence over a long period of time, Formal training is especially helpfu1 in grounding basic methodologies in personal existence and in accelerating sensitivity and prowess in the spirit dimension. The training events in the weekly rhythm are planned and executed at the local level. Global centrums have the role of research and distribution of adequate materials for the use of the local priorship The area responsibility might be defined as (1) reviewing global materials for their applicability in the indigenous area and (2) providing encouragement and accountability to the Local prior for his work in these areas, me training events in the quarterly rhythm are planned in the light of local values and systematized across an area. The area might be said to execute these events while their particular arrangements and recruitment falls to the responsibility of the local. Global centrums provide materials and coordination of faculty, air travel, finances etc., The annual rhythm training events are constructed and executed through the perspective of global centrums. But the needs of the local and the local recruitment energies decisively determine the destiny of these programs. The role of the area, while relatively inactive at this time, might be conceived as the long­range planning of priorship training in the area and the assigning of Order and movement leadership to the extended programming they need. CONTRADICTIONS IN EACH RHYTHM The contradiction in the weekly rhythm is the need to unblock quality occurrences in the formal training times. Great collegiums, ecclesiolas and guild meetings are difficult to produce: busy troikas must work with minimum training, with inadequate materials and preparation time, and with many necessary irregularities in attendance. The doorways in this arena are to be found in four locations: (1) Time­saving resources; (2) The operating images of the troika and metro cadre priors; (3) The assignment of priorship time and, (4) The further training of troika and metro cadre priors. The training contradiction in the quarterly rhythm is the potential disappearance of all formal training from the Week 4 schedule. The trend toward increasing amounts of impact and social demonstration work on Week II is necessary and wholesome. Most prospective priors need, however, at least one weekend per quarter in which their spirit life, theological maturity, common memory or methodological grounding is nurtured at levels beyond impact course participation. It does not seem possible to say, at this time, that all formal training should take place on other than Week II time periods.
ANNUAL RHYTHM	The training contradiction in the annual rhythm is the absence of a systematic way of handling the formal training needs of the Order and the movement stalwarts, The eyes of the priorship are focused on the immediate local demands that long­range priorship training is hard to keep in proper perspective. me global centrum does not know or see the people that need extended training, The area, which has the best perspective on priorship potential, has not conceived an adequate practical role for encouraging the careful care of the future prior ship potentialities.

PROPOSAL INTRODUCTIONS NUMBER ONE: A SHORT­RANGE PRIORITY IMAGE THREE MAJOR STRATEGIES ARE NOT ENOUGH INDIRECT TRAINING IS NOT ENOUGH IMPACT PROGRAMS ARE NOT ENOUGH	What then are viable directions in which we can move effectively on priorship training during the next two years while doing at the same time the major missional priorities of Global Community Forum, Social Demonstration and Primal Community, Four proposals are spelled out in the following paragraphs for immediate consideration and appropriate action. The role of training tactics in their practical relation to all other tactics is undergoing a long range shift in operational image. In the section on long range shifts, the direction of this is explored A shift in imagination is also needed for the sake of the short range factors we are dealing with in this section. It is proposed in the following paragraphs that we image priorship training as a crucial strategy­­the Fourth Priority, that indirect training will not be enough to meet the needs, and that participation in input programs will not be a sufficient replacement for Formal training experiences. The task of dealing with the 3 major strategies of Social Demonstration, GCF, and the Primal Community will consume the energy of the movement. The necessity of having trained troops for these strategies and their backup fabrics is the emergence of a fourth major strategy: Prior Training, This fourth strategy amounts to consuming energy that is needed for the first 3 strategies to produce the missing energy. Indirect training does go on in the midst of every aspect of doing the mission. Watching a trained person perform is the beat form of Indirect training. Being entrusted with a task one has never done before is another good form but over­reliance on the sink­or­swim method of training will result in a good deal of drowning. Formal training time is essential to give the screens that make indirect training most profitable. The spirit depth or priorship is especially dependent upon formal training time. Many people will participate in impact programs as participants and leadership, It is correct to say that large amounts of this type of work will be training, it is correct to say that it will be sufficient training to occasion the maturation of the prior. In order to develop a more intense consciousness of consciousness in its missional meaning and to ground movement structures and methods, the formal training dynamic is necessary. The formal training of a well-run Religious House and of the Academy are both essential events in tile journey of any and all priors, The need for global priors will not be met without quality implementation of the formal training dynamic.
NUMBER TWO: AREA TRAINING TASK FORCE AREA TRAINING TASK FORCE AREA "756" IDENIFICATION INDIVIDUAL JOURNEY PROJECTION AREAL TRAINING PLAN & ASSIGNMENTS QUARTERLY EVALUATION	The increasing local engagement of House and Cadre forces and the increasing complexity of the inclusive mission attended to by Centrums have, as previously documented, resulted in inadequacies in training. This proposal presents a plan for expanding the responsibility of the area dynamic in the training mission. It calls for the creation of an area training force which will design a one year plan, make assignments, and hold accountability for the training journey of the movement core and Order. It is proposed that each Area establish a training task force. The task force shall take responsibility for (1) assessing the state of the area's preparedness for the present and future task, (2) creation of the area training plan for the current year and making quarterly area assignments and (3) evaluating and holding accountability for the implemented programs. The Area prior will be a member of this task force. Eventually the task force could have the representatives from each bi­metro. Each area shall commonly undertake this task by identifying the "755 Pillars" of the area, including both House personnel and metro colleagues. That is, the training plan shall be thought through on the basis of the analysis of the training needs of the area's core of movement forces. The steps in the process are: ­Identify the "21" individuals of 'those who care' forces in each of the 36 metros. Include metro initiates, guardians, metro stalwarts, Order interns, Order fellows, and Order priors. -Before the are al work strip, each region will be responsible for identifying its Pillars by naming the "21" individuals at the polis level. The area training task force shall examine the missional plan of the area and the forces required to implement it Then each of the "756'se participation is envisioned and a projection is made of their prowess at the year's end. The best assessment of the global demands of a year hence are then used to dream of the next year's assignment for each. Now examine the methodological training, movemental experience, style proficiency, etc., and assess the eptitude of each to his projected assignment. The area training task force shall design the year's training across the area such as scheduling formal courses and special area programs using the mission projection and the troop preparedness data. The quarterly assignments for the year are then made for each of the 756. Global and continental programs are also training opportunities available for the troops. A House prior could be assigned to the staff of an ITI, to a Social Methods School, or to a quarter of development as an example. Or a guardian could be assigned to a social demonstration consult, a LENS teaching trek, or a development circuit ~ metro prior could be assigned to Academy, an area advanced course, or a global research assembly. The area training task force will quarterly evaluate the spirit life methods and formal methods training of the houses and metros. Workshops can be done by the task force in areas needing attention as well as providing training centrum with evaluation reports and construct requests for the next qtr. The 756 quarterly assignments would also be evaluated and revised at this time.
NUMBER THREE: QUALITY FORMAL TRAINING EVENTS IN EVERY HOUSE CENTRUM & METRO CADRE	A long established training principle is the wisdom of significant happenings everyday or every week that occasion profound spirit and advance methodological eptitude. The Collegium, the Ecclesiola, the Guild meeting, the Metro Cadre circuit and other ongoing fabrics can be times of intentional formal training The local trained prior, in house Troikas or Metro Cadres, is the key to tines occasions. 1) The initial element in this proposal is the recommendation that House Troikas rehearse the long range importance of these occasions and assign sufficient time to prepare and execute quality events. 2) The meetings of priors on an area level can set aside time for discussion of their training work, for corporate preparation and for the training of one another in the methods and sensitivities needed for quality leadership. 3) Centrums would create a parallel construct for its members.
NUMBER FOUR: CENTRUM PRODUCTION OF TRAINING RESOURCES	In order to create a training system that is relative to the global edge, and yet matches the best ava11able picture of the current local situation, we propose that the global Centrums create for the local priors time­saving resources that would include: 1) In Order common memory collegium construct to be used once a week with a year­long rhythm, 2) Week II conversation rationale with both secular and religious material 3) House archives materials lists to be updated yearly 4) Ecclesiola, Metro Cadre and Primal Community constructs and a model for critiquing the above constructs to be used by Centrum for evaluating their quality and validity.

SOME LONG RANGE EDGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF PRIORSHIP TRAINING
During the past five years the changing situation of the world has occasioned shifts in the missional response of the movement Now the forms of the movement's engagement with the world appear to be undergoing a significant mutation. The prior as bearer of these forms is likewise being recreated in image, role, style, and function. The training of the prior has therefore become extremely complex in this time of evolution. However, within the discussions of the task force some trends and the related issues were initially discerned These are cryptically outlined below as unresolved issues for further attention.
THE TREND …	THE ISSUE
… is toward the need for precision excellence in social methods, battleplanning framing, community reformulation, etc.	What new constructs for social methods training will be needed?
… is toward collegial style that is intra­global, sensitive, and sophisticated in working with establishment structures as well as with local People.	What are the training events which begin to open up the potentialities for this kind of ambivalent style?
... is toward implementing training methods for non­Christian leadership.	How do we follow­up secular impact programs with profound consciousness training?
… is toward the rearticulation of the understanding of the word through appropriation of the deep issues of life thru the vehicle of Faith, Hope and Love.	What will this mean for all our training constructs?
... is toward RSI taking on an entirely new role in our lives.	How will theological prowess be grounded into every prior?
... is toward Phase I priorship training	How will our assignments and training patterns best honor the fact of Phase I differences?
... is toward the complexity of training in terms of Order commonality and operating principles.	What is the training that priors will need in the practice of Order life?

CONTEXT POSSIBLE USES OF THE CANONS

The canons of priorship are intended to be concise, "pithy" statements that illuminate some of the emerging dimensions of priorship. They provide a starting point for reflection upon the various arenas of priorship and may permit a prior to make a general review of his operating principles and perhaps uncover some new or old but forgotten concerns. Additions to meditative council. 2. Artform/decor piece 3. Opening/closing meals "Repeat after me..." 4. Sparking imagination for similar statements 5. Short courses 6. Resource material for training others in priorship 7. Weekly theme for brooding, 52 weeks of the year.

MISSION
THE PRIOR'S LIFE IS MISSIONAL EXPENDITURE THE PRIOR IS ABLE TO OPERATE INTUITIVELY THE PRIOR IS A PRACTICAL VISIONARY	1. Remember that thy own life is insignificant and remember also that thy life is eternally significant, 2. Thou hast been given an example: serve one another and be humble, lest you fall, 3. Thou shalt honor every person by encouraging them to grand present to the awe, 4. Thou shalt work with the Troika and be guided by the consensus of the group, not by thy own druthers, 5. Thou shalt be open to the truth and be careful to recognize it in every disguise. 1. Thou shalt distinguish between missional waiting and fearful procrastination. 2. Thou shaft push beyond the rational to the point where missional creativity emerges. 3. Thou shalt know when and how to piddle then haste is not helpful. 4. Thou shalt see through the chaos of the present crisis by discerning the major contradiction blocking history. 1. Thou shalt relate effectively to the man on the street in any culture. 2. Thou shalt not seek the meaning of your life in some particular aspect of missional engagement. 3. Thou shalt dream, of the future and then tactically catalyze the miracles that evoke that dream for others. 4. Thou shalt bear the standard of social demonstration as a sign of new possibility on the Long March of humanity,
STYLE
THE PRIOR HONORS THE GIFTS OF ALL THE PRIOR IS THE FREE MAN THE PRIOR IS SELF-CONSCIOUS EXEMPLAR	1. As the revolutionary, thou shalt exhibit the transestablishment stance, and be open to new and creative models. 2. Thou shalt always uphold the objective reality of any situation lest you be smother ~d by the emotion of the subjective. 3. School thyself to know that thy way is never blocked totally; that alternatives exist in every situation for those who seek them diligently. 4. Thou shalt know that when thy expectations fail to be achieved, thy task is to create the story that turns defeat into victory lest discouragement block the glorious journey of humanity 1. Thou shalt value the spirit of another's life and trust the authenticity and wisdom of local man. 2. Thou shalt use the gifts, skills, and insights of others to release the creativity of the corporate act. 3. Thou shalt intensify thy intuitional skills for enabling insightful evaluations. 4. Thou shalt expand the images men live by through imaginal education, myth, and story. 5. Thou shalt trust the results of corporate methods to be greater than the sum of the wisdom of the individual partlcipants 1. Thou shalt play the role of concerned Judge, objectively dealing with the neuroses of thy colleagues within the corporate structures of the community. 2. Study to be an effective communicator with the capacity to compose, imaginally orchestrate and dramatically rehearse the relationships that life requires. 3. Thou shalt be the perpetual actor on the stags of life, acting out your care in the drama of your particular mundane historical situation. Thou art a type of weightless corporate astronaut, and can leap the vast craters of your ignorance, buoyed up with the wisdom of your colleagues.
SPIRIT
THE PRIOR IS SPIRIT GUIDE THE PRIOR IS CATALYTIC SELF-STARTER THE PRIOR IS SHEPHERD OF THOSE WHO CARE	1. You shall remember that giving the symbolic dimension of life precedence over practical details will insure that the spirit batteries continue to be recharged so that the mission can proceed. Forget not to equip thyself to be a master of the discontinuous that life may be recreated in thyself and thy colleagues through joyful celebration, the unexpected and the imaginative, and the mingling of life and poetry 3. Thou shalt be alert and sensitive to the many faceted spirit impact of space, using arrangement and decor to inform those who find themselves in that space. 4. School thyself in the spirit dimension of life that you may care for yourself in order to care for others. 1. Remember that the moving of mountains requires people who are catalytic self­starters, be one yourself. 2. Thou shalt start the process each day by getting out of bed on time. As a skilled student of life you will do your homework by thinking things through to the bottom so that you can challenge and provoke decisions relative to the missional task. 4. Thou art required to be a tactician, which means that you will need a daily check list of all your detailed tasks. 5. Thou shalt not make any assignments that you are not prepared to fill yourself. Remember that thou art the guide to the liturgical life of your colleagues through the Daily Office and House Church. Thou shalt learn great skill as a Journey Master, using the insights of your own solitary journey to beckon colleagues toward the endless felicity of the servant life style. Remember that thou art a walking Accountability Structure, auditing the lives of others first by your mere presence. Thou shalt be the orchestrator of the endeavors of Those Who Care in their various geo­social manifestations, guiding their journey in the spirit and in action.
SKILLS
THE PRIOR IS SKILLED IN GUIDING PHASE I THE PRIOR IS COMMUNICATOR OF THE OTHER WORLD THE PRIOR IS EXPLORER OF THE OTHER WORLD THE PRIOR IS DETACHMENT	1. Thou shalt not hesitate to order a child's life, 2. Thou shalt remember that the child is creating the story out of which he will live his life and help to ensure that the story is authentic. Thou shalt care objectively for thy teen­age colleagues. 4. Thou shalt remember that a youth is not an adult and thou wilt therefore expect and affirm his youthful response to life. 1. Know thyself as the form that the Mystery has chosen to transmit the two profundity of being human. 2. Thou shalt be alert to take and make opportunities for formal and informal training as an essential dimension of the journey of your colleagues. 3. Thou shalt be mindful that thou art entrusted with the privilege of both declaring and exhibiting the offense that the lives of all are radical creative possibility so that they may live out of that conscious awareness. 4. Thou shalt remember that all of thy time is for the mission and be the living embodiment of the same. 5. Thou shalt be diligent to improve thy skills as a teacher for it is necessary for the building up of thy colleagues. Thou shalt frequently Journey through all the highways and ways of the Other World so that you are familiar with all its diverse topography and so are able to reveal its­wonders to others within the daily reality of their lives, Thou shalt know that the only reward is the opportunity of 1iving­ the expended life. Be sure that thy words be grounded in profound reality lest you be caught uttering life­destroying heresy, 4. Train thyself to know the difference between that which is psychological and the issues that are of the spirit so that you shall know whether it is the doctor or the Gospel that is required. 1. Thou shalt regard all of the preceding with a grain of salt, and act with the Lord alone as thy final guide.