Introducing…Dr. Gary Warner, CM

Welcome to a new monthly feature where we introduce you to one of the dedicated and faith-filled individuals who lead Concerned Lay Catholics. Each month one of our planning group members will share a bit about their faith journey and what inspired them to stay engaged with our Church. We start off the series with CLC Canada president, Dr. Gary Warner, CM, seen here shaking hands with Mary McAleese, then President of Ireland.

Gary Warner meeting the Republic of Ireland President

I was privileged to attend the month-long Spiritan General chapter (held in different locations every seven years) in Maynooth, Ireland, in the summer of 1998. I was drawn to become a Lay Spiritan by the charism of the Spiritan Congregation, by the way the charism was embodied by Spiritan priests I came to know well and admire, and by the opportunity to deepen my spirituality in the context of an international community. The Spiritan charism is well captured in this Maynooth pre-chapter statement on Our Mission: “The Spirit leads us to be at the service of all people, especially the poor, the excluded and marginalized, in order to be an empowering force, to live and work with them, to bring about the realization of the reign of God and works of justice and peace.” These Chapters are a response to the second Vatican Council which had called on religious communities to re-examine their apostolate every few years in the light of the challenges of the contemporary world (“reading the signs of the times”), the Gospel and their particular charism.

I was one of three lay delegates attending the Maynooth Chapter, one each from Europe, North America and South America, areas where at that time there were well-established Lay Spiritan Associate groups. Although we were non-voting delegates at these Chapters which include the election of the Superior General and members of the General Council, we were otherwise fully involved in the work of the Chapter. For example, over a period of two weeks, I was the recorder for the discussions on the Chapter themes held in the group to which I was assigned, and I presented our reports to the general sessions. One panel of a general session was devoted to the reports presented by the three Lay delegates on behalf of the regions they represented. The Superior General, Fr. Pierre Schouver was always diligent in explicitly including us as professed and lay Spiritans whenever he spoke. I had the pleasure of being introduced personally by him to Mary McAleese, then President of Ireland, alongside Fr. Martin Keane, then Provincial of the Irish Spiritans, at a reception following an address by Mary McAleese.