GLOSSARY

Three words from the original French of the Spiritan Rule of Life appear in this English version. They are noted below. In every case the ideas these words treat of, in context, are of importance for the thought and ideals that are expressed in the original French. Since no one term satisfied the need, a version is supplied but the original indicated.

1. animer / animateur / animation. The reality that these words deal with is dealt with differently in French and in English. English has “to lead/leader/leadership” or expresses leadership-in-action in a vocabulary that risks misunderstandings, for words in the two languages resemble each other but differ in usage and meanings. English-speaking Spiritans, despite continued exposure to transliterations of the French terms, remain uncomfortable. In eight places the transliteration is used in this version. They are Nos. 47, 72.5, 120, 160, 172, 190, 196, 199. The sense has been rendered in Nos. 8, 107 and 242.1.

2. projet. In four cases this word is used in a special sense. No happy English equivalent has been found. The reality might be described as agreement reached within a group of Spiritans to live, to work and to pray with the community, in a way they arrive at together within the framework the Rule supplies. It is at once process and achievement; dynamic rather than static; an instrument and an end. It evolves, is adapted or comes to an end, to be replaced by a fresh and newly elaborated projet .

3. ressourcement . Not found in any French dictionary, the word seems to express “return to the sources”, or re-creation (in the separate original senses of those two expressions).