Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

124 munity [...] is a participation in and qualified witness of the Church-Mys- tery, since it is a living expression and privileged fulfillment of its own particular ‘communion’.” 46 This statement clarifies why loyalty to the Church is necessary: it is impossible to be in the Church and to bear witness to her unity without being faithful to the Church. If this loyalty is absent, then the very unity of the community becomes a caricature of the Church, because it is then not a “unity for” but a “unity against.” Unfortunately, we have the unpleasant experience of various religious communities which close ranks against the pope, the bishops and even the Magisterium. The Marian legislation is very precise on the issue of fidelity to the Church: In submitting to the universal government of the Supreme Pontiff, whom they are also obliged to obey by virtue of the vow of obedien- ce, as well as to the pastoral authority of the bishops according to the norm of universal law, the members should be convinced that, in this way, they are more strictly bound to the service of the Church and respond more profoundly to their own apostolic vocation. 47 Summing up this brief discussion of the subject of faithfulness, we should emphasize that updating this idea today and reading the Oblatio in the context of our time allows us to say that this fidelity is neither blind nor uncritical. On the one hand, the Marians are called to a filial fidelity, to re- gard the Church not as an institution but as a reflection, however imperfect, of the Kingdom of God. And on the other hand, we are to be open to the future following the example our holy Father Founder, to accept the valid teachings of the Church of today and to recognize that – while the essence of Christ’s teaching does not change – the Church adapts it to the needs of the present. Only then does a religious community in the Church become a true example as it gives an authentic witness to its fidelity to the Church. The Ability to Forgive The Oblatio concludes with a paragraph which should be read rather as a formal expression of Father Stanislaus’s courtesy, especially because ana- 46 Fraternal Life in Community, 2a. 47 CM, 58.