Allocutio on “The President of the Praesidium” by Rev. Francis G. Lendacky
Chapter 34 of the handbook describes the duties of praesidium officers, including the Spiritual Director, who on page 210 is called the “very mainspring” of the praesidium. If the Spiritual Director is the mainspring of the praesidium, what is to be said about the president! Maybe the president can be called the “driving wheel.” In a mechanical clock, the driving wheel is the one which sets all the other wheels and gears in motion, and the clock can really be a time-piece. If the driving wheel does not move, the clock may simply be a useless ornament.
It is reasonable to envision the president as a “driving wheel.” The Legion handbook insinuates as much when, in item 16, it announces that the faults of the praesidium reflect the faults of the president. The president is responsible for the proper situation and conduct of the meting. He calls the meeting to order at the time scheduled and concludes all the business of the meeting with the hour and a half time-limit. He is to observe the proper times for the recitation of the prayers, and each segment of the meeting ought to be given its adequate time allotment. He receives the reports and calls for discussion when appropriate. In order to convey the true apostolic character of the Legion work, the president assigns the work with suitable apostolic emphasis. If the president fails in any of these matters, he is not spared correction. It would appear that the Legion does regard the president as “a driving wheel.”
That note becomes more obvious as the president calls on the other officers and members at the meeting. He is the “driving wheel” which sets all others into motion. He is the one who calls for the contributions of his fellow praesidium officers. He must allow them to dispatch the duties of their offices fully and adequately. He must not accept any slovenly or ill-prepared participation from them, for they together with himself are responsible for the good order of the meeting and providing good example. If, for any reason, one or another officer is excused from the meeting, he should select a member temporarily “to act” in that office during that meeting. He should not do everything himself – even if it would save time and trouble!
According to the handbook, at a meeting where there is no Spiritual Director, it is the president who is given additional duties. Except for the allocutio, which he may delegate to another, he alone is to perform the portions of the meeting assigned to the Spiritual Director. This will be better understood, if once again, using the analogy of the clock, we realize the interdependency of the “driving wheel” and the mainspring. It also explains why many of the 20 items listed under the presidency deal with the “spirit and harmony” of the praesidium. A number of responsibilities are shared by the Spiritual Director and the president.
For the president who is aware that he is a “driving wheel,” there may be the inclination, especially in the absence of the Spiritual Director, to evolve into “the only wheel” in the meeting. The first symptom of such a tendency is the “much too talkative” president. Sometimes the president’s voice is the one most frequently heard. This practice is contrary to one of the least subtle suggestions in the handbook. Item 11 simply states that the president should speak as little as possible. Following the proper working of the “driving wheel,” every wheel would perform its proper function. Every officer and member would be set in motion to perform his proper role in the praesidium. So the main art of the president of the praesidium is to enable every officer and member to participate as he is required.
The second symptom of a president becoming “the only wheel” is his reluctance to delegate certain functions to his fellow officers or to capable members. Since one of the most important duties of a president is to provide “for the future” of the Legion by scouting future officers for praesidium or council, he would neglect that design by his failure to delegate.
But there is another facet to the concept of the president being called the “driving wheel.” And it is of equal importance for the Spirit-and-Scheme of the Legion.
The first item which is mentioned for each of the four lay officers is the duty to attend the meetings of the Council, which we are told in chapter 28, should be held not less frequently than once a month. This duty is stated simply and without qualification for three of the four officers. But when this duty is stated for the office of president there is a reason given for his actual attendance at every meeting: “by this and by other means, the president is to keep the praesidium firmly united to the main body of the Legion.” This additional note qualifying the attendance by the president introduces “the escapement” element into our “clock simile” in reference to the Legion.
In a mechanical clock, in addition to the mainspring and driving wheel, there is the “escapement element.” It is called the heart of the time-keeping mechanism. As part of the entire mechanism, there is an escape wheel which regulates the rotation of the driving wheel. Together with its own particular gear and hairspring which counter-reacts to the mainspring and driving wheel, the escapement element regulates the movement required to sustain the accuracy of the time-piece. In the context of the Legion, the “escapement element” can be likened to the curia. It is through the governance by the curia that the praesidium obtains its continuity of Legion life and activity, and receives the necessary bond to preserve its legion identity.
The first inference of such a qualifying note, therefore, is that the attendance by the president of the praesidium at the council meeting is the primary way by which the individual praesidium stays united with the council from which it draws its vitality and maintains its identity as legion. The second inference is that without the attendance by the president at the council meeting, the praesidium will be deprived of that vital lifeline upon which the praesidium must rely to continue its Legion life and action. The actual physical presence of the officers especially that of the president, is extremely important for the entire praesidium.
The way in which the Council governs the praesidium is through the person of the president of the praesidium. When the president sits in the president’s chair he is the presence of the council at each praesidium meeting. The president represents the “higher council” at the basic unit of Legion life and action. Even though each officer in the praesidium represents the council’s presence in the praesidium, the president is regarded as the chief representative of the council. By the president’s supervision of the weekly meeting of the praesidium, the Council is truly governing the praesidium every week, and the praesidium is firmly united with the Council.
Even as every member of the Legion is warned against independent action, so every praesidium is to beware of separation from the Council, and of severing itself from the line of legionary life and well-being. And it is the president of the praesidium who is primarily responsible for maintaining the union with the Legion and for informing the entire praesidium of the Council’s plans and activities.
This union with the main body of the Legion is called affiliation, the main line of course, being the appointment of the president of the praesidium. No officer takes the position by simply assuming the office on his own. He is appointed. This feature ought to bolster the confidence of any officer. Our Lady has made Her choice in her own unique way. The Legion council has discerned the ability and willingness of the member to serve as president of his presidium and a member of the Council.
With the appointment by the Council, the president of the praesidium is given a two-fold function in the Spirit-and-Scheme of the Legion. He must be both the proficient “driving wheel” of the praesidium and a docile instrument in the “escapement element” of the council.