--------------------------------------------------------------
What every Catholic should know about Religious Life!
Basic Truths
put together by religious from the Church's teaching
This is the last post in our series from 1 - 30 about Religious Life. Enjoy!
Post 30. Operation Rescue - Religious Life
Over the years since the 1930’s the Popes have been at pains to renew and reform Religious Life. Particularly did the Second Vatican Council set forth clear instructions for the return to a true theology and spirit of Consecrated Life.
Before Vatican II the problem appeared to be a rigid and narrow conformity to some outdated external customs. But after Vatican II it was more a case of a rapid liberal move in many communities to throw aside or re-interpret even the most necessary components of Religious Life - community life, religious habit and the vows.
Pope Paul VI spoke and wrote copiously to Religious, exhorting them to follow the inspiration of the Council and trying to rein in the madness that had set in. One particular exhortation of this nature is his “Evangelica Testificatio” - expressing his distress at what was happening in Religious Life and re-stating the truths of this key vocation in the Church.
Saint John Paul II followed up with many beautiful documents and addresses, most notable of which is his “Vita Consecrata” which builds on all the fine teaching of his predecessors.
Sadly, the admonitions and teachings of Popes over all these decades has not borne the fruits they deserve. Religious still need serious reform and the renewal called for by Vatican II is still to be achieved.
-------------------------------------------------
Post 29 Why are
there so few religious around today?
Father Thomas Dubay SM listed the following reasons back
in the 1980’s:
1.
Young men and women being entangled in the
secularisation and moral breakdown of contemporary life.
2.
Breakdown
in solid-faith-filled family life.
3.
Widespread dissent from the Catholic faith;
scepticism and agnosticism.
4.
The
negative public image of religious life given by the media which focusses on
bitter, warped and dissenting religious.
5.
An
increase in psychological wounding amongst the young.
6.
Pervasive
relativism which bases all decisions and values on ‘feeling’.
7.
Lack of
content in Religion courses in schools.
8.
Lack of
promotion of Religious Life by priests, parents and religious themselves.
9.
Inauthenticity of life-style amongst religious
men and women.
10.
The
invisibility of religious.
11.
Poor or
non-existent explanations of the theology behind the evangelical counsels.
12.
Original
sin and the selfishness that comes from it.
---------------------------------------------------
Post 28
Religious
Habit
Many people have the idea that the formal
dress of religious - the habit, as it is traditionally called - is out of date
and no longer necessary. They are
seriously misinformed.
The Church’s Canon Law (No. 669) says
simply:
“As a sign of their consecration and as a
witness to poverty, Religious are to wear the habit of their institute...”
The teaching of Vatican Council II, as well
as all the Popes of modern times, have emphasised the powerful symbolic
importance of the habit.
If the consecration of religious and their
vow of Poverty are still necessary to their vocation, then the sign of these –
habit -, can’t possibly be out dated or irrelevant.
The religious is fundamentally a witness - to God’s supremacy, to His
goodness and love, to the values of His Kingdom. And of course, a witness must
be seen.
Religious don’t just wear the habit as a
sign to others. It is a reminder to the religious themselves of their
consecration to God and of the way of life - simple, poor, chaste and humble – to
which they have committed themselves.
----------------------------------------------------
Post 27
The Role of the
Laity in the Promotion of Religious Life:
Without the efforts of the laity in the Church, Religious
Life can’t survive, let alone flourish.
The Church expects the lay faithful to promote vocations
by:
- Knowing its teaching on the superiority of virginity for the sake of the Kingdom, even over marriage.
- Understanding the role of Religious Life in the Church.
- Knowing the basic theology of the Religious Vows.
- Understanding what the main elements are of the Religious Life.
- Giving enlightened education to the young about this vocation
- Giving encouragement to religious to live their vocation faithfully.
- Offering to religious corrective reminders of their obligations to God and to the Church.
- Giving formation to the young, especially in families, in the virtues needed for this vocation.
- Praying regularly and fervently for an increase of generous responses to God’s call to the Religious Life.
-----------------------------------------------------
Post 26
The Role of Priests
in Promoting Religious Life:
Priests, as professional spiritual guides, bear a great
responsibility for the recognition and nurturing of vocations to religious
life, as well as to the priesthood.
This, however, presupposes that they possess:
- A true understanding of the Church’s theology of Religious Life.
- A true understanding of the Church’s Traditional Spiritual Theology.
- A realistic grasp of the requirements of a life consecrated to God.
- A realisation of the life-style and requirements of different Religious Communities.
- Prudence in judging the character and personal gifts and abilities of prospective candidates.
Sometimes it happens that this encouragement is
misdirected, and this can spell much vocational unhappiness and disillusionment
for a young person as well as for the religious community to which they may
apply.
-----------------------------------------------------
Post 25
How Do We
Promote Religious Life?
It has always been the case in the Church that this
supernatural vocation of total consecration to God needs to be promoted and
fostered by all members of the Church - by religious themselves, by clergy
(bishops and priests) and by the laity.
The Task of
Religious in Promoting Vocations:
In some respects this is as it should be. The Church teaches and requires that all
members of a religious community are to be promoters of vocations to their
Order or to Religious Life in general.
They are to do this by:
- Their own fidelity to their vows and to their
religious Rule
- Fervent and constant prayer for vocations
- External witness to the value and beauty of
their vocation and, where possible, direct encouragement to the young in favour
of this life which is such a close
imitation of the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
---------------------------------------------------
Post 24. 25/06/15
Single Life - A vocation?
Is it or isn’t it? We have been hearing for years - and it is still there on vocation brochures, in vocation homilies and talks - that the “single life” is a vocation along with the Priesthood, Marriage and the Religious Life.
Some essential and relevant facts about the Church’s concept of “vocation” are these:
1. A vocation is, by definition, permanent and full-time.
2. A vocation is essentially a matter of total self-gift.
The only ‘single life’, which could be considered and truly called a vocation, is the single life consecrated to God by some private act of consecration which includes a commitment to live in celibacy. Under these conditions, a person could be said to have a vocation to “single life in the world”.
Is it or isn’t it? We have been hearing for years - and it is still there on vocation brochures, in vocation homilies and talks - that the “single life” is a vocation along with the Priesthood, Marriage and the Religious Life.
Some essential and relevant facts about the Church’s concept of “vocation” are these:
1. A vocation is, by definition, permanent and full-time.- Priesthood, Marriage, Religious Life are all permanent and full time commitments. There are no holidays or breaks from these vocations.
- Single life is somewhat open-ended. It involves no formal commitment. It could last until the person meets someone they want to marry.
- Priesthood is self-gift to the Church. Marriage is self-gift to the spouse. Religious consecration is self-gift to God.
- A single person may be very altruistic and selfless in his or her service to others, but there is no total, life-long commitment and self-gift to these others; no undertaking of service until death.
--------------------------------------------------
Post 23. 17/6/15
Religious Life v Other Forms of Consecrated Life
The Church approves and promotes various forms of Consecrated life, which should not be confused with one another. They are:
Religious Life: A life of total consecration to God through the making of life-long public vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience.
Secular Institutes: Members of secular institutes undertake to live the evangelical counsels living and working within the world for its sanctification and redemption. They usually live alone, but some may live in groups.
Consecrated Virgins: The Church has revived the Order of Virgins which existed in the early Church. A member of this Order vows celibacy and promises obedience to the Bishop who consecrates her for spiritual service to the Church.
Societies of Apostolic Life: These are not, strictly speaking, institutes of consecrated life, but are groupings of laity or priests who have come together to carry out an apostolate in the name of the Church. They do not take vows, but may make promises. Members of priestly societies, however, do take a vow of celibacy.
-----------------------------------------------------
The Church approves and promotes various forms of Consecrated life, which should not be confused with one another. They are:
Religious Life: A life of total consecration to God through the making of life-long public vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience.
Secular Institutes: Members of secular institutes undertake to live the evangelical counsels living and working within the world for its sanctification and redemption. They usually live alone, but some may live in groups.
Consecrated Virgins: The Church has revived the Order of Virgins which existed in the early Church. A member of this Order vows celibacy and promises obedience to the Bishop who consecrates her for spiritual service to the Church.
Societies of Apostolic Life: These are not, strictly speaking, institutes of consecrated life, but are groupings of laity or priests who have come together to carry out an apostolate in the name of the Church. They do not take vows, but may make promises. Members of priestly societies, however, do take a vow of celibacy.
-----------------------------------------------------
Post 22. 10/6/15
Secular Vocation v Religious Vocation
- It takes all types to make a world - and all vocations to make a Church.
- The Church, for its complete functioning, needs both the secular and the religious vocations.
- Secular Christians (and this includes married people and single people in the world) are called by God to work in the world, building up His Kingdom through family life, politics, business, science and the arts.
- Religious on the other hand are called to witness by their consecration to God to the realities of the next world.
- The two vocations have opposing thrusts, but together they express the great Christian truth that the Kingdom is both here on earth and there in heaven. There is no real opposition here, but necessary complementarity.
- Secular Christians witness to the goodness of God’s creation and Religious witness to its passing nature. Secular Christians are entrusted by Christ with perfecting the whole of society and the created world until He comes again. Religious, by their total dedication to God, anticipate the life of Heaven.
- Together these ways of life convey the whole of the Christian message. If one or the other is missing or diminished that message will be distorted and incomplete.
-------------------------------------------------
Post 21. 4/6/15
Consecrated Virginity V Marriage
- The Church has always taught that virginity/celibacy chosen and lived for the sake of God’s Kingdom is superior to marriage. The Council of Trent anathematises those who say otherwise.
- This does not mean that people consecrated to God are necessarily holier than married people, but only that their virginal state of life, is, objectively speaking, a more exalted one. The proof of this is that the Son of God in His perfect Humanity, chose a life of virginity for Himself and for His Mother.
- Consecrated virginity is actually a form of sacred marriage with Christ and a sign of Christ’s marriage with the Church. This is a marriage which will endure in eternal life when all earthly marriage will have passed away.
-----------------------------------------------------------
20. Discerning a Religious Vocation continued.
- The discernment of one’s vocation in life is a matter not of emotional attraction but of reason and faith. While emotion does usually enter into the process, it can never be a deciding factor - mainly because our emotions fluctuate constantly. Sincere prayer and openness to God in faith are utterly essential to true vocational discernment.
- A key sign of a vocation to Religious Life is the acceptance of a person by a religious community for the making of vows. It is no mere matter of personal choice. The Church, through the community must give its objective approval and ratification.
- Discernment of a religious vocation should not be done in a purely theoretical way, but should involve visits to actual communities to see, and if possible, experience their life at first-hand.
- It also involves necessary reading from the Church’s documents which set forth the theological and practical truths about the Religious Life.
- Above all, it requires the adoption of a lifestyle which prepares a person for the life of virtue and deepening prayer which consecration to God necessarily involves.
-------------------------------------------------
If you would like ALL the Posts, email us to order your copy of the 'Religious Life Booklet: A Thumbnail Sketch' published by the Conventual Sisters of St Dominic with all the Posts they researched and wrote during the Year of Consecrated Life 2015.