Ministerial Religious Life: concluding reflections

Educational. But then this IS Fr. McBrien.
When we moved to the small town in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, there was a well known Nun here. When working in the hospital, she wore her veil but around town she did not. She collected aluminum cans everywhere. Those who wanted to could drop them off at the Canvent! After the July 4th parade, she had a crew lined up to collect cans from Main Street -- the folks on the sidewalks would throw their cans to the middle of the road. And then, whenever a family had a disaster, usually fire, she was almost always first on the scene with cash for the family involved. Sadly, she has moved to the order's retirement community, but most people remember Sr. Theresa Reglar.
Now that is a life of work and ministry. Lock her up in a convent? I don't think there was a convent built that could hold her.

Need there be only ONE way to serve the Lord? I think not. God does not put things into a box and neither should we.

Maybe the essential problem with the modern ministerial religious life is that it inverts the ends of love. Scripture says that the first love belongs to God and the second lover pertains to man. It seems to me that the liberals love the creature more than the Creator. And since liberals are creatures themselves, they love themselves more than God. There you have it in a nutshell; Paulte has diagnosed the disease of Liberalism!

I believe Jesus loved the God who created him. And Jesus prayed to that God for strength to preach the Good News to all of God's creatures. I don't believe we are to love God above all creatures. God does not need our love. Only God's creatures need our love. Get your priorities straight.

BINGO!
"deeply committed to the egalitarian, nonauthoritarian, collegial exercise of authority and practice of obedience that Jesus inaugurated among his original band,"

Dudes!
BINGO!!
Over here! Right there!
BINGO!

Richard McBrien's reflections remind us that Christ's faithful, since they are incorporated into Christ through baptism, constitute the People of God. And within the People of God there is a fundamental equality among ALL members, who participate in the priestly, prophetic and kingly mission of Christ. Furthermore,"Christ is a king who dominates with love, who does not impose himself but rather respects human freedom..."(Benedict XVI). Therefore, ALL types of inequality within the People of God are man-made, or, to be more accurate,are clergy-made.

I do not think that paulte understands that the only way we can truly fully love God is to love and minister to one another. Jesus tells us this repeatedly in the gospels. Those who have given to the least of our brethren have given to me. It is his constant message. And this is the life our ministerial sisters have chosen. We should be celebrating their beautiful gift to us, and not condemning nor labeling them without truly understanding their tremendous generosity.

The visitation issue is another inconsistency in the road of ongoing renewal. Its intent to is "weed" out those who do not agree with every statement and every opinion that Church officials utter. The fact that women communities are targeted is sexist at its core. At the same time, the Church welcomes back carte blanche the followers of Marcel Levebre who denied the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and yet excommunicates Fr. Ray Bourgois because he supports the more inclusive approach of ordaining women. Vatican officials (who represent only a portion of the People of God) also accommodates the Anglicans who do not want to be associated with a church which ordains women and yet enjoys a married clergy. And yet, Roman Catholic men may not choose the sacraments of marriage and priesthood. The inconsistency makes these recent attempts at "unity" and a genuine living out of the Gospel a mockery. And conscientious Catholics are observing all this while shaking their heads in disbelief. I'm saddened to say that I think the visitation of women religious communities is a demeaning sexist "witch" hunt, pure and simple. I say to those curial officials, you do not have the right to negate Jesus' Gospel message of love, equality, dignity and justice. This is OUR church. Thank you, Fr. McBrien, for keeping our perspectives clear! Jubilee Judy

I agree with anonymous that there is not one way to serve the Lord. There are many ways to do so. However, paulte sounds like he has become a god. He is judging all of us who have passion for serving God's creatures. Most of us know that it is only with God's help that we will be successful in serving others. As always there is a bundle of work to accomplish out there. And why not have the sisters doing their share? I don't understand why "liberals" or anyone else, doing God's work is upsetting to you. Maybe you could volunteer to follow some around for a month and you will have a new look on life. Even you will be amazed. Thank you Richard O'Brien for clarifying some of the ideas Sandra has generously shared with us.

"Whatever you do to the least of my brothers you do unto me." Pault. who said it?

Like so many other things, Vatican II is misrepresented on the question of habit (which is not a marginal aspect of religious life). Vatican II called for modification and adaptation of religious habits; it did not call for their abandonment. There is a difference between the two.

Catholicism is permeated by the sacramental principle: visible signs of invisible grace (beware--a "Baltimore Catechism" definition, also incidentally shared by Thomas Aquinas). Visibility means peceivable to the senses. It does not mean inferred, posited, guessed by some "spiritual sense." That is why a modified habit is important--because religious life is for the community, the community has a RIGHT to know who is living that life, and we human beings are constantly thrust back upon our senses to do so. That is why "by your works you shall know them" does not work when it comes to identifying religious, and why the habit issue is not just a matter of the some "failure to adapt monastic models to active ministerial religious life" but rather a false dichotomy. If we are to recognize encounters with grace by some invisible perception (as the habitless would suggest we do) then we might look at the experience of low church Protestants with their "community recognition of the Lord's Presence in the bread and wine" of their "Communion services" == which explains why most of them have reduced Communion to a quarterly event.

Perhaps we ought to let the Lord speak!
'And one of the Scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandement is the first of all?" Jesus answered, "The first is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, "You shall love your neighboutr as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these." And the scribe said tio him, " You are right, Teacher". Mark 12: 28-32

I think the issue of the habit is an important one. On one hand, who really cares what someone wears to work? The problem is that it is not work, it is a life-long commitment to Christ and His Church. Since Vatican II the Church has continually asked religious women to wear a habit of some sort. Women began refusing the wear the habit as a sign of rebellion against the Magisterium. It was about their liberations. The excuses they gave focused on the needs of ministry, connecting with ‘regular’ Catholics, etc., but it was an act of defiance to Rome. Pride-filled, self-centered disobedience cannot be the basis for one’s life in service to Christ. These sisters adopted a Protestant-esque theology, that there is no real authority on earth that one must obey, they can go directly to Christ and discern the Spirit on their own. The problem with that is that it is not Catholic.

At a recent LCWR national event one of the topics of discussion regarding the future of religious life centered on the topic of “Moving beyond Christ”. I think they are already there.

But, Paulte, you show your love for God when you show your love your fellow human being (when you feed the hungry, when you clothed the naked, when you visited me in prison...you did these things for me).

Thank you Fr. McBrien for standing tall and telling us the truth. In this day and age we need voices like yours and Sister Schneider to be speak for us. This is how most of the Catholics I know think of the wonderful service the nuns have given us over the years.

"While it may not always be clear how to do it, most are quite clear that denaturing their life is not the answer". Seldom have I seen a negative posing of an insight so clearly positive and explanatory. Christ not only embraced humanity by becoming human, he embraced creation in his living, death his burial in the "earth". He brought animate and inanimate into his saving act. While cloistered men and women praise God by distancing themselves from the earthly and presaging the final victory, these women and their male counterparts praise by embracing and engaging in the mission of Christ. As the old war song goes - "Bless them all, bless them all...."

That's kind of a weird diagnosis, Paulite, considering that loving God IS loving one another. Your own "disease" of binary dualism -- there is "God" and there is "humanity" and never the twain shall meet -- is exactly what Jesus came to Earth to heal.

Part B Section 5 of presents several questions regarding the various ministries and charisms of the orders:

5. Mission and ministry (Vita Consecrata, 55, 63, 72-83, 96-109; Starting Afresh from Christ,33-45; The Service of Authority and Obedience, 23-26; The Code of Canon Law, cann. 669; 671;673-683)A. What is the specific apostolic purpose of your institute as stated in yourConstitutions?B. Do you see the present apostolic endeavors of your religious institute as viable andeffective expressions of your charism and mission? C. Which current apostolic projects best represent the focus and purpose of yourcharism?D. What means are being taken to ensure that the charism of the congregation willcontinue in the case of diminishing presence of your sisters in congregation ownedor sponsored institutions?E. What are your institute’s expectations for ministry in the future?

Meanwhile, there is only one question each on horarium (B4e) and clothing (B4g). Ministry gets and entire section not just one question.

I guess I don't see this as the witch-hunt that everyone else sees.

One thing about Liberals is they don't think straight. Another thing is that they read into things said. One only has to read the replies to my posts to note this. In my post above I made reference to the two great Commandments. I did not deny the second great Commandment which is the love of neighbor.

I was speaking about an inversion of the two where the love of neighbor is placed first. We can't speak of the love of God as only seen or practiced in the love of neighbor alone. We can and must love God directly and this is done through prayer, contemplation, pure intellection, mortification & self denial & the practice of all the virtues. In particular prayer & mortification are the wings by which the soul soars to God.

If you love God first and foremost you will follow through with a love of neighbor in charity. And let us not pat ourselves on the back too much if we do some good to our neighbor. If we do good as a result of grace then the credit belongs to God. Even paulte does some good since he instructs the ignorant which is a spiritual work of mercy!

A very happy Thanksgiving to all in the NCR community!

paulte

I think the visitation was prompted by the 2008 2007 LCWR assembly keynote address by Sister Laurie Brink, OP.

Sister Laurie said that some religious communities were “sojourning,” and such a group is “no longer ecclesiastical,” having “grown beyond the bounds of institutional religion.… Religious titles, institutional limitations, ecclesiastical authorities no longer fit this congregation, which in most respects is Post-Christian.”

Is it really so hard to imagine that the Vatican could ignore an organization that puts on a keynote speaker which essentially refutes not just the organizational/institutional aspects of the Church which they freely committed themselves to, but even the centrality of Christ to Christianity?

Remember, this was not an obscure remark in an article but it was the keynote speech at the organization's annual assembly.

Memo to Cardinal Rode:

"Unfortunately, some of those who have been most critical of the changes in religious life, from the monastic to the ministerial, are unaware of the biblical and historical foundations for these changes."

No excuse here for you, eminenza grigia, cuz after all, you did study in Paris at "La Catho" - DURING Vatican II, n'est-ce pas?

"Rodé took perpetual vows in 1957, then headed off for studies at the Gregorian University in Rome and the Institut Catholique in Paris. Especially in Paris, Rodé was exposed to the new ideas swirling in Catholicism in the period before the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and then during the council itself."

cf. John Allen's interview:

http://ncronline.org/news/man-center-storms

After reading the news on the latest released report on child abuse/child sexual abuse in Ireland, one has to wonder why Rodé and his toadies aren't in Ireland investigating the religious orders (men and women) who ran schools & orphanages and committed so many of these heinous atrocities?? I believe most of them wore habits, too.

But Jesus also went out to a "lonely place" to encounter God the Father intimately on numerous occasions. Yes, we can see God in all things and in all people, but as Ratzinger said, there is a contemplative aspect to encountering God that one does not generally find in God's creatures. Thus, the importance of contemplative prayer through Adoration, Holy Hours, home chapels, etc., as Mother Teresa did for hours every morning. She said that it was essential for her ministry, and that without that sustained prayer, she would not be able to do what she did, to minister to so many of the poor and ill. She often said she saw Jesus in everybody - but that did not mean she could skip contemplative prayer without detriment to both her relationship with God, and as a consequence, her relationship with others.

We must avoid, on the one hand, prayer that does not lead to loving our fellow man and to works of charity, and on the other hand, seeking to love God solely through our love for man and through charitable outreach, while neglecting personal and private prayer and our sacramental life.

I think this "dressing up" is a very middle and upper-class foible. It was evidently not something that Christ and his disciples had much time for, yet the Jewish Establishment, the scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees, we know, loved to wear opulent, distinctive apparel.

Is the Mass, the commemoration of Christ's crucifixion on our behalf, an appropriate occasion for the celebrant to "dress up"? Or would it be more appropriate for him to wear the humble apparel of a carpenter or an indigent, itinerant preacher, as he celebrates the sacrament?

In the worst periods of the history of the institutional Church, I have a very strong suspicion that the Mass was more about magnifying the celebrant qua Christ vis-a-vis the laity, than the Church's commemoration of Christ's unique sacrifice on Calvary for all of us, the celebrant included; and that Vatican II, notwithstanding, in its higher reaches, the Church is still somewhat wedded to this mindset.

Tangentially, I think it a shame that even missals and prayer-books are distinctively decorated. It would be nice to be able to worship on public vehicles without broadcasting it, wouldn't it?

Ex Ore Rode:

CONGREGATION FOR INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED LIFE AND
SOCIETIES OF APOSTOLIC LIFE

REFLECTION BY ARCHBISHOP FRANC RODÉ
ON OCCASION OF THE 40th ANNIVERSARY
OF "PERFECTAE CARITATIS"

Renewing Religious life, attaining "perfect love'

26-27 September 2005

"The Second Vatican Council was also, undoubtedly, a historical turning point in theological reflection on the consecrated life. No Ecumenical Council had ever spoken at such length and with such depth of this important charism in the Church."

"Thus, renewal of the consecrated life, as the Council described it, should be lived through a return to the sources that are represented primarily by Sacred Scripture, hence, by the very person of Christ, and subsequently by the authentic charism of founders."

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccscrlife/documents/rc_c...

To conduct an apostolic investigation of American women religious which ignores this foundational conciliar decree and
instead to litmus test them using the subsequent Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John II, "Vita Consecrata," -which itself totally ignores "Perfectae Caritatis"- is more than unfair, and betrays Rode's not-so-hidden agenda, if not a draconian and restorationist re-interpretation and misappropriation of the Pope's own words:

"The Church must always seek to make her presence visible in everyday life, especially in contemporary culture, which is often very secularized and yet sensitive to the language of signs. In this regard the Church has a right to expect a significant contribution from consecrated persons, called as they are in every situation to bear clear witness that they belong to Christ.Since the habit is a sign of consecration, poverty and membership in a particular Religious family, I join the Fathers of the Synod in strongly recommending to men and women religious that they wear their proper habit, suitably adapted to the conditions of time and place.Where valid reasons of their apostolate call for it, Religious, in conformity with the norms of their Institute, may also dress in a simple and modest manner, with an appropriate symbol, in such a way that their consecration is recognizable.Institutes which from their origin or by provision of their Constitutions do not have a specific habit should ensure that the dress of their members corresponds in dignity and simplicity to the nature of their vocation."

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/docume...

It would appear that the good cardinal forgot what he said in Rome in 2005 by the time he got to the Stonehill Symposium in Boston in 2007.

Would this be yet another example of the so-called "hermeneutics of rupture," or simply a case of preaching to the CHOIR DU JOUR?

John Michael Anderson on Nov. 24, 2009.

You stated:

"Part B Section 5 of presents several questions regarding the various ministries and charisms of the orders:

5. Mission and ministry (Vita Consecrata, 55, 63, 72-83, 96-109; Starting Afresh from Christ,33-45; The Service of Authority and Obedience, 23-26; The Code of Canon Law, cann. 669; 671;673-683)A. What is the specific apostolic purpose of your institute as stated in yourConstitutions?B. Do you see the present apostolic endeavors of your religious institute as viable andeffective expressions of your charism and mission? C. Which current apostolic projects best represent the focus and purpose of yourcharism?D. What means are being taken to ensure that the charism of the congregation willcontinue in the case of diminishing presence of your sisters in congregation ownedor sponsored institutions?E. What are your institute’s expectations for ministry in the future?

Meanwhile, there is only one question each on horarium (B4e) and clothing (B4g). Ministry gets and entire section not just one question.

I guess I don't see this as the witch-hunt that everyone else sees."
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Yes, and when it comes to dealing with ministry---the religious congregations' constitutions deal with that aspect completely. The Vatican approved each and every congregations' constitution. In fact, the approval letter is contained in each and every copy of the congregation's constitutions. Therefore, the major superiors have every right to send back to the Vatican probers the pages of their constitutions which cite what those ministries are. If Cardinal Rode's office is suffering from amnesia as to what they approved---then maybe re-reading what they approved might triger a recollection.

Sorry----this is a sexist witch hunt if any ever has ever occured. Maybe Cardinal Rode and his office ought to investigate the Bishops of Ireland and what they did (as well as investigate other conferences of Bishops of the English speaking world). These sexual abuse crimes are crimes against humanity---way beyond doctrinal differences.