Apostolic Religious Life in America Today: A Response to the Crisis

1. Reforming Religious Life with the Right Hermeneutic

One Reforming Religious Life with the Right Hermeneutic Cardinal Franc Rodé, C.M. Apostolic religious life is indeed an important topic in today’s Church. As a member of the Vincentian order the consecrated life has been integral to my vocation from the outset. As the Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life the care, maintenance, and promotion of religious life is the direct focus of my present ministry in the Church. As one who experienced the adventure and the turmoil of renewal in consecrated life prompted by the Second Vatican Council, the opinions in this essay express past and present challenges, but always with immense hope for the future. The Lessons from History about Consecrated Life Consecrated life within the Church and within civil society has never played a secondary or minor role. As Pope John Paul II wrote: 19 20 Franc Rodé Its universal presence and the evangelical nature of its witness are clear evidence—if any were needed—that the consecrated life is not something isolated and marginal, but a reality which affects the whole Church. . . . In effect, the consecrated life is at the very heart of the Church as a decisive element for her mission, since it “manifests the inner nature of the Christian calling and the striving of the whole Church as Bride toward union with her one Spouse.” . . . It is an intimate part of her life, her holiness and her mission.1 One can hardly overestimate the importance of consecrated life for the good of the Church and of humanity at large. From the birth of Christianity, some men and women were moved by the Spirit to devote their entire lives to imitating Christ more closely. Their consecration gradually took on the multiple forms we are familiar with today—rules and ways of life that at once express and give continuity to the charisms given by the Spirit. Even a sketchy overview of history can show abundant evidence that without the presence and activity of monks and nuns, religious women and men, despite their acknowledged cultural and historical limitations, the history of Western civilization and the evangelization of vast areas of the globe would be immensely poorer. The history of the Church in the United States of America (as well) is rich with the contributions of consecrated men and women who have left an indelible mark on the culture. During Pope Benedict’s visit to the United States in April 2008, he addressed young people gathered at New York’s St. Joseph Seminary. The Holy Father said in part: “Charisms are bestowed by the Holy Spirit, who inspires founders and foundresses, and shapes congregations with a subsequent spiritual heritage. The wondrous array of charisms proper to each religious institute is an extraordinary spiritual treasury. Indeed, the history of the Church is perhaps most beautifully portrayed through the history of her schools of spirituality, most of which stem from the saintly lives of founders and foundresses.”2 1 John Paul II, Vita Consecrata, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Consecrated Life and Its Mission in the Church and in the World, n. 3 (emphasis added). 2 Benedict XVI, “Address to Young People and Seminarians at Saint Joseph Seminary ,” Yonkers, New York, April 19, 2008. Reforming Religious Life 21 The first four figures Benedict XVI proposed to the youth and seminarians at Dunwoodie as exemplary testimonies of the Gospel in the United States, were consecrated: Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Saint John Neumann, and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, who in 1679 made a vow of chastity as an expression of consecrated virginity. Some of the most epic pages in the history of missions were written in this blessed land by the heroic French missionary Jesuits who were martyred in what is now New York State and Ontario, Canada, and by the Franciscans and other missionaries in the South and the West Coast of the United States. It is significant that in the National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol, various states are represented by religious, such as Mother Joseph of the Sisters of Providence, Saint Damien of Molokai, Father Eusebio Kino, Father Jacques Marquette, and Blessed Father Junípero Serra. In the last two centuries, many religious in the United States have made education their highest priority—an undertaking that, as Pope Benedict pointed out in his recent address to Catholic educators in Washington...