Reviving the Gifts of Our Founders: The Charisms of Religious in the Pastoral Life of the Church

Abstract

The Roman Synod of bishops, in addressing the “consecrated life,” provided important opportunities for the bishops to deepen their understanding of religious life. The 224 bishops who were members of this synod were accompanied by 59 women religious and 56 men religious (with 9 religious from other churches) participating as “auditores” or “adiutores.” Of the bishops, 94 were also religious. The speeches often called religious to live according to their charism. Cardinal Eyt of Bordeaux warned against seeing either male or female religious as a substitute workforce for the presbyterate of the local church. “What must come first,” said the cardinal, “is the charism of consecrated life itself in each congregation and each community” (Sweeny 1995, 8). In the United States during the past thirty years since Vatican II, religious have been responsible for some of the most important initiatives for the revitalization of the Church’s pastoral life. But religious, like every other element in our extremely volatile culture, have also been shaped by the popular culture, the media, and the general drift of society in this same period of time. We need to be called again to attend to the primacy of our religious charisms. Many institutes of men and women are facing crises in personnel and are recruiting fewer members each year than they lose by death or departures. This fact is also a notable dimension of our conversation. Like good stewards, religious superiors (along with their membership) have been reflecting about how to assure that the apostolic work, the spirituality, and the spiritual gifts of our religious societies may continue to bless the local church even as our numbers appear to diminish in a continuous decline.