Religious Brotherhood Research Articles

The Politics of Religious Brotherhood

When six members of the transnational brotherhood of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) were murdered in cold blood in El Salvador in November 1989, the Jesuit community in the United States responded with a powerful combination of outrage and embarrassment bordering on guilt. The Jesuits assassinated at the Universidad Centroamericana were killed because their devotion to the Jesuit mission of “the service of faith and pursuit of justice” was seen by the leadership of the Salvadoran military as a direct threat. And they were killed by a Salvadoran military that was receiving in support of its war against an insurgent guerilla force over $1 million per day from the United States government. Using all of the substantial institutional resources at their disposal, Jesuits in the U.S. worked to pressure the Salvadoran government to hold accountable “the authors of the crime” within the military’s high command, while at the same time they worked to pressure the U.S. government to shut off the military aid that had been used to murder their fellow Jesuits. “Their” government was killing “their” brothers, and the Jesuits in the U.S. mobilized a complex, transnational political response out of both communal solidarity and national responsibility.

Experiences of Awe and Gratitude and Related Triggers Among Religious Brothers and Sisters: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Study in Germany

A cross-sectional survey among religious brothers and sisters (n = 250) with their specific lifestyle and related spiritual practices stated moments of awe perceptions. They responded to both the Awe/Gratitude scale and to free text fields to substantiate their quantitative responses. Qualitative content analysis of their free text responses resulted in six main categories of awe triggers: (1) Nature, (2) Special Moments, (3) Transcendence Perceptions, (4) Religious practices, (5) Distinct People, and (6) Aesthetics, Art and Culture. Awe perceptions can be an immediate feeling and the outcome of a process of reflection in response to admiration, inspiration, and elevation. As these perceptions are related to psychological well-being and prosocial behaviors, their training can generate positive effects on quality of life.

Murderous and negligent nurses: the hospital orders and crisis of care in eighteenth-century Mexico

ABSTRACT In 1739, the viceroy and archbishop of New Spain accused an enfermero (male nurse) of strangling a patient on his deathbed at a hospital in Mexico City. The crime was not an isolated incident, but the culminating indictment in a seething report on the alleged abuses committed by members of the Order of San Hipólito, one of four nursing or hospital orders (órdenes hospitalarias) active in New Spain. This article uses the viceroy-archbishop’s report, and the reform movement it provoked, as a window into the history of religious nursing within New Spain’s hospitals during a moment of alarming decline and in the face of numerous obstacles, including chronic underfunding, shifting Church-state relations, and internal feuding. It introduces the hospital orders, religious brothers who took vows to hospitality (hospitalidad), as critical if overlooked actors in the history of medical care in the Spanish colony. It argues for viewing the crisis in hospital care as a crisis of religious values as the ideal of hospital nursing eroded as these orders found themselves embroiled in scandals and accused of widespread spiritual laxity.

Participation of Religious Brothers in the Exercise of Authority in Clerical Religious Institutes

The paper has been inspired by the rescript of Pope Francis issued as a motu proprio on the appointment of superiors in clerical institutes. According to the binding ecclesiastical legislation, such practices used to be prohibited, although the Holy See would grant permissions on a case-by-case basis. The article discusses the idea of exercising authority in religious institutes according to the traditional rules of religious life, referring to St Benedict and St Francis. A serious obstacle to regulating this issue is the exercise of power. Another reason indicated in the rescript is the personnel situation in religious institutes, which makes it impossible for some members of the clergy to serve as superiors due to age and health status. This fact caused requests to the Holy See seeking permission for non-clerics to exercise the office of superiors. A significant attempt to respond to this need is the rescript announced by Pope Francis. It takes account of the existing legal solutions, as well as opening up a certain window of opportunity as regards changes to the structure of power in clerical institutes.

Overcoming Spiritual Dryness: Transformative Processes Among Religious Brothers and Sisters in Germany

One should not regard the experience of spiritual dryness as an insurmountable obstacle in one’s spiritual journey; on the contrary, such periods can catalyze processes of profound transformation. Empirical research indicates that individuals who successfully navigate these challenges report heightened spiritual clarity, greater spiritual depth, and a greater inclination towards altruistic behavior. Against this backdrop, the present study explored the effects of overcoming spiritual dryness among religious sisters and brothers who had spent several decades living in monastic / congregational communities. Using a qualitative approach, we conducted in-depth interviews with 16 brothers and 14 sisters to elicit their perspectives on perceived changes and behaviors in response to phases of spiritual dryness. Drawing on the criteria of qualitative content analysis, we conducted a rigorous, inductive analysis of the data collected from 30 interviews, yielding four main categories of transformative experiences: (1) deepened spiritual connection (to God), (2) profound inner and outer changes, (3) renewed focus on sacred scriptures, and (4) personal wounding or hardly any (perceptible) changes. Christian faith is fundamentally relational, and as our personality constantly develops, our faith journey unfolds in parallel with our personal growth and development. In this context, experiences of spiritual dryness are not uncommon; indeed, they might be essential in nurturing a deeper relationship with the divine. Our findings underscore the potential for transformative growth and personal maturation that can emerge from navigating spiritual dryness despite the profound heaviness, sadness, irritation, and pain. Such experiences can foster new perspectives on life and new pathways for personal agency.

Guess Who's Coming to Church: The Chicago Defender, the Federal Council of Churches, and Rethinking Shared Faith in Interracial Religious Practice

AbstractOn the cover page of the September 23, 1922, issue of the Chicago Defender, editor Robert S. Abbott announced Go-to-a-White-Church Sunday. Less than a month later, the Federal Council of Churches announced its inaugural Race Relations Sunday. Through a comparative analysis of these two events, this article reconsiders historians’ tendency to assume and emphasize a shared faith across racial lines when discussing interracial religious practice in various historical contexts. Go-to-a-White-Church Sunday was intended both to introduce white churchgoers to black respectability and to provide moral guidance to white churchgoers, whose racism rendered their faith something other than true Christianity. Notwithstanding ceremonial nods to interracial religious brotherhood, Abbott's campaign hinged more so on shared understandings of respectability than on shared Christian faith. While the FCC's Race Relations Sunday differed in its valorization of white Christianity, with proclamations that interracial religious brotherhood was sufficient to solve “the race problem,” both events displayed a shared faith in the power of interracial proximity in itself to accomplish their respective ends. Historians have replicated this problematic faith in interracial proximity by using language of racial transcendence and writing as if interracial religious practice is egalitarian unless proven otherwise. This article calls for more critical, contextually mindful approaches.

Catholic Health Care and the Mission Leader: A Religious Exercise.

Inspired by the Divine Healer Jesus of Nazareth, Catholic healthcare has been a religious exercise since its inception. First practiced in the setting of the monastery in the earliest centuries AD and incarnated over two millennia by a variety of religious orders of consecrated men and women, Catholic healthcare today faces a crisis of identity. The role of the mission leader, envisioned by the religious brothers and sisters who founded various Catholic healthcare organizations, was a primary conduit to preserve the charisms of the founders and ensure the identity of Catholic healthcare as a religious exercise and ministry of the Church. With data from a recent survey of Catholic healthcare mission leaders, a number of critical challenges currently confront the role of mission leader and will potentially inhibit that role from fulfilling its original mandate. This article will present the findings of this survey, analyze the resulting challenges and present specific recommendations to strengthen the role of the mission leader and ensure Catholic healthcare will remain true to its ethos as a ministry of the Church and religious exercise.

Kılıçarslan I's Struggle with the Crusaders

In the light of the events that took place after the Qutalmışoğulları set foot in Anatolia, these lands, which were becoming a Turkish homeland day by day, were climbing to a very dangerous point for the Byzantine Empire. Especially the establishment of a new state centered on Iznik by Süleymanşah was a situation that required urgent measures for the Byzantine Empire. The empire, which wanted to get out of this situation with various defenses and attacks, was helpless in the face of the expansionist policy of the Turks. Believing that the Turks could only be expelled from Anatolia with external support, the empire found the solution in asking for help from its religious brothers. The emperor of the period, Alexios I Komnenos, who asked for help from his European religious brothers, thought to meet this need with paid soldiers. Considering the economic difficulties in Europe, this movement, which was planned to be carried out under the control of the Church, could have been used as an opportunity. As a matter of fact, the Church adapted this request to its own purposes and started to channel all the useless people in Europe to the east with various promises. This request for help, organized and mobilized by the Papacy, manifested itself in 1097 and Crusader armies began to cross into Anatolia via İstanbul. Byzantium, which achieved relative success with the crusader movements, was not so lucky against the brave and successful Seljuk sultan and Turkish beys like Kılıçarslan I. Because the ignition of the Turkish national consciousness under the leadership of Kılıçarslan I had frustrated the westerners. In the end, as a result of the struggles of Kılıçarslan I and other Turkish beys against the crusader armies, it was proved that Anatolia was once again a Turkish homeland.

Islamic teachings and religious brotherhood in the Islamic society

The Holy Qur’an relates believers’ pure emotions to brotherhood. From the perspective of Islam, it has been also affirmed that two people have the same thoughts and opinions in one centre point of love in brotherhood, so fraternal feelings are not merely limited to kinship and consanguinity. In this line, the Holy Qur’an states that we have come to make you brothers with each other; not a brotherhood from parents, but an Islamic one, which is highly appreciated in the Islamic society. In addition, a believing brother can never be filled when his fellow believer is hungry, and he cannot be clothed while the other is with nothing on. Islam further considers all Muslims as one family and calls everyone brothers and sisters or siblings. The true Muslims of any race and tribe as well as any language and age thus have a deep sense of brotherhood with each other, even if one lives in the Eastern parts of the world and the other in the West. In sum, this article aimed to investigate the role of religious teachings in strengthening believers’ brotherhood in the Islamic society. For this purpose, firstly, the definition of religious brotherhood was provided; secondly, religious brotherhood has been described based on the Holy Qur’an.Contribution: This article helped gain a new insight into the role of Islamic teachings in strengthening religious brotherhood in the Islamic society. Besides, the indicators of religious brotherhood were extracted and then enlightened according to the Ayat (viz. verses) from the Holy Qur’an.

Influence of Self-Care Awareness on the Physical Well-Being of African Religious Women in Karen, Nairobi, Kenya: A Psycho - Educational Intervention

Purpose: This study explored how self-care awareness practice influences the physical well-being of African religious Women of the Catholic Church in Karen, Nairobi-Kenya.
 Methodology: Qualitative paradigm and phenomenological design were used. Target was all African religious women living in Karen. Maximum variation sampling technique was used to select four religious women’s congregations that participated in the study. Criterion sampling technique was used to select 10 participants for the study, comprising of 4 religious women, 2 religious brothers, 2 priests and 2 lay persons.
 Methodology: Findings revealed that, religious women in Karen-Nairobi were prevented from adequate self-caring due to overwork, negligence, wrong concept of religious life, poor remuneration, poverty, influence of entrenched gender role, inability to integrate prayer life, the apostolate and community life as well as a misunderstanding of the meaning of self-care.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy and Practice: This study concluded that the lack of self-care awareness among African Catholic Religious Women in Karen affected their physical well-being. Suggested remedial interventions included awareness creation, greater access to education, designing and use of a self-care curriculum, regular supervision of self-care practice by superiors, the replacement of life-diminishing structures in the religious life and the Church, revision of life and establishing economic sustainability.

The Nun in the Synagogue: Judeocentric Catholicism in Israel - Emma O’Donnell Polyakov

Reviewed by: The Nun in the Synagogue: Judeocentric Catholicism in Israel by Emma O'Donnell Polyakov Elena Procario-Foley The Nun in the Synagogue: Judeocentric Catholicism in Israel. By Emma O'Donnell Polyakov. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2020. 242 pages. $30.00 (paper). In a public lecture at Iona College, a Catholic religious brother named Jack said, "when I am in Jerusalem, I am Jack, just Jack. Not a brother, not a former college president, I'm just Jack and some of the best times are simply going to my favorite café and we are all there—Muslim, Jewish, Christian—and maybe we can find each other over a cup of coffee; maybe we can contribute to peace." He then proceeded to lead a Jewish-Catholic text study at an American Catholic college for members of the local community. He employed the Jewish method of havruta. He was so excited to bring Jews and Catholics together over texts from the Torah. The text study may not have occurred in the same ways one might have expected in a synagogue or yeshiva, but Jack intended for Jews and Christians to learn from each other that night, and he especially wanted Christians to understand the text in its original Jewish context. Both Jewish and Catholic participants found the time together enlightening and constructive. Jack had studied Judaism for years; perhaps his commitment to living in Israel and to understanding the rich spirituality and history of Judaism contributed to the trust [End Page 406] the Jewish participants offered him during that evening havruta session. I experienced the gift of knowing Jack, who died well before Emma O'Donnell Polyakov began her research for The Nun in the Synagogue: Judeocentric Catholicism in Israel. I think Polyakov would agree that he belongs among the people she has identified as Judeocentric Catholics. I could not help but think of him as I read Polyakov's fascinating and cutting-edge study, and I was grateful for the opportunity to reflect anew on his life and contributions to Jewish-Catholic dialogue by placing him in the context of this "new phenomenon" of Judeocentric Catholicism. This new category of Christian practice, identified by Polyakov, is "characterized by the study of Jewish texts and traditions, by the contemplation of the theological relationships between Christianity and Judaism, and by practices of praying for the ongoing thriving of the Jewish people" (5). Despite the title of the book, Polyakov interviewed 80 women and men in vowed religious life living in Israel (ix). Not just cloistered nuns, the participants were monks, priests, and religious brothers and sisters in a variety of apostolic orders. She notes that of these mostly Catholic Christians, 25 exhibited the characteristics listed above that would identify them as Judeocentric Catholics (208, note 1). Additionally, her subjects were all from Europe or North America and had made a long-term commitment to living in Israel; they "engage deeply and intentionally with Judaism," and some maintain a Christocentric theology while others are pluralist (6). Her book is an ethnographic study based on these 25 interviews, but it is also "a book about people and about relationships" (8). The reader discovers, in the intensely personal reflections of the men and women Polyakov interviews, a "meditation on faith and identity" drawn from the "experiences of many who continually walk, in some form or another, along the border between Judaism and Christianity" (16). The Nun in the Synagogue is a remarkable work asking hard questions based on the lives of people who have chosen to step outside the mainstream of their religious tradition and the tradition [End Page 407] of their families. Polyakov has identified Judeocentric Catholicism as "a new religious and cultural phenomenon that has arisen from post-Holocaust reflection on the part of Christians and is characterized by developments of 'praying for the Jews'" (4–5). Even while recognizing the many efforts Christian denominations have made after the Shoah to eschew anti-Jewish theology, Polyakov wants to explore whether the new efforts to pray for the Jews can ever be free of supersessionist theology and conversionary intent. Polyakov is a very talented writer, adeptly, consistently, and seamlessly weaving insights...

Exploring Life Narratives on Challenged Religious Vocation

Vocation research has advocated that the current Catholic Church is facing issues regarding its decreasing numbers of religious missionaries, hindering their evangelical pursuits. The purpose of the study was to explore the reactive nature of differing approaches to targeted communities. The study applied a qualitative phenomenological method to the lived experiences of those involved. Three Christian brothers from the congregation of the Alliance of Two Hearts served as participants and engaged in face-to-face interviews. Findings revealed that six themes of discussion emerged from the interviews: calling as communication between God and religious brothers; the call of a religious vocation; resources for conversion efforts; discernment and nurturing in vocation; resilience in the face of troubled conversion; and the impact of vocation on the Christian lifestyle. Additionally, the recognition of one’s calling often involves a period of doubt or crisis of faith. To carry out missionary works, one must recognize the value of doubt in vocation, and how it may be utilized to strengthen one’s beliefs and efforts.

Not Getting Stuck in Dryness - Strategies for Coping with Phases of Spiritual Dryness Among Religious Brothers and Sisters in Germany—Findings from Qualitative Interviews

Many believers experience phases of spiritual dryness in their lives coupled with feelings of exhaustion, confusion, and emotional emptiness. Even religious sisters and brothers experience such phases. But how do they cope with phases of spiritual dryness, and what resources do they use to overcome them? In a qualitative study, 30 religious brothers and sisters utilized four main categories of resources: internal reflective resources, internal spiritual resources, external personal resources, and external other resources. A primary strategy does not seem to exist for overcoming phases of spiritual dryness. In the context of this study, therefore, several resources emerged that were used in accordance with the triggers and were applied against the background of the life situation, context and attitudes, perceptions, behavioral competencies, resources, and abilities of the person concerned.

Islamic Ethics as The Foundation of Religious Brotherhood (Study of Isma’il Raji Al-Faruqi)

This paper is part of the results of research on the thoughts of Isma'il Raji al Faruqi. The problem discussed is related to al Faruqi's concept of Islamic religious ethics, especially regarding the relationship between religious people. The purpose of this research is to find out the concept and its relation to conflict and how to rebuild religious fraternity. The data in this paper are obtained from the results of the literature review, both primary and secondary. From the results of this research, an understanding can be drawn that the religious ethics built by al Faruqi is sourced from normative Islamic values, but is integrated with universal humanism regarding humans and their status. In this way, the ethical values of religion can be measured and verified, not only in the realm of norms and discourses. Humans are really a measure of whether an act or policy addressed to him is called good or bad.

COVID-19 Pandemic and Spiritual Challenges in Iran

ndividuals encounter unprecedented critical conditions globally. The Coro navirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread worldwide [1]. In addition to biopsychological health, this crisis has affected other areas of human life, like the spiritual health of individuals [2]. This issue can be of great importance because spiritual issues are closely related to general health, and especially mental health among individuals [3]. In Iran, >99% of the population is Muslim; thus, spiritual and religious is sues overlap and greatly interact [4]. Spirituality is the search to find the greatest meaning in life and closeness to the source of existence [5]. Religion structures such a search by drawing the place of religious authorities, shaping social networks, certain customs, valuing works, encouraging collective participation, and so on [6]. Due to this overlap, damaging these structures during the CO VID-19 pandemic may create a kind of spiritual crisis. How did the coronavirus create a spiritual crisis? Some aspects of this crisis include the following: 1. We can consider religious spirituality in the Iranian society as hierarchical; with important holy places and houses of religious leaders at the top; and religious pub lic meetings at the bottom, as well as mosques and Hus seiniyahs1 in the middle. All of them were closed and physical access to them had become impossible during 1. A mosque-like place used for religious meetings and religious rituals public quarantine. These include the places where some Muslims used to visit to strengthen their inner spiritual resources and release daily psychological stress. 2. In Iranian culture, individuals have a very close rela tionship with religious authorities (clerics). Accordingly, in religious affairs and some social issues, and even some daily affairs, the intellectual policy of the society is deter mined by religious leaders. Numerous religious leaders are elderly and among the high-risk group of COVID-19; therefore, this relationship was challenged by the COV ID-19 pandemic and reduced biosocial relationships. 3. The potential of religious communities and psycho social support to each other in reducing psychological stress and preventing mental disorders has been empha sized in various studies [7]. Islamic teachings also place great emphasis on community and participation among religious brothers, while these communities were also banned under quarantine due to illness

Relevansi Ontologi Brahman dan Ātman dalam Kitab Īṣāvasya Upaniṣad dengan Pluralitas Agama di Indonesia

Indonesia is a plurality country which is indicated by the diversity of ethnicities, races, customs, languages, and religions. Plurality, including religion, can have implications for cooperation but also conflict. The facts show that the plurality of religions in Indonesia is in trouble. But inherently, all religions, including Hinduism, also have values that can overcome the problem of plurality, which is hidden in its theological concepts. This study aims to explore the Brahman and Ātman in the Īṣāvasya Upaniṣad ontologically and its relevance to the plurality of religions in Indonesia. This research is library research using a qualitative approach. The material objects of the research are Brahman and Ātman in the Īśāvasya Upaniṣad. Data collection in this study was carried out through document studies on primary and secondary data sources. Data analysis in this study used methodical steps of descriptive, interpretative, and holistic analysis. The results showed that the study of Brahman and Atman was ontologically described in several categories, including substance, quantity, quality, place, time, position, ownership, and action. In addition, this study contains value concepts relevant to religious plurality, including kinship, tolerance, harmony, divinity, holiness, nobility, brotherhood, empathy, love, and mutual respect.

Psychological Predictors of Professional Burnout among Priests, Religious Brothers, and Religious Sisters in Italy: The Dark Triad versus the Bright Trinity?

Drawing on data provided by 287 Catholic priests, religious brothers, and religious sisters from different parts of Italy (130 men and 157 women), this study explored the effect of three dark psychological variables and three bright psychological variables on levels of professional burnout as assessed by the two scales of the Francis Burnout Inventory (emotional exhaustion and satisfaction in ministry). The three dark psychological variables assessed by the Short Dark Triad were Machiavellianism, subclinical narcissism, and subclinical psychopathy. The three bright psychological variables were purpose in life, emotional intelligence, and religious faith. After controlling for personal factors (age and sex) and personality factors (extraversion and emotionality), the data demonstrated that the three bright psychological factors (purpose in life, emotional intelligence, and religious faith) served as independent and cumulative predictors of higher levels of satisfaction in ministry and that the three dark psychological factors had no effect on satisfaction in ministry. Two of the three dark psychological factors (Machiavellianism, and subclinical psychopathy) served as independent and cumulative predictors of higher levels of emotional exhaustion in ministry, and purpose in life served as a predictor of lower levels of emotional exhaustion in ministry.

Psychosocial Dimensions of Social Support in the Context of Religious Brotherhood in the Quran

Toplum birbirini ayakta tutan, destekleyen yapılar bütünüdür. Bu yapıların en başında da din gelmektedir. Her bireyin ayrı bir kimliğinin olduğu toplumda, insan varlığını devam ettirmek için hayatının her safhasında sosyal desteğe ihtiyaç duymaktadır. Kur’ân-ı Kerim, yapısı ve içeriği bakımından pek çok toplumsal, ahlaki, insani meseleyi bünyesinde bulundurmakta ve sosyal destek boyutlarını sunmaktadır. Çalışmanın temeli, din kardeşliği bağlamında sosyal desteği; a) duygusal, b) araçsal, c) bilişsel (bilgi) ve d) yaygın destek alanlarında Kur’ân-ı Kerim’in âyetleri ışığında psikososyolojik bir bakış açısıyla değerlendirmektir. Kur’ân-ı Kerim'de din kardeşliği ile ilgili neredeyse bütün konularda sosyal destek yükümlülüğüne göndermeler yapıldığı, bulgular arasındadır. Çalışmanın temelini oluşturan din kardeşliği; dil, ırk, soy, nesep, gözetmeksizin toplumu birleştiren, bütünleştiren ve ortak bir paydada buluşturan bir kavram olup, kavramın doğrudan ümmet olma bilinci ile örtüştüğü gözlemlenmiştir. Din kardeşliği bağlamında yoksulu, yetimi, zorda kalmışı, güç durumda olanı, ayrılığa düşmüş olanı ve mazlumu gözetmek bununla birlikte problemi her neyse bu probleme çözüm bulmak ve hiç değilse yanında olup, destek olmak kardeşlik hakkı olarak belirtilmiştir. Kardeşlik hakkı kapsamında sorumlulukların yerine getirilmesi zorunluluk olarak görülmüş; yapılması halinde ecir, yapılmaması halinde ceza ve kınamalarının beraberinde geleceği Kur’ân-ı Kerim tarafından bizzat ifade edilmiştir.

Does membership in religious brotherhood affect tax morale: evidence from Senegal

Many social scientists consider religiosity and religious identity as a fundamental factor facilitating tax compliance and thus tax morale. However, previous studies have so far mostly focused on western countries and few of them have examined the relationship between religion affiliation and tax morale in African countries. In this paper we address this issue by testing the causal effect of membership in two main Senegalese Islamic religion brotherhoods (Muridya and Tidjanyya) in tax morale. Using a 2SLS instrumental Variable strategy, the results show that tax morale is positively affected by membership in Mouridya brotherhood and negatively affected by membership in Tidjanyya. In contrast of Muslim member belonging in brotherhoods, the other Muslims present lower level of tax morale. The causal effects we identify raise the question of the channels by which membership affect the degree of tax morale.

How We Love: A Formation for the Celibate Life by John Mark Falkenhain

Reviewed by: How We Love: A Formation for the Celibate Life by John Mark Falkenhain Br. Patrick Sean Moffett, CFC, PhD How We Love: A Formation for the Celibate Life. By John Mark Falkenhain, OSB. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2019. Pp. 235. $29.95. Br. John Mark Falkenhain, a Benedictine and psychologist, has devoted much of the opening decades of the new millennium to researching and teaching about initial formation for a life of celibate chastity. In August of 2019, while Review for Religious was still in hibernation, he gathered his findings and insights under the title How We Love. His text has already become a standard resource for those actively engaged in religious formation in the United States. Executive Director of the Religious Formation Conference, Sister Ellen Dauwer, SC, reports: "The work of Br. John Mark Falkenhain, OSB in the area of celibate chastity is a significant contribution to literature on the vows. In our ministry of preparing formators as well as in our programs that prepare religious women and men for life commitment, How We Love is a fundamental resource. It brings an essential contemporary perspective to formation for celibate life and is well grounded in theory and practice." The work of a master teacher, How We Love offers a well-integrated program for formation in celibate chastity in a series of clear and concise presentations, well-honed in years of interaction with groups of aspiring religious and their formators. This review serves to alert those who might be on the periphery of such work. Senior women and men religious or diocesan priests will do well to [End Page 277] compare current forms of formation for celibate life with their own preparation, or lack thereof, for the life-long experience of the sexual dimensions of self-understanding, self-accepting and self-giving. As communities become increasingly disparate in age and culture, senior religious do well to learn what is going into the formation of younger members. Of special note are brief reviews of current psychological understandings of sex, gender, sexual orientation, and same-sex attraction, as well as church teachings on homosexual orientation and homosexual acts. He confronts directly the controversy surrounding the phrase "intrinsically disordered" (97) and invites discernment on what specific meaning congregations give to the expression "present deep-seated homosexual tendencies" or "gay subculture" (99). A continuing engagement in theological reflection is presented as essential to formation for the celibate life. Five theologies of consecrated celibacy are surveyed as contexts for discerning meaning in lived experiences of our sexuality. Attractions, longings, fantasies, relationships, entanglements, uncertainties, regrets, repentance, resolutions, and ecstasies all invite examination through the lens of our understanding of the call to celibate chastity. Here, I believe, the book opens up realms that call out for further clarification and elaboration. The presentation of the five theologies is understandably schematic: Celibacy for the Sake of the Kingdom: The Eschatological Dimension; the Apostolic Dimension; Spousal Theology of Celibacy; and an Ascetic Theology of Celibacy. An additional section entitled "In Persona Christi Capitis: Celibacy in Imitation of Christ" is presented (I suggest problematically) as relating specially to priestly or clerical celibacy. Those engaged in the formative process will need to seek richer resources on religious brothers and sisters imitating Christ through their celibacy. Theologians might respond by tapping rich traditions and translating them into current exigencies. The revisions of constitutions and rules of various congregations following Perfectae Caritatis are informative. In 1975 Donald Goergen, OP, traced celibacy back to the Torah and opened decades of conversation with The Sexual Celibate. F.'s bibliography offers important leads into emerging social issues. How best can we follow up on these leads to articulate the case for celibate chastity in religious life in 2021 and beyond? Review for Religious would welcome such contributions. As a practicing psychologist, F. appropriately reminds the reader that the main focus of spiritual direction and religious formation ought not be psychological in nature. He offers a useful examination of the internal and external forum and the roles of specialists in the formation process. While not promoted in the book, there are on-line resources to be found at https://www.sliconnect.org/mental-health-matters...