Tag: vocation

Religious orders dying out

This morning the faithful bloggers at Rorate Cæli published an article, “Spain: Religious Orders prepare for the end,” outlining the decline of many religious orders.

There has been several decades of vocational contraception in religious orders not only in Spain, but you can name all the other countries in Western Europe AND in North America. All of the well known religious orders in the USA (the SJ, OFMs, Conventuals, CSC, Capuchins, to name a few) are clearly on the decline and are, in fact, preparing for death. In the last few years and certainly in the near future, some prominent religious orders of men and women are merging and monasteries closing. This past year one Benedictine monastic chapter voted to close their monastery and there are at least 9 others that could close and no one would blink.
No all is hopeless. One sees signs of hope among some provinces and some monasteries. But with new recruits not all is better: life in these communities remain fragile.
I am saddened by these events because there is no reason for the aborting of a charism given by the Holy Spirit for the Church. It is time for serious work in conversion, vocation and mission.

Marseille priest who loves his vocation: start afresh from Christ

Michel Marie Zanotti-Sorkine.jpg

Can I say this? I want every priest to be like Michel-Marie Zanotti-Sorkine: a sign of unlimited availability to Christ and to humanity.

In Marina Corradi’s Avvenire article “The Pope is Right: Everything Must Start Afresh from Christ,” (thanks to Sandro Magister for bringing this article to our consideration) she portrays a French priest in way that is attractive and full of great humanity.

Two paragraphs strike me as important for us to reflect upon:

•  “…he affirms that a priest who has an empty church must examine himself and say: ‘It is we who lack fire.’ He explains: ‘The priest is ‘alter Christus,’ he is called to reflect Christ in himself. This does not mean asking perfection of ourselves; but being conscious of our sins, of our misery, in order to be able to understand and pardon anyone who comes to the confessional.’”

• “In church, he welcomes everyone with joy: ‘Even the prostitutes. I give them communion. What should I say? Become honest, before you enter here? Christ came for sinners, and I have the anxiety, in withholding a sacrament, that he could bring me to account for it one day. But do we still know the power of the sacraments? I have the misgiving that we have excessively bureaucratized the admission to

• baptism. I think of the baptism of my Jewish mother, which in terms of the request of my grandfather was merely a formal act: and yet, even from this baptism there came a priest.’”

His pastoral plan for those who ask the question about returning to the practice of the faith: “the Marian embrace, and impassioned apologetics, which touches the heart.”

A man with Russian-Jewish-Corisican-Italian blood, a singer-song writer, author (his latest is Au diable la tiédeur, {To the devil with lukewarmness}), and now an ordained Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Marseille.

Father Michel-Marie Zanotti-Sorkine is pastor at Saint-Vincent-de-Paul in Marseille.

Young Catholic monks maintain tradition, respond to needs in faith


St Benedict french illumination2.jpgThe Benedictine Abbots are going home now. They’ve
been meeting in Rome since the 17th. Their work was not deliberative
in any meaningful way as much as they gathered for the reason to elect an abbot primate, to gain perspective, to meet new and old monastic superiors, to hear how the worldwide Benedictines can assist one another in living the life more effectively and intensely according to the Holy Rule and the mind of the Church. Time was spent in prayer, study, and pilgrimage. How could one not spend time in prayer before the holy places of the martyrs in Rome as well as some of the central points of interest to Benedictines. Cindy Wooden from CNS published this
article today as a sort of synopsis of one aspect of Benedictine life–the
attraction of new members. Father Michael Casey, a Trappist monk, priest, author and speaker, addressed the assembly. He, by the way, is one of my favorite contemporary monastic thinkers. If only the abbots and other monastic superiors would listen to Father Michael. Alas, they’re too timid and many can’t (won’t?) do the hard work necessary to figure out what they ought to do so as to not live in diminishment mode. One often gets the feeling that some monasteries would rather die than alter their Benedictine observance and the adherence to Christ and the Church. But, I will say that despite a lack of clear and intense thinking, praying and living, there are significant points of like for Benedictine monasticism in the USA.


What follows is an extract of what was published (read the text in full here):


PMCasey OCSO.jpg

One of the main speakers at the Benedictine abbots’
congress was Cistercian Father Michael Casey, an expert on monastic
spirituality from Tarrawarra Abbey in Australia.


Maintaining tradition while
responding to changing needs is an inescapable part of life, both for
individuals and for religious communities, he said. “The fact that we are
alive means that we are continually influenced by our past, continually
interacting with our present, and looking forward to the future. It’s really
just a matter of personal integrity, personal vitality that we do respect and
allow our past to continue speaking to us.”


Continue reading Young Catholic monks maintain tradition, respond to needs in faith

Norbertines vested, professed in Paoli, PA

daylesford abbey santc.jpgOn August 27, 2012, the Abbot of Daylesford Abbey in Paoli, PA, vested two secular priests in a traditional rite as novices of the Norbertine Abbey.

The video digest of vocation story of Father Herb Sperger being vested with the Norbertine habit can be viewed here.

Father David Driesch gives us his vocation story on the occasion of being vested as a novice at the same ceremony as Father Herb.

On August 28, 2012, Brother James Garvey professed first vows as a Norbertine. His narrative can be seen here.

Saint Norbert and all Norbertine saints pray for the novices!

If interested, here are two very brief posts on Saint Norbert here and here.

Religious life 2012: Profession of vows, entrances and ordinations

Heilengkreutz monks.jpgThe promise of the hundredfold of the Lord is evident in the lives we lead; how we live our Baptism ought to be evident and with those who have responded to the Lord’s call to follow Him more closely in the Christian life in which we live more intensely by through the consecrated life.

As Pope Benedict said, 
It is no less challenging to follow Christ today, It means learning to keep our gaze fixed on Jesus, growing close to him, listening to his word and encountering him in the sacraments; it means learning to conform our will to his. This requires a genuine school of formation for all those who would prepare themselves for the ministerial priesthood or the consecrated life under the guidance of the competent ecclesial authorities. The Lord does not fail to call people at every stage of life to share in his mission and to serve the church in the ordained ministry and in the consecrated life (48th World Day of Vocations, 2011).

Calling of St Matthew detail Caravaggio.jpg

The key words for us ought to be “to follow,” “to keep our gaze,” “listening,” “conforming,” and “encountering.” The crux is, to whom do we belong? Of course, I would hope that we could easily say that we belong to Christ and to His Church. But we know that while we may honestly believe this fact, it is not so every day. We say one thing but we don’t always follow and keep our gaze on the Lord. May this be our prayer and our work today!
This is the third year that I have surveyed, in representative manner, some of the US monastic communities and religious orders who have had members profess simple and/or solemn vows, new members who received the habit or have receive ordination to the Order of Deacon or Priest. While the numbers may be sobering, the point is not about numbers as much as to recognize the many testimonies of grace, the rich living of the offer God has made to our sisters and brothers to love and serve Him in religious life. Corrections welcome.


Monastic life
monks
  • St Vincent’s Archabbey: 4 profess simple vows; 4 profess solemn vows; 2 ordained deacons, 2 ordained priests
  • St John’s Abbey: 2 monks make a profession of solemn vows; 3 professed simple vows
  • St Benedict’s Abbey (Atchinson, KS): 1 monk solemn vows, 3 received as postulants, 1 postulant in Brazil
  • Belmont Abbey (Charlotte, NC): 1 novice entered; 2 monks profess solemn vows
  • St Martin’s Abbey: 1 entered as a novice
nuns

Continue reading Religious life 2012: Profession of vows, entrances and ordinations

Nuns… pray for vocations

Sr Lauren Funk and Sr Mary Dominic Linden Monastery.tifI was reminded earlier today of a need to pray for vocations to the contemplative life. A former colleague of mine recently entered Dominican life as a cloistered nun at Saint Dominic’s Monastery in Linden, VA. It is a traditional monastery of nuns, a very young of women who make a sacrifice to pray for us and the needs of the world. The postulant, Sister Lauren (left) is seen with a veteran nun, Sister Mary Dominic.

Pray for vocations.
As an aside, the Huffington Post had this special article with pictures of those who “thought” they had a vocation. One actually did pursue a vocation as a Benedictine nun at Regina Laudis Abbey (Bethlehem, CT), Mother Dolores Hart.

Congrats on your ordination

Stuart Meyer Deacon Ordination.jpgA friend in England, Stuart Meyer, was ordained to the Order of Deacon for service in the Archdiocese of Southwark (in the UK) this past Saturday Archbishop Peter David Smith. Southwark is an archdiocese just outside  of London where, according to statistics in 2010 the population is 86% Catholic.

Deacon Stuart was an ordained member of the Church of England for many years until he entered into full communion with the Church of Rome. He desired to serve the Lord and the Church as a Catholic priest and did the studies required. The new deacon does not belong to the Anglican Ordinariate, but to the Archdiocese of Southwark.

We offer our congratulations to Deacon Stuart Meyer and pray that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saints Lawrence and Stephen continue to guide. Pray for Deacon Stuart as he prepares for priestly ordination and for vocations to the Catholic Church in England.

A different view women of religious today

In the Catholic press this morning there is a story about the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma using the language of faith versus the language of politics for life, ministry and vocation. All this clap-trap with the LCWR and who’s on what side or not is a bit over the top for several reasons (which I won’t get into right now). Read what the Sisters of Mercy of Alma have to say –they give a more balanced view.