Luminous Mysteries Meditations a Huge Hit!

E-NEWSLETTER OF THE INSTITUTE ON RELIGIOUS LIFE (IRL) www.religiouslife.com
November 22, 2002, Vol. 1, No. 8

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CONTENTS
· IRL’S “LUMINOUS MYSTERIES” ROSARY MEDIATIONS A HUGE HIT!
· FRANCISCANS PLAN FOR 750TH ANNIVERSARY OF ST. CLARE’S DEATH
· REPORT GAUGES IMPACT OF LAY ASSOCIATES ON U.S. RELIGIOUS ORDERS
· CARDINAL LINKS VOCATIONS DROP TO MISUNDERSTANDING OF VATICAN II
· HEAD OF RELIGIOUS RETIREMENT OFFICE TO HANDLE USCCB RESPONSE ON ABUSE
· NATIONAL COLLECTION FOR RETIRED RELIGIOUS SET FOR DECEMBER 7-8
· INTENSIVE CARE NEEDED: HOSPITALS HURT BY FINANCES, VOCATIONS CRISIS
· JESUIT CARDINAL DULLES SAYS CHRIST’S CALL DREW HIM TO CATHOLIC CHURCH 
· DELIBERATELY LOW ENROLLMENT, LOW TUITION MAKE NEW CHRISTIAN BROTHER SCHOOL UNIQUE
· WHICH IRL AFFILIATE’S FOUNDER DID FR. JOHN HARDON, S.J. WRITE A SPIRITUAL BIOGRAPHY ABOUT?

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IRL’s “Luminous Mysteries” Rosary Mediations a Huge Hit!

Less than two weeks after publishing an attractive flyer that aids in the meditation of Pope John Paul II’s new “Luminous Mysteries,” the Institute on Religious Life (IRL) has shipped nearly 3,000 copies, with requests for thousands of more. The unexpected response shows how eager Catholics are to incorporate the Holy Father’s wish that the Rosary “become more fully a compendium of the Gospel.”
“The new mysteries are a gift from the Holy Father to the Church,” said Fr. Thomas Nelson, O.Praem, IRL President. “We are pleased to help others to carry out what the Holy Father has called a ‘training in holiness’ with the use of these Rosary meditations.”
The demand for the flyer comes from lay persons, priests, and bishops’ offices, and are being used for bulletin inserts, Eucharistic adoration groups, lecture assemblies, and bulletin racks in the backs of churches. The meditations are written by Fr. Charles Mangan, a priest who works in the office of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life in the Vatican.
To request a free copy, e-mail mail@religiouslife.com and put “free Rosary leaflet” in the message line, or download the PDF version from www.religiouslife.com.

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Franciscans Plan for 750th Anniversary of St. Clare’s Death

Next year marks the 750th anniversary of St. Clare’s death, and the Franciscans think it will be a good opportunity to spotlight the example of her life. 

Franciscan superiors especially point St. Clare’s testimony of life, which mirrored the poverty and vulnerability of Christ. The Conference of Ministers General of the First Franciscan Order and of the Third Order Regular suggests this in a letter published in VID, the Web page of religious communities. 

The ministers general of the Franciscans suggest that the celebrations begin next Palm Sunday, “when Sister Clare ran away from her father’s home and promised obedience to Francis at Santa Maria degli Angeli,” and that they close with “with a great celebration on the feast of the glorious Mother Clare on Aug. 11, 2004.”

“As your brothers, we are offering to assist you in every way we can,” the letter continues. “One of the greatest gifts that we monks have had in recent years is that of a growing knowledge and respect of Sister Clare; and it is our sincere desire that this gift be nurtured and continually enriched in our midst.”

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Report Gauges Impact of Lay Associates on U.S. Religious Orders

Lay associates of U.S. Catholic religious orders “are a strong foundation in the laity of the church,” according to one of the authors of a new report on the relationship between associates and vowed religious. “Associates help carry on the mission in a religious institute, through their prayer, daily lives and work,” said Mercy Sister Mary E. Bendyna, who wrote “Partners in Mission: The Associate-Vowed Religious Relationship in the United States” with Mary L. Gautier and Sacred Heart Sister Mary Charlotte Chandler. Commissioned by the North American Conference of Associates and Religious, which has offices in New York and Marriottsville, Md., the report was released in late October by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington. Associates are lay people who, to gain a deeper spiritual understanding in their lives, affiliate with a religious institute and go through an official formation period to learn about the institute’s charism and mission. Although associates do not take formal vows as religious do, they commit to living the mission of the religious institute.

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Cardinal Links Vocations Drop to Misunderstanding of Vatican II

Jesuit Cardinal Avery Dulles said Oct. 30 that “the present crisis of vocations to the priestly and religious life might be less severe” if the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on the “greater excellence” of celibacy over married life had been better understood and accepted. In a speech at Georgetown University marking the 40th anniversary of the start of the council, Cardinal Dulles contrasted what he called “the myth and the reality” of the council. “The council has its enthusiastic defenders and its detractors, but in most cases both the enthusiasm and the hostility, in my opinion, are based more upon the myth than the reality,” he said. Many enthusiasts and opponents alike “understood the council as having made radical innovations,” he said. He argued that the council’s degree of continuity with the past has too often been underestimated or ignored. Since the council, he said, Popes Paul VI and John Paul II have consistently supported the council’s teachings and clarified them.

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Head of Religious Retirement Office to Handle USCCB Response on Abuse

Sister Andree Fries, executive director of the bishops’ National Religious Retirement Office, has been named to handle the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ response to the sex abuse crisis. Msgr. William P. Fay, USCCB general secretary, announced Nov. 7 he has named Sister Fries, a member of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood in O’Fallon, Mo., as his deputy to deal with abuse response. “There is no greater concern to the bishops’ conference at this time and I know Sister Andree’s wisdom and experience will go far as we work to heal hurts and protect youth and children,” Msgr. Fay said in a statement. Sister Fries will continue as head of the religious retirement office, a position she has held since June 2000. As deputy she succeeds Father J. Cletus Kiley, a Chicago priest who will return to working full time as executive director of the bishops’ Secretariat for Priestly Life and Ministry.

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National Collection for Retired Religious Set for December 7-8

The Retirement Fund for Religious collected $32.7 million in 2001 and returned more than 98 percent of it to religious institutes for retirement needs, the office that distributes the funds announced as the dates for the 2002 national collection approached. Although some U.S. dioceses may hold it on other dates, the national collection for retired religious is scheduled for Dec. 7-8 this year. The theme of the 2002 collection is “Promise, Commitment, Impact.” In its annual report for 2001, the National Religious Retirement Office reported that the 561 religious institutes receiving basic grants in 2001 included 47 institutes that had been previously unaware of the availability of funds for the needs of retired religious.

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Intensive Care Needed: Hospitals Hurt by Finances, Vocations Crisis

The number of truly Catholic health care institutions likely will decline in the coming years, but not because Catholic providers are caving in to secular pressure and offering services condemned by the church. The biggest threats to the Catholic identity of Catholic hospitals are a serious financial crunch and a dwindling number of vocations in the European and North American religious orders that traditionally provided health care. When 630 people from 45 countries met at the Vatican Nov. 7-9 to discuss their personal experiences in running Catholic health care institutions and providing medical or pastoral care to the sick, they reported a solid adherence to Catholic moral teaching in their institutions. On the big bioethical issues -- abortion, sterilization, euthanasia and cloning, for example -- speakers said their hospitals would rather close than give in. Finding the money to stay open is the real challenge.

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Jesuit Cardinal Dulles Says Christ’s Call Drew Him to Catholic Church

Cardinal Avery Dulles, a member of the Jesuits, told a New York audience that many of the reasons people give for admiring the Catholic Church were not sufficient to justify membership in it. Instead, the fundamental question is truth and “whether the Catholic Church is the place where Christ’s saving presence is to be found,” he said. Cardinal Dulles, who was born to a Presbyterian family and entered the Catholic Church in 1940 while a student at Harvard University, said he was a Catholic “because I heard the call of Christ resonating in the Catholic Church.” The Catholic Church carries out the essential apostolic ministries of teaching, sacramental worship and pastoral governance in a way that “brings me closer to Christ than I could otherwise be,” he said. His remarks were made in the annual Merton Lecture Nov. 7 at the Columbia University chapel, St. Paul’s.

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Deliberately Low Enrollment, Low Tuition Make New Christian Brother School Unique

A dozen fifth-graders sat in their desks, listening to their teacher in a small classroom off a staircase next to the gymnasium. The students of Brother Richard Lalime, a De La Salle Christian Brother, are the entire enrollment of De La Salle School in Freeport. Long Island’s newest Catholic school was in session. “It’s a beginning,” said Brother Thomas Casey, also a De La Salle Christian Brother and founding director of the school, which opened in September in what was once Our Holy Redeemer School. “Most of the building is still under contract by Our Holy Redeemer Parish to the local public schools.” Eventually, the De La Salle School will take over more of the building, Brother Thomas told The Long Island Catholic, newspaper of the Rockville Centre Diocese. The De La Salle School is designed to serve low-income students who might benefit from a Catholic education. The student body consists of nine boys from Freeport, three from Hempstead, and one from Roosevelt. Donations keep the tuition at $60 a month or less for each student.

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Which IRL Affiliate’s Founder Did Fr. John Hardon, S.J. Write a Spiritual Biography About?

The Handmaids of the Precious Blood are a contemplative community of nuns (though not strictly cloistered) dedicated to the sanctification of priests and committed to living an intensive life of prayer, charity and unity, centered around the Person of Jesus Christ, our Eucharistic King. The life of the members of the community is a blend of the contemplative “Mary-life” and the active “Martha-life”, keeping ever in mind Christ's words that, “It is Mary who has chosen the better part.” (Lk 10:42). Deeply moved by their founder, Father Gerald Fitzgerald’s priestly example, wisdom and counsel, Fr. John Hardon wrote a spiritual biography about him entitled, “A Prophet for the Priesthood.” For more information on the Handmaids of the Precious Blood, visit http://www.religiouslife.com/w_hpbjemezsprings.phtml.


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