+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Pope Presents Keys for Revitalizing Consecrated Life in First Address to Religious Benedict XVI says the witness of people who live a life totally dedicated to Christ, and prefer nothing to his love, is the key to rejuvenate consecrated life. The Pope expressed this message in a letter sent to participants in the plenary assembly of the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, held recently. The letter is the new Pontiff's first specific address to consecrated members of the Church. The assembly, presided over by Archbishop Franc Rodé, the congregation's prefect, served to mark the 40th anniversary of “Perfectae Caritatis,” the Second Vatican Council's decree on the renewal of religious life. In his letter, the Holy Father echoed three fundamental points of the conciliar document. First, the Pope said, “there can be no genuine relaunching of religious life without trying to lead a fully evangelical life, without preferring anything to the one love, but finding in Christ and his word the most profound essence of every founder's charism.” It is what the council described as “the supreme norm of religious life,” namely, “the following of Christ.” Second, the Bishop of Rome encouraged those who are consecrated to a “generous and creative gift of self to brothers, without ever giving in to the temptation to withdraw into oneself, without being satisfied with what one has already done, without falling into pessimism or exhaustion.” He said, “The fire of love, which the spirit infuses in hearts, leads to asking oneself constantly about the needs of humanity and how to respond to them, knowing that only the one who acknowledges and lives the primacy of God can really respond to the genuine needs of man, image of God.” he said. Third, Benedict XVI recommended a “sincere life of communion, not only within the different fraternities, but with the whole Church.”+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Cistercians Re-elect Abbot General The General Chapter of the Cistercian Order ended with the re-election of Abbot General Maur Esteva Alsina of the Catalan monastery of Poblet. Also re-elected as the order's procurator general was Father Meinrad Toman. Brother Lluc Torcal, secretary of the General Chapter, said that a novelty was introduced in the chapter which just concluded in the premises of the Salesianum of Rome. “The abbot presidents of each congregation,” he said, “[…] made a digital -- audiovisual -- presentation of the monasteries that comprise it, something which was very well received and which allowed the monasteries and communities to get to know one another visibly.” The general chapter addressed the challenge posed by declining vocations, already addressed in the general chapter of 2000, as well as the topic of monastic and Cistercian identity. Brother Torcal added that the conferences “have dealt with topics such as the evangelical sources of vocation, continuing formation, the ‘munus docendi' [teaching ministry] of the abbot, especially in relation to the rule.” The Cistercians now number 1,499 monks worldwide, including 696 priests, and 883 nuns. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Vatican II Decree Opened ‘Vivacious Season,' Struggle for Religious The Second Vatican Council's decree on consecrated religious life “opened a new, creative, vivacious season” for men and women religious, but also a season of struggle, pain and fear, a Vatican official said. Archbishop Franc Rode, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, opened a Sept. 26-27 conference at the Vatican marking the 40th anniversary of the council's document, “Perfectae Caritatis.” The document, he said, was “the mature fruit of a slow and gradual renewal” already under way among religious orders. More than any other segment of the Catholic population, he and other speakers said, men and women in religious orders experienced great changes because of the Second Vatican Council. With the sometimes precipitous decline in the number of religious order priests, brothers and sisters, Archbishop Rode said, “some have asked if (the council) brought the wind of a storm or the wind of Pentecost, a time of grace or of disgrace.” +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Secularism, Materialism Make Vocations Work a Challenge, Priest Says The environment for breeding vocations is not what it used to be. Catholic schools used to be feeder systems to the seminaries. Religious sisters used to be prominent fixtures in schools and parishes to offer words of encouragement and to plant the seeds of priestly vocations. The rise of secularism, materialism and careerism and a lack of commitment among young people do not generate vocations. Those ideas are not lost on vocation directors or the U.S. bishops, who have made the promotion of vocations one of the top three priorities in the Catholic Church, according to Father Edward J. Burns, executive director for vocations and priestly formation for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “With today's secularization we don't have the feeder system we used to,” Father Burns said Sept. 26 at the 42nd annual convention of the National Conference of Diocesan Vocations Directors. “The materialism of society fosters a lack of commitment among young people and a feeling to live life for one's self.” Father Burns said the “live-for-self” agenda not only affects the priesthood but other service jobs, such as teaching and nursing, which also are suffering shortages. But the priesthood, he said, has a double whammy -- it is a life of service and a life of commitment.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ USCCB Project Offers Resources to Help Priests Be ‘Fishers of Men' Priests working to promote the priesthood by example and inviting men to discern a call would be a far more effective tool for vocations than slick ad campaigns, a priest told his fellow vocation directors. Father Edward J. Burns, executive director for vocations and priestly formation at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, offered that suggestion as he introduced the USCCB's “Priestly Life and Vocation Summit: Fishers of Men,” a step-by-step presbyteral workshop to promote vocations, to U.S. diocesan vocation directors. “The priestly gift of invitation carries with it the obligation of inviting others,” Father Burns said. “Being fishers of men is a ministry, a life, a call. Priests are fishers of men.” The Sept. 24-28 convention -- with the theme “Called to Follow the Son” -- drew about 200 vocations directors to Tampa. Citing a survey of U.S. men ordained in 2003, Father Burns said 78 percent of them said a priest invited them to discern a call. However, a 2001 study showed that only 30 percent of diocesan and religious priests in the United States actively invite men to the priesthood.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity Hoping for a Home in China Blessed Mother Teresa's religious sisters have written a letter to the Beijing government for permission to open a home in China, says the superior of the Missionaries of Charity. The religious community would be the first international Catholic congregation, since the times of Mao Zedong, to officially establish a location in the People's Republic. Significantly, it was the government of China which asked to the Sisters to go to China. “They asked us to go; for our part, we are glad to go,” Sister Nirmala Joshi, the superior, told AsiaNews. The superior who succeeded Mother Teresa at the helm of the Sisters of Charity said that they were contacted last April by a government official who suggested that they open a home in China. Beijing was still smarting at the time from the poor figure it cut for being absent from Pope John Paul II's funeral, according to AsiaNews. Sister Nirmala thinks that, in making this suggestion, China wished to “take a step towards opening diplomatic relations with the Vatican.” When Benedict XVI heard of the news, he encouraged the religious to accept the invitation and to visit China. In mid-July, Sister Nirmala went to China to look into the possibility of opening a home. On July 16, accompanied by two women religious and a priest, Sister Nirmala visited Qingdao, at the invitation of the government and local Bishop Joseph Li Mingshu. The Sisters made plans to open a home for the elderly. On the bishop's advice, Sister Nirmala wrote a letter to the Chinese government and has been waiting for a reply ever since.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Pope Blesses Cornerstone of New Sydney Seminary for Neocatechumenal Way Benedict XVI blessed the cornerstone of the future Redemptoris Mater seminary of Sydney, Australia. Present at the ceremony, at the end of today's general audience, were the city's archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, and the seminary rector, Father Erich Skruznyd. Currently, the international diocesan center of formation has 20 candidates for the priesthood, reported Vatican Radio. There are some 50 Redemptoris Mater seminaries worldwide, with 1,500 seminarians. More than 1,000 graduates of these seminaries have been ordained to the priesthood. The Redemptoris Mater seminaries were inspired by the Christian way of life of the Neocatechumenal Way. According to its statutes, the Neocatechumenal Way is “at the service of diocesan bishops and parish priests as a way of discovering the sacrament of baptism, and of continuing education in the faith.” The Neocatechumenal Way is present in more than 900 dioceses. One of its co-founders, Kiko Argüello, is an auditor in the current Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Statutes of Legionaries' Priestly Formation Center in Rome OK'd The Holy See has approved the statutes of the Maria Mater Ecclesia center for priests in Rome, and appointed Legionary of Christ Father Javier García as its first rector. A decree of approval of the statues was issued last month through the Congregation for Catholic Education. A letter of notification, signed by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski and Archbishop Michael Miller, prefect and secretary, respectively, of the Vatican dicastery, was addressed to Father Álvaro Corcuera, director general of the Legionaries. The letter expresses gratitude “for this successive center of priestly formation, destined for diocesan clergy, established by the Legionaries of Christ in Rome.” The new center for priests, which opened its doors in the past days, seeks to form and train diocesan priests who wish to study in Rome. The center will give continuity to the work carried out by the international college Maria Mater Ecclesia, founded in Rome in 1991, and the seminary Maria Mater Ecclesia, in Campo Limpo, Brazil. That Rome facility has 250 seminarians from more than 80 dioceses. The Campo Limpo facility has 117 Brazilian seminarians from more than 20 dioceses. The Legionaries also run the Sacerdos Institute, which since 1991 has offered summer courses for more than 1,000 formators of priests from 500 dioceses and 90 countries. Since last year, the religious congregation has directed the pontifical Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center, which offers courses of spiritual renewal for priests in the Holy Land. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Lack of Priests Seen as a Symptom of a Problem of Faith Participants in the Synod of Bishops agree that the lack of priests is a big concern for the Church, but that it is a symptom of a problem rather than a cause. Synodal fathers stressed this point during a press conference today as they made a preliminary evaluation of the working sessions of the synod on the Eucharist. The three-week synod ends Oct. 23. Cardinal Telesphore Toppo, archbishop of Ranchi, India, one of the assembly's co-presidents, answered a journalist's question on the possibility that the synod might abolish the discipline of the Latin-rite Church and allow the ordination of married men to resolve the crisis of vocations. “The lack of priests is not the cause, but a symptom,” he said. “The real problem is the crisis of faith, as the priesthood is the fruit of the community's faith. Without faith, there are no priests, no vocations.” Another synod co-president, Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico, then spoke. “The lack of priests is an effect,” he said. “The cause is the lack of faith, of spiritual vision, of transcendence. All this may be summarized in one word: secularization.” The Mexican prelate added, “Above all we must preach, take recourse to the Word of God and explain it not only with wisdom and eloquence, but with our testimony, so that it will reach hearts.”+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Mother Benedict Duss, Founder of Cloistered Connecticut Abbey, Dies Gregorian chant echoed within the simple wooden Church of Jesu Fili Mariae Oct. 5 as Hartford Archbishop Henry J. Mansell celebrated a traditional monastic liturgy of burial in Latin for Mother Benedict Duss, retired abbess of the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem. Mother Benedict, who was the founder and first abbess of the Connecticut monastery for cloistered Benedictine nuns, died Oct. 2 at age 94. She would have turned 95 Nov. 21. During the funeral, she lay in an open pine and cedar coffin resting on two stools covered with sheepskins. The coffin was placed first in the sanctuary before Mass and then brought into the cloister during Mass. The more than three-hour service drew several hundred attendees, including retired Hartford Archbishop Daniel A. Cronin, several priests and dozens of religious sisters including 37 members of the abbey community, as well as religious brothers and laity. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Religious, Lay Observers Speak of Healing Power of Eucharist to Synod Participants The Eucharist has the power to heal shattered lives and even transform the world, but first it needs to permeate people's daily existence, said some participants at the Synod of Bishops. Their testimony Oct. 12 was the first time synod fathers heard the voices of 25 lay and religious women and men, who offered their perspective and experience in promoting the power of the Eucharist. These observers do not have voting power in the Oct. 2-23 synod, but they were invited to offer their views. Their remarks, or portions of them, were released by the Vatican. Sister Elvira Petrozzi, a founder of the Cenacle Community in Italy, told of the healing power she has seen resulting from Eucharistic prayer. For 22 years she has worked with homeless adults, children and drug addicts. Canossian Sister Margaret Wong of Hong Kong told participants that church workers promoted Eucharistic Adoration for physically and mentally disabled people, they found there were many apparently normal, but still vulnerable people who needed God's loving embrace. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dominican Sisters Set to Open First Catholic School in New Orleans' French Quarter Cleaning out the cafeteria refrigerator filled with pre-hurricane milk boxes was just one of the many hurdles the Dominican Sisters faced in getting Cathedral Academy School in the French Quarter of New Orleans set to reopen Oct. 17. “We have to roll up our sleeves and get to work,” said Dominican Sister Mary Rose Bingham, school principal. “No one else is going to clean the refrigerator or sweep the playground,” she said of the myriad tasks the sisters faced once they were able to get onto the school property just weeks before it was ready to open its doors. The school is the first to reopen on the east side of Orleans Parish, a civil entity. Public schools in this section of the city have yet to announce reopening dates. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ IRL Taps Dominican Priest to Serve as Theological Consultant At their annual meeting in September, members of the Institute on Religious Life's Board of Directors approved a proposal to bring Rev. Brian Mullady, O.P., on staff to serve as Theological Consultant for the growing apostolate. Father Mullady is a religious priest from the Holy Name Western Dominican Province who is well known as a professor of dogmatic and moral theology, spiritual writer, retreat master and EWTN television host. “Father Mullady's educational background and ministerial experience with religious and seminarians are a real asset to the IRL and our over 150 affiliated communities,” said IRL Executive Director, Rev. Thomas Nelson, O.Praem. “We are most fortunate to be able to tap into his scholarly talents and creative abilities to develop resources—both written and audiovisual—to assist those in vocational discernment and those striving to live the vowed life,” he continued. Father Mullady entered the Dominican Order in 1966 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1972. He received his doctorate from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome, and has taught at a number of educational institutions including the Angelicum, University of St. Thomas in Houston, St. Joseph's Seminary in Dundwoodie, NY and Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, CT. He is also a faculty member of the IRL's Vita Consecrata Institute. Among his duties, Father Mullady will assist the IRL staff in producing special publications and other helpful resources, serve as Executive Editor of Consecrated Life publication, write articles for Religious Life magazine, and represent the IRL at meetings, conferences and other special events. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Return to top Visit IRL's Catalog of Books, Videos & Audios at http://www.religiouslife.com/catalog
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