A good, traditional Religious Order?

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EvangeliumVitae

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Hello,
I am new here. I came here to share my faith and vocation. I am 17 with a definite call, but I am looking for a traditional, orthodox, stick-with-the-faith-and-rule-life religious order:thumbsup: . What you all think about the Dominicans and Mercedarians (Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy)?

Thank you, and I look forward to talking with you all.

Pax!
Michael
 
EvangeliumVitae said:
Hello,
I am new here. I came here to share my faith and vocation. I am 17 with a definite call, but I am looking for a traditional, orthodox, stick-with-the-faith-and-rule-life religious order:thumbsup: . What you all think about the Dominicans and Mercedarians (Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy)?

Thank you, and I look forward to talking with you all.

Pax!
Michael
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I know nothing really of the Dominicans or Mercedarians (it’s the first time I’ve ever heard of them). But if you are looking for a great traditional and holy order, I would recommend the Fraternity of St. Peter. It was started by Pope John Paul II in 1988. They celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form (Latin Roman Rite). They have their own seminary too.

fssp.com/

God bless you on your journey, Michael!
 
Ah yes, I know much about them. A very admirable group. Definitely worth considering. You, many have not heard of the Mercedarians–they are very small here in the US and number at about 25 but are a very good order. Their guys study in the seminary in my city, so thats how I know of them. My friend is entering the order soon.

Thank you so much–I hope I will recieve more help.

www.orderofmercy.com
 
The Fraternity of St. Peter is very orthodox, but they’re not exactly a religious order. All the priests in this fraternity are diocesan priests. FSSP priests are unique because they swear an oath to their institute and they have their own seminaries.

Be aware that many religious orders are not all homogeneous. Within an order, religious congregations/institutes can have difference constitutions and different levels of orthodoxy, and may not be under the same leadership.

Be sure to look into the Institute of the Incarnate Word. (ivevocations.org/) This is a new religious order which is devoted to establishing faith-filled and vibrant parish life in the parishes where it operates. The priests that I’ve met in this order are all joyful and orthodox. This is a missionary order and its priests may be sent anywhere in the world to spread the Gospel.

BTW, This is the order that runs St. Veronica in Philadelphia.
CarmeliteGirl25 said:
I know nothing really of the Dominicans or Mercedarians (it’s the first time I’ve ever heard of them). But if you are looking for a great traditional and holy order, I would recommend the Fraternity of St. Peter. It was started by Pope John Paul II in 1988. They celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form (Latin Roman Rite). They have their own seminary too.

fssp.com/

God bless you on your journey, Michael!
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Do they still pray the offices even after ordination such as vespers and compline?
 
I am considering joining the Dominican Order myself.
It summarizes the life of a Christian to me.
Laudare , benedicere et praedicare.

The most traditional group and strictest are the Carthusians.
 
How long have you been thinking about them? What province do you live in?
 
Yes…however, you seem to be exclusively focused on the “strictness” of these orders and I’m afraid that you might be missing the point. Every one of these orders has a distinct mission and charism, and your job is to find the order with the mission that best allows you to fulfill your own vocation.

It’s definitely okay to ask the questions that you’re asking – you don’t want to join an order if their orthodoxy or liturgical practices are a mismatch for you. However, I do not think that these are the first questions that you should be asking.

On the other hand, if you feel that the restoration of the liturgy itself is your vocation, then your question is a bit misdirected – instead of looking for a “traditional” religious order, you should be looking for a religious order with a charism of restoring the liturgy. Examples would be the FSSP or the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius ( canons-regular.org/ )
EvangeliumVitae said:
Do they still pray the offices even after ordination such as vespers and compline?
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EvangeliumVitae said:
How long have you been thinking about them? What province do you live in?
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I live in the German province, Teutonia 🙂

I have been thinking for quite a while now. The idea of becoming a priest was something that staretd in my childhood, but I blocked it out successfully for years…

Only the the past year have I come to realize what God really wants in my case. And that is clearly the Dominican Order.

The one that teaches: “contemplata aliis tradere”
 
ack said:
Yes…however, you seem to be exclusively focused on the “strictness” of these orders and I’m afraid that you might be missing the point. Every one of these orders has a distinct mission and charism, and your job is to find the order with the mission that best allows you to fulfill your own vocation.

It’s definitely okay to ask the questions that you’re asking – you don’t want to join an order if their orthodoxy or liturgical practices are a mismatch for you. However, I do not think that these are the first questions that you should be asking.

On the other hand, if you feel that the restoration of the liturgy itself is your vocation, then your question is a bit misdirected – instead of looking for a “traditional” religious order, you should be looking for a religious order with a charism of restoring the liturgy. Examples would be the FSSP or the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius ( canons-regular.org/ )
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No, actually I know what I’m looking for–parish work and education. The community life is also important which is why I am asking these questions about prayer.
 
mileschristi.org/ - Miles Christi . They are rooted in the Jesuit spirituality. They have a great love for the tradition of the church, and I think they are authentically living the life St. Ignatius of Loyola desired for his priests to live.

unavoce.org/ferrer.htm - Society of St. Vincent Ferrer. They are in France, which is the only negative I guess. I suppose it isn’t if you happen to speak French. Everything I have read about this is so amazing. They are a traditional group which celebrates the Extraordinary Form. They are living an authentic Dominican life, I think. They just seem great.

institute-christ-king.org/ - Institute of Christ the King, Soverign Priest - You probably know all about them, but I figured I would just mention them. I don’t think have been mentioned. Traditional group, celebrates Mass strictly in the EF. Very devoted to our Lady. Very good.
 
A lot of good groups in this thread. However, I think the only group here that focuses on both Parish Life and Education (like you said) is the Dominicans.
 
Shlomey said:
I live in the German province, Teutonia 🙂

I have been thinking for quite a while now. The idea of becoming a priest was something that staretd in my childhood, but I blocked it out successfully for years…

Only the the past year have I come to realize what God really wants in my case. And that is clearly the Dominican Order.

The one that teaches: “contemplata aliis tradere”
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That’s great.I have tried to check out some of the women’s communities in Germany out of curiosity, but my german is nil, though my dad spoke it with a Berliner accent,We still have relatives in Germany around Garmisch and Nuremberg and the Schwarzwald. By the way Did you ever check out the Teutonic Order? They have houses in Germany and Austria, and are direct descendents of the Knights Teutonic, but no longer have a military function,just a religious one. I believe they are invovled in parish work,and the sisters run hospitals and such.
 
I have also been thinking about a good, traditional order for a while now. The Fransiskaner in my area are simply too “liberal”, one of them even wears jeans. I just don’t see what sort of church-life they have? There are some good abbies in Germany and Austria, Stift Heiligenkreuz is very good. Then I also thought about Carthusians. There is one monastry in Germany but it seems way to open for me. The Stift in France (“La grande Chartreuse”) looks best to me. Just I can’t decide between a priest and a monk, ever since I was very small I thought about this.
 
The Mercedarians and Miles Christi both focus on education and parish life I believe. The Norbertines in California also do both I think. The Norbertines in CA are extremely orthodox in their belief and practice to Holy mother, Church.
 
You might also check out: The Canons of the New Jerusalem in Charles Town, WV
They prayer the Divine Office in common & use the 1962 Liturgical Books
 
EvangeliumVitae said:
Hello,
I am new here. I came here to share my faith and vocation. I am 17 with a definite call, but I am looking for a traditional, orthodox, stick-with-the-faith-and-rule-life religious order:thumbsup: . What you all think about the Dominicans and Mercedarians (Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy)?

Thank you, and I look forward to talking with you all.

Pax!
Michael
Click to expand...
First off, everyone has a definate call. 🤷 Discernment is figuring out where (or who) that call leads to, not whether or not you have one. :rolleyes:

Secondly, if you’re truely in the Philadelphia area, why not look around and encounter some different orders? You have the Jesuits at Loyola, the Vincentians at the Miraculous Medal Shrine, etc.

Of course, there’s also always the diocesean route, assuming you know you’re going into the priesthood.

I’m not trying to be mean, it’s just that, short of the clouds opening up and Almighty God telling you what you’re to be doing (similar to Monty Python and the Holy Grail), nobody knows for sure what they’re doing until either they have a ring on their finger or their nose hits the marble. 👍
 
The Oratorians of St. Philip Neri are usually very solid. Each oratory has a certain degree of autonomy, so you’d need to find the one closest to you.
 
Joining an order has much more to do with the charism of the order than anything else., as was said above. There really is no other reason to join. Second comes the fit with a particular community. Remember that you will spend the rest of your natural life with these men. Moreover, they, and not you alone, will get to determine if you can make solemn profession. It’s not unlike choosing a spouse. You may ask for her hand in marriage, and she can still say no! You may want to join a community, and they have the right to turn you down, and every brother gets to vote on whether or not to accept you.

If you’re not there primarily because of the order’s charism, you are likely to wash out of the discernment process. Your first step should be to explore the charisms of the different orders to determine which spirituality you are called to. Say you settle on orders following the Rule of St Benedict, then you can look at individual Benedictine and Cistercian communities.

Putting being “traditional” before the charism would be putting the cart before the horse and will lead to heartbreak.
 
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