We have to be very careful when we look at religious life before Vatican II, after Vatican II or after Vatican III.
There are some points that we have to keep in mind.
The first one being that none of us, including me, has been appointed by the Holy See to evaluate them, their performance of their achievements. That right belongs only to the Church. If they are communities of Pontifical Right, it belongs to the Holy See. If they are communities of Diocesan Right, it belongs to the bishop of their home diocese. The way that we speak can often sound authoritative. To the non-Catholic or the poorly educated Catholic such a way of speaking about something over which we have no authority may sound as if the Church is a free for all where all voices are equally authoritative and all opinions count. These folks don’t know that 99.999999% of what is said on these fora is of little to no concern to the Holy See.
This leads to the second point. The Holy See has made up its mind about these orders, their charism, their mission and their place in the Church. If a change is necessary, this happens through dialogue between the Holy See and the orders. They Council of Trent made it very clear that neither the bishops nor the laity have a voice in matters that concern the orders. It’s a free country. Everyone can express an opinion. However, everyone must also acknowledge that his or her opinion carries no weight in the Church. Even the opinion of an individual religious who belongs to one of these orders has no merit before the Church. The Church does not operate this way. The Church examines the mind of the founder, the rule and constitutions of the order, the deliberations of the general chapter, the decisions of the Major Superior and his/her council and the behavior of the orders.
My final point is that assessing the place and success of a charism is a major undertaking that takes years of observation, study, dialogue and discernment. Therefore, we have to be very careful that we don’t jump to post quick conclusions with a small amount of information. This is especially true when speaking about the spirituality and methods of people like St. Francis and Bl. Teresa of Calcutta. These two very unique individuals were given a vision that most of us can’t see. They were not called to be practical or even effective. They were called to go further than that. They were called to faithful.
In our 21st century mindset, we tend to focus on outcome and results. People like Francis and Teresa were not called to focus on either of those. They were called to go where Christ led and to leave the outcome to Him. Their sons and daughters strive to walk down the same pathway. This kind of detachment is the height of poverty. Apostolic poverty finds its expression in total dependence on Christ.
When asked about the outcome of their work, St. Francis and Mother Teresa always gave the same answer. In our language it would go something like this. “I don’t know. Ask God.”
I believe that the world needs this kind of detachment probably even more than it needs converts. The best conversions come from those who are drawn by love. We can use any religious family, but for the sake of this discussion, let’s just look at the Franciscans and the Missionaries of Charity. They not only converted great numbers of men and women, but many of their converts joined them. Just look at the rate of growth of these two families and others like them. If we read the writings of the Franciscans and the Missionaries of Charity the first thing they’ll tell you is how the holiness of their founders inspired them to follow the Gospel.
We need more men and women like them.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF :christmastree1:
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