Consecrated life: quality vs. quantity
Cardinal Rode has been talking again.
(That would be Franc Cardinal Rode, the prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.)
In a talk given in Naples on February 3, Rode said that religious orders in the United States and Western Europe are in “crisis.” [Source]
The crisis experienced by certain religious communities, especially in Western Europe and North America, reflects the more profound crisis of European and American society. All this has dried up the sources that for centuries have nourished consecrated and missionary life in the church.
The secularized culture has penetrated into the minds and hearts of some consecrated persons and some communities, where it is seen as an opening to modernity and a way of approaching the contemporary world.
Rode described the period after the Second Vatican Council as a time
rich in experimentation but poor in robust and convincing mission.
Pay special attention to this in particular:
Faced with an aging membership and fewer vocations, many religious orders have turned to “foreign vocations” in places like Africa, India and the Philippines, the cardinal said. He said the orders need to remember that quality of vocations is more important than quantity.
“It is easy, in situations of crisis, to turn to deceptive and damaging shortcuts, or attempt to lower the criteria and parameters for admission to consecrated life and the course of initial and permanent formation,” he said.
I sincerely hope that the Cardinal is not saying here what he seems to be saying… that African, Indian, Fillipino, and other “foreign” brothers and sisters exhibit a “lowering of criteria and parameters for admission to consecrated life.” Quality vs. quantity… did I really just read that?
Further, I, and I am certain many, many others, are not convinced that his assessment of the Church as “experimental” and not fulfilling its mission is charitable or accurate.
It is true that the numbers of those entering consecrated life are down. I don’t, however, think that “traditional practices” are the cause. Nor do I believe that the adoption by the Congregation’s prefect of a 30′ watered-silk cappa magna is the answer, either.
Rocco Palmo pointed out yesterday that the Slovenian Cardinal reached the retirement age of 75 in September.
Pax et bonum.
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Thom, the cappa magna has no bearing on this and your reference to it in this context is pandering.
What in God’s name is he wearing?
And I love the “secularized culture” quote. When all else fails, blame things on a nebulous and slippery term. Works for me every time.
Oh, I missed that. But I still don’t know what a cappa magna is or why he is wearing one.
David, I don’t agree; it isn’t pandering. It’s relevant because it seems that a traditional “look” is what the Cardinal is proposing to remedy what he sees as a “crisis.”
Tim, indeed. Easy cop out, no? And see this link: http://dappledphotos.blogspot.com/2005/09/cappa-magna.html for more info. about the cappa.
Pandering or not, it seems that amongst some traditionally minded people, the appearance is all important. It is critical that we not become “whitened sepulchres”, but rather people with a living faith.
Indeed, Davis.
What we need is a fresh, new way of thinking about the “consecrated religious life.” The ways that have worked in the past an in other contexts just aren’t going to keep working. That doesn’t mean a wholesale garbage heap for all things “old” – just means a different way of thinking about and living out these kinds of vocations. These things are already happening, there just really isn’t any widespread recognition or acceptance yet. Holy Spirit, breath on us please.
Very right, Alan. People need to shown that “new” can fit with “old” without causing “rupture,” if I may throw out all of those catchphrases.
Wow. Just wow.
Thom, The picture you show is Cardinal Rode at the seminary of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest in Florence. The Cappa Magna belongs to them, not the cardinal. He is wearing it because it is THEIR custom that he do so. We have no idea whether or not he favours it.
Does the cardianl favour a traditional habit for the nuns?
He very well may but there are many people including prelates who favour nuns wearing a habit who would not be caught dead in the Cappa.
The two are unrelated but by showing this picture you are connecting them and to people of less traditional tastes nothing looks more pompous than the cappa. Thus you make the cardinal look foolish and old fashioned and imply that he is trying to push the nuns back to the Middle Ages.
Deal with facts Thom, not with inferences and suspicions.
Bhy the way Thom,
You must surely know that the Apostolic Visitation revolves around more serious matters than the habit. There are concerns that the nuns may not be living or teaching in a manner which is consistent with the teachings of the Church.
THAT is the issue.
I don’t think Thom was saying that the habit (or lack of it) was the main focus of the Apostolic Visitation. While I wouldn’t deny that there have been, and are, serious problems in some of the women’s religious orders; I am puzzled by the way this whole thing is playing out. It seems like all the orders are being called on the carpet for the faults of a few. Has there been a similar visitation of men’s orders, or of priestly formation programs? If there has been, I haven’t heard about it. I totally don’t care what Cardinal Rode wears. But I have a great deal of regard for the women religious who have been part of my life; and I really hope the visitation is being carried out in a fair and transparent manner.
Thom: Take this for what it is worth.
I have no problem with apostolic women religious being relevant to the particular times we live in.
That being said.
I do have a problem with the rejection of the Catholic faith in the way their prayer life/apostolic works/vision seems to be manifested; we have this in three of our motherhouses of apostolic women religious in this diocese. This is not hear-say or gossip. It is in their newsletters.
The issue of a habit is something that can be argued about; the issue of common life, however, is something else. And the whole-sale rejection of the norms of the Catholic faith, whether it be in what they teach, encourage, or demonstrate is another matter, altogether.
Dissent from the core teachings of the Catholic Church are problematic. Disobedience from authority (we all have to be obedient, no?) in major matters is a problem.
Apart from the Cardinal’s “apparel”; why is this visitation a problem, if it is not a departure from the teachings of Jesus Christ? I only ask this out of humility and honesty.
I am poor in fact and in spirit (I am not bragging here).
Religious women in my diocese have all kinds of perks, accouterments, money, advantages that I have renounced…but why do they have a right to complain if the Vatican is looking into this?
Melody: Yes, seminaries have been investigated twice in the last twenty years.
The accusation of “investigation” and “Inquisition” is just nuts.
Accountability on all levels is absolutely needed. No doubt.
But a kind of persecution of apostolic women religious?
No way.
Wow indeed, Kevin.
Melody, I’m in complete agreement with you. Well said.
Nazareth priest, I hear much talk of a “wholesale rejection of the norms of the Catholic faith” by some women religious, but I rarely hear any concrete examples of such. It’s difficult to address such a grave matter based on nebulous accusations of infidelity.
To all, let me be clear: if you focus on prelatial vesture as a takeaway from this piece, you’ve missed the point entirely.
“…to people of less traditional tastes nothing looks more pompous than the cappa.”
Oh, not just to people of less traditional taste.
Well, the “imperial” trappings can be seen as related to the imperialist view of the reliance on “foreign vocations” indicated by “lower(ing) the criteria and parameters for admission to consecrated life”.
Thom, you said, ” if you focus on prelatial vesture as a takeaway from this piece, you’ve missed the point entirely”.
That is exactly the point I raised in the first thread on this page. If, as you say, prelatial vesture entirely misses the point, why did you introduce it?
Bill, agreed.
Davis, LOL!
David, I believe Melody captured that very well. My question would be.. why jump on this? Why be so adamant to stand up against seeming attacks on the cappa? I don’t get it. It isn’t even a vestment.
Thom, I don’t feel any need to defend the cappa. In none of my postings on this thread have I attempted to defend the cappa.
But you, in the first posting showed a picture of the cardinal in a cappa. Okay, perhaps it was the only picture you could find but not likely as you then went on to to say, “Nor do I believe that the adoption by the Congregation’s prefect of a 30′ watered-silk cappa magna is the answer, either”.
Mine was the first comment on this thread and I said, “Thom, the cappa magna has no bearing on this and your reference to it in this context is pandering”. Notice I was not defending the cappa but I was criticising your misuse of the cappa to back up you dubious point.
You defended your reference to the cappa to make your point and said, “David, I don’t agree; it isn’t pandering. It’s relevant because it seems that a traditional “look” is what the Cardinal is proposing to remedy what he sees as a “crisis.”
But further down you backtacked and said, “To all, let me be clear: if you focus on prelatial vesture as a takeaway from this piece, you’ve missed the point entirely”.
Considering what you had said above I thought that was a bit hypocritical and said, “That is exactly the point I raised in the first thread on this page. If, as you say, prelatial vesture entirely misses the point, why did you introduce it?”
No Thom, I’m not trying to defend the cappa magna but I’m also not prepared to let you wag your finger at those who discuss the pros or cons of the cappa in this context while you try to wiggle out of having introduced it into the debate in the first place
Dear David,
Good grief.
I’m not “trying to wiggle out” of anything; I’m just tired of talking about it.
I introduced the cappa as an example of the kind of “traditionalism” that some have said would be a “fix” for the ills of contemporary religious life. The cappa that the Cardinal is wearing represents that sort of of mindset, as most prelates do not wear it any longer.
It is a pertinent example because what the Cardinal has proposed in the past as “fixes” are just as surface as the wearing of that particular vesture.
The cappa is, in this instance, indicative of a larger problem. That’s why I mentioned it. (Besides the fact that the man is wrapped in one while sitting on his throne.)
Now I really am done discussing it.
Peace.