The Consecrated
s
Life and Its Role in
the Church and in
the World
by Vatican
DESCRIPTION
This working paper for the October 1994
World Synod of Bishops expounds on the
consecrated life in light of the ecclesiology of
communion.
PUBLISHER & DATE
Vatican, October 1994
INTRODUCTION
Listening to the Spirit
1. The consecrated life is a gift which the
Father has given to the church by means of
the Spirit so that, in faithfulness to the Gospel,
the most characteristic traits of the life of his
Son Jesus, the chaste, poor and obedient one
(cf. Mt. 8:20; Phil. 2:8), and the unfathomable
riches of his mystery (cf. Eph. 3:8), might be
present in the world and might draw everyone
toward the kingdom of God.1Therefore, the
ninth ordinary general assembly of the Synod
of Bishops, which has as its topic "the
consecrated life and its role in the church and
in the world" is a grace-filled moment for the
entire people of God.
The leading characters in this event will be
above all the bishops gathered in communion
with the Holy Father John Paul II. As pastors
and guides in perfection, and faithful to the
charism of each institute,2 they will listen to
the Spirit and give attention to the desires and
needs expressed by the church concerning the
institutes of consecrated life and the societies
of apostolic life. Their particular task is one of
discernment and pastoral guidance. Present
alongside the bishops will be some
representatives of the superiors general for
men.
Also present, as observers, will be some
women and men religious, men and women
members of institutes of consecrated life and
societies of apostolic life, priests, lay women
and men, called by the Holy Father to express
in this way the universality of the church and
all her vocations, in a mutual listening to the
experiences and desires of the whole people
of God.
It is urgent that the whole church gather in
prayer around the synod fathers and the other
synod participants in order to implore the light
of the Holy Spirit through the intercession of
the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints,
especially the saintly founders and
foundresses. It is to the Holy Spirit, who stirs
these charisms in the church, that prayer is
raised in one voice, that he may guide the
church toward a renewed outpouring of his
gift of wisdom and grace for a new Pentecost
in the consecrated life. He is "the life and
strength of the people of God, the bond of its
communion, the vigor of its mission, the
source of its multiple gifts, the secret of its
admirable unity, the radiance and beauty of its
creative power and the fire of its love."3
The Present Hour
2. The aim of the synod is to reflect on the
consecrated life in the light of God's plan,
returning to the sources of grace from which it
arises, the great wealth of its historical
expressions and the legacy of its saints. At the
same time, however, the synod is intended to
discern the challenges and expectations of the
contemporary world, for which the Holy
Spirit enriches the consecrated life with
resources of grace, spirituality, manifold
works and creativity in the apostolic life.
During recent decades, in the wake of the
Second Vatican Council, the church has
delved deeper into her nature and mission in
the light of the ecclesiology of communion4 in
order to understand more deeply her mystery
rooted in the Trinity, her nature as a sign and
instrument of intimate union with God and of
the unity of the human race.5 In recent synods
this vision has given us a better understanding
of the vocation and mission of the laity (1987)
and of the identity and mission of priests and
their formation in the circumstances of the
present day (1990), as can be clearly seen in
the post-synodal apostolic
exhortations Christifideles Laici and Pastores
Dabo Vobis. The ecclesiology of communion
must now contribute to a deeper reflection on
the consecrated life in the church. It is
impossible to have an adequate conception of
the mystery, communion and mission of the
church without an understanding of the
consecrated life, just as the consecrated life
cannot be understood and lived unless it is
rooted in the church's mystery, communion
and mission.
The framework for this reflection on the
consecrated life is the new evangelization of
today's world, characterized by the rise of new
values and cultures which have a conditioning
effect on the traditional view of the
consecrated life. While this context presents
significant challenges to its identity and
mission, it also affords a providential
opportunity, on the basis of the creativity of
the charisms of the Spirit, to evoke
courageous responses based on the Gospel.
The hope-filled moment in which the church
is living calls for such a reflection, as does the
constant invitation coming from Christ and
from the charism of the founders and
foundresses, which continues in time.
John Paul II recalled the meaning of the
coming synod in these words: "The successors
of the apostles will meet to discuss your life
and the contribution which your founders and
foundresses-and your respective spiritual
families with them-have given and still give to
the mission of the church. They want to
understand in all its breadth and depth the
design of the Lord who sanctifies, enriches
and also guides his people through the gifts
and charisms of the communities of
consecrated life and the societies of apostolic
life. The bishops want to help you to be
Gospel leaven and evangelizers of the cultures
of the third millennium and of the social
ordering of the peoples."6
In a recent address to superiors general, he
affirmed: "Today the religious life is
experiencing a particularly significant
moment of its history because of the
demanding and widespread renewal imposed
by the changed sociocultural conditions at the
threshold of the third millennium of the
Christian era.... In their day the founders and
foundresses were able to incarnate the Gospel
message with courage and holiness. It is
necessary that, faithful to the breath of the
Spirit, their spiritual daughters and sons
continue this witness in time, imitating their
creativity, with a mutual fidelity to the
charism of their origins, and in constant
listening to the demands of the present
moment."7
An Encouraging Response
3. Preparations for the coming synod are in
progress throughout the church. This can be
seen from the many initiatives of reflection,
prayer and study. A widespread response has
been given to the lineamenta which, following
a well-established method, is intended to offer
points of reference to promote reflection-even
on negative aspects-and elicit responses,
suggestions and evaluations.
A sign of the interest aroused by the synod is
the quantity and quality of the official
responses sent to the General Secretariat of
the Synod by the episcopal conferences and
the synods of the Oriental churches, the
departments of the Roman Curia, the Union of
Superiors General for Men and the
International Union of Superiors General for
Women and the World Conference of Secular
Institutes.
In addition to these, many observations were
sent by cardinals and bishops, national and
international conferences of men and women
religious, individual institutes of consecrated
life and societies of apostolic life,
confederations and federations of monasteries
as well as individual monasteries, priests,
women and men religious, consecrated virgins
and hermits, theologians and brethren from
other churches and Christian communities.
This is valuable material which offers
assistance in coming to an understanding of
the situation and the expectations of the
consecrated life in the church and in the world
today.
Additional Intensive Study
4. An attentive study of the responses and
observations has pointed above all to
questions of a general nature as well as to
those proper to various nations and institutes
concerning the present state of the consecrated
life, its identity and role in ecclesial
communion and some of the most urgent
questions involving the present and future of
consecrated life. The instrumentum
laboris has taken all this material into
account, with an eye toward the celebration of
the synodal assembly.
Emerging from the responses is a general
view of the topics and trends which, although
having certain differences according to
individual institutes, various nations and
cultural and geographic areas, offers a
substantial convergence of "lights and
shadows," hopes and desires, and questions
and obligations concerning the consecrated
life in the church and in the world. According
to some, this is a period of transformation or
of profound change in the consecrated life,
while others see it as one of renewal,
revitalization and refoundation.
Furthermore, the responses give rise to a
renewed evaluation of the consecrated life and
the forms it has taken, especially in the
following directions: an emphasis on its
specific nature and variety of charisms;
special attention to the diversity of
geographical and cultural situations; a
reflection on its relationship to the mystery,
communion and mission of the church; a
courageous statement of its identity and
apostolic mission so that it may have the
renewed impetus to be a prophetic witness
today for the salvation of the world.
By its very nature the instrumentum laboris is
intended to offer topics for the synod's
discussion. It is meant to illustrate, pinpoint
and delve deeper into these aspects in the light
of the responses, bearing in mind the
complexity of the consecrated life, its
universal reality and the pastoral nature of the
synod. At the same time, it must not fail to
highlight some specific questions which many
responses entrust to the synod's reflection.
This synodal document takes its inspiration
from the word of God and the church's
tradition, and draws upon the teaching of
Vatican II and the postconciliar documents on
the consecrated life.8In this way, as the
majority of the responses have requested, it is
meant to recall the church's teaching and open
new paths to theological reflection on the
consecrated life and its spiritual and apostolic
spirit.
The Consecrated Life
5. It seems essential to make an initial
clarification on the topic of the synod so all
might have a better understanding of the
complexity and variety of individuals,
communities and institutes to which it refers.
Historically speaking, the
expression consecrated life has various
meanings in the documents of Vatican II and
in recent canonical legislation of the universal
church. The dogmatic constitution Lumen
Gentium and the decree Perfectae
Caritatis9 describe the rise of various forms of
religious and consecrated life, that is,
institutes devoted entirely to contemplation,
institutes of monastic and conventual life,
clerical institutes dedicated to various
apostolic works, lay institutes and secular
institutes.
The Code of Canon Law includes among the
institutes of consecrated life religious
institutes in general and secular institutes. In
this category it also places the eremitical and
anchoritic life. It also mentions that the order
of virgins is similar (accedit) to the forms of
consecrated life, as are societies of apostolic
life as well (accedunt).10
The Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches
speaks first of all of monks, among whom can
be included hermits and religious.11 It
considers societies of common life such as (ad
instar) religious12 and secular institutes.13 It
also mentions the ascetics who imitate the
eremitical life and the virgins and widows
who, although living in the world, make a
public profession of chastity.14 Finally, it adds
societies of apostolic life.15
Today there are approximately 1,423 institutes
of women religious of pontifical right and
1,550 of diocesan right. Among the religious
institutes for men there are 250 of pontifical
right and 242 of diocesan right. There are
approximately 165 secular institutes of
pontifical or diocesan right, including those of
priests, clerics or groups of lay women and
men. There are also 39 societies of apostolic
life of pontifical right. To these we must add a
growing number of consecrated virgins, of
consecrated widows and widowers, hermits
and hermitesses and other groups that have
initiated the process of canonical recognition.
The Synod of Bishops, being universal by
nature, cannot overlook this broad and
complex vision of the consecrated life.
Meaning and Limits of Terminology
6. As explicitly stated at the announcement of
the topic of the ninth ordinary general
assembly of the Synod of Bishops and at the
presentation of the lineamenta, the object of
synod discussion is the various forms of
consecrated life, to which are added the
societies of apostolic life.
The responses have indicated that the great
variety of forms and traditions within the
institutes of consecrated life and societies of
apostolic life presents some weighty
problems.
The first of these problems is terminology.
The responses point out that a great majority
of people continue to use indiscriminately the
terms religious life and religious. Although
technically speaking these terms designate
only institutes of religious life as such,
instances of their misuse are common, even in
some documents of the magisterium.
Although it is already present in Vatican
II,16 the term consecrated life seems rather
new to many people. Some think the
designation is not entirely appropriate and
even discriminatory, as if to say through its
use that other Christians are not "consecrated"
in their baptism. The
terms consecration and consecrated life are
taken here in their precise theological
meaning, indicating a life consecrated by
means of the evangelical counsels and
17
recognized as such by the church. For
obvious practical reasons the instrumentum
laboris usually uses the term consecrated
life as such or similar expressions. The
widespread designation of this terminology
must be taken in an analogical sense and
according to the proper nature of the diverse
forms of life which are included in it. At times
a specific terminology is used so as to refer to
each of the forms of consecrated life
according to their nature.
Many responses express a desire for the
specific treatment of each form of the
consecrated life and for finding adequate
solutions to problems, even local ones. Such
specific attention to the matter is usually
claimed above all because of the specific
nature and mission of the secular institutes,
which are seen as typically diverse because of
the secular nature of their life and apostolate.
A similar notion is voiced concerning the
societies of apostolic life, consecrated virgins
and hermits.
In accordance with the official title of the
ninth ordinary general assembly,
the instrumentum laboris treats the
connotations, values, problems, demands and
tasks of the institutes of consecrated life and
societies of apostolic life in the present-day
circumstances of the church and the world,
clarifying in some cases specific features
regarding above all identity, communion,
mission and major priorities for the immediate
future. Each institute and form of consecrated
life is distinguished because of its specific
nature, mission and charism. In the synodal
gathering the instrumentum laboris will
permit an ample dialogue on all questions of a
universal and pastoral nature.
Plan of the Instrumentum Laboris
7. The purpose of this document is the
preparation of the synod discussion of the
consecrated life and its role in the church and
in the world. Based on the responses, it offers
a broad-based exposition divided into four
parts.
The first part, "the consecrated life today,"
presents the theological, spiritual and pastoral
reality of the consecrated life (I), its situation
in the circumstances of the present day (II)
and according to geographic and cultural areas
(III), questions concerning some specific
forms (IV) and the request for a renewed
theological synthesis (V).
The second part, "the consecrated life in the
mystery of Christ and the church," offers a
theological vision of the consecrated life
within the mystery of the church (I), some
common features about vocation, the
following of Christ and consecration (II) in
the dimension of communion, mission and
witness (III).
The third part, "the consecrated life in
ecclesial communion," is a continuation of the
second part and treats more accurately the
perspective of the ecclesiology of communion
(I), in the universal church and the particular
churches (II).
The fourth part, "the consecrated life in the
church's mission for the world," studies the
challenges and tasks of the consecrated life
for the future (I), the call to the new
evangelization (II), the response of its
evangelical charisms for the world (III).
I. CONSECRATED LIFE TODAY
1. A Presence in Church and World
Like the Gospel Leaven
8. It is necessary to keep in mind the wealth
and variety of forms of the consecrated life
today in order to be aware of the reality and
complexity of the synod's topic. Nevertheless,
it is not easy to furnish a complete
description. There is no such thing as
consecrated life in the abstract; rather, it is
expressed in diverse forms and institutes,
incarnated in real persons-women and men-in
diverse settings, situations, spiritualities and
apostolates.
Its members constitute an important group in
the church, comparable to the Gospel leaven
(cf. Lk. 13:21). The members of the institutes
of consecrated life and societies of apostolic
life number more than a million, but they are a
minority within the people of God. In
statistical terms they amount to only 0.12
percent of the members of the Catholic
Church. Of this percentage group, women
constitute 72.5 percent of consecrated
persons, while 27.5 percent are men. With the
majority of consecrated persons being women
and lay brothers, the group is thus made up of
82.2 percent laity, leaving only 17.8 percent
priests or deacons.
Though small in number, this group is "a
radiant sign of the kingdom of heaven" for the
church and for the world.18 Concentrated in it
is a variety of forms of life, spiritual traditions
and apostolic works bearing witness to the
manifold grace of Christ, the presence of the
Spirit and the power of the Gospel.
The consecrated life is a memoria of the
teachings and example of Christ and the
Gospel values lived by the saints in the course
of the pilgrimage of the people of God
throughout the ages. It is a witness of
commitment in the following of Christ and a
prophecy of the eschatological destiny of
history.
A common reality unifies consecrated
persons-the call to total self-giving to God;
love for Christ the teacher, Lord and
bridegroom of the church, who is intimately
followed and served above everything; and
the decision to live according to the Spirit.
The consecrated life is a prophetic witness to
the primacy of God and to the things that do
not pass away. Indeed, its value lies more in
"being"-from God and for God-than in
"doing"-its mission-although there should be
no dichotomy between being and doing.
Common Witness
9. In the Catholic Church the consecrated life
expresses a yearning which is typical of the
Gospel vocation. This can even be found
today in some non-Catholic churches and
communities. In fact, the eremitic and
monastic life are held in great honor in the
nonuniate Eastern churches, which have
preserved the great spiritual, liturgical and
apostolic tradition of their origins.19 In some
non-Catholic ecclesial communities forms of
consecrated life have been preserved or new
forms of consecrated life have arisen- similar
to those of the Catholic tradition-especially in
the Anglican church and more recently in the
evangelical and Reformed communities. The
common witness of commitment to Christ and
the values of the evangelical life can be a
valid element for promoting unity through the
exercise of ecumenical dialogue and the
spiritual ecumenism of conversion and prayer.
Analogous forms of personal dedication seen
in the search for the divine, in meditation,
prayer, asceticism and the witness to the
transcendent values-often accompanied by
compassionate service to one's neighbor-can
be found in other non-Christian religions. The
consecrated life can be the basis for a fruitful
dialogue with them and offer a common
witness to the values of the Spirit.20
The consecrated life, which is inspired by the
Gospel, is a sharing in the consecration of
Jesus, the Son of God and savior, the basis of
consecration for all the baptized. However, in
other religions we cannot fail to find the life-
giving breath of the Spirit from whom comes
all that is true, good, just and beautiful, as
seeds of the word called to bear fruit in due
season and as the renewing leaven of society.
In this way the consecrated life, together with
other forms of evangelical life and the search
for the absolute in various religions, in taking
on cherished spiritual values, exercises a
critical symbolic and transforming role within
society and interprets the transcendent hopes
of humanity.
Gospel's Presence in the World
10. The consecrated life, though a minority in
numbers, has a rich presence in the church
and in the world through its wealth of
communities and groups. It performs a
genuine ministry in the praise of God and the
salvation of the world in the celebration of the
eucharist, liturgical prayer, asceticism and
contemplation. It is active in evangelization
and catechesis, in works of charity serving the
victims of both old and new forms of poverty;
in being close to the sick and marginalized, in
the education of children and adolescents, in
schools and universities, in the advancement
of culture, in teaching the values of justice
and peace, and in the means of social
communications. Often the consecrated life is
found in the front lines of the church's mission
and dialogue with the world.
In all parts of the earth consecrated persons
live the same events as the people of God in
various geographical and cultural contexts.
They share the joys and hopes and the sorrows
and anguish of the men and women of today,
especially of the poor and suffering, because
nothing that is genuinely human fails to find
an echo in the hearts of Christ's disciples.21
Scattered throughout all areas of the particular
churches, consecrated persons are placed
among the people as a sign of ecclesial
communion and Christian fraternity. They are
often found in the "desert" where there is no
one, on the "margins of society" where they
experience poverty and share the necessities
of people, and on the "front lines" where they
face the risks of proclaiming the Gospel in
difficult situations.
After almost 20 yeas, Paul VI's words can be
recalled describing the consecrated life's
evangelizing presence in the church and in the
world. He honors and stimulates the fidelity of
the consecrated life to its vocation,
consecration and mission when he says:
"By virtue of their consecration they are
particularly free and willing to leave all things
and go to the ends of the earth to preach the
Gospel. They are always full of courage in
their work, and their apostolate is often
outstanding in its admirable resourcefulness
and initiative. They are generous and are often
to be found in the most remote mission
stations, where they may have to endure great
dangers to health and even to life. The church
is undoubtedly greatly indebted to them."22
The consecrated life also has a hidden
presence, that is, the great number of
consecrated persons who, even in old age or
illness continue to exercise a beneficial
influence through the offering of their prayers,
through their wisdom and through their
faithfulness day by day. Nor should those be
forgotten who in recent times-and even at this
present moment in various nations-have
suffered for their fidelity to Christ and the
church.
A Tree With Many Branches
11. A desire expressed in many of the
responses is that the variety of forms in
consecrated life not be reduced in perspective
or stifled. This variety corresponds to the
manifold grace of Christ, to the church's
historical experience and bears witness to the
"catholicity" of the evangelical values, which
the Holy Spirit has raised up and preserves for
the fullness of the Gospel of Christ.
Vatican II contemplates the spread of the
consecrated life, rooted in the words and
example of the Lord, from its origins to our
day in the light of the parable of the Gospel
seed (cf. Lk. 13:19): "From the God-given
seed of the counsels a wonderful and wide-
spreading tree has grown up in the field of the
Lord, branching out into various forms of
religious life lived in solitude or in
community. Different religious families have
come into existence in which spiritual
resources are multiplied for the advancement
in holiness of their members and for the good
of the entire body of Christ."23
Very much alive in the church's memory is
the historic fact of the eremitic, monastic,
religious and apostolic life, first born in the
East with the consecration to God of Christian
virgins, anchorites and cenobites. These
persons exemplify the first forms of
consecrated life which were guided by the
teaching and the apoftegmi of the "fathers"
and "mothers" of the desert, organized by the
first monastic rules and recognized by the
church with special rites such as the
consecration of virgins and monastic
profession. Continuing throughout history,
with the creativity of the Spirit responding to
the needs of the times, other forms arose, for
example, the canons regular, the institutes of
religious life, contemplative and apostolic
groups of various kinds (mendicant orders,
clerics regular, religious congregations, both
102 clerical and lay, missionary institutes...).
More recently the church has recognized the
form of a consecrated life in the world which
is proper to secular institutes. Related to these
forms are the societies of apostolic life, which
are characterized by their specific apostolic
and missionary purposes.
The diversity of forms of consecrated life
depend on their nature and mission, that is,
according to the relationship to the mystery
and mission of Christ which each institute
lives and proclaims according to the special
nature of each family and which sets it apart
with its own distinctive spirituality and
specific apostolate. According to many
responses, a great many people wish to
highlight the distinctive charism as a universal
key for interpreting one's whole experience,
the practice of the evangelical counsels, one's
own spirituality, apostolate, community life,
formation and organization.
The wealth of the variety of forms of the
consecrated life is also expressed in the
multiplicity of liturgical rites within the one
church of Christ.
Complementarity and the Exchange of
Gifts
12. As has been noted, consecrated women far
outnumber others within the consecrated life,
both in monastic life and in apostolic religious
life, as well as in missionary service. They
bring with them the power of their witness,
the quality of life in communion and the
unique potentiality of their mission. Among
the men there are lay institutes composed of
brothers alone. Other institutes are clerical in
their foundation and charism; still others are
both clerical and lay in that clerics and laymen
belong to them on the basis of the same
consecration and charism and participate in
diverse ways in their life, administration and
apostolate, depending on the nature of the
institute.
On the basis of a prevalent orientation toward
a life dedicated more to prayer and divine
worship or to the explicit spread of the Gospel
by word and work, a distinction is made in the
church between institutes dedicated entirely to
contemplation and those devoted to apostolic
and missionary activity, even though the
contemplative and apostolic dimension is
common to each institute according to its own
charism. Indeed, the institutes of
contemplative life are eminently apostolic,
while apostolic institutes order their life on
the basis of their mission in the church so as
to be contemplatives in action, in imitation of
Christ.24
Certain attention is given to the institutes of
consecrated life and societies of apostolic life
of diocesan right which are bound to the
service of the local church. Today such
institutes are particularly flourishing in the
younger churches.
Traditional and New Forms
13. The responses make reference to the
phenomenon of the flourishing of new and
traditional forms of the consecrated life,
offering great hope for the synod's work.
Consecrated virginity and the order of virgins
are the original expression of a total
dedication to Christ in the church since her
beginning. Later, however, the institution of
consecrated virgins was absorbed by women's
monastic life and profession. Recently, among
the fruits of renewal there is a renewed
flourishing of vocations to virginity in the
world through "consecrated virgins" who,
alone or in association with others, dedicate
themselves to Christ, their spouse, and to the
service of the church.
In various areas we also see signs of a rebirth
of the experience of hermits-priests and
laymen-and also hermitesses, living in
solitude or immersed in urban centers with a
special vocation. They devote themselves to
the praise of God and intercession for the
salvation of the world. In some areas there can
be noted the existence of "widows" or
"widowers" who, either alone or with others,
offer themselves to Christ and the service of
the church.
Some responses note that it would be good to
promote individual forms of consecration
similar to those already recognized.
Today new forms of the consecrated life are
being founded, forms which cannot be
reduced to pre-existing categories. In addition
to the profession of the consecrated life
through the evangelical counsels, they
ordinarily have some added characteristics
such as the mixed nature of the group made
up of both men and women; renewed forms of
participation in the administration of the
common life; flexible structures; and more
dynamic organizational features in view of
their mission.
Secular institutes, a form of the consecrated
life which has arisen in our century, are
characterized by their consecration in the
world or a "consecrated secularity" lived in
the midst of activities which are typical of lay
people. Their manner of professing the
evangelical counsels, their expressions of life
in these associations and their apostolate-
including evangelization and witness in the
world-differ according to the nature of each
institute. Then too, there are the diverse
characteristics of members of secular
institutes, depending on whether they belong
to the clergy or laity.
Men's and women's societies of apostolic life,
like those of the consecrated life, are
characterized by their being associated for the
sake of apostolic and missionary activity.
Though of great merit in the work of
evangelization and mission, they are
oftentimes not sufficiently known.
In addition, mention should be made of the
presence of groups and communities which
are coming into being or in the process of
recognition as institutes of consecrated life,
new forms of consecrated life or societies of
apostolic life.
2. Present-Day Circumstances
On the Church's Path
14. The responses gave great importance to
analyzing the situation of the church and of
the world today in order to understand the
present state of the consecrated life. Because
of its active engagement in the church and its
presence in the world, it has experienced
profound changes which can be understood
only in the light of what has happened in
recent decades in the church and society. This
period of rapid changes has had a significant
effect on the identity of the consecrated life
and its various approaches to apostolic
activity.
First of all, one should note a better
understanding of the nature of consecrated
life. It was Vatican Council II which offered
to the consecrated life a theological
framework for understanding how it belongs
to the church25 and the principles for its
renewal and adaptation "to the changed
conditions of our time."26
The first thing that must be understood about
the consecrated life is that it is a gift from God
through the church in the service of humanity
and that there is an urgent need to revitalize
the charism at its origin.
Generally it was observed that the council's
invitation to renew the spirit and goal of the
foundresses and founders27 met with a twofold
response. On the one hand, there was a desire
for spiritual renewal, with hearts and minds
centered on God, the Blessed Trinity, who is
loved above all things and in whose mystery
we find the source of charity. On the other
hand, this spiritual renewal was undertaken
with eyes turned toward the women and men
of our day who comprise the world God loved
so much that he gave his only Son (cf. Jn.
3:16). Gazing upon humanity with faith
sharpened the ability to "read the signs of the
times and interpret them in the light of the
Gospel"28 in such a way as to enable the
consecrated life to respond to the Lord's call
in the necessities of our times.29
This twofold fidelity to God and humanity
which must continue to guide the consecrated
life shines forth in a unique way in the person,
words and life of Jesus, the Son of the Father
and Son of Man, and remains the way
proposed by the council which will lead to the
profound renewal and
authentic aggiornamentoof the consecrated
life.
A Serene Look of Faith
15. The journey marked by the council has
been neither direct nor uniform. Nevertheless,
some common elements of judgment deserve
to be high lighted. It has been a fruitful but
difficult process in which many efforts have
been made. Renewal was undertaken with
enthusiasm, courage and decisiveness, and not
without a share of resistance and failure. The
results seem to be still insufficient and not
entirely refined and concentrated. Everyone
expects the synod to offer encouragement on
the path opened by Vatican II.
The consecrated life, engaged in the world as
it is in the church, has been subject to the
strong influence of the enormous social and
cultural changes of our era, which have
become a genuine challenge. Without the eyes
of faith to look upon the present situation of
the world and society, it would be difficult to
understand the changes which have occurred
as well as the positive results and the abiding
difficulties. Indeed, one approach which has
marked the consecrated life is that of
remaining open to the challenges of humanity
in our times.
As in other eras there were moments of fervor
and decline, suppression and restoration,
reform and new foundations; so too in our
age. The eyes of faith allow us to keep not
only from absolutizing the negative aspects in
which a search for authenticity can often be
seen, but also from extolling what is positive
without properly discerning its defects. Only a
Gospel discernment, with eyes focused on the
Lord and with attentive listening to his word,
will help to reject whatever is contrary to the
good and to seek whatever opens hearts to
salvation so that the will of the Father, who
"wills everyone to be saved and to come to
knowledge of the truth" (1 Tm. 2:4), may be
fulfilled. As the responses insist, in the midst
of this situation the consecrated life, because
of its total dedication to God and his service,
must have a prophetic presence which in a
most profound way proclaims hope, voices
the message of salvation, proclaims the love
of God and denounces evil and infidelity to
his covenant of love.
Men and women called to imitate the Master-
the members of the institutes of the
consecrated life and societies of apostolic life-
know that they have been chosen from the
world, but that they are not of the world (cf.
Jn. 15:19), that is, they know they do not
belong to this world, but to Christ, and have
been sent into the world by him to proclaim
the Father's love. This justifies the note made
by many of the responses: The consecrated
life is held in esteem for its "works," but its
"being" is often not understood; it is often
praised for its involvement in the world, but in
some areas-especially as happens through the
mass media-its image is betrayed to the point
that people think it is meaningless. Like
Christ, it becomes a sign of contradiction.
Cultural and Social Changes
16. As the responses indicate, it is impossible
today to understand the consecrated life, its
tasks and its generous initiatives without
taking a realistic look at the world in which
we live.
What are the circumstances in today's world
which exercise a positive or negative
influence on the consecrated life and present a
context where consecrated persons ought to
live and bear witness to the Gospel?
In this final decade of the 20th century,
society is marked by great technological and
scientific progress, even if this is not
witnessed everywhere. Such advances offer
great opportunities in today's world. In some
ways positivistic tendencies have been
overcome; in other ways there has been the
fall of rationalistic and totalitarian ideologies
which limited the horizons of human
existence and claimed to build a world based
on the autonomy of reason or class struggle.
However, these tendencies still present
themselves in society, leaving no room for the
transcendent.
Today material progress could offer the
possibility to improve the condition of
humanity regarding nutrition, education,
health care and housing, and to make earning
one's bread a more humane task. However, the
poor continue to be poor and new forms of
poverty emerge, while paradoxically it is the
poor who often show a greater sensitivity to
the human values which a secular society does
not esteem. Negative symptoms such as
extreme nationalism and increased violence
are on the rise.
The means of communication and
transportation, which technology now offers,
allow us to think of humanity as one large
family which, while respecting different
ethnic identities and cultures, is tearing down
the walls of separation and moving closer
toward reconciliation under the gaze of the
one Father of all. The opportunities offered to
Catholicism today are great, responding to the
deepest aspirations of the consecrated life.
Today we can think of a world of solidarity
where borders do not put people in opposition
as enemies, where the interchange of goods,
knowledge and services can assume global
dimensions. A more universal culture-taking
into consideration the relations mentioned
above-will also allow all peoples to become
actively involved in the affairs between
nations, thereby overcoming a humiliating
dependency, marginalizations of various types
and the barriers between North and South, and
rich and poor nations.
In this context-the responses observe-
consecrated persons, who in their missionary
activity have in the course of history actually
blazed the trails of communion among
peoples, find in today's world through the
growing international character of their
institutes a citizenship that is natural to them
and witness the opening of new frontiers to
their mission, to their contribution to the
universality of the people of God, to the
exchange of gifts among all people and to the
universal reconciliation in Christ.30
A Challenging Situation
17. Among the values acquired by society, at
least at the theoretical level and with quite a
few contradictions, we find an awareness of
the dignity of the person, the value of human
rights, especially the right to life and freedom,
respect of conscience and the right to
objective truth. These values, which reflect
the influence of the Gospel of Jesus in human
history, have also had repercussions within
the consecrated life, in the manner of
understanding its role and its communal life.
The human sciences such as psychology have
given us a better knowledge of the human
person and the ability to treat this human
nature in its entirety, with its weaknesses and
strengths.
However, in this humanity in which much
hope can be found, sin is also present, seeking
to destroy the Father's plan to make his sons
and daughters authentically human in the light
of Christ, the new man. Therefore, it is
necessary that human culture be evangelized
at its roots by those who intend to follow
Christ and serve his plan of salvation. Indeed,
poverty and injustice continue to be present in
this world. There remains the domination of
the few over the many, not only in some
countries dominated by others, but also within
a given society, where side by side we find
luxury and poverty, fanaticism and violence,
the scourge of drugs, the loneliness
experienced by many people, disdain for life
from the moment of conception, attacks
against the family, and the deterioration of the
environment and of creation.
The responses indicate that women and men
religious, consecrated persons living in the
world, are not indifferent to these challenges
and that they are working to build a more
human world in accord with God's plan.
Sign of Contradiction and Hope
18. The responses also insist on offering a
realistic view of today's society which can
help one to understand the most difficult
challenges to the consecrated life, especially
in the area of the great values at the basis of
their involvement, and in a special way the
threefold counsel and evangelical charism of
chastity, poverty and obedience.
Profound cultural changes have corroded the
authentic meaning of sexuality, the idea of the
family and the value of virginity and celibacy.
If on the one hand, a healthy view of human
sexuality has contributed to a better
appreciation of the corporal and spiritual
integrity of the human person, other trends
have banalized the understanding of it and
disrupted its balance. The technological
possibility of separating the unitive and
procreative dimensions of sexuality create
grave challenges to the authentic meaning of
human life. In the plan of salvation, voluntary
celibacy for the sake of the kingdom and
Christian marriage, in the light of the mystery
of Christ the bridegroom and of the church, by
their complementary nature show the power
of love which integrates, gives of itself and is
committed. It is the alternative offered by the
good news of love to a sexuality that in its
hedonistic expressions confines man and
woman to a fleeting experience, consigning
them to loneliness. Fidelity to marriage and
the commitment to celibacy for the sake of the
kingdom of heaven are perhaps more difficult
to assume today, but in their complementarity
they have become a privileged sign which
must be restored to the project of true love
and be seen as a mutual example of fidelity.
Celibacy in particular must be a prophecy of
the future definitive kingdom (cf. Mt. 22:30).
However, how can we teach today a
commitment as demanding as that of
celibacy?
A liberal economy without any corrective
measures has led to the growing stratification
in living conditions resulting in the
abandonment of the weak and the poor, of
ethnic minorities, and of the sick and elderly,
as often happens in the poorest of countries.
The profit motive in the free-market economy,
claimed to be the only motive for existence
and relationships, leads to a moral relativism,
to a culture of efficiency which obscures the
sense of a free act of generosity, of poverty
and evangelical simplicity. The organization
of civil life has often offered the bad example
of those who seek their own advantage
through the exercise of power. If a culture
with these characteristics threatens the soul of
Christian life and the consecrated life itself, it
offers those persons committed to the
imitation of the poor Christ the opportunity to
live the Gospel of the Beatitudes and alleviate
the suffering of so many people whose failure
to share in progress has left them at the
fringes of society. How can a more credible
witness of poverty in today's world be
achieved?
Today's insistence in culture on personal
autonomy and on fulfillment, as understood
by one's subjective conscience creates
difficulties affecting obedience, the
acceptance of traditions, the objective
limitations created by law, sacrifice and the
mortification of one's own will for the sake of
the broader common good. Frequently the
very idea of solidarity is debased by the
prevalence of an individualistic logic, thus
presenting new problems threatening the
meaning of obedience and leading to risks of
individualism. At the same time, through
turning from individualism, the situation
poses the possibility of rediscovering the
genuine meaning of obedience for love of the
Lord and his kingdom in order to come
together in communion and mission, with
eyes fixed on Christ, the Son and obedient
servant, and on Mary, the handmaid of the
Lord, called to collaborate in the mystery of
salvation.
Today it is difficult for many people to make
fundamental and lasting commitments. There
is also a crisis in the idea of vocation and of
giving oneself in a lifelong manner. Some ask
if it is possible to consider the possibility of a
consecrated life made for a temporary period
of commitment with a view to more mature
choices, as can be found in other forms of
religion or other cultures. The choice of an
absolute ideal, and an offering of self to God
and the service of others, is a source of
meaning which humanizes and is a gift of self
to humanity. For this reason, persons
consecrated to a single ideal, which does not
pass away, are living signs of those
transcendent values for which a person lives
and even dies. In our day there is no lack of
persons who have followed Christ to the point
of sacrificing their life, rendering through
their martyrdom a sign which is the supreme
proof of love.
A World of Communication and Images
19. One characteristic of our times is a culture
of images which has become widespread
through the audiovisual media. On the one
hand such a culture should be appreciated for
its closeness to Christianity, which seeks to go
from the visible to the invisible through the
use of signs and liturgical symbols as
instruments of salvation and elevates
humanity through the goods of beauty and art.
However, this culture of images is often turned into
a culture of fleeting and superficial pleasure.
The world of communication also enters into
the areas of the consecrated life. However,
those who have chosen God cannot lose the
interior quality of a life which is nourished by
contemplation of what cannot be seen with
human eyes. Consecrated persons, in love
with God, the All-Beautiful, are called to bear
witness to the beauty which can save the
world in celebrating the liturgy, in
harmonious relationships, in promoting what
is true, beautiful, good and just. In the
contemplative dimension they can bear
witness to and promote the paths that lead to
mystery, which is the origin of everything
beautiful, and to the interiority which gives
meaning to daily work.
Material progress often leads to a society in
which consumerism becomes an end in itself.
Abandoning the transcendent dimension, it
ends up in religious indifferentism, relativism
and secularism. In this case, it is urgently
necessary to regain the true meaning of life
and the world which, despite their beauty
aspects, have lost their appeal and mystery.
Vocation and Dignity of Women
20. "The awareness that women, because of
their own gifts and tasks, have their own
specific vocation has increased and been
deepened in the years following the council
and has found its fundamental inspiration in
the Gospel and in the church's history."31 This
explains the development of a consciousness
concerning consecrated women and their
presence in recent decades in various areas, a
phenomenon which coincides with a
clarification of sociological and theological
presuppositions, a greater involvement in
interpreting the foundational charisms, a more
decisive development in formation and the
assumption of responsibility in the
consecrated life. However, adherence to
extreme present-day forms of the feminist
movement has led to spiritual disorientation in
the consecrated life in some countries.
Consecrated women in their personal lives
and in their work in evangelization today find
themselves at a crossroads of the signs of the
times. They recognize the importance of their
contribution to an understanding of the
mystery of Christ and want to make
resplendent the countenance of God, the
source of new life. This femininity, which
finds its archetype in Mary of Nazareth, is a
clarion call to the whole church. Whenever we
think of the mother of Jesus as the bearer of
life and her action of embracing salvation, or
of Mary Magdalene and the other women, the
first "evangelists" of the Lord's resurrection,
the role of women in the church can be more
deeply understood. Indeed, "it is quite clear
from the words and attitude of Christ, which
are normative for the church, that no
discrimination exists on the level of an
individual's relation to Christ, in which 'there
is neither male nor female, for you are all one
in Christ Jesus' (Gal. 3:28.)"32
Women-including consecrated women-in
reciprocity and complementarity with men,
ought to assume all their responsibilities in
society and in the church with the contribution
and wealth of their feminine nature. This is an
urgent challenge presented by today's culture.
Bishops are called to discern and offer
guidance in all that concerns consecrated
women. These confidently look to them for a
helpful word.
Responses and Challenges
21. This assortment of movements and
transformations in culture-described above on
the basis of the responses-has an effect on the
meaning of consecrated life for today's men
and women as well as for the young people of
this era, who are faced with vocational
choices for the future.
Many of the situations already described have
had a refining influence on the consecrated
life. Recent decades have witnessed many
defections, notable crises and an acute decline
in vocations in some countries. Today the
consecrated life is faced with the task of
reformulating the fundamental nature of its
charismatic origins. At the same time, purified
from the ambiguous motivations which in
other eras could have had an influence on this
choice, it offers the uncertainties of the human
heart the free and generous response leading
to the full realization of persons in their
dedication to God through the evangelical
counsels, in communion with the Master and
following him, in which is found the seed of a
new humanity, one with greater solidarity,
fraternity and joy.
In an era of change such as ours it seems that
many people are still uncertain about what
concrete, renewed forms will give meaning to
life and will have the capacity to survive. A
whole generation can pass during the time of
uncertainty and searching. However, as many
responses affirm, today the consecrated life
has the courage to give itself still to the
profession of the evangelical counsels as a
great plan of God offering Christ's faithful-the
women and men of our age-a fullness of
meaning and joy rooted in the word and
example of Christ himself.
At a time when utopianism seems to be fading
and pragmatism runs the risk of making
society close in upon itself, all Christians-men
and women religious, those who are
consecrated in the world and everyone
according to their vocation-remind others that
today it is possible to live day by day with the
power of hope and faith. For this very reason
the poor, the sick, the little ones and those
who have lost life's meaning can be
evangelized and witness around them the
rebirth of hope. Consecrated persons must
also bear witness in today's world to that
fullness of joy which Jesus promised his
disciples (cf. Jn. 15: 11).
Fruits of Renewal
22. In the midst of this profound cultural
change, following the call of the church, the
consecrated life has traveled a path of renewal
with lights and shadows. The responses are in
relative agreement in describing positive and
negative aspects as well as in offering signs of
hope. A summary of points which enjoy a
certain degree of unanimity will help give an
awareness of the path which lies ahead.
There is sufficient agreement on the positive
evaluation of the progress which has taken
place in the theology of the consecrated life in
the areas of Christology, pneumatology and
ecclesiology and in the treatment of the
consecrated life as a fruit of the Second
Vatican Council in later documents of the
magisterium and in theological discussion and
research.
Many responses affirm that in harmony with
the church's liturgical renewal in recent
decades, new value has been given in all
forms of the consecrated life to participation
in the eucharist and the celebration of the
Liturgy of the Hours and the sacraments. The
rites of religious profession themselves have
been renewed. Men and women religious have
made a great contribution to the work of
liturgical renewal. Many communities,
especially the monastic and contemplative
ones, are points of reference for the
celebration of the liturgy and the promotion of
liturgical worship.
Forms of piety have been progressively
updated and greater importance has been
given to contemplative prayer. On many
occasion today this takes on the form of
shared prayer-shared also with the laity-for a
mutual growth in experiencing God and
uplifting each other.
In response to the council,33 the word of God
today is better known, read and meditated
upon. It is found in the hands and hearts of
consecrated persons in the form of lectio
divina, contemplative meditation and sharing
of the word as it is lived and meditated upon
both within and outside the community. The
biblical renewal has been shown to be of
decisive value. In the light of the word there
has been a rediscovery and actualization of
the charism of the consecrated life, a better
evaluation of its spirituality and a better
knowledge of the centrality of the imitation of
Christ in order to be his disciples and apostles.
The awareness of baptismal consecration as
the root of self-giving to God through the
evangelical counsels34 has created an
understanding of the ecclesiality of the
consecrated life and of its proper vocation and
mission, perceiving them with a renewed
sense of communion with the other members
of the people of God: bishops, priests,
deacons and laity. As a consequence this has
led to a more harmonious and greater
engagement of the consecrated life in the
particular churches and a generous
participation in the evangelizing mission of
the church.
Seeds of Hope
23. Among the choicest fruits of the council
we find a desire to return to the sources,35 the
rediscovery of charisms, a renewed love for
the founders and foundresses, the study of
their writings and of the spiritual tradition of
one's own family, and, in light of charisms, a
renewed inspiration of legislative texts. This
re-evaluation of charisms has given in this age
new vitality and vigor to the consecrated life.
From this comes a better integration of
spirituality and mission.
Among the results of renewal, the responses
frequently highlight the evangelical option for
the poor as a concrete form of sharing in the
poverty of the disadvantaged and of
expressing charity toward the little ones, a
charity which was a privileged choice of
many founders and foundresses. This has
often allowed the consecrated life to become
more actively involved in densely populated
areas and had an influence on a more simple
lifestyle and in the discernment and adaptation
of apostolic works. This nearness to the
people, frequently to the marginalized and
abandoned, has brought about a growth of
human and evangelical solidarity as well as of
a commitment to justice and human
advancement which today are seen as integral
aspects of the new evangelization. Oftentimes,
the poor themselves, with their profound
sense of God, have evangelized the women
and men religious living among them. Those
who live the consecrated life have been
invited by the poor to live a more
incarnational spirituality and to be attentive to
history and the signs of the times. This in turn
has fostered an awareness of the dimensions
of prophecy and martyrdom and prompted
consecrated persons to take positions in the
front lines, even to risking their lives.
A sign of renewal is the work done by all the
institutes in adapting their proper legislation.
This work has required years of reflection,
study and dialogue and has had positive
results in the regaining and making relevant
values based on charisms and in making
renewed proposals for the legislative
framework which unites and commits all
members of institutes.
Mutual esteem among the institutes,
reciprocal help, collaboration and
intercongregational formation programs are
also a positive result in recent decades.
We should value the efforts at renewal at
work in the structures and methods of
formation. There is an awareness of the
necessity of formation, one that is spiritual,
biblical, theological, pastoral and in some
cases even professional. There is concern to
pay greater attention to the person with a view
to effective growth and maturation in all
aspects. There is an awareness of the need for
ongoing formation, of training formation
personnel and of the role of the community in
the formation process.
The postconciliar period has also shed light on
the necessity of profoundly renewing the
apostolic mission of the institutes, taking into
account their charisms, the needs of the times
and concrete situations, and taking a new look
at the works themselves, the style in which
they are performed, the possibility of their
continued existence and the places where they
are carried out. We can, however, ask if some
institutes' abandonment of certain works in
the areas of the education of children and
young people and in the care of the sick has
not impoverished their presence in society and
in the church's evangelizing activity.
The desire of the council, which invited
religious and secular institutes to begin new
foundations in the younger churches using a
new style of adaptation to the religious values,
culture and needs of people,36 has developed a
sense of inculturation and its urgency,
especially in this moment of grace in which
vocations are flourishing in the younger
churches.
The continued attention and guidance of the
church's magisterium in recent decades has
been very positive as well as the contribution
of some documents which have been
produced by episcopal conferences. This
celebration of the Synod of Bishops, the
expressed wish of the Holy Father Pope John
Paul II, is a sign of hope and encouragement
for all and an occasion to help the seeds of
hope to grow.
New Forms of Community Life
24. In efforts at renewal, community life has
undergone significant changes in recent
decades. The common life, seen from the
perspective of poverty (uniformity in food,
clothing and other goods) had led many
religious institutes-and sometimes societies of
apostolic life too-to live a rather conventual
form of community life, at times even
monastic, without due regard for differences
among institutes by their very nature. The
postconciliar reflection has fostered an
evolution in the understanding of the common
life, centered on the dimension of mystery,
based on the theological reality of a life of
fraternal communion.
Many institutes of apostolic and missionary
life have desired to rethink and make more
flexible their manner of living and their
community structures so as to respond better
to their own nature and purpose.
A deeper understanding of the value of the
person has been expressed in the search for
more simple relationships among the
members of the community, marked by
greater mutual esteem and respect, while
giving less emphasis to differences of a
cultural or functional nature. Wherever this
has occurred, it has been easier to create
understanding among individuals and a more
sincere dialogue with superiors. Various
forms of participation in decision making
have come into being regarding both the
internal life of the community and apostolic
activity.
In some places the lower number of vocations
has created new problems in community life.
On the one hand there are rather large
numbers of elderly and infirm members in the
community; on the other hand, the younger
generations desire for a more immediate
contact with the people and a special
closeness to the poorest of the poor, has led to
the disappearance of large-scale works and the
formation of "small communities based on
common interest" formed by people having
the same image of religious life and the same
goals for the apostolate. Although on the
positive side this kind of small community has
allowed the members to overcome the
anonymity and individualism to which large
communities can too easily contribute, it
nevertheless causes a number of problems, in
that it risks creating a type of "corporate
individualism" with respect to the rest of the
institute, causing harm to the unity of the
institute.
In the light of the council's directives,37 the
exercise of authority has been renewed in
many places and seen as a service to the
spiritual, apostolic and fraternal revitalization
of communities, allowing greater closeness
between superiors and subjects. The responses
positively evaluate the shift from a passive
obedience to an obedience of greater dialogue
and participation.
Nevertheless, individualism and
authoritarianism are always a strong
temptation and are destructive of the life of
fraternal communion. The excessive
dependence on former times has sometimes
been replaced not by a balanced participation
but by independence under the stimulus of
democratic ideas which are not appropriate to
the life of the church and consecrated life. The
renewal of institutes cannot be based on
sociology factors, but only on the rediscovery
of the specific nature of the foundational
charism. Only in the light of the theology of
the consecrated life in general and of the
religious life in particular can discernment be
made as to the validity of the following
experiences or suggestions: "small
communities based on common interests" and
so- called "inclusive communities," that is,
those composed of people with vows and
without vows, of different ages, cultures and
including lay people-married or single-
diocesan clergy, etc.; the dispersion of
communities; communities composed also of
members with temporary commitment; and
more democratic methods of participating in
administration.
Present Difficulties
25. This broad-based, positive renewal
process described above must also be
completed with the list of negative aspects
also emerging in the responses. It is therefore
essential to make an objective analysis of the
negative phenomena, which must not always
be attributed to the process of renewal. It is
important to note that many of the difficulties
have been faced and overcome at a time in
which the consecrated life is advancing
toward a new era in its 2,000-year history, and
for which it awaits encouragement and a new
thrust.
Many agree in stating that the changes in
society and the church have caused
disorientation, fears, insecurity and a lack of
balance. There have been divisions within
institutes. There has been a lack of formation
toward legitimate pluralism and dialogue
within communities and the church. Tensions
have arisen within institutes and communities,
tensions even with the ecclesiastical
hierarchy. Lacking is a pedagogy of change
which today has its effects on consecrated
life-also on many social institutions- and has
its roots not only in factors internal to the
church, but in the profound cultural changes
in our times.
There is need in these days for a great
evangelical discernment in seeking the Lord's
will. Apostolic works have been abandoned
without mature deliberation, and changes
were made with greater attention to the
structures than to the spirit which should
pervade them. It is not uncommon-the
responses note that a certain type of
traditionalism not open to dialogue has
created resistance to the changes, holding as
sacred and unchanging certain customs, forms
and works which have come about over the
course of time. Sometimes tensions have
arisen because of mutually exclusive
concepts, without taking account of the fact
that different lifestyles and apostolic works
can be complementary and that they can
support and enrich one another, even within
the same family.
The responses contain other negative
evaluations. The openness to the signs of the
times and even the option for the poor have
generated in some an ideological and political
choice which has even led to the loss of their
own identity. In some cases the legitimate
desire to respond to the signs of the times and
a greater presence in the world has become
merely an adaptation, which has led to the
weakening and irrelevancy of the public
witness of the consecrated life, and in extreme
cases, to an indiscriminate imitation of the
secularized, conventional culture. Some note
to their regret that many men and women
religious have abandoned the sign of the habit
proper to their institute. Others mention that a
certain search for comfort has banalized the
more genuine motivation of the evangelical
counsels and has weakened the missionary
spirit. For some the fact that some institutes
enjoy economic security and possess
collective wealth, in contrast with the poor
areas where they live, is seen also as a lack of
an authentic witness of poverty.
Many deplore the lack of balance between
prayer and action and the serious risk of
activism. Others note that changes not in
conformity with the church's discipline have
been introduced into liturgical celebrations.
Many formal structures of traditional
observance which furnished support in the
past have disappeared and have not been
replaced by other values. For some people this
has created the lack of a proper personal
discipline necessary for confronting new
situations. Many have noted a spiritual
vacuum and a loss of the striving toward
transcendent values. Some people hold that
this is also due to questions raised in recent
decades in the fields of exegesis, theology and
morality, questions which ate not
harmoniously integrated in one's personal
search and the option of faith.
A Testing
26. For many institutes the number of
defections and the progressive decline in
vocations has been-and still is-a trial, a
genuine test of hope. There is fear for the
survival of many communities and their works
because of a lack of personnel in the near
future. In some regions-many of the responses
note-young men and women do not have an
appreciation of a vocation to the consecrated
life. But elsewhere there is the danger that in
seeking the survival of apostolic works the
necessary rigorous vocational discernment
will not be respected. Some speak about cases
of a frantic vocational recruitment of members
from the younger churches, who are then
uprooted from their cultural environment.
The responses present many difficulties at the
level of formation. It has not been easy to find
formation personnel capable of confronting
significant cultural changes. Frequently,
especially in the early moments of the crisis,
those in charge of formation responded more
from their own past experience than to the
new needs and requests of young people. It
has not been easy to foster formative
processes capable of integrating elements
coming, on the one hand, from a sound
sociology and psychology and, on the other,
from theology, spirituality or pastoral
ministry. Such an integration is necessary for
the formation of candidates. There was a lack
of knowledge on how to combine an authentic
sense of tradition with an openness to new
values. Sometimes there was an excess of
psychology or sociology. There was
opposition between the urgent needs of the
apostolate and the need for a solid intellectual
formation. The overcoming of excessively
formal structures has in some cases produced
a crisis in institutions and forms of
consecrated life where strength of character
and conviction is lacking for confronting
difficult periods. The exercise of freedom also
requires training in prudence and affective
maturity. Adequate means have not always
been found, and the inadequate ones were
often the cause of extremes and defections.
Others note that today's theological and
pastoral appreciation of the laity, if
improperly seen as being in opposition to
consecrated life and not integrated into an
ecclesiology of communion, leads to a
doctrinal and affective devaluation of the
consecrated life by young people. With this
improper understanding the laity, especially
those belonging to ecclesial organizations, are
seen as having more opportunities today to
express their commitment to the Gospel.
Many responses emphasize that the improved
involvement of the consecrated life in the
local churches has created problems regarding
the just autonomy of institutes. Both parties-
bishops and religious alike-note that mutual
relations have not been properly achieved.
Several episcopal conferences express their
regret over difficulties in involving men and
women religious in the diocesan apostolate
because they are too frequently changed by
their superiors. Others, however, mention that
an excessive identification with such an
apostolate, as happens in parishes entrusted to
religious, can generate a loss of their own
identity and fidelity to the spirituality and
mission of their own institute.
3. Diverse Situations in Various
Geographical Areas A Diversified Situation
27. The responses from the episcopal
conferences reveal a situation which is
diversified according to various cultural and
geographical areas. In the countries of the
Northern Hemisphere members of institutes of
consecrated life are aging and decreasing in
number. In the countries of the Southern
Hemisphere the opposite is happening; they
are becoming younger and more numerous. In
geographic terms there is a shift from North to
South and from West to East.
It is a question of a process which brings with
it the following: a certain crisis in tradition
and in openness to the new; the loss of
uniformity and the growth of pluralism; the
lessening of the significance of the
consecrated life and the number of
consecrated persons in some nations; a
tendency toward processes of inculturation;
and an increased engagement in local
churches as well as the heightened
involvement of members of institutes of
consecrated life in those places where it is
growing and becoming rejuvenated.
Such a phenomenon implies an effort to be
faithful to the institute's proper identity and
charism and a prudent plan of development,
especially in those countries where it is in its
initial stages, albeit very promising from the
point of view of new forms, mission and
spirituality.
An awareness of the variety of situations is
important so as not to have too restrictive a
vision of the reality of the consecrated life,
which is such that it participates in the
universality of the people of God through a
presence expressing a strong sense of the
church's catholicity. An important quality of
the consecrated life is its ability to relativize
differences and cultural expressions in a
certain manner by highlighting the importance
of the evangelical counsels, which assume and
transcend individual values, directing them
toward the one God, the author of all gifts.
Northern Hemisphere
28. In some Western countries, especially in
the Northern Hemisphere, there is the great
challenge presented by the aging of persons
and the statistical projections that some
institutes will find it difficult to survive. In
these circumstances the number of vocations
is insufficient for maintaining communities
and their apostolic work. This situation
involves a series of questions regarding the
essential aspects of institutes and their
traditional apostolates, and the dilemma
between bold steps in mission or passive
resignation. Some institutes are questioning
the sense of their own identity and survival. In
this regard what choices are to be made and
what would be the approach in formation and
the work of recruiting new vocations?
Formation in all its phases and forms (initial,
ongoing, intercongregational, etc.) must face
unexpected problems created by a situation of
change for which traditional presuppositions
seem to be inadequate. Sometimes the
continuation of apostolic works is not ensured
and frequently they are turned over to the
state. Communities which have grown smaller
must resolve economic problems imposed by
society and ensure a growing dedication to
their own elderly and infirm members. For
persons who do not have the same spiritual
youth they once had, ongoing formation
becomes the challenge of an authentic
conversion. Living their own vocation means
facing the present moment with enlightened
responses.
In European nations the consecrated life is
called to respond to questions posed by the
new culture and to be active in reweaving the
Christian fabric of society. This is to be done
with a courageous presence and confidence in
the spiritual resources of its charisms, which
are communicated in wisdom and works so as
to make the spiritual and apostolic witness
more incisive and effective where the number
of persons and works is in decline.
Some responses ask for a proper evaluation of
the situation in some regions like North
America where local conditions present
challenges to the consecrated life in culture,
society and the church. Equal opportunity for
education for all has increased women's role
in academic and administrative
responsibilities, and consequently leads to a
greater openness to their responsibility in the
church and a positive appreciation of the
traditions of freedom to speak, to express
oneself and to act. Differences in the
perception of the value of the structure and
forms of consecrated life have made dialogue
difficult and created a marked division
between opposing tendencies in how to
interpret renewal. Furthermore, the problems
posed by immigration in recent decades do
not seem to have received an adequate
response of acceptance and mission within the
consecrated life.
In the nations of Eastern Europe, especially in
those which have only recently had a taste of
freedom, vocations are flourishing. However,
it is not easy to provide for a proper
formation. Many women and men religious
have lived alone for so long it is difficult for
them to return to community living. For others
who have been involved in parish ministry, it
is important to make a return to their specific
apostolate for the good of the particular
churches. The consecrated life can perform
important tasks in ecumenical dialogue and in
the process of reevangelization and of the
promotion of culture in such a way as to
reweave the anthropological and social fabric
of society, which was so seriously damaged
by the totalitarian regimes.
A courageous contribution is awaited on the
part of consecrated persons to the new
evangelization, a cultural reawakening and a
spiritual renewal which can oppose the
weakness of philosophical thought, moral
permissiveness, dissatisfaction with
consumerism and the dissolution of the
Christian which can lead to an impersonal
piety or recourse to the sects.
Southern Hemisphere
29. In some geographical areas of the
Southern Hemisphere vocations abound and
new religious institutes are flourishing. The
younger churches are blessed with many
vocations, although in some areas there is a
certain decrease. It is not easy to ensure an
adequate formation for a future different from
that known to the missionaries who fostered
the birth of the consecrated life in these
nations. Some episcopal conferences ask that
vocations not be uprooted from their cultural
and ecclesial environment, at least not in the
early years of formation.
In the responses greater emphasis was given
to inculturation and dialogue with other
religious traditions. Great importance was
given, as a factor of unity, to the witness
borne by consecrated persons of different
nationalities who live and fulfill their mission
together.
In Africa the consecrated life is asked to make
better use of traditional elements such as
respect for the elderly and ancestors, the
importance of hospitality and the possibility
of helping one's own family members. What
is required is a capacity to be rooted in the
wisdom of the peoples, in the pedagogical
processes of initiation and personal growth,
and in liturgical inculturation. Those who give
themselves to God must live in harmony with
the demands of asceticism, prayer and charity.
Sometimes people cannot see the witness of
poverty when consecrated persons live with a
certain amount of security while the people
around them suffer from need. The
consecrated life should give an example of a
simple life, a commitment in daily work,
participation in processes for transforming
society and a more harmonious involvement
in small communities. There is a strong need
to continue patiently in interreligious
dialogue, especially between Christians and
Muslims, even if significant difficulties are
presented by the influence of sects, with
whom dialogue is difficult.
Asia, with its nations of great size and
population, is the cradle of some of the great
religions of the world and the continent where
Christianity still has relatively few followers.
The responses highlight the role played in the
past by institutes of consecrated life and many
societies of apostolic life of missionary
character and the importance of their presence
in the future for proclamation and
interreligious dialogue. Common witness to
the values of the great religions is necessary
so as to make interreligious dialogue progress
with a simple and profound life, a shared
spiritual outlook and compassion for all. In
some nations vocations abound. Consecrated
persons have the opportunity to encounter
others through social institutions such as
hospitals, schools and clinics which allow
them to come in contact with many people
who are not reached through parish activities.
In some nations economic development is
accompanied by organized groups which
exploit women and force children to work
and, unfortunately, to take part in vice. The
consecrated life can do much to help the poor
liberate themselves from some of these
conditions which frequently reveal the loss of
traditional values because of the spread of
materialism. The presence of forms of
contemplative consecrated life fosters a
testimony on behalf of the Absolute and
promotes interreligious dialogue. An
important challenge to consecrated life for the
immediate future is the assumption of
positions of administration within institutes by
native persons.
In the Middle East, the cradle of Christianity
and of ancient monasticism, there are
relatively few followers of the consecrated
life. Nevertheless, these persons have a
particular mission of presence, communion
with other Christian churches, and the witness
of prayer and charity toward non-Christians.
Men and women religious form an important
part of the church in Latin America, where
vocations are relatively numerous. Their role
in evangelization has been decisive. In recent
decades, attentiveness to people's suffering
and closeness to those in processes of change
have caused religious to be in the vanguard of
the cause of justice on behalf of the poor, of
indigenous peoples and of the marginalized.
Many of them have paid for their involvement
with their life. A well-understood theology of
liberation and attention to the analysis of
social structures from the point of view of a
faith vision have helped-and continue to help-
consecrated persons to hear the cry of the
poor. In some circumstances there have been
tensions between religious and bishops. The
dialogue recently undertaken with greater
vigor is promising. An important challenge is
the presence and greater responsibility of
native vocations to the consecrated life.
Apostolic activity has been hampered by the
sects, while the mass media have an enormous
impact on the creation of a mass culture,
which is quite different from the traditional
human and religious mentality of the Latin
American people. The magisterium of John
Paul II and the meeting of the Latin American
episcopate in Santo Domingo recently offered
some valuable guidelines for the future of the
consecrated life in Latin America.38
For some countries of Oceania and the Pacific
the emergence of new nations is posing
problems similar to those in Africa. The
responses indicate that at such times the key is
what form of inculturation to be proposed in
the new evangelization. Other responses
mention the need to promote forms of
contemplative life which are closer to the
people.
4. Specific Question
A Key for Interpretation
30. The majority of responses make reference
to the state of the institutes of apostolic
religious life-both for men and for women-
already amply presented above. Yet many
responses seem to ignore the existence of
various forms of consecrated life and the
specific problems related to them. A complete
treatment of the consecrated life, however,
demands that we take into account some
specific problems concerning certain forms of
the consecrated life-and forms assimilated to
it-not in order to exclude other realities, but to
look at some meritorious aspects in the
context of a universal vision of the church
which does not ignore forms of consecrated
life that may be less significant in size but no
less deserving of proper attention.
Institutes of Contemplative Life
31. Numerous are the responses which
concern the institutes of contemplative life.
From them emerges the church's esteem for
this type of life, which manifests with an
apostolic fruitfulness the primacy of God, the
dimension of prayer, asceticism and charity in
fraternal communion. Many bishops express
their gratitude for the gift of such oases of
prayer; and many others would like to have
them in their own dioceses. The
contemplative life continues to flourish. In the
future, expectations call for fidelity to its
proper vocation according to the guidelines of
the magisterium.39
The responses offer some specific questions
coming directly from monasteries of women
or proposed through episcopal conferences.
Some groups express their attachment to the
traditional values of enclosure and ask that
these be confirmed. Others ask that particular
attention be given to the forms of
contemplative life for women so that, while
respecting individual charisms, suitable
legislation be drawn up regarding enclosure to
promote communication and to facilitate a
proper formation.
Although many people still choose the
contemplative life, the vocation to this type of
life is frequently not understood, not even by
priests and the faithful. In present-day
circumstances insistence is placed on the need
for a solid initial and ongoing formation
following the church's directives.40 This
formation would be in Scripture, theology,
liturgy and spirituality, in conformity with the
kind of life to be led and according to the
proper charism of the contemplative life.
Many monasteries demonstrate an openness to
the needs of the universal and local churches
and an active participation in the life of the
diocese in which they are harmoniously
engaged, as well as in their own spiritual
family. However, some of them appear
isolated and removed from authentic
participation in the life of the church.
Many responses express the desire that
through associations and federations a suitable
balance might be achieved between promoting
growth in communion and collaboration and
respecting autonomy.
Many episcopal conferences express some of
the following desires: that the contemplative
life have a more visible presence in the local
church; that it be a model of liturgical life and
prayer; that it bear testimony to the primacy of
God; and that it offers warm hospitality
according to its proper tradition. In this way
the monasteries can be spiritual oases where
priests, seminarians, religious and lay people
can restore their spirit and find spiritual
energy. Their presence is particularly
appreciated in the younger churches where
they recall the council's invitation to adapt in
proper fashion to the authentically religious
41
traditions of diverse peoples.
The monks and nuns of both East and West
are asked, in fidelity to their liturgical and
cultural traditions, to make their monasteries
centers of spiritual outreach, of hospitality for
the people of our day in the search for God
and, according to their own traditions, true
laboratories of thought and culture for today's
world.
Religious Institutes, Lay Brothers
32. Particular attention is given to the
vocation and mission of lay brothers in the lay
institutes and in clerical institutes as well as in
those which embrace clerics and lay brothers.
Many people overlook the fact that by its very
nature the consecrated life is neither clerical
nor lay, and that it was predominantly lay in
its origin, especially in the East. They have
the impression that the vocation of the lay
brother is incomplete in that it lacks the
priesthood.
The responses ask that, following the
magisterium,42 there be a reaffirmation of the
value, fullness and importance of the lay
religious life, both in lay institutes and in
clerical and mixed ones. Indeed, such a form
of consecrated life is a full expression of
religious consecration and the common
priesthood of the baptized. The presence of
lay brothers in a community is an expression
of fellowship in Christ. Furthermore, the
various lay "ministries,"43 both internal and
external to the community, when exercised in
accordance with the charism of each institute,
are a participation in the ministerial nature of
the church for the spread of the Gospel
throughout the world. Above all, through
consecrated chastity lay brothers are a sign of
the presence of the kingdom and of the values
which transcend all fleeting things.
It is desirable that lay brothers be given an
integral formation: human, theological,
pastoral and professional.
The synod is asked to resolve the question of
the lay brothers' participation in the
administration of clerical institutes and those
with clerics and lay brothers in such a manner
that this might be regulated by the particular
legislation of individual institutes, with due
respect for their nature and tradition.
It is hoped that, in communion and
collaboration, the sharing of the spirituality of
lay congregations with lay associates might be
promoted without jeopardy to their identity.
Secular Institutes
33. By the profession of the evangelical
counsels, members of secular institutes
express and realize their consecration in
apostolic activity and, like leaven, seek to
permeate every reality with a Gospel spirit in
order to strengthen the body of Christ and
help it grow. Their specific character,
following the documents Provida Mater
Ecclesia and Primo Feliciter of Pius XI, is
outlined by the Second Vatican Council, by
canonical legislation, as well as by other
magisterial interventions of Paul VI and John
Paul II.44 The responses emphasize the lasting
value of these documents with regard to their
identity and mission, and also in light of the
new evangelization.
Combining a secular nature and consecration
creates a new melding of the presence of the
Gospel and of the church in society, providing
a great ability in adapting to the new demands
arising from social, cultural, political and
economic life. Making Christ and the secular
dimension of the church present in the world,
the members of these institutes, inspired by a
Gospel outlook, are an example to lay people
in the workplaces, combining the faith and a
life of consecration with a typically secular
mission. The consecratio mundi should begin
and find its desired fulfillment from within the
very lives of the members of secular institutes,
all through a spirituality characterized by their
presence in secular structures.
There is no distinction of clerical members of
secular institutes from other clerics, nor are
the lay members distinct from other lay
people in their external life. Their special
nature lies in their profession of the
evangelical counsels in the world done in a
multiplicity of ways and exercised with a
spiritual and apostolic emphasis proper to
each institute's charism.
The responses emphasize the necessity of
giving full value to this vocation which is in
deep harmony with the situation of today's
society. At the same time the responses
mention that it should be clearly distinguished institutes and their specific character in
from the religious and lay vocations. They relation to lay secular institutes.
point out the necessity of defining a specific
spirituality and fostering an adequate Consecrated Virgins and Widows
formation so that persons might be prepared
34. Various responses speak about
to face the difficult pioneering tasks which are
consecrated virgins, pointing out that their
theirs. Where the lifestyle depends on each
number is growing in the church due to the
institute, the members should not be deprived
special nature of their consecration, the
of the support of a manner of living which can
simplicity and adaptability of their structure,
promote communion and vocational growth.
and the flexibility of canon law regarding

Many responses ask for a better explanation their members and associations.

of the specific vocation of their members,

Consecrated virgins are "sacred persons" with
which is different from that of religious and
a particular emphasis on the mystical espousal
lay people, and their specific participation in
with the Lord and manifest publicly Christ's
the church's evangelizing mission. Others
union with the church. The Rite of
emphasize the great value of their apostolate
Consecration of Virgins clearly expresses the
in society and the church. Some note the great
meaning of their vocation in the light of
opportunities enjoyed by the consecrated laity
tradition and the special circumstances of our
in working in ecumenical and interreligious
times. Their charism implies a total gift of self
dialogue, and in drawing near to those who
to Christ and presupposes the observance of
have grown distant. Some exhibit some
the evangelical counsels according to the
difficulty in acting as leaven within society
various individual or associative forms of
through their witness and in becoming
life45 and through explicitly stated norms
engaged in the diocesan or parish ministry
which take into account their specific ecclesial
because of the discrete and private nature of
service.
their vocation. Others ask for a clarification,
according to the various charisms, of their The consecrated virgins' participation in the
direct participation in evangelization as a church's public prayer and the character of
realization of the priestly, prophetic and their spiritual makeup render them
kingly office of all the baptized. particularly suitable for performing service
within the church. The church, while seeing to
Finally, some express the desire for a
their proper formation, accepts their vocation
clarification of the nature of clerical secular
and consecration, and counts on their mission.
Depending on their vocation and preparation,
they are called to work in the church's
institutions and collaborate in the fields of
culture and society, or participate in the
church's mission in bearing witness and
spreading the Gospel. Their model is Mary,
the mother of Jesus, in her virginal
consecration, her spiritual motherhood and her
dedication to the service of the Lord and his
church.
At present there is special need of criteria for
developing more fully the specific norms for
individual consecrated virgins and
associations, and for maintaining their specific
nature and better delineating their vocation
and mission. The bishops, upon whom
consecrated virgins depend, are also asked to
make a realistic study of how to meet spiritual
and temporal needs of these consecrated
persons, especially of those who are not in
associations with others.
Some responses ask if a similar type of
personal consecration for men should not be
encouraged.
Likewise, the church recognizes the status of
widows who publicly profess chastity in the
world.46 Various responses refer to
consecrated widows and to a special rite of
blessing for widows and the existence of
groups of consecrated widows. In all these
cases it is a question of individuals who make
a public consecration of their state in order to
give new life to their baptismal vocation
through the vow of perpetual chastity. In this
way they express their desire to live in a spirit
of poverty and obedience in order to be signs
of the kingdom of God and to devote
themselves to prayer and the service of the
church.
The synod is asked to keep in mind the
vocation of persons to the order of widows, as
ancient as the church yet today undergoing a
rebirth, so as to further clarify the diversity to
be adopted in undertaking the evangelical
counsels, the manner of preparing for public
profession and the type of relationship to one's
family.
Hermits (Men and Women)
35. The church acknowledges the existence of
anchorites or hermits in both East and West,
even though there is a difference in the idea
behind their vocation.
In the Eastern churches the eremitical
vocation is lived within monasteries and
regulated by special norms and by dependence
on a superior or on the bishop if the hermit
lives outside the monastery. It is permitted,
however, to constitute by particular law other
types of ascetics who imitate the eremitical
life, both within institutes of consecrated life
or outside of them.47 In the Latin church the
hermit is recognized as being dedicated to
God in the consecrated life if by vow or other
sacred bond he publicly professes the three
evangelical counsels in the presence of the
diocesan bishop and observes his own norm
of life under the bishop's guidance.48
The responses confirm a flourishing of this
vocation and the existence of many hermits-
both clerics and laymen, women and men-
who live in solitude, in monasteries, in
hermitages or even in the midst of people.
Some religious institutes and monasteries
admit the possibility of the eremitical life or
the temporary choice of this experience. In
this vocation many see a sign of the encounter
between the cultures of the East and the West,
a form of spiritual ecumenism and a new,
concrete expression of total dedication to the
praise of God and to penance for the salvation
of the world.
In regard to hermits, there is an urgent need to
clarify the conditions for accepting them, the
process of discerning this vocation, and the
necessary formation and spiritual guidance, as
well as the way in which they become an
active part of the particular churches.
Possibilities should also be investigated to
ensure their participation in the eucharist if
they are not priests.
Societies of Apostolic Life
36. Societies of apostolic life, both of women
and of men, are comparable (accedunt) to
institutes of consecrated life but are different
from them and from other forms of
consecrated life in that the basis of their
identity is not that of consecration through the
profession of the evangelical counsels but the
full realization of the grace of baptism, and in
case of the priesthood through their proper
apostolic ministry. They live their own style
of fraternal life in community and tend to the
perfection of charity through the observance
of the constitutions approved by the Holy See
or the bishop, as the case may be. There are,
however, societies whose members assume
the evangelical counsels by some special bond
defined by the constitutions.49 The Code of
Canons of the Eastern Churches admits of the
existence of societies of common life "ad
instar religiosorum."50
In the history of the church many societies of
apostolic life have achieved renown due to
their apostolic dedication, their contribution to
the mission ad gentes and their founding of
many younger churches which are flourishing
today. The responses often note that they are
not known well enough and that their specific
identity is not clearly understood.
The societies of apostolic life are experiencing
problems similar to those of the institutes of
the consecrated life, especially in their
confrontation with the secularization of
traditions and the small numbers in vocations
in certain countries. Nevertheless, the call to
the new evangelization and the particular
vocation to the mission ad gentes naturally
dispose these societies to a generous
contribution to the new springtime of the
Gospel which the church is beginning today
with great hope.51
New Communities and Revitalized Forms
of Evangelical Life
37. Many responses express the need to offer
some clarifications about the new forms of
evangelical life which have been springing up
and becoming established in various places in
recent decades. The renewal of all the people
of God is brought about by the Spirit through
the reinvigorating of the forms of life that
already exist and through raising up new ones
in the course of history in response to the
needs of the church.
The forms tested throughout history transmit
the church's spiritual heritage to new forms,
which through their birth and development
communicate to them in turn a Gospel
freshness and a missionary thrust.
A primary discernment is necessary,
consisting in weighing whether or not the new
forms are in continuity with what is essential
to the consecrated life through the profession
of the evangelical counsels. Another aspect to
be clarified is whether or not it involves
groups of evangelical life which fit into one of
the existing canonical forms. If new groups fit
into already sanctioned forms, according to
the original inspiration of the founders, they
are approved as such. It would then be a
question not of new forms, but of new
institutes or societies.
The problem arises concerning those groups
which, although having a great variety of
expressions, are marked by a lack of
uniformity in their composition such as:
groups of men and women; groups where
some members profess the evangelical
counsels, even perpetually, while others do
not; groups in which some live in apostolic
communities, others in communities of a
monastic type and still others who live alone
in a form of consecration in the world; and
groups where some are admitted to sacred
orders. In some of these groups there are also
families, some of whom live together while
others do not. They all depend on a single
president or moderator, although as a whole
the entity is expressed in various branches
with different persons in authority. As to the
style of evangelical life, they are often
characterized by strong austerity, intense
prayer, the restoration of sound forms of
traditional devotion, the participation of all in
domestic and manual labor, simple
relationships and a limited number of
members. The apostolate of such groups is for
the most part the following: a missionary
outreach to those who are "separated" and
those who have never received the Gospel;
involvement in the "new evangelization";
ecumenical openness; closeness to the poor
and the marginalized of every kind; and active
involvement in parish structures.
Although expressed in a variety of ways, the
inspiration which unites them requires a unity
which is not only spiritual but structural as
well. Therefore it would be a restriction of
their nature and charismatic newness if
canonical approval as separate entities were to
be given to the various branches or sectors in
accordance with previously sanctioned
juridical forms. It would be like
dismembering a body. Thus the question must
be clarified as to whether these groups want to
be recognized as a new form of the
consecrated life52 or as associations of the
faithful with the character of an ecclesial
movement.
Toward New Forms of Consecrated Life?
38. The Apostolic See alone can institute a
new form of the consecrated life.53 At this
time it is necessary to examine if the
experience of recent decades is sufficient to
lead the Roman pontiff to institute new forms
of consecrated life in the church so that such
groups may have a clear discipline and the
bishops can be helped in their discernment
about them. It must be taken into
consideration that only those who assume all
three evangelical counsels can be considered
members of an institute of consecrated life,
while the others-married or single-who
assume only a bond of obedience and share
property and life in common can be
considered associates with some degree of a
bond as specified in the constitutions.
There exist similar associations, however,
such as ecclesial movements, which do not
want to be recognized as a form of the
consecrated life, although they have members
who assume the evangelical counsels by some
form of bond, including a perpetual one.
These can receive recognition as associations
of the faithful, but with their own statutes, and
under a form still to be specified, because the
variety of their members requires the
involvement of various dicasteries.54
In the forms of consecrated life which the
church recognizes as such, the intervention of
ecclesial authority determines and mediates
the act of assuming the evangelical counsels
and therefore their care and discipline.55 From
this it follows that these forms do not depend
solely on the constitutions of the specific
institute. In the other forms of "consecration
of life," however, the discipline of the
evangelical counsels is determined instead by
the statutes of the association, with the
church's intervention more or less decisive
depending on whether the association is a
private or public one.
Finally, some responses ask about the
possibility, the opportuneness and the
conditions for the church's specific
recognition of a stable form of consecrated
life for married people according to the
evangelical counsels.
5. A Renewed Theology
In the Light of Vatican II
39. In the wake of Vatican II many responses
ask for a confirmation of the doctrinal lines of
the consecrated life in the light of the church's
mystery, communion and mission, so as to
highlight its characteristic Christological and
ecclesial nature, the variety of charisms and
its specific identity in relation to the hierarchy
and the laity.
The theology of the consecrated life,
following the observations of the fathers and
authors both medieval and modern, has found
in our era its best expression in the Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church Lumen
Gentium which, placing the mystery of
communion at the center of the church's
attention,56 inserted in it the chapter on
religious57 and authoritatively taught as had
never been done before that "the state of life
which is constituted by the profession of the
evangelical counsels-while not entering into
the hierarchical structure of the church-
belongs undeniably (inconcusse) to her life
58
and holiness." The consecrated life can be
understood only in the light of the mystery of
the church, and the church cannot be fully
understood without the consecrated life.
Placing the consecrated life within the
mystery of the church, the Second Vatican
Council proposed anew the call to follow
Christ according to the evangelical
counsels59 and delved deeper into the meaning
of consecration in the light of baptism.60 It
stressed how it belongs totally to the mystery
of the church in the one call to holiness and to
the mission of the people of God, and is in
communion with the hierarchy and the laity. It
emphasized its charismatic sense and the
multiplicity of forms which can be traced
back to some of Jesus' actions, his teachings
or aspects of his mystery and the church's
mission.61 It shed light on the eschatological
meaning of religious profession as a radiant
sign for the entire people of God,62 recalled
the humanizing value of the counsels because
whoever follows Christ, the perfect man,
becomes more human.63 In an original
synthesis Vatican II rediscovered the
dimension of the founding charism and
reminded institutes to return to the sources
and adapt to the changed conditions of the
times.64
A Renewed Theological Vision
40. Currently the theology of the consecrated
life, in keeping with the documents of the
magisterium, is shedding light on the
following new evangelical values: evangelical
realism in the imitation of Jesus of Nazareth;
attention to the pneumatological dimension;
the prophetic role of the consecrated life; the
relationship to human advancement and
justice; the specific presence and mission of
the consecrated woman in society and the
church, called to the new evangelization; and
the challenge of inculturation.
While confirming the essential, sure and
constant factors emphasized by the church's
magisterium, a historical view of the theology
of the consecrated life cannot fail to be open
to the Spirit's many requests to renew the
charisms and raise up new ones according to
the necessities of salvation history, drawing
from the inexhaustible wealth of the Gospel
and the mystery of Christ, who is its
foundation and ever living source.
Consecrated life is fully understood in the
light of the church as mystery springing from
the Trinity, in the church as communion with
God and all of humanity, and in the church as
mission which is the revelation and
communication of the Trinity for the salvation
of the world. Indeed, the consecrated life,
which "is a special way of sharing in the
65
sacramental nature of the people of God," is
rooted in the vocation which comes from the
Father, in the following of Christ and in
adherence to his love in the consecration of
the Spirit.
Its charisms and the life of its members are
fully seen in the diverse, relational and
complementary nature of the vocations and
ministries which are proper to the
ecclesiology of communion in the one
body66 and which are expressed in the
"communion of saints" toward which they
tend. Finally, the consecrated life is fully
realized in the mission of the church, which
extends through time and space the mission of
Christ and of the Spirit for the total fulfillment
of the kingdom of the Father. The charism of
the consecrated life is like a reflection of the
Trinitarian mystery, and the variety of its gifts
tends to mutual communion and to mission.
For this reason it belongs to the full
catholicity of the people of God, and the
exchange of gifts in that people of God is
brought about in part by those who, "in
tending to sanctity by the narrower way,
stimulate their brothers by their example" and
by their missionary presence help to draw
together in Christ all of humanity and its
resources.67
From this view flows the need for a
comprehensive expression which includes the
consecrated life in the mystery, communion
and mission of the church. These three aspects
are difficult to separate. Even if one tries to
illustrate them in succession, one after the
other, the distinction of one from the other
would be inadequate.
 II. CONSECRATED LIFE IN THE
MYSTERY OF CHRIST AND OF THE
CHURCH
1. In the Mystical Body
Sacramental and Charismatic Dimension of
the Church
41. The kingdom of God is a kingdom of
grace whose law is charity and in which
gratuitousness is the basis of justice and
peace. Among the gifts of the kingdom of
Christ the "first gift to those who believe" is
the Holy Spirit, who makes us children of
God and unites us in a single body (cf. Rom.
8: 15-17; Gal 4:47). The Holy Spirit has
enriched the church from the very beginning
with hierarchical and charismatic gifts to
enable her to accomplish her mission in the
world. Indeed, "it is not only through the
sacraments and the ministrations of the church
that the Holy Spirit sanctifies the people, leads
them and enriches them with his virtues.
Allotting his gifts according as he wills (cf. 1
Cor. 12:11), he also distributes special graces
among the faithful of every rank. By these
gifts he makes them fit and ready to undertake
various tasks and offices for the renewal and
68
upbuilding of the church."
In the church "there are different kinds of
spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there ate
different forms of service, but the same Lord;
there are different workings but the same God
who produces all of them in everyone" (1 Cor.
12:4-6). Paul explains this diversity as
follows: "Some people God has designated in
the church to be, first, apostles; second,
prophets; third, teachers; then come mighty
deeds; then gifts of healing, assistance,
administration and varieties of tongues" (1
Cor. 12:28). Everything comes from Christ
and all is oriented toward him: "And he
(Christ) gave some as apostles, others as
prophets, others as evangelists, others as
pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones
for the work of ministry, for building up the
body of Christ" (Eph. 4:11-13).
In the body of Christ all the members-pastors,
lay people and religious-participate each in
their own way in the sacramental nature of the
church, which has its roots in baptism and its
summit in the eucharist. All are called to
holiness and mission.69
The consecrated life has an essentially
ecclesial dimension in relation to the
hierarchy in that through the ministry of her
pastors the church not only establishes this
state, but also through her action she presents
it as consecrated to God.70 Moreover, it is the
bishops, the members of the episcopal college
in communion with the Roman pontiff, who
wisely regulate in solidarity the practice of the
evangelical counsels and authentically
approve the rules which are proposed. The
mission of institutes of the consecrated life
and societies of apostolic life is nothing other
than a participation in the church's mission
performed in communion with her pastors and
in fidelity to the spirit of the founders and
foundresses.71
A proper ecclesiological approach could lead
to a better understanding of the consecrated
life in its evangelical and sacramental roots, in
its organic communion and the unity of its
mission.
Charism of the Consecrated Life in the
Church
42. When the New Testament texts speak of
charisms (cf. 1 Cor. 12:8-10,2830; Rom. 12:6-
8) we do not find the terminology which
allows us an expression of the vocation and
mission today recognized as the consecrated
life. However, in them we find the roots of the
charisms as they were lived at that time.
Indeed, among the charisms virginity is
proposed with special emphasis. According to
the words of Jesus (cf. Mt. 19:11-12) and Paul
(cf. 1 Cor. 7:7), it is a gift from on high and an
eminent grace in the church. Other charisms
of the apostolic community are gifts for
serving the Lord and the brethren, which
today are expressed in the life and mission of
institutes of consecrated life and societies of
apostolic life.
The Second Vatican Council did not explicitly
use the term charism to designate the
consecrated life, but recognized in it the
character of a gift which is attributed to
celibacy and to the evangelical counsels. The
consecrated life is the result of the action of
the Spirit and belongs to the holiness, beauty
and fertility of the church.72
Paul VI spoke explicitly of the "charism of the
religious life ... (which) is the fruit of the Holy
Spirit, who is always at work within the
church" and specifically of the "charisms of
your founders who were raised up by God" as
well as the "charisms of the institutes."73
In the period following the Second Vatican
Council, the consecrated life has been studied,
understood and lived in this light in a
particular manner. A considerable portion of
the effort of spiritual and apostolic renewal
has been made beginning with a return to the
original charisms, in dialogue with the needs
of our age, but without being conformed to
the world (cf. Rom. 12:2). In this light the
consecrated life is understood in its unity and
diversity as well as in its communion and
missionary dynamism. The diversity of
charisms allows the expression of different
styles of community life and apostolate in the
one mission. It permits the witness of different
spiritual traditions, styles of community and
structures of government. Participation in a
collective charism contributes to a better
formation for its members, produces a greater
cohesiveness in the community and shapes the
identity of an institute and the sense of
belonging to a spiritual family. It is a source
of creativity and readiness to respond to new
circumstances in the human family.
The Gospel as Root and Norm
43. "The teaching and example of Christ
provide the foundation for the evangelical
counsels of chaste self-dedication to God, of
poverty and of obedience. The apostles and
fathers of the church commend them as an
ideal of life, and so do her doctors and
pastors. They therefore constitute a gift of
God which the church has received from her
Lord and which by his grace she always
safeguards."74 The consecrated life has its
roots in the very mystery of Christ and in the
Gospel.75 It is not a question of a historic
ecclesial experience only. In its sum total-
even though specific individual expressions
be lacking-the consecrated life is a reality
rooted in revelation and belonging to the
church, a precious gift from her bridegroom
and savior.
The following of Christ according to the
Gospel is the fundamental norm of the
76
consecrated life. It is the highest rule,
according to the famous expressions of
medieval tradition: "There is but one first and
principal rule among the rules of faith and
salvation from which all the others derive, like
rivulets, from a single source, that is, the holy
Gospel";77 "to observe the holy Gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ, living in obedience,
without property and in chastity";78 "to live in
obedience to Jesus Christ and serve him with
a pure heart and good conscience";79 and "to
be a soldier of Christ beneath the standard of
the cross and serve the one Lord and his bride,
the church."80 Christ is the center of the
consecrated life according to the admonition
of the Benedictine Rule: "Put absolutely
nothing before Christ."81
The Gospel of Christ and Christ himself, the
living good news of the Father, is always the
foundation of every life consecrated to God
and the inexhaustible treasure from which,
under the action of the Spirit, the founders and
foundresses draw their inspiration and life. All
their experiences are rooted in the words and
example of the Master. The following of
Christ is a commitment to be lived and
proclaimed in such a way that in its totality
and in the variety of vocations the Gospel of
Jesus Christ shines forth in the world. In its
every form the consecrated life seeks to live a
message, an example and a mystery of the
incarnate or glorious life as the whole in a
fragment. However every charism is rooted in
the following of Christ and every gift of self
to him, just as every aspect of his life is
inseparable from his person. The charisms of
the consecrated life cannot be separated from
the following of Christ and the gift of
consecration.
Primitive monastic literature seems to be a
reinterpretation of the experience in the light
of the Gospel or a living exegesis of the
Scriptures in the light of the experience of the
monks, for example, the Life of St.
Anthony, written by St. Athanasius.82 The
reading of the Gospel and then of the New always in obedience to the will of the Father
and Old Testaments has always been the great who sent him."84
inspiration, the first rule of life. Discipleship,
which seeks to imitate Christ and to live out in A Gospel Manifested in Time
a particular fashion some of his words,
44. The history of the consecrated life, in the
appeared gradually under the influence of the
unity of its inspiration, shows that throughout
Holy Spirit like a Gospel manifested in time
the centuries the emphasis has been placed on
and space, a majestic Christ made present in
various aspects of the one Gospel of Christ,
the church through the charisms of the saints.
with particular reference to the needs and

Illustrating the doctrine of the church as the cultural conditions of the age. The primitive

mystical body of Christ, Pius XII first expressions are related to essential aspects of
explained the ecclesial meaning of the variety the Gospel such as following Christ, imitating

of charisms: "Just as Jesus Christ wants the him, remaining with him (cf. Mt. 19:16-26;

individual members to be like him, he wants Mk. 3:13), and total dedication to him in the

the whole body of the church to be so.... assumption of virginity for the sake of the
When she embraces the evangelical counsels, kingdom (cf. Mt. 19: 11). Other expressions

the church reproduces in herself the poverty, are bound up with the reality of the Word and

obedience and virginity of the Redeemer. with participation in the paschal mystery of

Through the multiple and diverse institutions Christ, such as the evangelical "conversion"
adorning her like so many jewels, in a certain of mentality and behavior (conversio morum)
sense she shows forth Christ in contemplation (cf. Mk. 1:15), the call to live one's baptism

on the mountain, preaching to the people, fully as a (nuptial) covenant with God, and as

healing the sick and wounded, calling sinners a profession and covenant of faith with Christ
back to the right way and doing good to (pistis-foedis, homologhia pros Theon).85 It

all."83 This text was later taken up by Vatican requires imitation and communion with his

II. Through the charisms of the consecrated life, according to the evangelical counsels,

life the church sees to it that Christ is shown obedience and service to Jesus Christ, the
forth with ever-increasing clarity to believers Lord and Master, adherence to his person with
and unbelievers alike, "Christ in an undivided heart (cf. 1 Cor. 7:32- 34), the

contemplation on the mountain, or determined choice to serve his kingdom (cf.

proclaiming the kingdom of God to the Mt. 19:21 and 29) and the choice of the
multitudes, or healing the sick and maimed Gospel beatitudes as one's way of life.

and converting sinners to a good life, or

blessing children and doing good to all,
New references from the Gospel progressively
come to mind. For the virgins consecrated to
God the ideal of life is the realization of the
mystery of the church, which gives herself
totally to Christ and makes the eschatological
image of the bride present in the world. For
the hermits of the early church it was a
question of asceticism or spiritual combat and
of flight from the world, in imitation of Jesus,
who in the desert fasts, prays and struggles
with the devil, or of the prophets like Elisha
who lived in God's presence (cf. 1 Kgs 19:11-
12) where God spoke to his heart (cf. Hos.
2:16). For cenobites the gift of self to Christ is
explained by the desire to imitate the
"apostolic life" according to the example of
the community in Jerusalem, with Christ's
abiding presence among those who are
gathered in his name (cf. Mt. 18:20)86 and
with the inspiration of an insatiable longing
which constantly reappears throughout history
to live in a unity of heart and mind (cf. Acts
4:32).87
For others the monastic life is a substitute for
the sacrifice of martyrdom, a realization of the
church as a community of worship through
perennial praise, the divine or angelic office
and the offering (prosphora) of one's own life
to God in fraternal communion. Others see in
it the ideal of a return to the harmony of the
innocence of paradise, the disciple and bride
of Christ vigilantly waiting for his return, or
an anticipation of heavenly life. Some give
pre-eminence to the search for God (quaerere
Deum) especially through diligence in
the lectio divina of Scripture, in the vacare
Deo of contemplation or in the divine-human
balance of the ora et labora of the
Benedictine Rule.
The evangelizing monks of East and West
fulfill the plan of the apostolic life following
the example of the group of disciples who
follow Jesus and are sent by him after
Pentecost to preach the Gospel to all creatures
(cf. Mk. 16:15; Mt. 28:19-20). Some preach
the Gospel among their own people, while
others continue the universal mission to all
nations, building civilizations and spreading
culture. Others, however-women and men
alike-draw their inspiration from the example
of Christ, who was sent to preach the good
news to the poor (cf. Lk. 4:18), in the creative
choice of many aspects of the missionary
proclamation of the good news. Or they fulfill
the Gospel through the works of mercy (cf.
Mt. 25:35-36ff) on behalf of the little ones,
with their witness of charity and their care of
the poor, the sick and the needy, with
particular attention to children and young
people, in accord with new social and cultural
necessities.
In our day others want to be a sign of Christ
by their presence in society, in culture and in
the economy, like light, salt and Gospel
leaven in the heart of the secular city, so that
the temporal realities may be ordered to God's
plan and the world may receive life from the
Gospel.88
An Experience of the Spirit in the Church
45. Every charism has an essential reference
to the Holy Spirit. This is how it is expressed
in a well-known passage in Mutuae
Relationes, which in turn refers to Paul
VI's Evangelica Testificatio: "The 'charism of
the founders' appears as an 'experience of the
Spirit' transmitted to their followers to be
lived by them, to be preserved, deepened and
constantly developed in harmony with the
body of Christ continually in a process of
89
growth."
The Holy Spirit works in a wonderful manner
in the life of the church, bringing full
understanding of the truth of Christ,
actualizing his life in her members and
preparing his kingdom. The Holy Spirit has
the role of raising up, through truly "spiritual"
men and women, charisms of spirituality and
apostolic activity, with a creativity and
opportuneness adapted to the needs of the
time. He elicits within the church, the
mystical body of Christ, a continual growth of
new energies which are a living witness to the
Gospel of Christ. From the viewpoint of
Christology and an ecclesiology of the church
as the body of Christ which grows continually
through ministries and charisms (cf. Eph.
4:16), the consecrated life in all its forms
acknowledges the Holy Spirit as its invisible
creator and the source of its renewal.
The consecrated life is a call to holiness
because of God's choice of a person, the gift
of consecration through the ministry of the
church and the commitment to imitate and
serve Christ. Thus, in the churches of the East
and West the charisms of the consecrated life
are born from an experience of holiness.
Many founders and foundresses were called to
the highest degree of conformity to Christ in
their life and service of the church. Many of
them have been officially recognized as
blessed or saints by the church. In such a way,
religious families owing their origin to them
are, as it were, their abiding presence and a
continuation of their experience of grace.
Every charism points to the mystery of Christ
and to charity, the greatest of charisms, the
center and unity of them all. It does this with
the freshness of a new synthesis of
supernatural values and with a genuine and
incisive exegesis of the Gospel. Every founder
and foundress is like a word which in its
depths bears the divine charity which enlivens
and unites everything.
"Strive Eagerly for the Greatest of
Spiritual Gifts" (1 Cor. 12:31)
46. The consecrated life has its essential
reference point in the church. It is an outflow
of her mystery and expresses the richness of
her charismatic nature and the manifold
wisdom of God.90
The liturgy of religious profession for women
expresses the beauty of the church as a bride
in these words: "Holy church shines with a
rich variety of charisms, a bride adorned with
jewels, a queen robed in grace, a mother
rejoicing in her children."91
These charisms are of the church and for the
church. They make the Gospel and the
historical forms of holiness and spirituality
present. These charisms are also destined to
contribute to the effectiveness of the exchange
of gifts throughout the church.92 A church
called to the new evangelization needs to
receive from the Spirit of Christ an outpouring
of grace which will strengthen the charisms
for the growth of the entire people of God in
communion and mission.
A life lived according to an authentic charism
must be consistent with the fruits of the Spirit
in such a way that charity and joy, peace and
patience, kindness and goodness, fidelity,
meekness and moderation (cf. Gal. 5:22) shine
forth in individuals and communities. Even
though the renewal of the charism-in being
docile to the "authentic promptings of a real
creativity in the life of the Spirit and of the
church"93-might call into question customs,
traditions, spiritual practices and methods of
the apostolate, this must never be a pretext for
confusion and disunity, because God "is not
the God of disorder but of peace" (1 Cor.
14:33).
Every institute must take particular care to
delve deeper into, assimilate and manifest its
essential core, which is characterized by its
foundation in Christ and in the Gospel, and by
its communion with the other ecclesial
vocations. Totally new charisms can come
into existence, or existing ones can receive a
wider purpose, in response to the action of the
Spirit in the world, in peoples, in cultures.
All are called to consider the apostle's
teaching: "Do not stifle the Spirit. Do not
despise prophetic utterances. Test everything;
retain what is good" (1 Thes. 5:19-20); "strive
eagerly for the greatest of spiritual gifts" (1
Cor. 12:31), for charity, in such a way that "as
each one has received a gift, use it to serve
one another as good stewards of God's varied
grace, ... so that in all things God may be
glorified through Jesus Christ" (1 Pt. 4:10-11).
2. Vocation, Imitation, Consecration
A Divine Call
47. The theology of the consecrated life
expressed by Vatican II and the later
documents of the magisterium has pointed out
the unity of vocation, consecration and
mission in an experience of life which bears
the seal of the Trinity.
God the Father, through Christ and under the
inspiration of the Spirit, draws certain people
with a divine call94 to follow Christ more
closely. The response to this call is always a
grace: "It was not you who chose me, but I
who chose you" (Jn. 15:16); it is expressed in
the total offering of one's life in a covenant
with God and in the service of his kingdom. In
this way, God the Father inserts into his plan
of salvation (cf. Eph. 1:4- 5, 9-10) those
whom he chooses and calls them to be
conformed to the image of his Son (cf. Rom.
8:29-30). Monastic and ecclesial tradition
have found in some Gospel passages, in the
broadest context of the call to discipleship and
apostolate, a valid motivation for
understanding the vocation of religious and
other members of institutes of consecrated
life. The call made by Jesus of Nazareth
endures in time in the church; the risen Lord
continues to gather his disciples about him.
Many Gospel passages have been interpreted
as the basis of the consecrated life. Among
these we should mention the call of the
apostles: "He summoned those whom he
wanted and they came to him" (Mk. 3:13); the
invitation to leave everything and follow him:
"If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you
have and give to [the] poor, and you will have
treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me"
(Mt. 19:21 and par.); the gift of celibacy for
the sake of the kingdom (cf. Mt. 19:11-12) in
order to please the Lord in everything and be
concerned with his affairs, with an undivided
heart, in holiness of body and spirit; and a call
which is already manifest in the apostolic
church (cf. 1 Cor. 7:32-34).
The consecrated life is a loving response to
the divine call, involving a particular choice to
follow Christ intimately in total adherence,
under the action of the Holy Spirit in
consecration and mission.
Evangelical Discipleship and Communion
With Christ
48. Through their vows or other sacred bonds,
religious and members of institutes of
consecrated life and societies of apostolic life
intend to observe the many counsels in the
Gospel, which the Lord gives his disciples to
observe. Foremost among these is "that
precious gift of divine grace given to some by
the Father (cf. Mt. 19:11; 1 Cor. 7:7) to bind
themselves to God alone more easily with an
undivided heart (cf. 1 Cor. 7:32- 34) in
virginity or celibacy."95 This counsel and
charism involves a genuine covenant with
God, rooted in baptism, from which the
profession of the evangelical counsels
originates.96
The closer following of Christ through the
evangelical counsels is achieved in faith, hope
and love, and expressed in imitation and
service, in communion with Christ the
bridegroom and Lord of one's life, in
participation in his mysteries and in adherence
to everything that belongs to him. In imitation
of Paul the ideal of the consecrated life is
expressed in leaving behind all things and in a
life of teaching out to the Lord and
participating fully in his paschal mystery in
order "to know him and the power of his
resurrection and [the sharing of his sufferings
by being conformed to his death, if somehow
I may attain the resurrection from the dead"
(cf. Phil. 310-11).
The evangelical counsels, lived in the broader
context of the beatitudes, have the power to
conform a person to the crucified and risen
Christ. "Religious, therefore, faithful to their
profession and leaving all things for Christ's
sake (cf. Mk. 10:28), should follow him,
regarding this as the one thing necessary (cf.
Lk. 10:39), and should be solicitous for all
that is his (1 Cor. 7:32)."97
Sharing in Christ's Consecration
49. Consecration through the profession of the
evangelical counsels has meaning only in the
light of Christ. He is the consecrated one par
excellence, as is expressed by his name, the
Christ. He is the Son, "the one whom the
Father has consecrated and sent into the
world" (Jn. 10:36), Jesus of Nazareth, whom
"God anointed ... with the Holy Spirit and
power" (Acts 10:38). His is a consecration for
the sake of mission:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because
he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the
poor" (Lk. 4:18). The response to this interior
anointing is the total dedication of the Son
who always lives in the Father's presence and
dedicates himself to the Father's affairs (cf.
Lk. 2:49) and to fulfilling his will to the point
of giving up his life (cf. Heb. 10:59). His
offering is also a total gift to the Father on
behalf of his disciples and humanity: "I
consecrate myself for them, so that they also
may be consecrated in truth" (Jn. 17:19).
In summary, we may say, "The fuller
expression (of consecration) recalls the hold
of the divine person of the Word over the
human nature which he assumed, and it
invites a response like that of Jesus: a
dedication of oneself to God in a way which
he alone makes possible and which witnesses
to his holiness and absoluteness. Such a
consecration is a gift of God: a grace freely
given."98
Consecration Rooted in Baptism
50. Through baptism and the anointing of the
Holy Spirit all Christians are consecrated
people of God and are given the ability to
make an evangelical and filial response in the
imitation of Christ. The Holy Spirit, the
sanctifier, consecrates the faithful, places
them in communion with Christ and the
Father, and makes them capable of living fully
the demands of discipleship and mission.
Inserting the theology of religious life into the
sacramental dimension of the church, Vatican
II highlighted its relationship with baptismal
consecration and its demands: "The members
of each institute should recall, first of all, that
when they made their profession of the
evangelical counsels they were responding to
a divine call so that, not merely being dead to
sin (cf. Rom. 6:11) but renouncing the world
also, they might live for God alone. They have
dedicated their whole lives to this service.
This constitutes a special consecration which
is deeply rooted in their baptismal
consecration and is a fuller expression of
it."99Consecration consists of a grace of
election and a particular gift of the Spirit, who
takes possession of the person, configures him
to Christ and enables him to live his proper
charism according to the evangelical counsels.
At the same time, it is also a response of self-
giving, accepted and recognized through the
116 church's ministry. Just as baptism and
confirmation are the first and fundamental
consecration of each of Jesus' disciples, who
thereby participate in his paschal mystery and
the mystery of Pentecost in order to live as a
member of Christ's faithful in the church, so
too consecration according to the solidity and
stability of the vows or other bonds is a gift of
the Spirit, uniting the person to Christ's
mystery and mission.
The liturgy of the Latin church clearly
expresses this theology in the Rite of
Religious Profession and in the Rite of
Consecration of Virgins. In the solemn
blessing of the professed or of virgins the gift
of the Holy Spirit is invoked upon them
before they make the offering of their life in
the eucharistic sacrifice.100
This gift is always for the sake of communion
and mission. This consecration is achieved in
giving oneself to the service of Christ in
ecclesial communion, according to the
apostolate of each form of life. This gift finds
its celebration and daily renewal in the
eucharist.
Gift and Obligation of the Evangelical
Counsels
51. Vocation, consecration and mission find
their own distinctive expression and
fulfillment in the gift or charism of the
evangelical counsels. When God calls,
consecrates and sends a person, he is simply
molding a new personality and making it
capable of responding to the task which he
intends to assign. In essence, the gift of the
counsels consists in a share in the specific
chastity, poverty and obedience of Christ, or
in a special conformity to the chaste, poor and
obedient Christ, and in an introduction into his
personal manner of living and working.
Jesus' form of life is not based on the demands
and development of the dynamisms of nature,
but directly on the values of the kingdom,
going beyond those goods which in the
Creator's plan ordinarily help a person to grow
and develop. He does not look to anything
other than the goods of the kingdom, which
have become his portion and lot. His chastity
is a perfect communion of love with the
Father, an absolute openness and
communication with him, without the least
degree of withdrawal or searching for self. His
obedience is a total dedication to the Father's
will and a complete ability to fulfill it even in
the smallest details. This explains why Jesus'
form of life is exclusively his and why
whoever is called to follow it in history must
be graced with a special gift enabling the
person to accept it as his own. In the gift of
the counsels the Spirit conforms the person
who has been called to Christ, who has no
other good than the kingdom, has no other
love than that which flows from Christ for his
brothers and sisters, and has no plan but that
of the Father.
After being aware of and experiencing this
gift, one responds with the gift of self through
vows or other sacred bonds. The obligation of
the one called to make the counsels the
content of one's life-even before being an
offering and a sacrifice-is the joyous
acknowledgment of the offer to participate in
and to follow the very same plan of life which
the Lord had. It is a gift so great that one must
invest one's whole life in order to accept and
preserve it. The vow is the unconditional
restitution of oneself to God as well as an
offering of self, precisely because it is the
acceptance of a gift. All this involves a total
immersion in the life of the Redeemer and
constitutes an excellent realization of the
mystical dimension of life, subsumed entirely
by the Spirit, becoming an extension in time
of Christ and vitalized by a love which
represents the choice of God alone: with all
one's mind, all one's heart and all one's
strength (cf. Mk. 12:30).
Consecrated Chastity
52. "Chastity 'for the sake of the kingdom of
heaven' (Mt. 19:22) ... must be esteemed as an
exceptional gift of grace. It uniquely frees the
heart of a person (cf. 1 Cor. 1:32- 35), so as to
become more fervent in love for God and for
all of humanity. For this reason it is a special
symbol of heavenly benefits, not to mention a
most effective means offered to religious so as
to enable them to dedicate themselves
wholeheartedly to divine service and the
works of the apostolate."101
Paul Vl emphasized that virginal chastity
"reaches, transforms and imbues with a
mysterious likeness to Christ a person's being
in its most hidden depths."102
By its very nature and intrinsic demands,
Christian virginity is oriented toward worship
and service, that is, to the worship of the body
of Christ in the eucharist, and to the service of
the mystical body-all members of the body of
Christ-but in the first place, to the poor and
suffering with whom Christ particularly
identifies. Chastity above all makes people
capable of having hearts filled with mercy and
open to all God's children, whom they see as
their brothers and sisters-members of the same
body-with no limitation placed by gender or
social condition. Just as matrimony generates
the human family, so too virginity generates
the divine family. The body which is offered
in sacrifice, going beyond the ties of flesh and
blood, becomes that of Christ, the source of
life for all. Virginity also generates
fellowship. It enables a person to live better
the mystery of communion in one's
community. On the other hand, the
community is the environment in which
chastity is preserved and matures in simplicity
and in the joy of love and mutual friendship.
An authentic formation in chastity cannot
ignore the natural and supernatural means
which lead to the fulfillment of mature and
joyful people. Today's cultural context
presents serious difficulties in the work of
educating people to embrace chastity. These
difficulties should be given attentive
consideration. They also call for a lengthy
discernment process of vocations.103
Evangelical Poverty
53. "Voluntary poverty undertaken in
following Christ-which is much esteemed,
especially nowadays-...enables them to share
in the poverty of Christ, who for our sake
became poor, though he was rich, so that we
might become rich through his poverty (cf. 2
Cor. 8:9; Mt. 8:20)."104
In a positive sense, living in poverty means
feeling seized and possessed by the desire for
God and spending oneself totally for the
"coming of his kingdom," especially among
those who await it most anxiously and who
are its primary recipients: the poor and
marginalized. To the act of dying radically to
all earthly interests is grafted and developed a
concern for the new life which is "being about
the Father's business" (cf. Lk. 2:49) and
beginning, here and now, to prepare a place in
which the kingdom can become incarnate and
manifested. The poor person, who has chosen
not to seek his own salvation in earthly
possessions and has found it in communion
with Christ, cannot help but feel obliged to
work so that everyone may discover this same
experience. Such a person will do all in total
dedication and without any self-interest so as
to help others perceive the kingdom present in
Jesus and to make its acceptance easier
through the adoption of a more human and
consistent style of life.
Sensitivity to the poor, the spread of an
inordinate degree of poverty in our world and
an easy consumerism all call the consecrated
life into question. The responses offer a
pressing call to consecrated persons for a clear
witness of personal and communal poverty, of
diligent work, of detachment, of total
availability and of the effective sharing of
spiritual and material resources.105
Religious Obedience
54. "After the example of Jesus Christ, who
came to do his Father's will (cf. Jn. 4:34; 5:30;
Heb. 10:7; Ps. 39:9) and who 'taking the form
of a servant' (Phil. 2:7) learned obedience
through what he suffered (cf. Heb. 5:8),
religious moved by the Holy Spirit subject
themselves in faith to those who hold God's
place, their superiors. Through them they are
led to serve all their brothers and sisters in
Christ, just as Christ ministered to his brothers
in submission to the Father and laid down his
life for the redemption of many (cf. Mt. 20:28;
Jn. 10:14-18). They are thus bound more
close]y to the church's service and they
endeavor to attain to the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ."106
By the vow of obedience, consecrated persons
submit to legitimate authority in order to
know and fulfill God's will. The renunciation
of their own individual plans allows a
constant and total reference to the Father's
will, so that they may share fully in that
freedom of the children of God, which is
revealed as a greater capacity to love and
serve. This love is freedom so that the will
may be conformed to that of Christ in seeking
only what involves the Father's business.
Obedience is first and foremost an entrance
into the Father's affairs and a capacity to bring
them to fulfillment. Agreeing to die to their
own will, the consecrated persons take on the
horizons of the freedom of God himself.
Obedience becomes a source of apostolic
energy. Those who have made Christ's
interests their own cannot help but give their
all for the coming of his kingdom. Seen in this
context, any obedience which might be called
passive or a lack of responsibility would
immediately be a conflict in terms.
In present-day circumstances the vow of
obedience needs to be carefully evaluated
from the vantage point of its Christological
foundation and its personal and communal
dimensions, as they relate to the evangelical
exercise of authority and its implications for
apostolic activity in availability and
communion for the service of the kingdom.107
Witnesses to the Paschal Mystery
55. Since all the baptized are called to
holiness, they must observe the evangelical
virtues of chastity, poverty and evangelical
obedience in imitation of Christ. However,
some are called by the Lord to live a radical
expression of these evangelical counsels
through vows or other sacred bonds, which
make them participate in the kenosis of the
Savior. Where the three evangelical counsels
express the total offering of the person, they
also include other features which are an
expression, as it were, of Christ's unique filial
attitude to the Father in the dynamism of the
Holy Spirit.
Those who are called to the profession of the
counsels reveal and realize the most
paradoxical dimension of the Christian life-
that of Christ crucified and risen. The choice
of chastity, poverty and obedience expresses
the resolution to participate in Christ's
sacrifice and the glory of his resurrection.
The evangelical counsels have a profound
paschal dimension because they presuppose
an identification with Christ and with his
death and resurrection. Therefore, they must
be lived with the same attitude as Christ, who
"emptying himself," was obedient to death,
even death on the cross (cf. Phil. 2:5-8). At
the same time, however, they impart a share in
the joy of the new life to which we are called,
so that the Father's saving will may be done in
all things. Through the profession of the
evangelical counsels consecrated persons
become witnesses to the Lord's resurrection
and the transforming power of his Spirit of
Pentecost.108
Today's society does not seem particularly
ready to accept the meaning and message of
the evangelical counsels. However, it is not
the counsels which are not understood, but the
fundamental Christian virtues themselves of
poverty (detachment, moderation, hard work,
solidarity), of chastity (continence, self-
control, free offering) and obedience
(submission, readiness to serve) which find no
room in a materialistic, consumeristic and
self-sufficient world. These virtues are an
effective means for bringing about a
revolution arising from the Gospel. Although
consecrated persons respect and defend
private property, conjugal love and free
initiative, and work hard to see to it that no
one is deprived of what is needed to live, to
form a family and to provide for their own
future, they must show clearly that one can be
poor, celibate, dependent and a servant while
at the same time being rich in life, love and
freedom, because "whoever follows Christ the
perfect man becomes all the more human."109
Consecrated persons proclaim that beyond
any created good whatsoever, God alone is the
only good that satisfies the human person and
that it is in him alone that one can achieve the
fullness of the Beatitudes. "The religious give
outstanding and striking testimony that the
world cannot be transfigured and offered to
God without the spirit of the Beatitudes."110
3. Communion, Mission and Witness
Communal Dimension
56. Since the consecrated life is an image of
church communion in its internal workings, it
is an expression of the mutual charity in love
which distinguishes Christ's disciples. From
the beginning and to this very day, the
passage of the Acts of the Apostles describing
the Christian community as one in heart and
mind (cf. Acts 4:32) has remained open to a
vital exegesis. The fathers call it the
"holy koinonia." Vatican II proposed it as the
paradigm of community life.111
The life of communion takes its inspiration
from the fraternal communion manifested by
Christ in the law of mutual love and by the
fellowship and equality of his disciples (cf. Jn.
20: 19-23), in the image of the Trinity (cf. Jn.
17:21-23). For some, unity in love is an
obligation allowing them to enjoy the
continual presence of Christ promised to those
gathered in his name (cf. Mt. 18:20). For
others, it is a question of reproducing the
community of the apostles in mission. As a
result of the evangelical character of the
vocation, sometimes a community draws its
inspiration from various biblical models: the
model of Nazareth, the home in Bethany (cf.
Lk. 10:38-42), the group of disciples chosen
to be with the Master (cf. Mk. 313-14) or the
women disciples who follow and serve him
(cf. Lk. 8:1-3). Others are inspired by the Last
Supper in the Upper Room, by the Lord's
appearance and presence in the midst of the
disciples (cf. Jn. 19:23) or the wait with Mary,
the mother of Jesus, for the coming of the
Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14).
The reality of community life has also been
expressed in a variety of symbols: fellowship,
church, assembly, temple made up of living
stones, a body having different members, a
circle with God as its center. In this circle,
under the inspiration of charity, all the rays
converge with the effect that the closer we are
to God, the closer we are to our brothers and
sisters, and the closer we are to our brothers
and sisters, the closer we are to God.112
The diversity of types of community
expresses the variety of images and values in
the church. Monastic stability expresses in
prayer and work the fellowship of liturgy and
life; the itinerant community manifests the
evangelizing church setting out on mission,
however needing to preserve unity; and a
community dedicated to organized apostolic
activity expresses the solidarity, effectiveness
and fidelity of a common endeavor. There are
also communities living among the poor or
other needy groups, bearing witness to the
church's closeness to them. Finally there are
groups or individuals such as consecrated
virgins, hermits or members of secular
institutes who take part in various workplaces
where they, like Gospel leaven, share the
everyday activities of modem life as well as
the anxiety and the poverty of the most
marginalized.
For all of these, community life is an ideal and
a means to follow. Christ wants his disciples
to be configured to this transcendent model of
the Trinity reflected in community. However,
it is a taxing journey which requires maturity
in both human and evangelical virtues; a
sharing in fellowship and friendship in the
joys and sorrows of life; a solidarity in the
apostolic mission; and a constant generosity in
mutual love to the point of giving up one's
life.
In the community dimension the vocation of
the individual leads to an awareness of a
"convocation" by God. Consecration becomes
an experience of communion and of coming
together in the love of Christ, and mission is a
call to share the apostolic ideal. Although they
have a purely personal dimension, it is in
communion that the evangelical counsels take
on their authentic human and divine
dynamism, that is: chastity as maturity in
interpersonal relationships; poverty as a
sharing of material and spiritual goods; and
obedience in freedom as a convergence and
unity of intentions and work-under the
guidance of authority-in the practice of
dialogue and community discernment in what
is for the greater glory of God.113
Fraternal Communion and Fraternal Life
in Common
57. The dimension of fraternal communion is
a constitutive part of every form of
consecrated life,114 in that it is a sign of what
the church is in her mystery. In the church as
communion-an image of the Trinity-the
consecrated life is presented as a visible,
prophetic reminder of the communion which
the whole church must already be living and
which, at the same time, is her ultimate goal.
The concrete ways in which this dimension is
realized, however, differ greatly among the
various forms of the consecrated life and
within communities of the same type as well.
In fact, consecrated persons such as hermits,
consecrated virgins living in the world and
consecrated widows embrace an individual
form of consecration beyond any forms of
association which they might undertake. They
achieve fraternal communion substantially in
their relationship to the church and her
mystery as such. The members of religious
institutes and societies of apostolic life
concretize this fraternal communion in forms
of common life, but in as many different ways
as there are institutes and societies, each
according to their own charism and
purpose.115 Although the members of secular
institutes do not live a common life, they
express fraternal communion in their
profound bond with their own institute or by
forming groups for living a fraternal life.116
The first reference point of fraternal
communion is the faith by which the many
become one heart and mind (cf. Acts 4:32).
Community calls upon the faith of the church,
expressing, celebrating and fulfilling it. An act
of faith is never a solitary act. Faith generates
communion in virtue of the central mystery of
the Christian faith, the Trinitarian mystery.
The confession of the Trinitarian faith
recognizing God as "mutual gift" does not
cancel out the differences: Communication
presupposes distinction.
Fraternal communion is rooted and founded in
charity because through charity, the bond of
perfection (cf. Col. 3:14), we have passed
from death to life. The summit of community
life is the eucharist. The consecrated person
does not place his hope in an ideal-no matter
how noble it may be-but in the person of the
risen Lord. Jesus' resurrection, to which
consecrated persons bear witness, opens them
up to hope for total fulfillment in the future.
Bearing witness to the risen Christ means
becoming apostles. Thus, the dimension of
fraternal communion in the consecrated life
becomes the bearer of the good news of God's
liberating love.
In group expressions of the consecrated life-
religious institutes, secular institutes, societies
of apostolic life-following Christ, the poor,
chaste and obedient one in company with
others means becoming an example in the
church and in the world. In other words, it
means that apostolic fraternal communion, in
its various forms and in conformity with each
group's nature and purpose, bears witness to
faith, hope and charity.
Growing in Communion
58. The common life in itself is charged with
supernatural and spiritual value. First and
foremost the accent must be placed on "being"
communion, and afterward on "doing"
something. Action cannot precede being.
Since consecration in itself is a gift which
God has given to his church, the fraternal life
in common is also a gift which comes from
God and which the members of an institute or
society must first of all receive. Afterward,
the members must preserve and develop this
gift by the means found in the Spirit, each
according to its nature, character, spirituality
and end. Any type of strict uniformity
exercised among various communities or
within individual communities produces a
negative effect on the identity of the charism
of the institute or society.
The religious community, regardless of the
concrete form it may assume because of the
nature and goal of the institute, should not fail
to take into account certain elements to bring
about an authentic renewal. Therefore, the
community ought to be the place in which-
through personal and communal prayer
according to the spirituality proper to each
institute-the experience of God can mature for
each member and be shared with others. The
community ought to be a place where mutual
love matures and is fulfilled, and where
freedom and solidarity are not seen as
separate entities, but as mutually inclusive in
virtue of an effective participation in the
paschal mystery. The community must be a
witness, a proclamation, a service and a gift to
others in the apostolate of silence, prayer and
penance, or in the apostolate of works,
contributing to the church's mission in
accordance with the charism of the
institute.117
The community is, in the famous expression
of medieval tradition, "the school of the
service of the Lord" and the "school of
charity." It is therefore a community of
disciples in continual formation so that they
might grow together in Christ through a
communication and commitment which is
always inspired by mutual charity.118
Service of Authority and Communion
59. The service of authority is fundamental to
the order of fraternal life. For this reason the
religious community or society of apostolic
life must be under the authority of a superior
whose primary task is to work to build a
fraternal community in which God is sought
and loved above all other things.
It is necessary to reflect on what has been so
rightly stated in Mutuae Relationes,a
document which describes the functions of
religious superiors in analogy with the
ministry of teaching, sanctifying and
governing proper to pastors and bishops in
particular.
Whoever presides over the community should
see himself first of all as a master of the spirit
who, exercising a function or ministry of
teaching, imparts true spiritual direction to the
community and an authoritative teaching
exercised in Christ's name about the charism
of the institute. Superiors serve God in the
measure in which they promote the
authenticity of community life and serve their
brethren by helping them to fulfill their
vocation in the truth.
Inasmuch as they authentically interpret a
collective charism shared by all the members
of the community, superiors must be capable
of letting themselves be helped and
enlightened by their council and the other
structures of participation or consultation. In
fact, all the members of an institute share the
responsibility of fulfilling the founding
charism. This shared responsibility is
expressed precisely through consultative or
participative bodies, which vary from one
institute to another, depending on their own
nature and purpose. The superior fulfills a
ministry of sanctification on behalf of all the
members of the institute or community. Such
a function is expressed in the growth of the
life of charity of individuals and community
in the observance of the evangelical counsels
in accordance with the spirit of the institute.
Through the service of authority community
life is ordered to its own particular end and
charism. The role of authority is that of a sure
and authoritative guide, of inspiration and
encouragement so that an environment of
fraternal communion can be created, one
which can facilitate personal spiritual growth
and the fulfillment of the apostolic mission,
without, however, declining the responsibility
to decide whenever necessary.119
In order for this threefold ministry of
teaching, sanctifying and governing to be
exercised correctly, the administration of a
community should be both spiritual and
personal in nature so that a true spiritual
relationship may be established among all its
members.
Life of Communion and Apostolate
60. The charism of the apostolate is a
common patrimony. All members of an
institute or society participate in it by their
vocation and, responding to the gift of
consecration, are open to its sanctifying
activity. In this way, they form a community,
a group organized in common life and works,
bearing public witness to divine charity in the
church and in the world. Here, there is a true
shared responsibility, even if lived according
to the various functions performed.
Fraternal life in common cannot be separated
from apostolic activity, otherwise a dangerous
separation would result. Apostolic activity is
essentially communal, even when it is
performed by individual members.
Christ is the origin of fraternal life in
community and of apostolic mission. Christ
calls to himself those whom he chooses and
invites them, as belonging to a particular
institute or society, to extend his mission in
the world under a particular aspect. Therefore,
the basis of their being gathered in a single
apostolic activity is their love for Christ, who
calls individuals and sends them on a
communal mission.
There must be a growing awareness that the
apostolic mission is given as a charism by
Christ, first and foremost, to the founder or
foundress. This is a collective charism passed
on to each member and to individual
communities only through the institute which
extends the charism in time. The individual
mission comes from Christ but is part of the
church's one hierarchical mission, in
communion with the pope and the college of
bishops, and is mediated by the institute
because it is a share in a common mission.
Therefore, every member is personally
responsible for fulfilling this mission and
ought to live the specific mission he has
received from the superiors as the mission of
the whole institute. The mission given by the
superior in the name of the institute
guarantees that the activity performed by the
individual or a particular community is
consistent with the mission of the whole
institute in communion with the universal and
particular church.
Participating in the Church's Mission
61. What makes the entire institute a true
apostolic community is not the fact that it is
spread throughout the whole world or the
juridical fact of the mutual and perpetual bond
which binds all the members in one institute,
but the internal and more basic element of the
union of souls, that is, the fraternal
communion rooted in and founded on the
charity of Christ, who gathers the members
together and sends them forth. The life of
fraternal communion per se is not conferred
by simply being together and sharing in an
external organization of life. Rather it derives
from living one's entire life with reference to
the institute and in communion with the other
members, with whom one shares the same
charism of mission. Thus, at the level of the
local community it is not the physical fact of
living under the same roof or the juridical
element of an individual's being sent to a
specific community which makes a group of
persons an apostolic community, rather it is
the charism-mission lived together in a
particular apostolate. What unites the
members of a community in an apostolic
fraternal life is the desire to fulfill the plan of
the common mission.
Fidelity to the charism calls all the members
of an apostolic community to work together
for the same end and determines the way that
community life is organized. The common
apostolic project to be achieved is the main
point of reference for every individual
community and the way in which each
member of it "creates community."
The convergence of all the members in a
single apostolic endeavor is the expression of
the union of souls in mutual charity and
therefore of the love of Christ. However, as a
sign of its authenticity and a support in its
expression, this convergence needs a whole
range of communal forms and activities which
promote each single member's exchange of
ideas, sharing and cooperation in the
apostolate, even in cases in which not all the
members of a community participate in the
same apostolate.
The community is not prior to the mission in
that the former is not located in some sphere
extraneous to the latter, rather it is achieved in
and through the same apostolic activity.
Mission is not only the consequence or fruit of
an intense fraternal life in community, it is
also the environment in which the unity of the
members of the community is expressed and
achieved.120
Delving deeper into the mystery of the church,
the Second Vatican Council presented the
nature of the church and her universal mission
as inextricably linked: "The church, in Christ,
is in the nature of sacrament-a sign and
instrument, that is, of communion with God
and of unity among all people."121 A good
understanding of the church does not separate
her mystery from her mission. Mission is not
an appendage, but an integral part of her most
intimate nature.122 Indeed, the church accepts
the gift of Trinitarian communion, incarnates
it and communicates it as the offering and gift
of salvation which she herself has received.
Thus, the church is the "universal sacrament
of salvation."123 Her sacramental structure, the
elements incorporated in her and the vocations
and charisms which enrich her must be
understood in the light of mission. The
essence of her mission, in continuation of the
mission of the incarnate Word and of the
Spirit, is to manifest God's saving love, a gift
given in mystery. Thus mission is not to be
confused with its various expressions,
expressions determined by the communication
of the life-giving love of God in the diverse
ministries and activities of the apostolate.
In essence mission is not the church's own. It
proceeds from God and is oriented toward
him. It finds its ultimate purpose, nature and
manifold richness in the mystery of the
Trinity. It is essential for mission to make
visible the mystery of love which is the life of
the Trinity.
Unity of Consecration and Mission
62. Mission is in itself more than an activity
or apostolate. As Christ was consecrated and
sent into the world (cf. Jn. 10:36), making his
whole life a salvific mission, in a similar
manner consecrated persons, called to
reproduce in themselves the image of the
firstborn Son (cf. Rom. 8:29) through the
action of the Spirit, must make their whole
life a mission.
The mission of consecrated life in the church
takes its initiative from its experience of God
which is open to all dimensions of life: to
prayer, to the witness of fraternal life, to the
courageous proclamation of the Gospel, to
commitment to justice and human
advancement.
The unity of consecration and mission is
founded on the theology of creation and
incarnation, and has its unity in Christ, the
Word of God who became man and came to
dwell among us. As God's gift to the church
and the world, it jointly manifests a prophetic
witness to the kingdom and its eschatological
dimension. Consecrated persons are called to
an ever fuller and more mature integration of
the various aspects of their life. Indeed, they
must feel that they are in a relationship with
the world and yet separated from it, and called
to work in the world but like the leaven as
mentioned in the Gospel. In this way, not only
can they offer the loving service of their life
in Christ's name, but they can also propose a
renewed vision of the true meaning and value
of earthly things and a clear understanding of
the necessary interdependence among people,
the basis of every community and society.
Whoever is called by Christ to be a disciple
should feel fully engaged in his mission as an
apostle. Those who choose to spend their
whole life in communicating the Gospel
manifest the supreme value of love.
Unity and Variety of Mission
63. The apostolate of consecrated persons
consists first and foremost in the witness of
their life.124 This holds true also for societies
of apostolic life and members of secular
institutes. In religious institutes such witness
is public and explicit, as well as personal and
communal.
In institutes wholly dedicated to
contemplation, the contemplative life itself is
the mission. Their mission is also the witness
and outreach with which they live a prayerful
communion with the Father through the Spirit,
as Christ did during his earthly life. They
express the attitude of the virgin mother, who
in her heart pondered the words of her Son
(cf. Lk. 2:19, 51).125
In institutes dedicated to apostolic works,
mission belongs to its very nature. Avoiding
every idea of a dichotomy, their members are
called to live the unity of experiencing Jesus
in communion with the Father and in
dedication to others in such a way that all
their activity is imbued with a religious
spirit.126 Societies of apostolic life and
missionary institutes highlight the church's
missionary outreach and represent Jesus
traveling to various places to preach the
Gospel.127Secular institutes live mission in
secular situations and make Jesus visibly alive
in the midst of people, working in the world
through the evangelical charisms.128
Great opportunities for the church's mission
are opening up today such as: involvement in
new cultural situations; the explosion of
poverty; the fall of messianic ideologies; a
new hunger for the transcendent; and the
opening up of new horizons for the
proclamation of the Gospel. Today's situations
have created new opportunities and new
"aeropauses" for the mission of the
consecrated life in the present and in the near
future, as will be more explicit in the fourth
part of the instrumentum laboris.
A Prophetic and Transcendent Sign
64. The mission of the consecrated life has a
special prophetic role in the midst of the
people of God, which is prophetic by its very
nature. First of all, consecration itself is
already a prophecy in virtue of the fact that it
bears witness to Gospel values, which
frequently are countercultural in a society
marked by secularism. Such values are a
prophetic rejection of the idols which this
world is always tempted to adore. Moreover,
it is always destined to evoke questions in
those who are pursuing purely earthly goals.
Therefore, when it is lived fully and in joyful
thanksgiving, the consecrated life is a
prophecy pointing to ultimate realities, the
definitive goal of every created thing and the
final destiny of every event of human history,
the earth and the universe. This prophecy is
needed more than ever in an era like our own,
marked by a lack of clarity about various
human longings. Therefore, the consecrated
life is considered "a very clear symbol of the
heavenly kingdom."129
The consecrated life is a prophetic sign when
it makes the primacy of God's love present
and visible. It witnesses to that presence
through the particular charism of the
individual institutes, lived in service of the
poor and abandoned, of the victims of
violence and injustice, and of the new poor
who make society's panorama a sad one. This
service is done in imitation of the founder's
compassion and mercy, and with a sensitivity
for human rights and the just cause of human
advancement.
A courageous prophetic effort, undertaken for
the future of humanity and to assure God's
presence in the future, is also expected from
the synod so that hope for the future of the
consecrated life can be better developed in
light of an authentic Christian service of the
whole human person and all of humanity, the
intended recipients of the salvation brought by
Jesus Christ.
In Communion With the Virgin Mary
65. Many responses emphasize the need to
present the Virgin Mary in the consecrated
life as the model and mother of Jesus'
disciples. Mary is the model of the response to
the divine call and of the basic character of
following Christ. She is the person
consecrated by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Her life is total adherence to the mission of
Christ and the church.130
In the church, under the action of the Holy
Spirit, consecrated persons choose "that kind
of poor and virginal life which Christ the Lord
chose for himself and which his virgin mother
embraced,"131 together with Joseph, who is
also a particular master for those called to the
contemplative life or the apostolate.132
Through her unconditional response to the
divine call and her interior consecration
through the Holy Spirit she is the model of
vocation and of total self-giving to God. She
lived virginity for the sake of the kingdom,
humility, evangelical poverty and a total
obedience to God's plan. She is the first
disciple and the incomparable example of
following Christ, the Lord. Through her total
dedication to the mystery and mission of her
Son, she shines as a model of apostolic and
ecclesial service. In her life, which is "a
model for all,"133 the charisms of the
consecrated life are reflected as in a mirror.
Both in the solitude of monasteries and in the
midst of the events of the world and society,
she is the model of spouse and virgin-
especially for consecrated women-in her
dedication to contemplation and self-sacrifice
for the apostolate.
Many institutes have an explicit reference to
the mother of God in their names. However,
all institutes, guided by their founders,
spontaneously recognize Mary's motherly
presence as a bond of communion within their
own institutes and, either explicitly or
implicitly, see in their own style of life and
apostolate a special dimension of the life and
mystery of Mary. Indeed, she is the ark of the
new covenant; the handmaid of the Lord in
the poverty of the anawim; the mother of fair
love from Bethlehem to Calvary and beyond;
the obedient virgin whose yes to the Lord
changed our history; the contemplative
woman who treasured everything in her heart;
the missionary who hastened to visit
Elizabeth; the only person attentive to the
needs at Cana; the steadfast witness at the foot
of the cross; and the center of unity which
sustained the young church gathered to await
the Holy Spirit. As mother of the consecrated
one and of the one sent by the Father, by
her fiat and her magnificat, Mary teaches
everyone to abandon themselves to God,
joyfully to proclaim God's praise and to
become involved with God in salvation
history, especially on behalf of the poor and
lowly.134
Genuine Marian spirituality in the consecrated
life is nourished through a knowledge of
Mariology and through the promotion of
liturgical worship and popular devotion.
However, it is fostered primarily through a
Marian lifestyle and apostolate, one which
helps manifest in the world the mystery of
Trinitarian love, in communion with the holy
mother of the Lord and open to all the needs
of the world, especially to the needs of those
who are the most poor and needy in body and
spirit.
III. CONSECRATED LIFE IN
ECCLESIAL COMMUNION
1. Ecclesiology of Communion
The Church as Communion
66. On the basis of the teaching of Vatican II,
the 1985 extraordinary assembly of the Synod
of Bishops affirmed that the ecclesiology of
communion is the foundation of the church's
ordering and of a proper relationship between
unity and pluriformity in her.135 This has also
been confirmed by other documents136and is
in conformity with the nature of the church
and the sensus fidei.
In baptism a person is constituted a child of
the Father through the power of the one Spirit,
in the only begotten Son. In participating in
the body and blood of the Lord, one enters
into a deep union with all the other faithful,
who together form in him one body, the
church.137 The church is a communion
because, as the work of the three divine
persons, she is "a people brought into unity
from the unity of the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit.138
By sharing through baptism in the priestly,
prophetic and kingly office of Christ, there is
a true equality in dignity and in action in that
everyone, called to holiness in the exercise of
charity, works together in building up the
body of Christ and discharges the mission
which God has entrusted to the church to
accomplish in the world. The church is
constituted as the communion of saints in that
all the faithful, sharing in the same goods of
salvation (the "holy things"), are made holy in
the bond of charity and in union of
prayer.139 However, every believer concretely
fulfills his vocation to holiness by building up
the body of Christ in his own way according
to the gifts received from the Spirit and
according to the ministries and services he is
called to perform in the church. This in turn
actualizes a communion of charisms and
ministries.140 Equality is thus enriched by a
pluriform diversity.
Sacramental, Hierarchical and Charismatic
Communion
67. The church as a body (cf. Rom. 12:4-5; 1
Cor. 12:12ff.; Eph. 4:4) shows how her
members are both unified and diverse at one
and the same time. The church is a
communion founded on her sacraments,
ministries and charisms. There are different
gifts of the Spirit and therefore diverse
ministries and functions of the church's
members; however, all are unified by the
action of the one Spirit.141
The universal church-and her image, the
particular church142-is composed of various
ordered groups of persons. Each of these
groups includes those who have received the
same gift of the Spirit, perform the same
ministry or functions, are bound by the same
obligations and enjoy the same rights.143 The
life of the church as a communion of charisms
is not broken down in a polarization between
the order of sacred ministers and the lay order,
but is rather shown to have a greater richness
and expression. The fundamental structure of
the church, in fact, is sacramental,
institutional and charismatic. In her the
ordered groups, roles, ministries and forms of
stable life, raised up by the gifts of the Spirit,
are organically constituted. The organic
communion, animated by charity through a
correlation to the mystery of the incarnate
Word and the mystery of the church, requires
a juridical form through which the charisms,
which have a particular relevance for the life
of the church, are assumed in the
institution.144
We can identify three categories or general
orders of persons making up the church: the
laity, sacred ministers and those who profess
the evangelical counsels in a canonically
recognized stable form of life.145 These
ordered groups of persons are complementary
to one another in that, having their origin in
the action of the Spirit, they are truly all
ordered to mutual sanctification and the one
communion and mission of the same body.146
Consecration through the profession of the
evangelical counsels as a stable form of life
essentially concerns the mystery of the
church, which otherwise would not be fully
manifested and realized.147 As such it is an
intrinsic part of the church's nature, even if,
with time, its various institutional forms may
change and eventually disappear.
Nevertheless, it should be taken into
consideration that part of the apostolic
charism of holy orders includes having in that
sacramental and institutional structure-
especially at the level of the supreme
pontificate and episcopate-a pre-eminent and
specific role with regard to all the other
charisms.148 Therefore, ecclesiastical authority
in the role of sanctifying, teaching and
governing discerns and regulates the use of all
the charisms in order to maintain the unity of
the whole communion.149 In fidelity to the
Spirit this service must be performed at the
universal and particular level with respect for
the specific nature of each charism and role,
and with the purpose of fostering the specific
nature of each charism and function.150
The analogy between the mystery of the
incarnate Word and that of the church is the
essence of the ecclesiology of Vatican II. The
church is a mystery of communion. By her
very nature, however, she is not only spiritual
and invisible (since she is born of the Spirit)
but also a visible hierarchy, in virtue of
151
incarnate Christ, the head. In the light of
such a view of the church it should be seen
that, because of the church's very nature, the
bond of communion cannot be limited to the
realm of the invisible and spiritual, but
demands a visible form rendered ever alive by
charity.
Charity is the determining basic principle of
all social relations in the church. As a gift of
the Spirit it is the bond of communion among
all the baptized-regardless of their category
and order-at both the universal and particular
levels. Every relation between the members,
whether individuals or in groups, demands the
exercise of charity, the fruit of the Spirit who
dispenses various gifts. Given the church's
nature, however, wherever there is no
subordination in hierarchical communion
charity is not perfect, and therefore Christ is
not fully present and acting, nor is church
communion totally realized or manifested.
Charity is the principle which inspires the
relationship of institutes of consecrated life
with the pope, the bishops and the other
members of the people of God so that their
harmony may express what the church is: the
communion, in the Son, of the children of the
one Father, through the work of the Spirit.
Common Call to Holiness and Mission
68. By virtue of the regenerating grace of
baptism and the anointing of the Spirit, all the
members of the church are Christ's
faithful, Christifideles. This is the basis of the
common vocation and dignity of all Christians
which also belongs to members of institutes of
consecrated life and societies of apostolic
life.152 In fact, through baptism they are sons
and daughters of the Father in Christ. They
are disciples who assent in faith to the love of
their Lord and master. They are living temples
of the Spirit and living members of the body
of Christ, called to mission and destined to
glory.
By their vocation, consecration and specific
mission in the consecrated life, rooted in
baptism and confirmation and celebrated and
nourished in the eucharist, they are called to
express their belonging to Christ in a specific
dynamism and in communion with the other
faithful. Children of God, they have given
themselves to him in imitation of the attitude
of the chaste, poor and obedient Son of the
virgin mother. Both women and men disciples
have taken the imitation of Christ according to
the counsels and made it the form of their
adherence to Christ as the absolute Lord and
master of their existence, pouring themselves
out for his service. Consecrated by the Spirit
through the church, they have received a gift
which enables them to fulfill the demands of
imitating Christ and of mission. Sharing in a
charism, they are called to express in their life
a specific aspect of the mystery of Christ and
of the church. Called to mission, they must
dedicate themselves totally to it by their life
and apostolate. Destined to glory, they must
bear witness by their life to heavenly things,
to the future resurrection and the glory of the
heavenly kingdom.
Thus, they participate in the common vocation
of all the baptized and confirmed, and
manifest the wealth of the mystery of Christ
and of the church. However, many responses
insist that the state of consecrated life is not "a
kind of middle way between the clerical and
lay conditions of life ... (but) a form of life to
which some Christians (Christifideles), both
clerical and lay, are called by God so that they
may enjoy a special gift of grace in the life of
the church and may contribute, each in his
own way, to the saving mission of the
church."153 Therefore, there must be a more
detailed explanation of the diversity of
vocations within the consecrated life.
Consecrated "Christifideles "
69. "All members of the church are sharers in
(her) secular dimension but in different
ways."154 In its initial historical expressions
the religious life was predominantly lay, not
clerical. Today to a large extent, members of
institutes of religious life and societies of
apostolic life-men and women-are consecrated
laity, although they are not "laity" according
to the nature proper to those who live in the
world.155 Because of their consecration, their
lay dimension, as a presence in the world and
engagement in temporal realities, is limited in
comparison to that of other laity. It is
expressed, however, according to the nature,
charism and characteristic of their own
institute, in the kind of life they live, and their
apostolate in the church and society.
Consecrated women and lay brothers
belonging to congregations of apostolic life
can perform through their distinctive mission
a special work in renewing the world
according to the spirit of the Beatitudes. There
are also other categories of persons such as
consecrated virgins who seek to live their
special consecration in the world.
The lay members of secular institutes, who
maintain their secular condition in their life,
mission and role as leaven in society with the
newness of the Gospel, unite their
consecration with their lay dimension.
Consecrated Clerical "Christifideles"
70. Among consecrated persons there are also
those who by vocation and mission are clerics.
The blending of these two aspects of the one
divine call has been documented since the
beginning of the consecrated life. The
vocation to the diaconate or priesthood within
an institute of consecrated life or society of
apostolic life brings out, according to the
special character of the charism proper to it,
the way in which the ordained minister,
although responding to this sacramental
reality in the church, can live with an
apostolic missionary spirituality and activity,
which in its variety reflects the richness of
Christ's priesthood, and through the action of
the Spirit makes the vocation and pastoral
activity of the ministers of the Lord not
something univocal, but extremely rich and
expressive.
Priests "who belong to religious orders and
congregations represent a spiritual enrichment
for the entire diocesan presbyterate to which
they contribute specific charisms and special
ministries."156 The same thing can be said of
clerical members of secular
institutes.157 Religious elevated to the
episcopate continue to be members of their
institute.158 The harmonious blend of the two
aspects of the one personal vocation, that is,
the sacramental and charismatic grace of the
consecrated life, can bear abundant fruits in
holiness and in the apostolate to the degree in
which religious priests have a clear
understanding of the nature of their ecclesial
ministry, draw inspiration and strength for
their spiritual life from the fonts of their own
institute, live according to their own style of
life and are available for an apostolic outreach
in the universal and particular church.159 This
is also true of hermits and contemplative
monks who combine the diaconate or
priesthood with their specific consecration.
Sharing in the Priestly, Prophetic and
Kingly Office
71. By their dignity
as Christifideles consecrated persons-women
and men alike- share in Christ's priestly,
prophetic and kingly office and express it in
the specific manner of their vocation and Prophetic office
mission.
In communion with the other members of the
This doctrine, so important for understanding people of God, consecrated persons share in
the Christian vocation in communion with the prophetic office of Christ through their
Christ and in his service, was emphasized by witness to the Gospel. The prophecy of the
Vatican II for all the baptized,160 and is consecrated life is a sign for the church and
frequently used to refer to the laity.161 It the world. By the profession of chastity they
should also be remembered, however-as many anticipate in their flesh the new world of the
responses indicate-that this also holds true for resurrection (cf. Mt. 22:30). By their practice
the consecrated life. of poverty they manifest the supreme value of
the kingdom of God over all human and
Priestly and cultic dimension earthly goods (cf. Mt. 6:19-21, 24). By their
sharing of goods they proclaim the universal
In their life, religious and other members of
destination of everything to the glory of God
institutes of consecrated life exercise a
and for the good of all, and they attest to the
priesthood and a spiritual worship in virtue of
value of work when it is performed in
their profession of the evangelical counsels.
freedom of spirit. Adhering to God's will in
Living according to Christ's example, they
obedience, they proclaim the kingly way of
make their life an offering, a sacrifice pleasing
submission to the heavenly Father's loving
to God, made holy in the Spirit (cf. Rom.
plan. By their life and words they are an
12:1); by the offering of their own body and
invitation-and sometimes a provocation-for
their total dedication to God with an
everyone, faithful and pastors alike, to serve
undivided heart in chastity (cf. 1 Cor. 7:32-
the Lord purely and freely in fidelity to the
34); by their choice of the poverty of Christ
covenant of love. They propose anew the
which sets them free from idolatry to serve
value and the memory of God's original plan
God (cf. Mt. 6:24) and open to the needs of
which sin has obscured and are a sign of the
their brothers and sisters; by their gift of self
yearning with which all humanity awaits the
through obedience, in communion with Christ
total revelation of the glory of the children of
in order to do the Father's will in everything,
God (cf. Rom. 8:19-21).
they are a pleasing and acceptable sacrifice
for the salvation of the world. In communion
with Christ the consecrated life is eucharistic
and cultic.
Kingly witness
Consecrated persons are called to proclaim
Christ's kingly office which makes them free,
sound and open to universal communion for
the sake of building the kingdom. This comes
about on the kingly road of charity; with
hearts open to love of God and neighbor in
chastity; by their joyful experience of poverty
which in this world already reaps the
hundredfold benefits in personal and
communal life (cf. Mt. 19:29) promised to
those who seek the kingdom; and through
their freedom strengthened by obedience,
which permits them in imitation of Christ to
dedicate themselves entirely to the Father's
affairs. In this manner of life is rooted the
glory and the gift of service, because to serve
is to reign: "This gift finds its total fulfillment
in the unreserved self-giving of the whole
human person, in a spirit of conjugal love for
Christ and, with Christ, to all those-women
and men-who are totally consecrated to him
according to the evangelical counsels."162
2. Communion in the Universal Church
and in the Local Churches
Consecrated Life in the Universal Church
72. The importance of the universal
dimension of the consecrated life in the
ecclesiology of communion and its basis in its
relationship to the Petrine ministry was
recently emphasized by the Holy See: "In the
context of the church understood as
communion, consideration should also be
given to the many institutes and societies that
express the consecrated life and apostolic life,
with which the Holy Spirit enriches the
mystical body of Christ. Although these do
not belong to the hierarchical structure of the
church, they belong to her life and holiness.
Given their supradiocesan character, rooted in
the Petrine ministry, all these ecclesial
realities are also elements at the service of
communion among the various particular
churches."163
The institutes of consecrated life, regardless
of their nature and end, tend to spread
throughout the whole church very quickly,
bringing to the various particular churches
where they are established a note of
universality, in virtue of their close bond with
the ministry of the successor of St. Peter. Such
a note is not simply a geographical, ethnic or
cultural reality. As a manifestation of the
mystery of the church, it is a theological
reality. Universality is not identified with a
geographic union of nations and cultural or
ethnic pluralism, rather it is strictly related to
the church's mark of catholicity, for which
reason it is the universal sacrament of
salvation.
By their nature and by their feature of
universality, institutes of consecrated life and
societies of apostolic life are dedicated in a
special way to the service of God and the
whole church. The supreme pontiff is the
highest superior of all consecrated persons,
who each owe him obedience because of the
sacred bond of obedience.164 From this
derives the fact that all institutes are by a
particular title subject to the supreme
authority of the church, that is, the Roman
pontiff with the organisms of the Roman
Curia and the college of bishops.165
This bond with the Roman pontiff must not be
seen as limiting the proper autonomy of
institutes of consecrated life,166 but rather as a
safeguard in that it is a guarantee of their
universality and the special nature of their
charism.
It is vital for the institutes to be faithful to the
teaching and directions which the Roman
pontiff, united with all the bishops, gives to
the church. Since consecrated persons are to
be a positive resource of evangelization within
the church, they cannot fail to communicate
and witness to the authentic teaching of the
magisterium. To do otherwise would be a loss
of the institute's identity and role in the
church. For this reason, superiors have the
duty of intervening when members of their
institute are lacking in such a fidelity.
Such a bond of communion is expressed in a
mature and supernatural love for the supreme
pontiff and his magisterium. The rejection of
ecclesiastical discipline and dissent from
statements of the magisterium in matters of
faith and morals are damaging to the institute
as well as to its individual members because
they go against the Gospel witness which they
are to give within the people of God, a witness
essential to the consecrated life as such.
The "prophetic" role of the consecrated
persons cannot be construed-as sometimes
claimed-to be in opposition to the pope and
the bishops. Instead, it is a sincere witness to
Gospel values and includes a submission in
faith and love to those whom the Holy Spirit
has placed as leaders of the people of God.
The difficulties which sometimes arise must
be overcome by searching together for all
means to help bring about a sincere dialogue
in charity, a charity which always looks to the
good of the church.
In the Particular Churches
73. The particular churches are an image of
the universal church167 in that all the essential
elements of the church are found in them.
Likewise found there are the differentiations
of Christ's faithful into various ordered groups
according to the variety of their charisms,
ministries and services. By achieving unity in
diversity the particular church realizes the
church as an organic communion in which the
Spirit is like the soul of the body, with Christ
as its head.168 The bond of communion, then,
is charity which translates into an appreciation
of diversity and an active mutual respect for
the sake of achieving the common good.
The various forms of consecrated life as a
constitutive element of the particular church
are born and flourish there, bringing their own
charismatic wealth and their feature of
universality. In a special way the vocation
which looks to the universal church,
incumbent on the members of the institutes of
consecrated life, is realized within the
structures of the particular churches, thus
contributing to their spiritual upbuilding and
to the unity of the universal church: "Your
vocation for the universal church is realized
within the structures of the local church....
Your unity with the universal church through
the local church: This is your path."169
Postconciliar ecclesiological reflection has
brought about a renewed awareness that all
the components of the ecclesial fabric are
called to work together to build up the one
body of Christ. On the one hand, the members
of institutes of consecrated life, in conformity
with their own charism, have been led to give
greater value to the particular church, seeking
their own manner of active presence in it. On
the other hand, the bishops, with due respect
for the proper autonomy of life and
government of the institutes, have often made
an effort for greater joint planning.
From the responses it is seen that generally
there is a sincere desire to build authentic
relationships of communion and collaboration
among bishops, institutes of consecrated life,
secular clergy and laity. Positive results have
been achieved wherever the guidelines
of Mutuae Relationes and the canonical norms
have been applied well.
Consecrated persons on their part are
becoming more aware of the duty to be
promotes of communion170 in the particular
church through the meaning of their
consecration in the church and their witness to
the universality of the Gospel message, which
goes beyond differences of any kind based on
race, culture, tribe, etc. and through their
solidarity and availability to all, especially to
the very poor. In such a manner they create
bonds between the church and those
marginalized groups which frequently are not
reached by ordinary pastoral activity.
A Dynamic Communion
74. Despite these positive aspects there are
also difficulties in relationships between the
various components of the church which
should be taken into consideration.
While one hopes for the full awareness and
appreciation of the consecrated life in the
church, there is a need for institutes to
overcome a sense of self-sufficiency and
overattachment to their works so as to foster
relationships of trust and cooperation.
Some responses point to reasons for the
difficulties and misunderstandings. They find
it hard to recognize the charismatic reality of
the consecrated life and its place in the church
as an organic and universal communion,
inspired by the charity and transcending the
limits of diocesan or parish organizations.
True collaboration is born in the local church
when persons develop an interest in the
spirituality and charism of the various forms
of consecrated life found there and when these
forms of consecrated life in turn become
sensitive to the spiritual climate, history and
pastoral needs of the particular church where
they find themselves.
Members of the institutes have a serious
responsibility not to disappoint the legitimate
expectations of the bishops, clergy and laity
regarding the following: a clear fidelity to the
obligations deriving from their consecration
through the profession of the evangelical
counsels; a witness of fraternal communion in
community; total witness of communion of
mind and heart with the pope and the bishops
in all that concerns the magisterium and
discipline; and a ready willingness, in
conformity with their own charism, their own
end and the necessary autonomy of life and
government, to commit themselves to the
pastoral needs of the particular church in a
spirit of sincere cooperation with the local
clergy and laity.
Bishops and the Consecrated Life
75. With regard to the various forms of the
consecrated life, it is fundamental to consider
the role of the bishop, pastor of the particular
church, as a representative of Christ the head.
The bishop, for his part, must recognize and
appreciate the consecrated life for what it is in
the church and for all the service it offers
from the pastoral point of view.171 Thus, the
particular church will be built up according to
her nature as a true organic communion.
In the church entrusted to him the bishop is
the visible principle and foundation of
unity172 in faith, in charity and in the
apostolate because of the excellence of the
gift of the Spirit he has received.173 It is
precisely the bishop's ministry to be the
perfecter and guide of the people of God.
Living pastoral charity, the bishop must be the
teacher, promoter and example of Christian
perfection for the laity, the priests-his co-
workers- and those persons who are
consecrated through the profession of the
evangelical counsels, each according to his or
her vocation.174In order to perform such a task
he is given the ordinary power of government,
proper and immediate,175 which he exercises
directly over all the faithful of every category
in his church, with due regard for the proper
autonomy of the institutes of consecrated life.
176
Since the bishop is responsible for the
spiritual, liturgical, catechetical, pastoral and
charitable life of the diocese, it is his task to
discern the authenticity of the various
charisms present in his church and protect
them in the various services performed for the
good of all."177 Therefore, the exercise of his
ministry is performed according to the
principles of the unity of faith and
government, of the division of apostolic tasks
and offices, and of sincere mutual aid and
complementarity.178
Organic Communion
76. The relations between the bishops and the
faithful consecrated through the profession of
the evangelical counsels-particularly in the
institutes-ought to be based on some
fundamental principles with very concrete
applications if these relations are to be
constructive in ecclesial communion.
First of all, the members of institutes. In virtue
of their consecration and role in the church the
members of institutes should have sincere
respect-even more than the others of Christ's
faithful-for the authority of the diocesan
bishop in all that concerns his pastoral
government, that is, the public exercise of
divine worship, the care of souls, preaching,
religious and moral education, catechetical
instruction and liturgical formation, and the
179
various apostolic and charitable activities.
The bishop for his part should recognize the
charismatic identity of every form of
consecrated life, with the understanding that
the engagement of individual or collective
forms of the consecrated life in his diocese
can be pastorally fruitful only if their special
character is accepted.
Members of institutes are also subject to their
own superiors.180 In order to avoid tensions in
a "duplication" of government, everything
must be clearly regulated through conventions
and accords between the moderators of the
institutes and the bishops.181 Indeed, clerical
religious are obliged to maintain their fidelity
to the promise of reverence and obedience
made in their diaconal and priestly ordination
to the diocesan bishop and the legitimate
superior.182
All this, however, would remain empty and
ineffective in building ecclesial communion in
an organic manner if it were not animated by
charity, which effectively is manifest in
respect and mutual appreciation, according to
each one's proper nature and function in the
church. Indeed, in order to be constructive the
observance of laws must come from the inner
demand of charity.
Adequate Apostolic Presence
77. Precisely because both bishops and
persons consecrated through the profession of
the evangelical counsels are inspired by the
charity of Christ and seek the good of the
church, relations between them ought to be
marked by an open dialogue, true respect,
sincere trust and active collaboration.
However-as the responses affirm-difficulties
can arise from tensions between the demand
of fidelity to the charism proper to the various
forms of consecration, especially the type
which is realized in institutes or societies, and
the pastoral needs of the particular church,
which are sometimes so impelling.
In becoming actively part of a diocese with its
own apostolic activity, an institute or society
will have the task of harmonizing with local
pastoral needs the fundamental demand of
fidelity to its own mission and works. This
often requires prudent appropriate adaptation
of its means. An institute or society is not,
however, to take on works or activities which
might not correspond to its proper founding
charism.183
It is therefore necessary for the institutes of
women or men to be given works or tasks
which correspond to their proper end. Indeed,
all the apostolic institutes must faithfully
fulfill those spiritual and corporal works of
mercy by which they participate in the
church's pastoral role.184 The institutes which
by their rule closely join the apostolic life to
the choral recitation of the office and
monastic observance are to adapt their manner
of living to the demands of their apostolate,
but in such a way that they can faithfully
preserve their style of life, which is also a
great advantage to the church.185 It is
impossible to imagine adapting the
constitutions in a manner not in
correspondence with the founding charism of
the institute,186 since that would cause it to
lose its identity and thus bring harm not only
to the members of the institute but also to the
church.
Coordination is certainly necessary among the
apostolic activities of the various institutes as
well as collaboration between them and the
diocesan clergy under the guidance of the
bishop, the pastor of the particular church in
which the institutes are active. However, this
is always to be done-and this holds for
institutes dedicated entirely to the apostolate-
so as to preserve the nature, end and basic
laws of each institute.187 Pastoral activity must
neither extinguish charisms nor homogenize
their differences. Instead it should value the
charisms of spirituality and apostolate which
the Spirit has given to the church.188
On the diocesan, national and universal level
the promotion of the specific apostolate of the
institutes through the expertise of the
consecrated persons is the source of apostolic
dynamism for the church in the biblical,
liturgical, dogmatic, pastoral, ecumenical,
missionary and social fields.189
Sometimes problems arise when parishes are
entrusted to religious priests or members of
societies of apostolic life. In fact, they can feel
that their pastoral effectiveness and identity
are somewhat hampered if their presence in
the parish is considered as something
supplementary and not a pastoral application
of their apostolic charism. Furthermore, it
should be kept in mind that the religious
destined for parish ministry, if such a ministry
does not correspond to the purpose of their
institute, can fall prey to a certain
individualism and thus experience later
difficulty in being integrated in other
communities.190
The responses indicate that frequently the
bishops and faithful lament the frequency of
transfers of religious in parishes, since
pastoral care requires continuity and a rather
lengthy stay. This, however, could create
difficulties for the apostolic dynamism of the
institutes, which must rise above the fixed
nature of the parish structures.
A Specific Contribution to The Mission of
the Particular Church
78. In this context even greater consideration
must be given to the specific nature of
monastic institutes and those totally dedicated
to contemplation. It is the former's duty to
preserve the authentic spirit of the monastic
life which is expressed, either in dedication to
divine worship through a hidden life or by
assuming the legitimate task of the apostolate
or Christian charity, but within the walls of
191
the monastery. It would be a betrayal of the
nature of the monastic institute if works were
undertaken, such as the care of parishes,
which would inhibit the observance proper to
the monastic life even though these works
might be necessary for the pastoral life of the
diocese.192
No matter how urgent the needs of the
apostolate may be, institutes totally dedicated
to contemplation cannot be called by the
diocesan bishop to work in the various
pastoral ministries; that would signal their
ruin. However, through their spiritual witness
they should be actively part of the diocesan
family and not be isolated from
it.193 Hermits194 and consecrated
virgins195 have their own special apostolic
nature.
With a firm adherence to their mission and
apostolic activity, the members of institutes of
consecrated life are engaged in the life of the
particular church with a spirit of service, in
accord with the guidelines of Mutuae
Relationes and the canonical norms. In this
regard attention should be given to preserving
the distinction between the works belonging
to the institute and those entrusted to them by
the diocesan bishop.
As regards justice, agreements should
precisely state everything concerning the
hiring of persons and the economic
aspect,196 keeping in mind that a too frequent
change of personnel limits the effectiveness of
pastoral activities.
The bishop is asked to engage consecrated
persons fully in the apostolic activity of his
diocese according to the charism of each
institute. This allows the particular church,
which ensures the concreteness and unity of
the apostolic mission, to offer a pluriform and
harmonious response to the demands made by
contemporary society. This also fosters
integration of the various institutes and
collaboration among them.
Mutual knowledge and dialogue are
recommended in resolving difficulties in
relationships, as are the establishment of
offices for coordination and mixed
commissions or committees for the
consecrated life. A specific role is performed
by the episcopal vicar for the consecrated life,
a person with expertise and training in this
field.
In Communion With the Diocesan Clergy
79. The reality of the church as an organic
communion must have a practical application
in the various areas of the pastoral life of the
particular church.
Taking into consideration the special
character of secular institutes in what
concerns the relationship of the institutes of
consecrated life and societies of apostolic life
with the diocesan clergy, the church can draw
great benefit from the development of a
reciprocal appreciation among the various
charisms, overcoming every form of
clericalism, which would lead to a mere
marginal engagement-especially in parishes-
of the lay members of institutes and societies.
In the pastoral activity of a diocese, non-
parish churches-chapels, shrines, etc.-cared
for by religious institutes or societies of
apostolic life must be considered as
complementary forms of presence and
apostolate, and be conducted in harmony, yet
in a different manner, from the pastoral
activity of local parishes in the upbuilding of
the one church.
Greater development is needed for those
means which promote knowledge, mutual
appreciation and collaboration.
Above all, seminaries ought to offer a
theological formation on the consecrated life
and every institute of consecrated life to offer
a doctrinal study of the particular church and
the priestly ministry in the diocese.197 From
the practical point of view, there should be
coordination among various activities in the
field of charity, education and health care
sponsored and managed by the institutes of
consecrated life and those of the diocese or
parish. The role of the Catholic school in the
diocesan and parish apostolate should be
better defined and more greatly appreciated.
On the basis of their participation in the one
ministerial priesthood, religious priests and
those belonging to societies of apostolic life,
although they are not incardinated in a
particular church and are subject to their
legitimate superiors, fully belong to the
presbyterate to which they contribute the
richness of their own charism and pastoral
methods.198 For their part, religious give to
pastoral concern their witness to the
eschatological yearning of the pilgrim church
moving ahead in faith and hope. Belonging to
the presbyterate places them in close
communion with the bishop and all the other
priests, a communion which has practical
applications.
In Communion With the Laity
80. Experiencing the church as an organic
communion through a complementarity of the
gifts of the Spirit in the light of the mystery of
the call to holiness of all those reborn in
Christ in virtue of baptism has generally led to
constructive collaboration between the lay
faithful and the faithful consecrated through
the profession of the evangelical counsels.
This has also led to a new appreciation of
secular reality as a theological place in which
the laity are engaged in their own special-but
not exclusive-way of dealing with temporal
affairs and ordering them according to God by
their activity, especially by the Christian
199
witness of their life.
The entire church "has an authentic secular
dimension, inherent in her inner nature and
mission, which is deeply rooted in the mystery
of the Word incarnate and which is realized in
different forms through her members,"
whereby "all the members of the church are
sharers in this secular dimension but in
different ways."200 This is what lay people
recall for all the faithful through the specific
nature of their charism, including those in the
church who profess the evangelical counsels.
Furthermore the laity, when they perform
ministries and services within ecclesial
institutions according to the variety of the
charisms received, bring to these church
institutions their secular dimension of
involvement in temporal affairs and thus
provide an assistance to consecrated persons
in their spiritual and pastoral development.201
Consecrated persons are united more
profoundly to Christ in the paschal mystery of
his death and resurrection, profess the
evangelical counsels and offer their whole
being to God. In this way they remind all the
faithful-but especially the laity-that this world
can be transformed only through the spirit of
the Beatitudes.202
In fact the laity expect religious and
consecrated seculars, each according to their
specific nature, to offer an authentic witness
of the loving choices they have made in life,
that is, the choice of God as the only absolute,
evangelical simplicity of life, sincere
communion with the church and joyful
fraternal service in every field. When the laity
discover the spiritual source of consecration
through the profession of the evangelical
counsels, it so happens that the laity often ask
those in the consecrated life for assistance in
prayer and the spiritual life.
So that collaboration might be ever more
fruitful, there must be above all a respect for
the dignity of every baptized person and for
the Christian's specific vocation and role in
the church. Equally necessary in this regard is
a respect for the expertise of the laity in their
field and for the special nature of the life of
the consecrated persons, especially of
religious.
To achieve such a purpose committees or
councils could be established in various places
and in various areas of pastoral activity.
The responses mention that in these days
individual members of the laity or lay groups
are expressing the desire to share in the
spirituality and mission of the institutes of
consecrated life in a complementarity of
vocations. These institutes are actively
involved in searching for programs of
formation and structural forms to
accommodate this participation and
collaboration.
The responses often ask about the
membership of individual consecrated persons
in ecclesial movements. Although on the one
hand this does have advantages, especially for
spiritual renewal, on the other hand it can
sometimes cause difficulties. Participation in
ecclesial movements ought to be based on the
principle of a healthy reciprocity among the
ecclesial vocations. It should also be founded
on a proper ecclesial identity flowing from
membership in one's institute and be open to
communion and collaboration as well as alien
to every overlapping of authority.203
Proper Autonomy of Institutes In Ecclesial
Life
81. Since the consecrated life constitutes part
of the charismatic and institutional reality of
the church, each institute enjoys a particular
gift of the Holy Spirit. The church recognizes
for each institute a just autonomy of life and
especially of government, by means of which
each can have its own discipline and preserve
intact the legacy flowing from its charism,
that is, its own nature, purpose, spirit and
character.204 Ordinaries in the various places
where institutes are found have the task to
preserve and safeguard that
autonomy,205 which in turn is sustained within
the institute by the administrative power
which chapters and moderators of institutes
receive from God through the ministry of the
church.206The authority of chapters and
superiors comes from the Spirit, in
communion with the ecclesiastical hierarchy
which erected and approved the institute.207
Autonomy is an innate right of the institute
insofar as it is an element of the church's
intrinsic structure. In fact the action of the
Holy Spirit lies at the origin of an institute's
founding charism. The church, conferring the
fullness of the ecclesial expression on the
charism, guarantees continued authenticity on
the basis of the legitimately approved
constitutions so that everything can work
together for the common good and so that the
authenticity of the gift of the Spirit may be
maintained.
In assuring the continuity of the charism,
autonomy of life and especially autonomy of
administration not only involve the internal
workings of the institute but also its apostolic
works. Otherwise the institute could not fulfill
its own end and spirit.208 It is "just" insofar as
it is determined and protected by common and
particular law. In this way the autonomy of an
institute, correctly understood, is an
adaptation of the principle of subsidiarity to
the life of the church to the extent that it is a
coordination between universal and particular
law in the church.
Autonomy does not mean that institutes are
independent from hierarchical authority.
Dependence remains in the bishops' exercise
of pastoral care for the institutes so that they
may maintain their consecration, witness and
mission in the church.209
Autonomy and dependence are two
dimensions relating to all church members
and all church institutions. However, the
institutes of consecrated life act in a specific
way in their regard. Since these dimensions
are not opposed to each other they require a
proper blending, the guidance of church laws
and their realization through charity, the soul
of the church's communion.
Institutes of Diocesan Right And of
Pontifical Right
82. Autonomy and independence vary
according to the specific nature of the
institute's founding charism and its degree of
development in the life of the church in
conformity with the institute's designation as
being of diocesan or pontifical right.
The diocesan bishop exercises special pastoral
care over institutes of diocesan right.210 These
institutes, which are generally at the initial
stages of their existence, need help to become
strong from the spiritual and material point of
view. The fact that an institute is of diocesan
right, however, does not diminish its reference
to the universal church and the supreme
authority.211 Therefore the bishop's concern is
to be directed to the development of the
institute, which by virtue of its charism
generally tends toward universality. Since the
diocesan bishop is a member of the episcopal
college he should not hinder the expansion of
an institute founded in his diocese or in other
territories from fear of a possible conferral of
pontifical status.
The exclusive and immediate subjection to the
Apostolic See by institutes of pontifical
right212 is a guarantee of their autonomy in the
concrete instances where they are found in the
various particular churches. It is also an
effective safeguard of their universal character
and development, in conformity with their
original inspiration, all the while respecting
the pastoral authority of the diocesan bishop.
Particular Bond With The Petrine Ministry
83. The safeguard of the special
characteristics of the charism and the
universal mission proper to some institutes
finds its highest expression in exemption. This
should be seen in a positive light. Through
exemption of institutes from the jurisdiction
of the local authorities, the Roman pontiff,
with special laws enacted by him and
privileges granted, allows institutes a greater
autonomy so that their charisms can be better
preserved and more precisely expressed in
their universal nature and apostolic
effectiveness as a participation in the pastoral
care of the Roman pontiff for the whole
church.213
Exemption is based on the primacy of the
supreme pontiff and is explained only in a
proper understanding of the relation between
the universal church and the particular
churches, that is, between the pope and the
bishops. At particular times in history the
Roman pontiff, by virtue of his primacy, has
exercised this privilege for the good of the life
of particular churches, and to defend and
protect the integrity of the faith and the unity
of the church. Therefore exemption has been
retained for those institutes which have
enjoyed this privilege for centuries. This
privilege is not granted only for the good of
the institutes themselves, but also in view of
the needs of the apostolate and its common
usefulness.214
In this way, exemption, in harmony with the
nature of the church, is intended to promote
communion. Exemption carries an entirely
positive character: It recalls a total and
complete fidelity to the Roman pontiff and a
readiness to service his universal ministry.
However many of the responses raise the
question as to how in these times the privilege
can and ought to be exercised in the particular
churches harmoniously and with pastoral
effect.
Communion Between the Institutes And
Coordinating Bodies
84. What individual institutes are called to be
in the church through their dimension of
fraternal communion is equally applicable to
all the institutes taken together as a whole. All
institutes are called to feel in communion with
one another and to bring about that
communion, all the while respecting the
specific nature of their various charisms and
putting them to effective use. Through
coordinating bodies, institutes express
communion with one another and seek the
means to strengthen that communion and put
it into practice.
It is desirable for the institutes which share the
same charism or have juridical bonds or a
spiritual affinity to find better ways to achieve
greater cooperation, while assuring a respect
for their autonomy. They should also be open
to possible cooperative undertakings (merger,
union or federation) in order to achieve
greater effectiveness in spirituality, apostolic
service and formation.
The conferences, councils and unions of
major superiors or moderators of institutes of
consecrated life and societies of apostolic life-
for both men and women-have proven useful
in the renewal of the consecrated life.215 The
goal of such organizations is to help every
institute to achieve its purpose,216 while
giving due respect for its autonomy, nature
and spirit. The consecrated life can truly be
renewed when each institute seeks to achieve
its own goals as the founder or foundress
intended. Conferences, then, should not be
seen as some kind of common administrative
organization which would substitute for the
decisions of the superiors of individual
institutes.
As a sign of communion, the conferences
make it generally possible to establish greater
cooperation among the various institutes on
questions of common interest, especially in
what concerns the formation of members and
apostolic activity. From this point of view
conferences of major superiors are to be
considered valuable to the life of the church
and a sign of the times. At the same time,
however, major superiors should consider
themselves free to decide whether or not to
join these conferences.217
Conferences of major superiors are meant to
establish appropriate coordination and
cooperation with the episcopal conferences
and the individual bishops.218 In such relations
the conferences of major superiors must
present the mission of consecrated life in
general and that of the individual institutes, in
other words, a mission of being a sign of
communion. This will assure a constant
endeavor to search for a concrete path of
communion in charity so as to express the
most intimate nature of the church.
More frequent contacts between the
conferences of major superiors and the
Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated
Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life
should be encouraged. A greater contact
between conferences of major superiors and
episcopal conferences is desirable, with due
respect for their different natures. In this
regard joint commissions of bishops and
major superiors have proven effective.
Entities for communication and communion
are useful for finding practical solutions to
pastoral problems and avoiding theoretical or
practical disagreements.
Discussions on doctrinal problems of a
general nature concerning civil society or the
life of the church for the purpose of making
public statements about them are outside the
scope of the conferences of major superiors.
Nevertheless, the major superiors gathered in
assembly can be of valuable help to the Holy
See and the bishops, individually or in various
entities, in expressing their reflections on
problems, including those of doctrinal weight,
concerning the life of the church and of
society.
Witnesses to Ecclesial Communion
85. Mutual relations in the church must
always be seen in the light of her mystery of
communion and mission. This allows the
expression of a real communion and
participation at three levels: first of all, at the
theological level, in that church communion is
founded on diverse ministries and charisms
whose exercise always demands attitudes and
behavior of common faith, hope and mutual
charity; at the ecclesial level, because in the
unity of communion the evangelical meaning
of fraternity and service is expressed; finally,
at the pastoral level, because of the fact that
an authentic relationship among pastors, the
faithful and consecrated persons in the church
must be marked by mutual esteem, respect
and acceptance of the diversity of gifts and
tasks. Everything, however, is placed at the
service of bearing witness to the action of God
and the salvation of souls, which is the
supreme law of the church.
The witness of unity is also a sign for the
world. This "requires us first of all to create in
the church herself mutual esteem, reverence
and harmony, and acknowledge all legitimate
diversity. In this way all who constitute the
one people of God, that is, the pastors or other
members of Christ's faithful, will be able to
engage in ever more fruitful dialogue. The ties
which unite the faithful together are indeed
stronger than those which separate them.
Therefore, let there be unity in what is
necessary, freedom in what is doubtful and
charity in everything."219
IV. CONSECRATED LIFE IN THE
CHURCH'S MISSION
1. Future Challenges and Duties
Spiritual and Apostolic Vitality
86. In the light of its nature and mission in
ecclesial communion, the consecrated life is
questioning itself about the most important
challenges facing its future, beginning first of
all with an effective spiritual and apostolic
renewal.
In general there is a call for a strong
harmonious blending of consecration and
mission as well as contemplation and action.
To make such a unity possible, most people
are convinced of the need to strengthen the
spiritual and mystical dimension of the
consecrated life, that is, union with the
blessed Trinity-the source of all blessing-
through the sacramental life, through prayer
and the witness that "God alone suffices,"
through an intense Godward life, through a
personal and spousal love for the Lord in the
pursuit of a "life hidden with Christ in God"
(cf. Col. 3:3), and through a life immersed in
the Holy Spirit and docile to his inspirations.
The source and summit of one's personal and
community life is the daily celebration of the
eucharist, to which is added frequent personal
recourse to the sacrament of reconciliation-
including periodic community celebrations of
this sacrament-and daily participation in the
liturgical prayer of the church, as set down in
the laws of each institute.
The more frequently mentioned means for the
authentic spiritual vitality of institutes of
consecrated life and societies of apostolic life
include: personal and communal forms
of lectio divina, prayer and contemplation,
personal prayer and eucharistic adoration,
love for and devotion to the Blessed Virgin
Mary, spiritual direction and the examination
of conscience and "review of life." Of course,
added to these ate other expressions of one's
own spiritual tradition. Also of importance is
the growth of a true community spirituality
fostered not only by participation in the
eucharist and common prayer, but also by a
renewed commitment to share a journey of
faith, as well as to help one another in the
journey of the spiritual life through renewed
forms of fraternal correction and promotion of
charity.220
Considered the unifying element of the varied
spiritualities is the charism of the founder,
around which a synthesis of the various
elements of consecration and mission should
be made through the faithful putting into
effect of the legislative provisions of each
institute.
Many responses emphasize the following as
aspects which should not be lacking in any
form of consecrated life: the availability to
take on the more difficult forms of mission; a
readiness to participate in the kenosis of the
Word to the point of martyrdom; compassion
and mercy; a thirst for holiness and a desire to
spend oneself for the salvation of humanity;
and a renewed personal and community
asceticism. Many ask that women and men
religious give a silent proclamation of their
consecration221 through wearing the habit of
their institute.
A reawakening of spirituality is desired,
especially in the active apostolic life, not only
in order for its mission to be more effective
but also to make the consecrated life possible
in a world which seems to be impossible to
penetrate with the work of evangelization and
which requires strong spiritual personalities
who will evangelize it with the fervor of the
saints.
A Renewed Apostolic Presence
87. The consecrated life harmoniously
combines "being" for God and "acting" in his
service. The first witness asked of consecrated
persons is always that of living and acting
individually and communally in conformity
with their consecration and charism, as
expressed in their own legislation and
recognized by the church.
Consecrated persons help to make God's
countenance visible through their compassion
and love for the sick and suffering. In a world
marked by activism and the loneliness of
individuals, by indifference to silence and
contemplation, and by the search for
technological solutions to human problems,
the witness of an authentic consecrated life is
of great value because, rooted in constant and
profound contact with God, it manifests
values which transcend the material realm.
New models are emerging today for living
consecration fully. In fact, some seem to be
necessary for the survival of the consecrated
life in our world. It is a question of forms of
life which seem almost to intend rewriting the
traditional manner of following Christ, in
meditation on the Word, in community or in
solitude.
Consecrated persons living in community
express their dedication either through the
choice of the contemplative life or through a
balance between prayer and action, but always
in the joy of belonging completely to God.
This experience is particularly significant in
the younger churches where people of
different nationalities and races seek in the
Lord's name to overcome traditional barriers.
Theirs is a Gospel witness which is often less
visible than the type shown by institutions of
consecrated life traditionally known in
Western societies, but they are necessary for
offering new forms of visibility and Gospel
witness.
It is necessary for consecrated persons, who
live alone for various reasons to follow the
directives of the Holy See in this regard and
be offered guidance by their own superiors.222
The Consecrated Woman And Femininity
88. As mentioned earlier, women constitute
three-fourths of all consecrated persons.
Through their evangelical witness,
contemplative prayer, intuition and
steadfastness, their capacity for listening and
dialogue, and their attentive and generous
response to today's challenges, their
contribution to the church and society is
among the most important phenomena for the
church's life and mission. Woman's use of her
gifts to participate in the life of the church and
society is not only the road necessary for her
personal fulfillment but also the contribution
based on her womanhood. Both lead to the
enrichment of the ecclesial communion and
the apostolic dynamism of the people of God.
In Mary of Nazareth consecrated women have
their highest model and the most authentic
expression of the dignity and mission of
woman.223
History bears witness to the contribution made
by consecrated women not only to the
church's holiness but also to evangelization
and mission, and to catechesis and theological
research, as well as in the field of education,
health care and service of the very poor. They
have assumed important roles, including the
direction of schools, universities, hospitals
and other institutions. Today, by having a
greater presence in the church and society,
women are exercising new roles according to
the measure of their development and
preparation called for in a secularized society.
In the public and political spheres consecrated
women work with lay people-men and
women-in a relationship of reciprocity and
complementarity.
Conscious of their personal dignity and their
own vocation, consecrated women are seeking
to grow in their appreciation of all women
who are still oppressed or relegated to a status
of inferiority. A frank and clear recognition of
women's dignity is the first step in promoting
their participation in the life of the church as
well as in public and social life. In addition, it
is necessary that they promote a suitable
formation for themselves according to the
diversity of the forms of life.224
At a time when the church is rediscovering the
variety of ministries and the complementarity
of charisms it is urgently necessary to clarify
and give official recognition to the role which
they exercise in the church, so that their
specific dedication in the midst of the people
of God may be better defined. They are still
far from full engagement in the church,
despite the magisterium's directives in this
regard.225
Many of the responses ask that women be
granted access to places of discussion,
consultation and decision making, and that
they be present in the pastoral entities of the
particular churches.
They also ask for a greater active participation
in the church's mission. It is urgent that they
be given greater involvement in processes of
discernment and decision making in what
concerns their life as consecrated women.
This is explicitly requested in whatever
regards the autonomy of monasteries of
women. They express the hope that nuns will
be allowed to take the necessary initiatives to
ensure a suitable formation and to make the
necessary adaptations in fidelity to their own
charism.
A lengthy, extensive and continuous
formation must be offered to consecrated
women in accordance with their own
vocation. A better preparation will give them
greater opportunity to be authentic, joyful
witnesses and promoters of the work for the
kingdom. Some responses note that a lack of
maturity and the want of a proper theological
formation are the basis of a counterwitness
and the source of many unsubstantial claims.
Promotion and Care of Vocations
89. The promotion of vocations is one of
today's most important challenges for the
future of the consecrated life. The vitality of
the charisms and their presence in the church
and in the world depend on it.
Reference has already been made to the many
diverse situations in the area of vocations. In
many Western countries there has been a
marked loss of numbers. Many causes have
been indicated such as family crises and the
decline in the birth rate; psychological
immaturity which does not support lifelong
commitment; the possibility of giving oneself
totally to the Lord and the service of others
outside the consecrated life; and a certain
mistrust of institutionalized forms. Often the
witness of the consecrated life is not
understood by the laity and by priests, who do
not favor the choice of such a vocation.
We note with joy the flourishing of vocations
in the younger churches and the countries of
Eastern Europe. Such vocations are marked
by a manifestation of fervor, freedom, joy and
self-giving in the apostolic service, which in
turn elicits other vocations. However, a clear
discernment and a sound formation is needed
in these cases because there is the danger of
one's making the choice of the consecrated
life for reasons of human advancement or of
making this choice without due regard for the
demands it entails.
The promotion of vocations demands first of
all the prayer of the whole Christian
community and of individual institutes, that
the Lord, who calls people to follow him, may
give the church many good vocations.
However, equally important is the educational
support of the family in communicating
Gospel values and a widespread pastoral
activity toward youth-even if vocation
recruitment is not its goal-and education
leading to a mature development of faith and
of human and Gospel values in Christian
communities. The entire local church-bishops,
priests, deacons and laity-must show its
esteem and concern for the development of
the consecrated life as a precious gift for all.
Where it is lacking, the church is all the
poorer.
Consecrated persons must proclaim the good
news of their vocation with a joyful witness,
an example which attracts others and a
welcoming spirit which encourages others to
find Christ in the midst of the community.
Assiduous prayer and mutual help are
necessary for perseverance in one's vocation.
Discernment and vocational "guidance" ought
to be exercised everywhere-whether vocations
are scarce or abundant-paying attention to the
signs of the call and to the effective qualities
of persons, and taking advantage of
psychological expertise for greater security.226
Priorities in Formation
90. The future of the consecrated life depends
on the dynamic capacity which the institutes
will have in the formation of their members.
In recent years the Holy See has followed the
area of formation with great care. One of the
results is the instruction Potissimum
Institutioni which contains fundamental
guidelines for formation at the present time.
This document is still not well enough known
and needs to be put into practice through
educational programs and the ratio
institutionis of each institute.227
Many responses emphasize the importance of
formation in circumstances of the present day.
Some mention that this formation must make
up for a certain lack of doctrinal teaching and
soundness in the candidates. Frequently
candidates have backgrounds weak in
catechesis and Christian practice. Many
candidates are affected by emotional
immaturity, a prolonged adolescence and a
certain imbalance due to family problems or
the negative influence of society.
Therefore, a formation program must be
systematic, personalized, ongoing and
integral. A number of responses emphasize
the need for a stronger and more intense
intellectual, philosophical and cultural
formation in view of an adequate study of
theology and preparation for the new
evangelization.
Members of secular institutes must be given
an adequate formation in keeping with the
nature of their institute.
Integral Demanding Formation
91 Today at the level of initial formation the
canonical form of novitiate is not considered
sufficient; instead the postulancy is assuming
the dimensions of a prolonged propaedeutic
period-similar to what Pastores Dabo
Vobis recommends for seminarians-adapted to
diverse cultures and institutes.228 Some reports
propose establishing new formation programs
for young people from ethnic minorities or
marginalized groups.
Beginning in the novitiate initial formation
must offer a strong pedagogy of faith founded
on the word of God, on the liturgical and
sacramental life and on formation in personal
prayer and mortification, with personal
spiritual direction and a solid devotion to the
Blessed Virgin Mary. A welcoming yet
exacting community life can ensure a person's
development in charity, emotional maturity,
obedience, availability, poverty, hard work
and cooperation.
Formation must be human, ongoing,
inculturated, open to ecclesial communion and
mission, and in touch with real life and the is necessary for the exercise of the apostolic
conditions of the poor. Its orientation must be mission.
a vital process centered on the person of
Christ and a deepening of the baptismal Enduring Dynamism of Formation
commitment to imitating Christ, according to
92. Some responses ask that the service of
the particular form of the evangelical life
formation and the work of formation be
proper to each institute. Today, with a
recognized as a priority ministry; that
prolonged period of vocational discernment, it
formation personnel be supported in seeking a
is necessary to insist that the candidates be
formation which responds to the new demands
guided toward making definitive
of the consecrated life; and that the formation
commitments as a permanent option for
of the formators be promoted with appropriate
Christ.
guidance, using to advantage the recent

A specific formation for the consecrated life guidelines of the Holy See.229

requires a progressive knowledge of the

Intercongregational formation can now be
history, spirituality and the state of one's own
found in many countries as a characteristic
institute in order to have an authentic
form of cooperation, communion and
identification with one's vocation. Initial
exchange among diverse institutes. It can take
formation must be given in one's own country
on different forms. In all of these, however,
with one's own countrymen as formation
the candidate needs the guidance of formation
personnel, and must be rooted in that culture.
personnel from his own institute in order to
Ongoing experiences of formation at the
integrate in his formation the elements of
international and transcultural level are also
one's institute and to evaluate its results.230
necessary within institutes so as to be able to
transcend and thereby purify, discern and Following the guidelines of the Holy See and
appreciate diverse local cultures and place benefiting from the valid experience of
them in communion. various institutes-similar to what has been
proposed for the ongoing formation of priests-
Moreover, formation demands, according to
it is considered important for the synod to
the diverse forms and institutes, that its
encourage continuous formation in various
doctrinal, spiritual and pastoral aspects be
phases of the consecrated life as an
completed by a practical training which
indispensable means of renewal in one's
fosters the particular style of life of the
vocation and mission.231
various communities and professional training
with the required academic studies when this
Since formation requires a knowledge and
esteem of other ecclesial vocations, greater
cooperation between the bishops and institutes
of consecrated life is proposed in order to
have a better knowledge of ecclesial vocations
through appropriate centers of study. It has
also been suggested that the theology, history,
law and spirituality of the consecrated life and
of other vocations should be properly studied
within priestly formation in the ecclesiastical
faculties and universities, and in institutes of
religious sciences.
The Challenge of Inculturation
93. The task of expressing the consecrated life
in diverse cultures today is one of the great
challenges for its future, given the great
diversity of environments, races and cultures,
and the church's mission for the
evangelization of all peoples of the earth.
Consecration is an act in which God himself
enlists a person for a particular plan of life
totally dedicated to his worship and the
service of one's brothers and sisters.
Consecration can be lived in diverse vocations
and lifestyles and expressed in various
spiritual forms according to diverse cultures.
Inculturation, therefore, involves the whole of
the consecrated life: the charism that
characterizes a vocation; the lifestyle; the
manner of formation and forms of apostolate;
prayer and liturgy; the principles of the
spiritual life; and the organization of
community and its administration.
It is not merely a question of adapting certain
customs, but rather of a profound
transformation of mentalities and ways of
living. It does not extend only to the cultures
of the younger churches but also to the
changes taking place in Western civilizations.
In fact, the structures of the consecrated life
drawn up in the rural societies of the Middle
Ages or those coming from the period of the
industrial revolution in the last centuries do
not always seem appropriate for expressing
the needs and desires of today's women and
men.
Inculturation of the consecrated life finds its
root in the universality of the Gospel and in
the very mystery of the incarnation of Christ,
who is light for all the nations (cf. Lk. 2:32).
Inculturation's first task is profoundly
connected to the method and content of the
new evangelization.232
However, the process of inculturation is
inspired by revelation. In imitation of Christ
who took on our human nature, the
consecrated life must undergo a process of
drawing near to cultures in order to accept
their values, to spread itself in that culture and
to bear new fruit. Thus the mystery of Christ
"in whom are hidden all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3) will shine
forth in all nations. The process of
inculturation must be completed in line with
the kenosis (cf. Phil. 2:7) of Jesus Christ, to
the point of giving one's life in such a way
that, reaching out with love and respect to
persons of a different culture and mentality
the proclamation of the Gospel, which is
salvation for all, may be extended. A primary
task is to proclaim the Gospel of salvation in
other civilizations and cultures, presenting it
in its fundamental aspects, proposing new
wineskins when the old ones are not capable
of holding new wine (cf. Mt. 9:17).
Through a Process of Inculturation
94. Inculturation must take place according to
some essential requirements. The process
must respect the fundamentals of the
consecrated life: the profession of the entire
Christian faith; intimacy with Christ in prayer
and contemplation; the search for the
perfection of charity; and the practice of the
evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and
obedience. These are the Gospel "talents"
which are to be always and everywhere
accepted and to which the consecrated life
offers a shining witness. The values of diverse
civilizations can make new aspects shine forth
in the life of contemplation, community,
sharing, hospitality, relationships within the
ecclesial family, respect for human persons
and concern for nature. This attitude can favor
the acceptance of new forms of consecrated
life.
The consecrated life, following the lessons of
history and the openness to universality which
is proper to it, can be a fruitful area for an
authentic inculturation of the Christian faith
and the life of the church. In fact, because of
the liberality of their gift of self to Christ and
their love for everything that is his, and
through their intimacy with God and their
closeness to people, consecrated persons can
also be promoters of inculturation.
Nevertheless, some points must be kept in
mind. Inculturation is not achieved through
hasty and superficial adaptation. The
discernment of what is essential involves the
following: a lengthy contemplation of the
mystery of God; freedom of heart which is
acquired at the price of basic detachment from
the situation; familiarity with the word of
God; and a great love for people.
The inculturation of consecrated life demands
a deep knowledge of the civilization and
history of each people. This is acquired only
through the serious study of languages,
customs, oral and written traditions, and a
long living experience. True inculturation
cannot be planned too systematically because-
like life itself-it is in a certain way a
spontaneous phenomenon and a growth
process.233
It is a question, then, of authentically living
one's own charism with great love and true
esteem for the people with whom and for
whom one lives. In this context of charity-
capable of making a person "all things to all
people"-is found the secret of the success of
adaptations and transformations. With the
newness of the Spirit, these will give a
dynamic feature to a consecrated life which
will already have within itself all the cultural
characteristics proper to the church.
2. The New Evangelization
Call to the New Evangelization
95. Consecrated life today is viewed within
the horizons of the new evangelization in
communion with the church and her mission.
It is the invitation often addressed by John
Paul II to institutes of consecrated life and
societies of apostolic life, a call which is
capable of evoking within the church a new
impulse rooted in the power of Pentecost.
The new evangelization particularly is
directed to those who are rooted in the
unfathomable richness of Christ (cf. Eph. 3:8),
who have made a profession to follow him,
putting their life in his service, and who "are
the living expression of the church's aspiration
to respond to the more exigent demands of the
Beatitudes."234
In virtue of their vocation all consecrated
persons are asked to manifest the saving
power of the Gospel in the variety of the
charisms which they have received and
through the witness of their life. For them it is
not merely a question of giving new vitality to
the methods of the apostolate, but first and
foremost of cultivating in themselves their call
to conversion-to let themselves be
evangelized-so that in them the light of Christ
can radiate as persons who speak with God
and are filled with his Spirit (cf. Ex. 33:11; 2
Cor. 3:19).
Making the new evangelization alive and
effective in the consecrated life is perhaps the
most important result which can be expected
from the synod. In fact, the consecrated life
belongs to the holiness of the church like
leaven in the dough (cf. Mt. 13:33). It shows
its fruitfulness like a mustard seed (cf. Mt.
13:31-32) and has the power to proclaim
Christ without compromise. It is a light which
cannot be hidden (cf. Mt. 5:15- 16). It must
manifest the power of Easter through the way
of the cross. Particularly apt to religious life
are the words of Paul VI concerning the
wordless witness which evokes these
irresistible questions: "Why are they like this?
Why do they live in this way? Why are they
among us? Witness of this kind constitutes in
itself a proclamation of the good news, silent,
but strong and effective."235
Commitment to the new evangelization can
help to form individuals and communities
fully developed in faith and love, where the
values of the Gospel are lived in their most
basic sense. This demands a review of the
quality of personal and communal236 witness
so that a new evangelization might be capable
of offering the people of today the perennial
message of salvation in convincing terms.
Particularly in these days there is lasting
evangelizing power in being close to the poor,
the sick, the suffering and marginalized so as
to share their life, according to the various
particular vocations, for love of the Lord, who
is particularly present in them (cf. Mt. 25:40).
Evangelizing Through One's Life
96. Consecrated persons must be the first to
undertake the task of the new evangelization,
by putting into action-flowing from their deep
communion with Christ-the best of their
talents, according to their spiritual and
apostolic charisms. Nor should it be forgotten
that "the apostolate of all religious consists
first in their witness of a consecrated life,
which they are bound to foster by prayer and
penance."237
In conformity with their form of consecration
in the world, members of secular institutes are
called to make a very real apostolic effort in
the service of Christ and his kingdom in the
midst of society.
The new evangelization invites us to relive in
an evangelical and apostolic dimension the
fundamental character of following Christ and
responding to the call to holiness. An essential
renewal at its source will make evangelization
"new in its ardor, new in its expressions and
new in its methods."238 It demands the witness
of life in a more generous communion with
Christ, in such a way that the fervor of the
charism may be new. It also requires a
profound renewal in proclamation and in
works-in perfect ecclesial communion-in such
a way that it will be new in its expressions.
Lastly, it also urges people in these days to
adopt that apostolic "boldness in initiatives"
and genuine creativity which is proper to the
charisms of the Spirit, so that it may be new in
its methods.239
It requires first and foremost the commitment
to live the Gospel which is preached, and to
incarnate it in one's personal and community
life so that the proclamation of the good news
may be upheld by the power of Gospel
witness. To the extent that their lives shine
and radiate the light and warmth of truth and
of the charity of Christ, these Gospel
witnesses will be so many evangelizers in the
church and in the world.
Commitment to the new evangelization in
nations with ancient Christian roots, where the
Christian fabric needs to be rewoven, requires
an intellectual preparation ready to respond to
cultural challenges so as to offer men and
women of advanced societies the splendor of
Gospel truth and the true meaning of property
and justice, which has its source and norm in
God.
The Renewal of Apostolic Activities
97. In these days of searching for one's
identity, it is important to be aware of the
demands of renewal in the apostolic mission,
in light of one's own charism and the changed
conditions of the time. Today the state has
taken over many of the social works which
through the apostolic work of religious
congregations put the church in the forefront.
Today there is still an urgent need for a
renewed presence of consecrated persons in
these institutions in order to bear witness to
Christ in the field of education, health care
and the works of mercy on behalf of children,
young people and the elderly.
A return to the sources has helped many
institutes of consecrated life to refocus their
traditional mission and offer new modes of
presence and renewed forms of the apostolate
in response to the new necessities. The call to
the new evangelization is helping many
communities to take a new look at the form of
their life in common and their apostolate.
Sometimes courageous decisions have been
necessary in order to continue or to begin new
apostolic forms which are in harmony with
the charism of the congregation.
Some criteria which can shed light on the
choices are the following: the commitment to
safeguard the meaning of the charism in a
given environment; the concern to keep alive
a genuine fraternal life; attention to the needs
of the particular church and a constant
dialogue with its pastors; dedication to those
suffering from the new forms of poverty
which the world neglects; and the ability to
offer new and meaningful spiritual and
apostolic forms of presence.240
New Forms of Apostolic Presence
98. Without neglecting traditional forms and
apostolates, there is a need for other forms of
apostolic presence.
The choice of such a presence is required
when an institute reflects on the implications
of inculturation. An analysis of the social,
political and economic situation of the
Southern Hemisphere-which implies a
dialogue between the world's North and
South- leads to a critical examination of many
traditional apostolates, not only concerning
numbers and geographic location, but also as
regards their quality. Many institutes feel
called to participate more actively in the
concerted development of peoples involved in
the democratic process.
Some new forms of apostolic presence include
the following: participation in ecumenical
movements which seek the promotion of
Christian unity; dialogue with followers of
other religions, especially through presence
and community witness; and the call to
cooperate with various types of local and
international groups committed- even for
purely humanitarian reasons-to alleviating
sufferings of every kind.
A special form of apostolic participation in
this period of the church's history is expressed
in sharing with the laity one's manner of
seeing and acting, especially in certain fields
which fall into their area of expertise such as
schools and the care of the sick and suffering.
In recent years many communities and
institutes have developed a network of
associates or friends-priests and laity-who
share their spirituality and cooperate in their
mission. This is a growing situation which is
still in search of proper forms but which can
allow communities of consecrated persons a
better expression of their life in the church
and their specific apostolate.
These new forms can play an important role in
supporting persons engaged in a spiritual
search who want to commit themselves to the
church in a specific field. These forms offer
the possibility to create places for sharing, for
faith and for support in a common mission
lived in diverse forms but realized in the same
spirit. It is important not to limit these new
experiences but to leave new paths open for
exploration.
The Mission "Ad Gentes"
99. The new evangelization explicitly includes
the generous invitation to participate in the
mission ad gentes, which John Paul II
addressed in an explicit manner to the whole
church in his encyclical Redemptoris
Missio. It concerns all institutes, those of
contemplative life and apostolic life in virtue
of their total dedication to the service of the
church, each according to its proper nature
and mission. Their history and vitality, the
fruits of holiness and martyrdom of many
institutes, and the development and
universality they have achieved are related to
the generosity with which they have
responded to Christ's invitation to proclaim
the Gospel to all nations (cf. Mt. 28:19-20).
The history of the consecrated life, "from the
ancient monastic institutions, to the medieval
orders, up to the more recent congregations"
is one of mission.241
Today too, "since the members of the
consecrated life"-and similarly the members
of societies of apostolic life-"dedicate
themselves through their consecration to the
service of the church, they are obliged in a
special manner to engage in missionary work
in accord with the character of the
institute."242
The pope addresses a pressing appeal to
institutes of contemplative life to be present in
the younger churches, especially where
religions have a great esteem for the
contemplative life because of their asceticism
and their search for the absolute.243
The Holy Father has also addressed a specific
invitation to the institutes of women and those
of men which by their special charism were
founded for the missions. The proclamation of
Christ, then, demands the mission ad
gentes,which is still not complete among so
many peoples who are still waiting for the
proclamation of the one savior.
Institutes of consecrated life and societies of
apostolic life, present in the younger churches,
are invited to transform themselves from
evangelized communities to evangelizing
communities and to be missionaries without
boundaries.
For the Unity of All Who Believe in Christ
100. Christ's prayer, "that they all may be
one..." (Jn. 17:21) must be in the heart of all
consecrated persons. The institutes of
consecrated life and societies of apostolic life
have specific opportunities to promote the
ecumenical ideal and activity, according to
their charisms and constitutions. A knowledge
of the non-Catholic communities and their
spiritual traditions, especially those of the
244
Eastern churches, is the starting point for an
authentic practice of ecumenism.
Noteworthy among the activities most suitable
for fostering the unity of Christians are the
spiritual ecumenism of the conversion of the
heart; the spiritual ecumenism of holiness; the
spiritual ecumenism of public and private
prayer and selfless service of the church and
the world; the promotion and achievement of
this spiritual ecumenism among the faithful
through fostering their spiritual formation;
and the organization of prayer gatherings,
discussions, retreats and a better knowledge of
the different Christian spiritual traditions.
In particular they are asked to maintain
relations with monasteries or cenobitic
communities of other Christian communions
for the exchange of spiritual and intellectual
gifts and of experiences of apostolic life so
that the development of the religious charisms
of such communions can make a real
contribution to the whole ecumenical
movement. In this way, a fruitful spiritual
imitation can be elicited.
Furthermore, all are invited to foster an
ecumenical education and, according to their
capabilities, a more effective collaboration,
through participating in the activities of the
church's ecumenical organizations. It is also
considered opportune for the various institutes
of consecrated life and societies of apostolic
life to have inside their community a delegate
or commission entrusted with guaranteeing
their own ecumenical commitment in
formation and the ecumenical activity of the
members of their own institute.245
Individuals and communities, involved for
various reasons in the dialogue with Judaism,
should also be encouraged.
Interreligious Dialogue
101. Institutes of consecrated life and
societies of apostolic life can make a valid
contribution to dialogue with followers of
other religions, where oftentimes there can be
found experiences of the "monastic" life
dedicated to asceticism and contemplation.
Many men and women religious are in a
privileged position to emphasize some values
shared with other religions such as prayer,
meditation and asceticism. In such a way the
followers of other religions can more easily
recognize the church's deep spiritual
dimension beyond her organizational and
charitable aspects.
The methods of interreligious dialogue and
the proclamation of the mystery of Christ can
include the following: the sharing of one's
own spiritual wealth, especially in the area of
the monastic experience, some of which is
already in process; the exchange between
centers of theology and spirituality to achieve
a greater knowledge of their respective
religious heritage; and cooperation in works
of charity, which in other religions are often
the fruit and sign of the authenticity of the
spiritual life as a sharing in God's compassion
for all. The consecrated life, especially the
contemplative life, offers a witness to the
majesty and charity of God and the union of
all people in Christ.246 In some areas the
presence of lay brothers and the members of
secular institutes can be of great help for
giving the church a silent but effective
presence. At the same time, the contribution
of consecrated women is invaluable in this
area for a proper promotion of the dignity of
women and their becoming a more active part
of society.247
Evangelize With the Fervor of the Saints
102. The new evangelization urges all the
sons and daughters of the founders to express
with the fervor of the saints their own charism
in the unity of their consecration and the
variety of ministries in the service of the
kingdom.
Paul VI affirmed this in reference to religious;
"Today more than ever the world needs to see
in you men and women who have believed in
the word of the Lord, in his resurrection and
in eternal life, even to the point of dedicating
their lives to witnessing to the reality of that
love, which is offered to all men. In the course
of her history, the church has ever been
quickened and gladdened by many holy
religious who, in the diversity of their
vocations, have been living witnesses to love
without limit and to the Lord Jesus."248
Thus John Paul II urged the religious of Latin
America: "In the same way as they did in their
day, today your founders would place in the
church's service the best of their apostolic
energies, their profound ecclesial sense, the
creativity of their pastoral initiatives and their
love for the poor, from which so many
ecclesial activities flowed. The same
generosity and abnegation which moved your
founders must move you, their spiritual
children, to keep alive the charisms which,
raised up by the power of the same Spirit, may
continue to be enriched and adapted without a
loss of their genuine character in order to be at
the service of the church and bring to
fulfillment the inauguration of his
kingdom."249
3. Gospel Charisms for the World
Witnesses to God in the World
103. As the Second Vatican Council states,
"Let no one think ... that their consecrated
way of life alienates religious from other men
or makes them useless for human society.
Though in some cases they have no direct
relations with their contemporaries, still in a
deeper way they have their sisters and
brothers present with them in the heart of
Christ and cooperate with them spiritually, so
that the upbuilding of human society may
always have its foundation in the Lord and
250
have him as its goal." Great are the tasks of
the consecrated life in today's society, and the
church appeals to these tasks to initiate a
renewal of society according to the spirit of
the Gospel. It is a matter of becoming directly
involved in evangelization through the
apostolate and of giving an authentic
expression to the church's pastoral ministry.
Besides the spiritual presence which makes
our society fruitful through prayer, especially
through the divine fruitfulness of the
contemplative life, it is necessary to affirm
realistically the need for the presence of
consecrated people in society as citizens of
this world yet pilgrims advancing toward the
homeland (cf. Heb. 13:14).With their
charisms and service they want to put into
effect the Gospel of the Beatitudes and the
works of mercy.
Today the consecrated life is present in our
society through its manifold apostolic services
on behalf of others, according to the diverse
charisms. This presence is a magnificent
expression of the charity of Christ for the total
formation of persons-from literacy training to
the education of children and young people-
and for the care of the sick and suffering, the
elderly, the needy, the handicapped and those
marginalized by society.
In order to perform this work on behalf of
their sisters and brothers, some are more
involved in the professional work of the
women and men of our society or are engaged
in the more trafficked and busy areas of life.
Everyone, however, is in need of
evangelization.251
Evangelical Option for the Poor
104. The preferential love for the poor has led
many to make generous choices in life, yet not
without an element of danger. There is
certainly no incompatibility between the
consecrated life and the Lord's option for the
poor. Instead, such a choice has been a
constant note of the apostolic charisms, often
inspired by the words and example of the
Lord, who was sent to "preach good news to
the poor" (Lk. 4:18) and who invites others to
practice the works of mercy toward the "little
ones," as he himself did (cf. Mt. 25:40). An
effective presence in situations of poverty, as
well as the community's involvement in areas
of misery and marginalization, have been in
recent decades a sign of the consecrated life
which fully embraces not only poverty but
also the life of poor people, including their
difficulties, problems and dangers.
In this option it is necessary to open hearts,
minds and the creativity of evangelical love to
all the new cases of poverty, which are
increasing each day. One needs only to think
of the following: the growing number of
unemployed; the most disadvantaged of
countries where people have nothing because
of natural disasters; those areas devastated by
violence, oppression and civil war; and the
growing number of immense groups of
refugees. Thoughts turn also to the poverty
and suffering of all those who have been
affected by drugs and AIDS. There are also
uprooted groups and peoples; minorities not
respected because of race; minority groups
subjected to the practice of ethnic cleansing;
and groups suffering because of a systematic
exclusion of poorer countries from
development plans of international groups
more oriented toward methods of exclusion
than inclusion.
However, we must not forget the world of
those who are totally indifferent to the needs
of others: those who seem to be satisfied with
themselves because they do not lack material
goods, but who frequently suffer from despair
and loneliness and are tempted to reject the
gift of life. They too are searching for the
values of the Gospel and for the peace which
comes from Christ, often without even
realizing it.
Today more than ever "the cry of the poor"
(cf. Ps. 9:13; Jb. 34:28; Prv. 21:13) is heard
rising "from their personal poverty and their
collective misery."252 Today many people
have heard this cry and have responded,
following the path indicated by Paul VI: "That
cry must, first of all, bar you from whatever
would be a compromise with any form of
social injustice. It obliges you also to awaken
consciences to the drama of misery, and to the
demands of social justice made by the poor in
their situation, and to share their bitter cares.
Furthermore, it calls many of your institutes to
rededicate for the good of the poor some of
their works-something which many have
already done with generosity. Finally, it
enjoins on you a use of goods limited to what
is required, for the fulfillment of the function
to which you are called. It is necessary that in
your daily lives you should give proof, even
externally, of authentic poverty.253
Concern for the Sick and Suffering
105. Throughout the course of the centuries
the church has strongly felt that the need to
serve the sick and suffering is an integral part
of her mission. Not only has she fostered the
flourishing of various works of mercy, but she
has also developed within herself many
religious institutions whose specific purpose
is to promote, organize, improve and make
more widespread the care of the sick. In
conducting the work of evangelization the
missionaries have constantly associated the
preaching of the good news with the
assistance and care of the sick.254
Today too, the presence and commitment of
many religious members of secular institutes
and societies of apostolic life is a sign of the
church's concern for the suffering members of
the body of Christ. In following the example
of the Lord, physician of souls and bodies,
and in the loving and generous welcome of
every human life, especially of the weak and
suffering, the church actualizes a fundamental
aspect of the Lord's mission.
Consecrated persons involved in the health-
care apostolate because of the charism of their
own institute, or a choice inspired by it, seek
to bear witness to the "Gospel of
suffering."255 They do so through their service
of the sick, the elderly, the handicapped, the
marginalized and all those who are victims of
the new ills afflicting humanity.
In order for this witness to be effective, those
in authority in institutes of consecrated life
and societies of apostolic life must see to the
appropriate spiritual, ethical, moral and
professional formation of their members.
Thus, through them the church herself will be
present in places of treatment and care,
exercising a humanizing effect on medicine
and a concrete attention to individuals.
Through the Gospel of charity, which sheds
light on the salvific meaning of suffering, the
offering of suffering, united to Christ
crucified and glorified for the salvation of all,
can rise up to God.256
In the concern for life one must not overlook
the world of bioethics and medical research,
and the new problems being raised in the field
of genetic engineering. Those who through
following Christ are present by vocation and
mission in these fields cannot help but make
the defense of life a commitment which is
justified by God's original plan and the eternal
destiny of every human being.257
Educating the Young Toward The
Civilization of Love
106. A field open to initiatives by institutes is
that of young people, the future of the church
and humanity. In some countries of the first
world young people today are living in a
world characterized by a search for great
ideals, a profound disappointment with the heart of Christ, in an effective and attractive
broken dreams of ideologies and a surrender presentation of the ideals of the Gospel.
to the surrogates of the false idols of
entertainment and sport. They are frequently Today, the world of youth needs an adequate

the unwitting victims of manipulations which education based on Christian principles and

exploit them and lead them to dehumanizing respect for human values. This is shown

consumerism and facile pleasure that corrupts through an acceptance and education of the

and degrades the person and life itself. In young people living on the margins of society

other nations-especially in the Third World- as well as through a determination to give a

young people are threatened by extreme response to the great problems of young

poverty, unemployment and the lack of people today in diverse cultural contexts:

prospects for the future due to a lack of unemployment; the lack of basic education;

education or work. The Holy Spirit has violence; sexual exploitation; and various

planted in the church particular charisms forms of dependence. A generous presence in

which reflect Jesus' predilection for young listening to young people and in becoming

people, their education and integral involved with them is necessary so they might
promotion. find reasons to believe and hope in a
civilization of love.
Together with public schools, a specific field
is that of the Catholic school, for which so Artisans and Promoters of Culture
many institutes-particularly of religious-have
107. The proclamation of Christ is particularly
been founded in times when the education of
bound to the evangelization of culture and
young people was threatened by a secular
cultures. This does not mean that culture
mentality; This task is still a valid option
should be the norm and measure of the
today and awaits new and courageous apostles
Gospel, but that Christ is the measure of all
258
of youth.
human work. The church today undertakes the

At this time when the example of our Holy work of inculturation with profound

Father John Paul II urges us to take care of the evangelical freedom259 for the purpose of

youth of our world, those who have inherited introducing respectfully, through the power of
a particular charism in this field have a special the Holy Spirit, the values of the Gospel into

responsibility. They are called to offer the best all human cultures.

of their energies to rekindle the dialogue with

The presence of institutes of consecrated life
young people and form them according to the
has had a great influence in the transmission
and formation of culture. This happened in the
Middle Ages, at the beginning of Europe's
consolidation, when the monasteries were the
places in which the cultural riches of the past
were handed on and the new culture of
Christian humanism was developed. This has
proven true whenever the light of the Gospel
has enlightened new nations and cultures.
Many consecrated persons have been the
promotes of culture and often the defenders,
researchers and scholars of indigenous
cultures. In the church's mission there is a
special need today to contribute to a
promotion of culture and to the dialogue
between culture and faith.
While respecting the specific role of the laity,
consecrated persons have their own tasks-
especially those consecrated persons who by a
particular gift of the Spirit have been called to
enlighten the paths of the Gospel in dialogue
with reason and human culture. They must
work to offer wise responses to the many
problems and challenges of today's culture,
especially in the fields of philosophy,
theology, scientific research and university
studies in the Catholic universities and other
institutions entrusted to their care.260
Today the world of social communications is
one of the most important "aeropauses" for
the proclamation of the Gospel and the
formation of consciences. The mass media
have a fundamental impact on public opinion
and the formation-or deformation-of
conscience. In fact, it has been noted how they
cause a loss of value to religious terms; how
they are the cause of an erosion of traditional
values; and how they are a challenge to
effective training in cultural, social and moral
values. Nonetheless, they have a formidable
potential for improving communications,
uniting the world and transmitting the truth of
the Gospel when they are used for these ends
in an intelligent manner and with authentic
professionalism. The consecrated life is also
present in social communications which are
serving the needs of the Gospel, through its
charisms and activity stirred up by the Holy
Spirit and adapted to the demands of the
time.261
Training people in the proper use of the means
of communication and the possibility of
transforming them into new "aeropauses" for
the Gospel of Christ is a challenge to apostolic
activity in society-present and future.
In Service of the Family
108. The exhortation made by John Paul II to
the heads of institutes of consecrated life is
becoming ever more pressing in our day. He
urged them "to consider-always with
substantial respect for the proper and original
charism of each one-the apostolate of the
family as one of the priority
tasks."262 Whether in the area of the ordinary
pastoral work or through their contact with
families in their diverse apostolic ministries,
consecrated persons share in various ways the
current situation of families in all parts of the
world. Some institutes, because of their
inspiration from the mystery of Nazareth or
their specific apostolic choice are dedicated to
the family apostolate. In bringing about
mutual aid and an exchange of gifts they
highlight the precious value of the vocation to
virginity and the complementary aspect of the
call to marriage.
The methods of this apostolate are widely
known. One need only recall a key text
from Familiaris Consortio: "Hence the
possibility for men and women religious, and
members of secular institutes and other
institutes of perfection, either individually or
in groups, to develop their service to families,
with particular solicitude for children,
especially if they are abandoned, unwanted,
orphaned, poor or handicapped. They can also
visit families and look after the sick; they can
foster relationships of respect and charity
toward one-parent families or families that are
in difficulties or are separated; they can offer
their own work of teaching and counseling in
the preparation of young people for marriage
and in helping couples toward truly
responsible parenthood; they can open their
own houses for simple and cordial hospitality
so that families can find there the sense of
God's presence and gain a taste for prayer and
recollection, and see the practical examples of
lives lived in charity and fraternal joy as
members of the larger family of God."263
Artisans of Peace and Justice
109. One of the dimensions of the new
evangelization is human advancement,264 a
task which is becoming more important in that
some aspects of modern culture tend to
dehumanize human existence. At a time when
so many people are marginalized from the
benefits which progress can give, it is
important to recall that consecrated persons
have played a pioneering role in the world of
education, health care and authentic human
advancement in all its forms. Renewing this
commitment in courageous and creative
initiatives is already a part of a global
response to the new evangelization.
Called to live according to the spirit of the
Beatitudes, members of institutes of
consecrated life and societies of apostolic life
are the artisans of justice and peace in the
world. They do so through prayer, witness and
a specific apostolate. In virtue of the link
between evangelization and human
advancement pointed out in the church's
magisterium, consecrated persons find
themselves sharing and applying the church's
concern in the field of justice and peace. Their
"conversion to God's original plan for
humanity, as revealed in the new man, Jesus
Christ, will be the measure of their
contribution to hastening in others that
conversion of mind and attitudes which will
make more true and stable the reform of
economic, social and political structures,
ensuring a more just and peaceful society."265
The church's social doctrine can and must be
met with a more profound response. Indeed, it
broadens the meaning of traditional
apostolates to include the horizons of the
integral development of every person and all
peoples. This plan must evoke a profound
reflection which leads to the search for a new
humanism. The consecrated life is often at the
crossroads of values and activities promoting
not only the dignity of the human person, the
orientation of the spirit of poverty,
cooperation for the common good and the
desire for peace, but also the recognition of
supreme values, above all the faith, whose
source and end is in God.
The recent social encyclicals of John Paul
II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis and Centesimus
Annus, converge in a strong appeal for
development, which cannot be achieved
without a call addressed to all our
contemporaries, rich and poor alike, and
including all those committed to and sharing
responsibility for the true progress of the
human family-a progress which has social,
cultural and spiritual dimensions, and from
which those consecrated to God's cause
cannot exempt themselves. As educators and
witnesses to true justice and peace, those who
have experienced the newness of the Gospel
in their following of Christ are called to offer
their specific collaboration in this field,
communicating it "to other people in their
concrete difficulties, struggles, problems and
challenges so that these can be illuminated
and made more human in the light of faith."266
Witnessing in their life to the values of peace,
justice and development, and patiently
teaching people while seeking to get to the
root of problems, consecrated persons can be
witnesses of Christ, who makes all things
new.267
Witnesses to God's Plan for Humanity
110. Serving the cause of humanity according
to God's plan is the task of all Christians. The
consecrated life cannot be exempt from the
great concerns and tasks of the church in
preserving the great values of creation and the
Gospel. The cause of peace and justice, the
defense of life, the fulfillment of the moral
law inscribed on the human conscience and
the safeguarding of creation are all values
which need to be defended and promoted
because of their roots in humanity and in the
Gospel. As some emblematic persons in the
consecrated life have demonstrated,
consecrated persons have the responsibility to
be particularly sensitive to these problems and
to offer to the church their effective and
generous collaboration. Their work can be of
great service in building the civilization of
love in communion with the laity and with
respect for their particular apostolic
contribution.
A strong common witness of a holiness based
on the Gospel, as well as one promoting the
holiness of all the people of God, cannot but
produce a more positive influence in the
world. The charisms of the saints demonstrate
the humanizing power of Christian holiness
and point to their generous work in the service
of humanity.
For this reason the new evangelization is not
limited only to its initial proclamation nor to
an apostolate of Christian initiation. Today,
the Christian fabric of society needs to be
repaired everywhere. The consecrated life has
an urgent role and great responsibility in this
work. Today, catechetical research is needed.
There is urgent need for the proclamation of
the Gospel truth about the greatest problems
of human existence, that is: the relationship of
everyone to God the creator and redeemer;
respect for life and the dignity of the human
person; and the universal destination of goods
achieved in such a way as to make the truth of
the Gospel shed light on the grave problems
of morality. Many initiatives in pastoral
programs of spirituality are needed so as to
bring to maturity the Christian experience
among individuals and groups.
The consecrated life has as its purpose to
encourage the advancement of the Christian
vocation of the entire people of God, to
promote a response to the universal call to
holiness and to form authentic apostles of
Christ for our world. The heritage of
spirituality and that of the apostolic activity of
various institutes of consecrated life and
societies of apostolic life must be directed
toward this particular service of the faithful so
as to offer a unique contribution to the new
evangelization.
In this way it will be clear that the consecrated
life, following the example of Christ the Lord,
has a task in the church of transformation and
humanization, and that its charisms are the
living words of the Gospel and the presence of
the incarnate Word for the salvation of the
world.
CONCLUSION
Fidelity of the Consecrated Life
In a Grace-Filled Moment
111. The celebration of the Synod of Bishops
devoted to "the consecrated life and its role in
the church and in the world" takes place as the
church is preparing to celebrate the great
jubilee of the year 2000, the 2,000th
anniversary of the incarnation of the Word of
God, a time of grace in the spread of the
Gospel in the world and its renewed salvific
presence for our society.
The memory of the past is interwoven with
the holiness and role of the consecrated life.
Hope for the future-until the Lord returns in
the glory of his kingdom-is also a part of the
role to be exercised by the charisms stirred by
the Spirit.
Therefore, in view of the appeals, challenges,
reflections and proposals collected in
this instrumentum laboris after taking into
account the responses coming from the whole
church, the celebration of this synod becomes
an important moment of discernment and
encouragement for the consecrated life and its
future, a future open to a hope in the God of
history and the Holy Spirit, who is leading the
church to the fullness of truth and of
evangelical life.
At this grace-filled moment it is important to
recall those four fidelities proposed to the
consecrated life which ensure vitality in its
present and hope for its future.268
First of all, fidelity to Christ and to his
Gospel. Christ, Lord and bridegroom of the
church, master and savior of consecrated
persons, is the first and ultimate reason for
their life and mission; the Gospel the
foundation, rule and joy of their existence.
unity resulting from the work of the Holy
Spirit, the consecrated life is called to be itself
in its identity, communion and role, in
faithfulness to its essential elements and in the
splendor of the variety of the spiritual and
apostolic charisms of its saints.
Fidelity to the person and to our age. As
witnesses to God in the world, consecrated
persons are invited to that dynamic fidelity
which discovers, through contemplation of the
Lord's countenance and attention to the needs
of the men and women of our day, the paths
of salvation through the charisms of the
Gospel sown by the Spirit.
"Now to him who can strengthen you,
according to the Gospel, and the proclamation
of Jesus Christ, ... made known to all nations
to bring about the obedience of faith, to the
only wise God, through Jesus Christ be glory
forever and ever" (Rom. 16:25-27).

Fidelity to the church and her mission in the

world. The gift and duty asked of consecrated
persons is to feel with the church, to live her
mystery and ecclesial communion, and to
identify with her mission, which is open to the
needs of our world at this moment in history.

Fidelity to the consecrated life and to the

charism of one's institute. In an unbroken