Pope Benedict on Consecrated Life

I have several, original posts, in development, including one on the former Intercessors of the Lamb which I mentioned the other day, but have not been home long enough to work on it. 

I can pass along something like this with little time on my part.  Pope Benedict XVI's words on consecrated life are worth the read, even if you are not in, or interested in, consecrated life.

CONSECRATED LIFE IS OF BENEFIT TO THE WHOLE CHURCH


VATICAN CITY, 5 NOV 2010 (VIS) - At midday today in the Vatican the Holy Father received prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (Region south 2), who have just completed their "ad limina" visit.


Speaking of consecrated people, the Pope suggested that "they 'can be compared to a plant with many branches which sinks its roots into the Gospel and brings forth abundant fruit in every season of the Church's life'. Because charity is the first fruit of the Holy Spirit and the greatest of all the charisms", he said, "a religious community enriches the Church (of which it is a living part), first and foremost through love: loving its particular Church, enriching her with its own charism and opening her to a more universal dimension".


Referring then to the problem of "the diminishing numbers and increasing age of the members of many religious institutes, which is evident in some parts of the world", the Pope noted that "some people are asking themselves whether consecrated life continues to be a proposal capable of attracting young men and women".


Yet consecrated life, he went on to explain, "has its origins in the Lord Himself, Who chose a lifestyle of chastity, poverty and obedience. For this reason, it can never disappear or die in the Church for it was decided by Jesus Himself as an irremovable part of His Church. Hence the call to a general commitment to vocational pastoral care. If consecrated life is of benefit to the whole Church, something that concerns us all, then pastoral care that seeks to promote vocations to the consecrated life must also be a duty felt by all: bishops, priests, religious and lay people".


"As the Conciliar Decree 'Perfectae caritatis' says, 'adaptation and renewal depend greatly on the education of religious'. This affirmation is vital for all forms of consecrated life. The formative capacity of a religious institute, both in its initial stage and in later phases, is fundamental for any process of renewal".


Benedict XVI concluded by asking the bishops to transmit "the Pope's heartfelt gratitude to consecrated people, telling them that he prays for them, and that he particularly recalls the elderly and sick, and those going through moments of crisis, solitude, suffering or confusion, as well as the young who today knock at their doors and ask to be allowed to commit themselves to Jesus Christ through radical dedication to the Gospel".
AL/VIS 20101105 (420)

Source: Vatican Information Service

People typically think of religious sisters and brothers when it comes to consecrated life.  There are other forms of consecrated life, such as consecrated virgins (Canon 604) and consecrated hermits (Canon 603).  Both of these are diocesan vocations and consecration takes place in the hands of the diocesan bishop.

Archbishop Raymond L. Burke was the episcopal moderator for many years of the United States Association of Consecrated Virgins, before he became Prefect of the Signatura.  Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing has taken on this role.

You might enjoy following the blogposts of a diocesan hermit who blogs from the Stillsong Hermitage.



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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

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Catholic professor discusses the feminine body and "spousal love"

Via Catholic News Agency, the article begins (links have been added by me)...

Crestview Hills, Ky., Aug 7, 2010 / 08:02 am (CNA).- Writing for this week's edition of the Thomas More College journal, Catholic professor Mary Shivanandan addressed the topic of feminine beauty, explaining that a woman's physical and spiritual attributes find their fullest expression in “spousal love,” whether in motherhood or consecrated celibacy.


On Aug. 5, The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts released its latest journal issue, Second Spring: an International Journal of Faith and Culture. This recent edition is dedicated to exploring the Theology of the Body from several perspectives.

In her article titled, “The Spousal Nature of Feminine Beauty in John Paul II,” Mary Shivanandan – a professor of Theology at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family at the Catholic University of America – explores the theme of the purpose of a woman's beauty and where it finds its fullest expression

This is an area that I believe is developing with regards to what is commonly referred to as, "Theology of the Body".  I think the next few years are going to yield some fruitful discussion about this topic in some areas that have been neglected.  This is one of them. 

“Feminine bodily beauty!” Shivanandan began in her article. “Is this not a topic more suitable to a fashion magazine than a serious journal? What does it have to do with theology?”


“But John Paul II takes feminine beauty very seriously,” the professor underscored.


“Right away,” she added, “we have a perspective on the feminine body that is not characteristic of our culture, which either favors the thin straight silhouette of the fashion model or the dress open and showing curves to the navel.”


In modern society, woman “is presented either without sexual attributes or as a sex object,” the professor lamented. “How is it even possible to address a culture that treats the feminine body in this way?”

I might add, that this is why, in modern society, we have such a rise in eating disorders and people spending loads of money on elective surgery for reasons of vanity.

However, “John Paul II does not hesitate to rise to the challenge,” she wrote.


“When John Paul II links the visible bodily aspect of a woman with its power of perennial attraction 'in strict accordance with motherhood,' he may seem to be limiting the often wondrous visible beauty of woman to one dimension.”


Yet, “the mystery of femininity manifests and reveals itself in its full depth through motherhood,” Shivanandan said, quoting the late Pontiff.

“This mystery, as he explains in his Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, involves 'a special openness to the new person' on the part of woman through which she discovers her own identity precisely as woman.”


In this gift of self through the openness of bringing new life into the world, a woman not only realizes her identity as female, but reaches the fullest expression of what feminine beauty is, explained Shivanandan


“Beauty, feminine beauty, which, as John Paul II says, is in strict accordance with motherhood, is both a source and fruit of spousal love lived sacramentally in the family,” she noted. “From it radiates the beauty of the civilization of love.”


“It is the great challenge of our time to recover this sense of feminine beauty as intrinsically
spousal,” Shivanandon wrote.

She now mentions "spousal love" in another context - a vocation open to some women which is probably unknown to many Catholics.

In addition to a woman expressing her beauty as a gift of self through spousal love in marriage, the professor added, in “the consecrated virgin the spousal form is also present but expressed in a different way, as signifying the priority of personhood over bodily sexual attraction.”


“Espoused to the Lord, she points to the eschaton (heavenly reality) where there is no giving in human marriage. Thus the woman has to be affirmed in her role as person, oriented to self-gift, spouse and mother in a correct order.”

What exactly is a consecrated virgin?  From the code of canon law:

Can. 604 §1 The order of virgins is also to be added to these forms of consecrated life. Through their pledge to follow Christ more closely, virgins are consecrated to God, mystically espoused to Christ and dedicated to the service of the Church, when the diocesan Bishop consecrates them according to the approved liturgical rite.

You can read more at the website of the United States Association for Consecrated Virgins, and I especially recommend reading through the FAQs, and for the greatest level of detail, the information packet.

The article concludes:

Shivinandan reflected that this “way of approaching feminine beauty is almost entirely foreign to our culture, which isolates feminine bodily beauty as a thing in itself, using it to sell products or titillate the senses.”


Pope John Paul II, however, “finds the search for what he calls 'integral beauty' or 'purity free from stain' in the bridegroom’s search in the Song of Songs,” the professor observed.


“He notes that the Song of Songs refers to the bride as 'a garden closed,' a 'fountain sealed,' because, in the Pope’s words, she is 'the master of her own mystery.'”


“The authentic gift of the woman, which is essential to her personal dignity, is revealed in the gift of self as spouse and mother.”

Te Deum Laudamus! Home

The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

Note: The recommended links below are automatically generated by the tool, so they are not necessarily related content.

Archbishop Burke: Who could imagine....?

Various sources, including Tom Peters are working on getting a transcript of the entire address by Archbishop Raymond L. Burke at the Institute of Religious Life's national meeting which took place at Mundelein Seminary this past weekend.  Here is one excerpt:

[...Our joy today is] overshadowed by the public and obstinate betrayal of religious life by certain religious. Who ever could have imagined that religious congregations of pontifical right, would openly organize to resist and attempt to frustrate an apostolic visitation, that is, a visit to their congregations carried out under the authority of the vicar of Christ on earth, to whom all religious are bound by the strongest bonds of loyalty and obedience?

Who could imagine that consecrated religious would openly, and in defiance of the bishops as successors of the apostles publicly endorse legislation containing provisions which violated the natural moral law in its most fundamental tenets – the safeguarding and promoting of innocence and defenseless life, and fail to safeguard the demands of the free exercise of conscience for health care workers?

We witness a growing tendency among certain consecrated religious to view themselves outside and above the body of Christ as a parallel institution looking in upon the Church with an autonomy which contradicts their very nature. We have certainly come a long way from the total loyalty to the Roman Pontiff which was at the heart of the foundation of the Society of Jesus and of every religious congregation. Religious life lived in the heart of the Church, and for that reason religious congregations are, by their very nature, bound in strictest loyalty to the Roman Pontiff. It is of course an absurdity of the most tragic kind to have consecrated religious knowingly and obstinately acting against the moral law.

The spiritual harm done to the individual religious who are disobedient and also the grave scandal caused to the faithful and people in general are of incalculable dimensions.[...]

Continue reading at the blog of Tom Peters at CatholicVoteAction.org

Te Deum Laudamus! Home

The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!