from the CRA President

pathways, OCTOBER 2007

 

Dear Friends,

 

In the history of religious life, the last story is yet to be told.

 

Religious life has contributed vitality to the Church since the beginning and will continue to do so, even though the future for some communities may seem limited.  There are two views and styles of conversation about the future for religious: there are those who look to the future, and those who look back. And always the question: Does religious life have a future?

 

History says yes. The last chapter of the history of religious life has not been written. There have been many forms of religious life.  Francis brought a sense of poverty.  Benedict contributed an understanding of prayer.  Ignatius gave the sense of mission.  Mary MacKillop's gift to the Church is one of loyal service in time of need.

 

Vatican II called religious life the prophetic dimension of the Church.

 

Religious, it said, make the life of the Church more vigorous and its work more fruitful.  The Council called religious to re-imagine ourselves. We were asked to return to the Gospel, the source of all Christian life, and to the original inspiration behind our particular religious community.

 

We were also called to adjust to the changed conditions of our time.

 

Our abiding reality is that we are changing.  Change is a constant. But understanding this change is a slow and lengthy process. Profound realities only gradually yield their significance.

 

As part of that change, today we see many ways of service and ministry for lay people.

 

Forty years ago Lumen Gentium (30-38) saw that the Church of the future would be  the Church of the Laity, and that lay and religious roles would be complementary.

 

Many religious now recognise that part of their role is to help develop lay leadership in the Church. This transition is more complex than changing shifts - it must be thought through well. Our question today for laity and religious together is: "How can we best serve the needs of people through the Church?"

 

There is a perception that our Church is polarised.

 

Timothy Radcliffe OP, in his 2005 book, What is the Point of Being a Christian, which was dedicated to healing divisions in the Church, explains that opposition between tradition and innovation is, in fact, alien to Catholicism.  He invents his own categories to describe this division, and opts for the terms 'Kingdom' Catholics and 'Communion' Catholics, making the case that we need both.

 

"By Kingdom Catholics, I mean those of us who have a deep sense of the church as the pilgrim people of God, on the way to the kingdom."  The theologians who have been central for this tradition have been people like the Karl Rahner and Edward Schillebeeckx.

 

This tradition stresses openness to the world, finding the presence of the Holy Spirit working outside the church, freedom and the pursuit of justice.

 

Of the second group, Radcliffe says: "By Communion Catholics I mean those who came, after the council, to feel the urgent need to rebuild the inner life of the church."

 

They went with theologians like Hans Urs von Balthasar, the then Joseph Ratzinger, and Henri de Lubac. Their theology often stressed Catholic identity, was wary of too hearty an embrace of modernity, and they stressed the cross.

 

Radcliffe's 'Communion' Catholics see adoration and doxology at the heart of the Church's life.  Truth and beauty attract them.  They seek to avoid any assimilation to the world and to the secular, fearing that otherwise the Church will disappear.

 

Religious believe the Spirit to be present in both world and Church. They also believe that if religious life is to serve people it must be responsive to the changes in the world.

 

In saying this, we need to be very clear about our mission.

 

We need to identify the essential characteristics of our institutions so that we can measure and evaluate them in the light of the mission. It is not appropriate for a religious congregation to remain identified with any institution that no longer reflects its mission, especially the characteristics of faith and service of the poor that are at the heart of mission.

 

Our religious charisms will be kept alive by living out and telling our stories which echo the person of Jesus and his prophetic mission.

 

In sharing these thoughts with you this month, I have drawn on an address, The Prophetic Role of Religious Today, which I delivered in September.  You might like to read the full text.

 

Every good wish and blessing,