New Secretary General of AMRI

Announcement: New Secretary General of AMRI

The Executive Council of AMRI announced the appointment of Gerard Gallagher as the new Secretary General of AMRI. Gerard has been a valued member of the AMRI staff, working in Communications and Membership Services, and recently served as Interim Secretary General.

Fr. Tim Lehane SVD, President of AMRI, welcomed the appointment, stating, “Gerard brings his pastoral experience and personal skills to this role in AMRI. Over the past year, we have worked closely together, and I am confident that our members will be fully supported by him as he continues to deliver on our strategic objectives as Religious and Missionaries in the life of the Church.”

Residential Events at Boarbank Hall

The Sisters at Boarbank Hall in Cumbria are pleased to announce a new programme of residential events at their Guest House. Some of these may be of special interest to Religious Sisters and Brothers, including Care for Creation (a mix of talks, reflection and activities: 5th-12th October), Our Lady in Latin (learning about the language and the music: 25th-27th October) and Hope in Health (for anyone involved in care or healthcare, to recharge the batteries: 8th-10th October).

For the full programme and more details, see: https://boarbankhall.org.uk/whats-on/.

For more information, please contact Sr Margaret on margaret@boarbankhall.org.uk.

You might also enjoy finding out more about Boarbank from this podcast:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/radio-maria-england/episodes/MORNINGS-WITH-RADIO-MARIA---Sr-Margaret-Atkins-Never-Bored-at-Boarbank-e2mu0oo

Weekend Retreat at Brownshill Monastery

To hope & act with Creation – learning from the animals

• Fri, Sep 27, 20244:00 PM Sun, Sep 29, 202412:00 PM

• Monastery of Our Lady and St. Bernard (map)

This year’s ecumenical Season of Creation takes the theme: To Hope and Act with Creation. How can we do this?

This weekend celebrating Creation, will reflect on the words of Job who invited us to “ask the animals” what they can teach us about our faith (Job 12:7-10). In His teaching, Jesus frequently drew on nature to illustrate the Christian way of life (e.g. Matthew 6: 26-30). Pope Francis too, reminds us that “each of the various creatures….. reflects in its own way a ray of God’s infinite wisdom” (Laudato si’ para.69] and urges us to remember that “the universe as a whole, in all its manifold relationships, shows forth the inexhaustible richness of God” [Laudato Deum: 63].

You are invited to join in contemplating the lessons we can learn from animals and to find hope and opportunities for action from the examples of small creatures (e.g. ants) that render significant change.

Click here for the weekend’s programme!

Suggested offering is £ 140 for the full residential weekend, which includes all meals from Friday supper to Sunday lunch. Non-residential options are also available. Please use the form to book your place or to request further information.

Catholic Missionary Union AGM

Annual Gathering

Incorporating the official AGM and appeal organisers meeting

10th September 2024

Oblate Centre, Wistaston Hall 89 Broughton Lane Crewe CW2 8JS

An away-day with lots of time for rebuilding friendships and relationships across the CMU.

Time for prayer and reflection.

A review of the parish appeal programme.

A review of sustainability and resources. A chance to plan for the year ahead.

Guest speaker to share some motivation and inspiration.

See the full flyer and find further information here.

Becoming Apostolic

Author: Catherine Sexton

This book explores the experience and understanding of Roman Catholic sisters of their vocation to the apostolic form of religious life as they age. Based on interviews with twelve religious women, it draws on the practice of Lectio Divina to explore how these women describe their call to service and activity at a time in life when these might be curtailed by physical diminishment and increasingly reduced social interaction and influence. As the very institutions of religious life are themselves under threat, the book identifies new emerging forms of ministry through presence, to each other and to their carers.

The book is available at 50% off until the end of August. Click here for more information.

If you would like to get in touch with Dr. Catherine Sexton and comment her email address is catherine.m.sexton@durham.ac.uk

Workforce Shortages and Obtaining a Sponsorship Licence

Stone King LLP Free Webinar

Workforce shortages and obtaining a sponsorship licence

Thursday 18 July 2024, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Online via Zoom

Workforce shortages are impacting a number of sectors in the UK. Many organisations are therefore looking to recruit from outside the UK and sponsor overseas nationals in order to fill essential roles.

Join Julie Moktadir, Partner and Head of Immigration, in this session to discuss workforce shortages and how to obtain a sponsorship licence. Julie will look at the requirements set out by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) to obtain a licence, as well as the ongoing compliance duties for sponsors once a licence is in place.

This will be an interactive session, so there will be opportunities to ask questions throughout.

Speakers

Julie Moktadir, Partner and Head of Immigration, Stone King

Cost

Free to attend  

Date

Thursday 18 July 2024

Timings

Start: 3:00 pm
Finish: 4:00 pm

BOOK NOW

Discernment Retreat - Loreto Spirituality Centre

‘I LISTENED TO GOD’S DEEP DREAM FOR ME…’ 

Loreto Spirituality Centre

Llandudno

Friday 30th August – Sunday 1st September

Led by: Josette Zammit-Mangion IBVM and Ewa Bem IBVM

A Discernment Retreat, drawing om the life and writings of Mary Ward, to help us reflect on the choices we make. This retreat could also be helpful when making significant decisions in life.

For more information or to book:

Email: info@loretocentre.org.uk

Call: 01492 878031

Website: www.loretocentre.org.uk

Retreats at The Briery

Individually Guided Retreat

8-days (5th – 14th August) or 6-days (5th-12th) August at The Briery Retreat Centre, Ilkley.  There are a few places still available on our next IGR, led by Fr Paul Fletcher, S.J. and The Briery Team. 

The Wisdom Years – Margaret Silf

Monday 23rd September – A day of reflection exploring the challenges, blessings and fresh perspectives of our later years guided by scripture, story and our own lived experience.  £48pp to include a two-course home-cooked lunch and all refreshments.

Please contact the Administrators to book or for more information admin@briery.org.uk 01943 607287

The Distance Learning Programmes in Catholic Theology

The Distance Learning programmes in Catholic Theology, led by Durham University’s Centre for Catholic Studies (CCS), are designed so that participants can work through material at their own pace, studying equally well in any time zone and in many different life situations, alongside work, ministry, family or caring obligations. 

In addition to the Postgraduate Certificate, the Postgraduate Diploma, and the MA, students can now enrol for a single module. Students with a BA or BSc who have not studied Theology or a related discipline before, are able to apply for the core module, ‘Catholic Theology: A Preliminary Tour’ and proceed to the MA following its successful completion. The single module is also a standalone option for Continual Professional Development and general interest.  Further details are available at Distance Learning – Durham University

The CCS offer a Bursary Fund specifically to support students on these distance learning programmes – see CCS Bursary for Distance Learning 2025-26 - Durham University for information.

If you have any questions about these Distance Learning programmes, please do not hesitate to contact the CCS Manager - theresa.phillips@durham.ac.uk

Please share details of this opportunity through any avenues available to you, including your local parish and diocesan bulletins.  Let’s get the word out about this great opportunity!

ROE Plenary Meeting July 4th 2024

ROE PLENARY MEETING:

Zoom 10:30 – 12:30 July 4th, 2024

SAVE THE DATE          

FAO Major Superiors of Religious Orders who are trustees or founders of schools and colleges.

Reports will be provided on the meetings with CES and DSCs concerning the Bishops’ Directives, Catholic Schools Inspection, and the Religious Education Directory. It is encouraging to note the influence that ROE is having on these national discussions.

You can email Brenda Wallace fcJ  brendawallacefcj.roe@gmail.com with your intention to join the Meeting! 

St Bede's Course in Spiritual Conversation

‘To listen another’s soul into a condition of disclosure and discovery, may be almost the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another.’ - Douglas Steere

Learning to listen and respond to others more deeply.

SEPTEMBER 2024 - JUNE 2025

The key aims of the course are to become sensitive and alert to opportunities for spiritual conversation in everyday life, to increase confidence to enter into spiritual conversations with others and to grow in being alongside others in a discerning way.

For further information and booking details click here.

Living Theology Summer School

Friday 28th – 30th June

The Living Theology Summer School provides an opportunity for Christians of all denominations to deepen their understanding of the Christian faith, and develop their personal reflection on Christian living and belief. 

The Keynote Lecture will consider Listening Ideals in the Old Testament, followed by a choice of courses on New Testament Christology, God East and West and Liberation Theology – Origins and Enduring Relevance. 

No prior knowledge is required, just an open mind and willingness to engage.

For further information and bookings click here.

Quiet Day at St Andrew's Lewisham

Saturday 15 June: Celtic wisdom

A quiet day based on the experience of a pilgrimage to Skellig Michael, with Kathleen O’Sullivan. 10 am for a 10.30 start until 4pm.

Friday 19 to Sunday 28 July: An Urban Oasis Silent Retreat

A silent retreat including personal accompaniment (IGR). 3 to 8-Day retreat. 2 nights minimum. Self-Catering only.

Click here for further information and bookings.

Restore Nature Now - Prayer & March

RESTORE NATURE NOW – PRAYER & MARCH

SATURDAY 22 JUNE 2024

11am Jesuit church, Farm St (Church of the Immaculate Conception, 114 Mount St, London W1K 3AH)

12 noon Join march

All are warmly invited to take part in the prayer and march on Saturday 22nd June to call for more protection of nature, God’s creation.

As we all know, 9 years ago in Laudato Si Pope Francis wrote “our sister Mother Earth “cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her.” (LS #2) Since then her cries have become ever louder. In Laudate Deum Pope Francis writes “…the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.” (LD#2) and that “… the other creatures of this world have stopped being our companions along the way and have become instead our victims.”  (LD#15)

He also calls us to take action “… the demands that rise up from below throughout the world, …  can end up pressuring the sources of power. It is to be hoped that this will happen with respect to the climate crisis.”  (LD#37)

The RESTORE NATURE NOW march is a coalition of climate and nature organizations (including the National Trust and the RSPB) who have joined together and prepared a creative, family friendly and legal mass gathering. The Laudato Si Movement is one of the supporters and several Laudato Si animators will be there.

The Christian groups will have an ecumenical prayer service before the march in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, 114 Mount St, London W1K 3AH.

For more details go to: Restore Nature Now | Pledge to march on June 22

Renewal Program for Religious

Invitation for short renewal program in Steyl in March 2025.

Uncovering the inner self in intercultural community living: a path to transformation.

6-day workshop, followed by 7-day contemplative retreat.

The methodology will be experience-based (along with input from relevant sources), drawing reflections and insights from our own seeking for God.

Click here for the flyer for more details about the project.

Contemplative Retreats for St Augustine’s Priory

The House of Prayer offers a broad variety of Retreats catering to many kinds of needs. Welcoming anyone in fact seeking with an open heart, to deepen their spirituality, to find a life lived with meaning, or nurture their relationship with God.

Click here for the 2024 programme, which has this year’s Contemplative Retreats.

Pastoral Supervision & Reflective Practice

This course aims to provide trainees with a creative and professional learning experience. It will blend both theoretical and practical aspects of supervision while developing the confidence and competence to offer pastoral supervision in a wide range of contexts. Spread over nine days this course blends interactive workshops (face to face and online) with independent study. The course is offered in partnership with the Carmelites at Boars Hill Retreat Centre, Oxford.  The course is for a certificate in pastoral supervision and is validated by the Institute of Pastoral Supervision and Reflective Practice.

Residential Modules: Oct 31st - 2nd Nov 2024 & 15th - 17th May 2025 Online Module: Venue 17th Jan; 31st Jan; 14th Feb 2025

Application forms and further information contact Tony Nolan: ajnolanmsc@hotmail.com Trainers: Susan Woodhead and Tony Nolan

Click here for flyer and further details.

The Gathering 3

The Northampton Diocese Women in Ministry Group invites you to The Gathering 3.

This event is an opportunity to reflect on women—their calling and vocation, their gifts and ministries, and their voice in the synod.

It’s a chance to listen, pray, share, and reflect together.

8th June 2024, from 10 AM to 4 PM.

St. Mary’s, Woburn Sands, Bucks, MK17 8NN.

Please click here for the flyer and additional registration details.

Education Officer for The Gaudete Trust

The Gaudete Trust invites applications for the role of Education Officer to lead their executive team and operations across 18 schools.

The Gaudete Trust was established in 2023 by five Religious Orders, following a three-year collaborative venture steered by a working group of the National Association of Religious Orders in Education (ROE). The mainspring of the Trust is the desire of Religious Orders to continue to put their charisms at the service of the Church. By adopting a collaborative approach to trusteeship, the Gaudete Trust offers those Religious Orders an alternative way of continuing to serve Catholic education. The Gaudete Trust is a legal entity with the authority to administer those legal, financial, and inspirational responsibilities of educational trusteeship that were formerly exercised by individual Religious Orders. It is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) recognised by the Charity Commission and a Public Juridic Person recognised by the Catholic Church.

This is a new and creative opportunity for someone to work with this ground-breaking collaborative trust in its early days. The Trustees are looking for someone with the capacity to develop the role creatively and flexibly in response to the needs of this new family of Religious Order schools.

Joining The Gaudete Trust means being part of a pioneering initiative shaping the future of Catholic education. With flexibility, ongoing support, and the opportunity to make a meaningful impact, this role offers both challenge and reward.

For further information on this exciting opportunity, please contact brendawallacefcj.roe@gmail.com

Between Heaven and Earth : The Call to Religious Life

By Sr Teresa White fcj

Reproduced with kind permission of ‘The Way’

In two articles, published in July 2021 in Thinking Faith, Cardinal Michael Czerny SJ reflects on ‘Fratelli tutti’, with its invitation to all people of good will to ‘contribute to the rebirth of a universal aspiration to fraternity and social friendship’ (FT 8).[1] Although Pope Francis does not refer specifically to religious life in this encyclical, Czerny sees that invitation to have a special significance for religious, given their distinctive ability ‘to foster a sense of belonging… and create bonds of integration between different generations and different communities’ (FT 53). In most religious congregations a plurality of cultures and generations already exists, so they could be seen to embody the ‘universal aspiration to fraternity’ that Francis speaks of here.

Analysing some of the challenges facing religious life in today’s world through the lens of ‘Fratelli Tutti’[2], Czerny draws attention to the teaching of Vatican II and other Church documents, holding that the vision and spirit of religious life predispose those who follow this vocation to be ‘witnesses and architects of unity’ (Vita Consecrata). Religious communities, by sharing faith together and through the quality of their life in common, he suggests, create sacred spaces of encounter, kindness and dialogue in the midst of the culture of ‘limitless consumption and empty individualism’ (FT 13) that is so evident in the globalised world of our times. Those who are called to this life live in ‘a community composed of brothers and sisters who accept and care for one another’ (FT 96), and living in this way, the members ‘make possible a social friendship that excludes no one and a fraternity that is open to all’ (FT 94).

Czerny interprets the challenges facing religious life today as ‘signs of the times,’ and encourages religious not to allow themselves to be overwhelmed by the difficulties, but to re-commit themselves to the ‘sequela Christi’. ‘The reality of consecrated life as a sign,’ he says, ‘finds in brother- and sister-hood the prophetic anticipation of a world in which unity is achieved while safeguarding differences, variety and mutual respect.’ Following Czerny’s lead, and giving due attention to the insights of ‘Fratelli tutti’, I suggest that religious life, a gift of the Holy Spirit, has a particular relevance in the Church and world of the third millennium. Stretched as it were between heaven and earth, religious men and women pray, struggle and walk with the Church and with humanity, seeking God’s kindly light on the journey of faith and life.

Sign and symbol

In Holy Week 2019, I was living in Paris. For my little community of Faithful Companions of Jesus, that week began in Notre Dame Cathedral, as we listened to the last of the Lent Conferences, televised live on Palm Sunday. The very next day, 15 April, we were glued to the television all evening, watching in horror as sheets of flame swept through the ancient building. Along with the rest of Paris, indeed with the rest of the world, we felt utterly devastated, and like so many people, experienced a feeling of almost personal loss. It was with relief that we heard that the fire crews, by their hard work and expertise, had ‘saved’ the familiar façade, external walls and towers of the medieval cathedral, along with its renowned stained-glass windows. But the slender, graceful spire, that had crowned the central section of the roof above the main nave, was lost. We saw it fall: carved in oak and covered with lead, it had melted, incinerated in the terrifying conflagration. That spire - the word in French is ‘flèche’, which means arrow - had a symbolic role: to point to the heavens. For me, a spire is a powerful symbol of the call to religious life; but it is an eminently Christian symbol, its meaning perceptible to Christian eyes. Does this symbol hold any relevance in an increasingly de-Christianised western world?

In the context of faith, symbols belong to the domain of the sacred, they draw our attention to spiritual realities. Religious life is not part of the institutional structures of the Church, but belongs to its charismatic essence, and it finds its deepest meaning in the realm of sacred signs and symbols. In a certain sense, religious are ‘sacraments’ of God’s presence in the world: their life signifies a reality beyond itself, the Kingdom of God. For those with eyes to see, their life points to God’s presence in our world, in our universe, bridging what is often perceived as the gap between the sacred and the secular.

By its radical commitment to the values of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, religious life acknowledges both God’s transcendence and God’s presence within time through faith and hope and love. Religious life is grounded in a vision of the whole of existence as graced by God, imbued with God’s threefold presence: God beyond us, God with us and God within us. Religious remind humanity of what we can be, of what we must be, of what deep down, in our hearts, we most want to be, and this awareness grows when God’s central role in all of life is acknowledged, respected and accepted.

In the face of the ‘distancing from religious values and the prevailing individualism accompanied by materialistic philosophies’ (FT 175) that is so evident in our times, religious, by their lives, by their ministries, by their prayers and attentiveness to God’s presence, invite and encourage those they meet to face the adventure of life knowing we are all held in the hands of God’s mercy and love. God - beauty, truth, goodness - draws them onward. They listen to ‘the music of the Gospel … hear the strains that challenge us to defend the dignity of every man and woman… For us the wellspring of human dignity and fraternity is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ’ (FT 277).

Vincent van Gogh once said that the word ‘artist’ means: “I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with my whole heart”. Perhaps religious men and women are ‘artists’ in this sense. They have a wholehearted desire to respond to God’s call through a primary life commitment that is both exclusive and enduring. Why would anyone wish to live such a life? Joan Chittister OSB offers an answer that has much in common with van Gogh’s: “Women and men give their very selves to it, whole and entire, day in day out, all the days of their lives, with nothing else to strive for, no place to call home, no one else with whom to share their lives. The question is: Why? The answer is: in order to be in the world a kind of contemplative presence that manifests, that requires the Reign of God, to be some part of bringing the world to the kind of creation God wants it to be. The identity of the group, in other words, is social and institutional as well as personal”.

Scriptural Calls

The calls of Abram, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Gideon, Mary, Peter, Mary of Magdala and Paul, offer a scriptural pattern in which the dynamic of the religious vocation is evident: a personal encounter with God; a personal invitation, on God’s initiative, to undertake a mission; an awareness of unworthiness; a conversion experience; a free and wholehearted acceptance of God’s invitation: ‘Here I am, send me.’ Ask any religious – you will find that, like those whose response to God’s call is recorded in the pages of the Bible, the starting point of their call to religious life is a profound, never-to-be-forgotten experience of God.

Religious women and men recognise and acknowledge God dwelling at the heart of existence, a God with a human face who communicates with us personally in a relationship of love. Those who respond to ‘a religious vocation’ place God and the things of God at the centre of their lives, and in doing so, radicalise the experience of all Christians. This is not because they see themselves as good and virtuous individuals living among sinners, or as offering heroic models to lesser mortals – their desire is simply to pass on the touch of God to those they meet. They consciously write the story of their lives in God’s presence, with God’s eyes upon them: “O Lord, you are the centre of my life: I will always praise you, I will always serve you, I will always keep you in my sight’[3].

Religious keep God in their sight, proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ by who they are and what they do. Seeking dialogue with those they meet and establishing bonds of companionship with them (cf. FT 271) is an essential part of their lives. And they do these things as disciples of Jesus, who in his life on earth created a life-giving culture by defying inequality, scorning hypocrisy, naming the truth, and spreading peace. Jesus valued friendship, was gently compassionate, loved the unloved, healed the sick and welcomed strangers. Religious try to do the same.

A prophetic vocation in the Church

The Church is a sign of what God has done in Christ, of God’s abiding presence in the world through the action of the Holy Spirit. Religious life is a radical sharing in the mission of the Church, in which the Kingdom of God and its priorities are raised above other considerations. Religious men and women are called to holiness, to intimacy with God in the service of God’s people, and Baptism, the context of all Christian living, is the foundation of their way of life: “In the Church’s tradition religious profession is considered to be a special and fruitful deepening of the consecration received in Baptism” (Vita Consecrata, 30). The Church is the community where the redemptive work of Jesus has been recognised, received and proclaimed, and where this work continues.

Religious life offers a kind of counter-culture, not by being negatively critical in the face of the complexity of human life, but by proposing an alternative way of living. Its members share the one mission: to announce the Good News, to be a sign and instrument of communion with God through Christ. The theological focus of this mission is two-fold: transcendence, recognising God as ‘other’, as ‘mystery’, and engaging with God’s world, reaching out to God in creation and in human experience. Religious are on mission when their life (who they are) and action (what they do) prophetically point to, promote and make visible the Kingdom of God. They live intentionally in the light of faith, and their faith is strengthened by prayer, by the liturgy and sacraments of the Church, the people of God.

The Vows – Sign of Lifelong Consecration

Religious life has a mystical core, and those who follow the call to this life attempt to create a ‘different’ world, a way of living that is based on a faith response to God. They do this through the vowed life, which gradually developed into a distinctive form of life in the Church. Religious make three vows, poverty, chastity and obedience, professing them publicly, and choosing to make them a framework for living. They do this with the intention of living their vows ‘for ever’. All three vows, inspired as they are by the life and teaching of Jesus, are also known as ‘evangelical counsels’, and they characterise the self-giving of the person to God, translating into human terms the totality and deeply-rooted nature of the gift. Poverty is understood as an expression of the person’s radical dependence on God, chastity represents the primacy of the love of God in his or her life, while obedience symbolises the desire to imitate the self-emptying of Christ by seeking God’s will in this world.

Religious are consecrated in the name of God and dedicates themselves to God’s mission. At their profession, they publicly undertake to live in a way which radicalises the common experience of all Christians. They are ‘set apart’ for God, permeated by their desire to walk in God’s presence, trying to make the world more deeply human and more open to God. Being ‘set apart’ in this way does not mean living on a ‘higher plane’ or disregarding earthly realities; it means accepting the call to be sent in God’s name to proclaim the Good News of salvation.

Religious women and men, through their consecration to God, forge new relationships with things and people, with human society, with creation. Mindful of the presence of God in the grandeur and misery of human existence, they respond with gratitude to the beauty of life and with courage in the inevitable times of suffering and grief. Compassion for those in any kind of need links religious life to the good of society, but the commitment of religious to the deprived and the disadvantaged is not simply dedicated social work. For religious, the work of caring for the poor, feeding the hungry, tending the sick, educating the young, welcoming the stranger, visiting the prisoner, has the special motivation of walking in the footsteps of Jesus, of following him, even to the foot of the cross. They have a ‘shared passion to create a community of belonging and solidarity worthy of our time, our energy and our resources’ (FT 36).

God-centred communities

Religious communities are intentionally God-centred. They witness to religious and spiritual values in an increasingly secularised environment. Living like everyone else in the tangible, material world, they unashamedly acknowledge the importance of the transcendent. Committed to an ever-deepening relationship with God in Christ, they desire to be signs and bearers of God’s love to the whole human family, knowing that we need to ‘learn to live together in harmony and peace, without all of us having to be the same’ (FT 100).

Contemplation is the energy of their life, the core of their identity. Their role is to bring to visibility what is Good News for the present time, not only by reaching out to unbelievers, but above all by witnessing to the values of the Kingdom of God: respect for the whole of creation, encouraging the growth of free and integrated persons, building channels of communion and solidarity with all people by moving beyond prejudices and misconceptions. Religious communities are open to visitations of grace. For them, sensitive to God’s unfailing presence in the whole of life, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God/ It will flame out, like shining from shook foil...”[4] They believe that God’s providence is secretly shaping and guiding our lives, and this, as Pope Francis says, brings joy: “Wherever there are religious, there is joy.”[5]

Religious women and men, longing for justice and peace, cannot be true to their calling without a preferential option for those who are poor. The action taken by religious on behalf of those in any kind of need measures and demonstrates the integrity of their contemplation. This option is a spiritual choice made in imitation of Jesus, who recognised the human dignity of poor and suffering people, of prisoners, and of those who were excluded from the social order of his time. For religious, this means not only desiring to lead a simple life, not only caring for the poor out of compassion, but also, through their distinctive commitment and mission, responding with what Pope Francis calls ‘a new vision of fraternity and social friendship’ (FT 6).

Religious life today

In times past, it was customary to think of God as immutable and many found this thought comforting and reassuring: ‘Change and decay in all around I see, / O Thou who changest not, abide with me.’ Perhaps we are beginning to change this theological tune. The insight of faith is that we belong to something, Someone, greater than ourselves: God, whose presence, in moments of contemplative awareness, may be perceived in our lives, in creation. But the signs of that presence are not immutable - God has many names, and a ‘new’ face of God reveals itself in all the ups and downs of human existence.

In every age, religious life has been the seed-bed of evangelical innovation, meeting new needs in new ways while integrating the tried and true wisdom of the past. In our day, there are indications that the paradigm of religious life seen as a ‘total institution’ is giving way to more a flexible, deregulated expression of this life-form. In the face of this, religious today find themselves in the midst of a crisis of recruitment, and, with an ageing membership, they have been forced to close many of their traditional establishments.

As they explore new patterns of evolutionary thinking, it may be possible for them to reach a clearer view of some of the paths religious life may take in the future. Whatever they do, they need to have the courage to acknowledge that, if there is one thing sure about the current state of religious life, it is that ‘what is’ is not sustainable. ‘Everything, then, depends on our ability to see the need for a change of heart, attitudes and lifestyles’ (FT 166). Those entering religious communities today need to be prepared not so much for what is, as for what will be. If religious life is to survive and flourish, religious need to focus on the fundamentals of living a God-centred life in today’s world, setting aside what is peripheral or superfluous, including certain traditional devotions, ministries and ways of proceeding. Elizabeth Johnson says it well: “The living God who spans all time relates to historically new circumstances as the future continuously arrives. A tradition that cannot change cannot be preserved.”[6]

Looking to the future

Karl Rahner, referring to religious life, once wrote: “We have to make experiments, have the courage to change ourselves, to see and seize on new tasks and to give up old ones, to march into a future unknown to us”.[7] Religious life is not a monolithic institution; like the Church itself, it is and must always be responsive to what Vatican II called ‘the signs of the times.’ Therefore, since the way this life is lived is not unchanging, we must listen for the call of God in the present, in the world of the third millennium.

Where is God opening a door for religious life now? Today, many religious are looking for authentic ways to continue to live a faith-centred life in a secularised world where humanism has largely become the accepted atmosphere and the renunciation that is integral to the vowed life is viewed with suspicion or scepticism. They are in the process of discerning how to adapt their way of living in the light of contemporary needs, while not losing sight of traditional ideals. Reflecting constantly on how their lifestyle decisions affect the earth and the poorest people of the earth, they are reviewing their ministries. Whenever and wherever possible, they are joining in positive action to bring about change in the face of the environmental emergency which is affecting the whole planet.

They value the fundamental, time-honoured elements of religious life – simple, sustainable living in community, daily prayer, celebrating the Eucharist, spiritual reading, study, and regular retreats. At the same time, through their varied ministries, they look to widen their circle of love in order to embrace all people, especially those who experience exclusion, exploitation and injustice. In a spirit of hope, they place their future in God’s hands. Theirs is ‘a home with open doors’ (FT 276).

Conclusion

I began this article by drawing attention to the symbolic spire of Notre Dame, destroyed in March 2019 in that terrible fire. I would like to conclude by referring to Shelley’s ‘Ode to a Skylark’ in which I see an evocative symbol of religious life today. The poet hailed this bird as a ‘blithe spirit’ which pours out its heart’s song ‘from heaven or near it’. Smallish, brown, unostentatious, the skylark is drawn inexorably to the heights: it can ascend to 1000 feet, and there it hovers, singing its joyful song. Because it nests on the ground, this little bird is vulnerable. In our time, it also suffers from the effects of climate change, and in some parts of the world the whole species is endangered. My prayer is that the skylark will continue to hover between earth and heaven, singing its incomparable song: may the ears of present and future generations not be deaf to its call.

A final word from Timothy Radcliffe OP: “It may happen that, in spite of all that we do, our congregations still shrink. That makes the witness of the remnant all the more beautiful and necessary. So, especially when we are few, our presence shows that we do not think of ourselves as a failing business, but as a fragile but lovely sign of the future unity of all humanity in the Kingdom.”[8]

This article first appeared in The Way, October 2022; https://www.theway.org.uk/thisissue.shtml

[1] Michael Czerny, ‘The Renewal of Religious Life and Fratelli tutti’, Thinking Faith (20 June 2021), at https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/renewal-religious-life-and-fratelli-tutti; ‘The Renewal of Religious Life and Fratelli tutti: Reading Fratelli tutti for Religious’, Thinking Faith (23 June 2021), at https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/renewal-religious-life-and-fratelli-tutti-reading-fratelli-tutti-religious.

[2] I appreciate ‘Fratelli tutti’ very much, but regret that the English translation appears to ignore the importance of inclusive language for many English speakers today.

[3] Refrain of Paul Inwood’s musical setting of Psalm 16.

[4] G. M Hopkins: ’God’s Grandeur’

[5] Letter to Religious (2014)

[6] ‘Quest for the Living God’, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2007, p. 23

[7] ‘Opportunities for Faith’, 1975, p. 87

[8] Interview with Madeleine Davies, Church Times 20/27 December 2019. Timothy was talking here about the declining membership of many Christian churches, but his words ring true for religious life also.