Sunday, October 12, 2008

Religious life.


On the way home from the hospital from my checkup, I found what I thought was a newspaper on a bench . So I did what any normal Philadelphian would do: I said "Hey! Free paper!" And rolled it up in my coat pocket to read on the way home.
Well, it wasn't a newspaper. It as a calendar for a religious order. And it was saddening.
They went from a full black habit, veil, the works, to nothing. All the pictures of them show them in whatever clothes modern businesswomen dress in today. All the quotes and pictures are meant to give aspirants the idea that "We're not different from normal people. We dress like the world, act like the world, pray like the world."
Well, I got some news. A lot of us kids who are discerning vocations don't want to be like the world. We are giving something up for something greater. A lot of us want tangible signs that we are religious (ie, the habit.) For me at least, I could not vision joining an order that envisions itself to be reflecting the latest secular trends. I'm sure that many others would agree with me.
I think the religious order in question shows what can appen hen an order forsakes the charism of forsaking worldy ways for God. The order is tiny, shrinking, and mostly older women. They haven't had a single new vocation in years. Lately, a renaissance of some sort is overtaking Catholic religious life. Older orders that have gone back to their founder's charism, to orthodoxy and orthopraxy are growing. (The Dominicans, for example.) New orders, faithful to the magisterium are flourishing.( The Canons Regular of S. John Cantius, for example.)
going on a tangent, The doctor says my burn is only a severe second degree burn. It should be totally healed within a month. There will be a scar.

2 comments:

Kathy said...

I'm with you. Our priests don't wear their clerics and it sends a clear message that they want to be "regular" guys. Well, when they took their vows they ceased being "regular". Just like when I took my wedding vows, I quit being "regular". I am a wife and mom 24/7 with all that that entails and I can't "cheat" by changing my clothes.
God bless you in your discernment. I will pray for you.

puella said...

Seriously. What you said!!!