SECULAR CONSECRATION: Section Two - Chapter One

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

SECULAR CONSECRATION: Section Two - Chapter One SECULAR CONSECRATION: Section Two - Chapter One We now come to the heart of what membership in a secular Institute entails, what distinguishes it from other associations of the faithful. It is the full profession of the evangelical councils of celibate chastity, poverty and obedience. Secular institutes are parallel to Religious institutes such as Jesuits and Franciscans in that both profess the evangelical counsels and are recognized by the Church. Other associations may live in the “spirit” of the counsels such as “Third Orders” (often now called “secular orders”) which often creates confusion between them and secular institutes but there are key differences. Third orders do not profess vows and do not commit themselves to lives of celibate chastity. It is the commitment to perpetual celibate chastity that distinguishes Religious or Secular Institutes from of groupings of Christians. Secular and Religious Institutes make vows or similar promises that are morally binding. They place themselves under the Superiors of these Institutes who have real authority over their members that are morally binding. The Code on Canon Law dealing with secular Institutes state that the profession of the counsels in a secular Institute may be made by vow, oath or another recognized expression of consecration. All members of secular institutes must make a binding profession by vow or oath to celibate chastity and make vows or binding promises of poverty and obedience. While not trying to appear excessively juridical it is important to understand that profession in a secular institute entails a full, total and complete consecration of self no less than in vowed Religious life. There are differences between Religious and secular institutes. The chief one lies precisely in “secularity.” Unlike monks, Brothers and Sisters members of secular institutes do not live informal community. Some institutes do have an “informal” arrangement of living together. However, this is not essential. The majority of professed members of secular institutes of both men and women live on their own or with family members. Lay men and women hold secular occupations and professions. They come together periodically for formation and support. Their identity is “secular.” They do not “leave” the world but remain in its midst seeking to transform society and culture from “within.” They are to a leaven in the midst of society. Indeed, they are a sign of what all lay Christians are called to be. By their consecration they become a “powerhouse” of prayer and sanctity. Living and remaining in the midst of secular l9ife is the hallmark of secular consecration. Further, lay members of secular institutes remain lay. Their status in the Church does not change. Priest members of secular institutes remain as secular priests. They may be incardinated in the institute or in a diocese but in either case are “secular.” Religious are called to live in community and however active they may be are to some extent called to withdraw from the world and live in houses of their respective institutes. Their public vows change their status in the Church. They become “Religious.” They have the title of “Brother” of Sister” for example that a member of a secular institute does not have. This does not mean one is higher or better but simply to distinguish these two recognized forms of consecrated life. Voluntas is blessed to have within is family and recognized as such by our Constitutions approved by the Church’s highest authority married members called in the Constitution “Associate Members.” These are married couples are truly members of Voluntas. They have their own distinct place with our Constitutions and are a gift to the Institute. The Church calls them “associate” to distinguish from those who profess the vow of celibate chastity. Properly speaking, secular institutes along with Religious Institutes, as we have already noted, are institutes of consecrated celibate chastity. Married couples live out chastity within the Sacrament of marriage. They are not called to celibacy but to conjugal chastity which entails a life of fidelity and witness to Christ’s unfailing love for the Church (God’s people). Married couples make promises (commitments) to live martial chastity, and the spirt of poverty and obedience within the bounds of the Constitution where it speaks of Associate members. The specifics of how poverty and obedience for married couples differs from the vowed members of the Institute. Nevertheless, they publically promise to seek evangelical holiness within the Sacrament of Marriage and to live lives of simplicity and always to seek the will of God for them. Because Voluntas takes their call seriously there is an extensive period of preparation before making permanent commitments. They are not second class members of Voluntas nor ae they treated as such. The vow of celibate chastity calls for either the ordained or lay member to center his entire life on seeking God. While Latin Rite priests already have the promise of leading “celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom” taken when they were ordained transitional deacons, this vow not only affirms this commitment but deepens it. As the Constitutions teach the vowed member, ordained or lay, is to make the seeking of God the very thrust of his life. The vow of poverty in the Institute differs in its concrete expression from Religious communities. While Religious surrender their right to private property members of secular institutes, including Voluntas retain such a right. In Voluntas, the vowed member lives in a spirit of simplicity. He generously shares with the poor and identifies with them. He allows oversight by the Institute of his finances and periodically submits his personal project of poverty. He promises to help support the works of the Institute and is obliged to give seven to ten percent of his income to the Institute unless the local Director allows otherwise. In other words, the vow of poverty makes real demands on the one professing it. Obedience is the hallmark of Voluntas as doing the “will of God” is central to our spirituality. By this vow the member promises to observe all that asked of him in the Constitutions. He is to seek the will of God in all things. He submits his ministry or project of service to the Director. He may be asked to perform some task for the Institute. He promises to live out our spirituality. Because it is a vow of obedience our Constitutions tell us that we can be given a command with serious moral obligation. Again, most of the time the member is obliged to take personal responsibility for his life. There is a great degree of flexibility with the Institute and the leaders want members to show initiative. At the same time we are not “lone rangers” and we are morally accountable to the Institute on how we live our lives. Questions for reflection: 1. How do secular institutes differ from Religious Institutes? 2. How do the differ from other associations in the Church such as a Third Order 3. What is the importance of “secularity’? 4. What is the special role and gift of “Associate members? 5. What is the meaning of the vow of celibate chastity? 6. How is the vow of poverty lived out in our Institute? 7. What are the obligations of our vow of obedience? Prepared by John O’Neil Voluntas Dei Constitutions, Part Two, Chapter 1 Secular Consecration 43. Secular consecration is lived in the midst of the world. It is gift of self to God and response to a call of grace to live the evangelical counsels in order to be in the world as leaven in dough. This commitment is lived respectful of earthly values, with concern for promoting and evangelizing them. The entire human being is already enwrapped in the baptismal grace which engenders one to divine life. Consecration in the Institute specifies the grace which is proper to the cleric and the single layman; it directs in a special way their gift of self by way of the evangelical counsels. Members surrender to God so as to be totally His and, following Jesus, they commit themselves to a life of adoration, filial surrender, and service. 44. In order to live this consecration in the Voluntas Dei Institute: 1. Clerics, while carrying out their ministry as servants and missionaries in any field of endeavor compatible with the Church’s desires, commit themselves by vow to follow Christ through professing the evangelical counsels. 2. Single laymen, acting competently in the particular field where they exercise an apostolate of witness and service, commit themselves by vow to follow Christ by professing the evangelical counsels. Obedience 45. Obedience is a characteristic mark of members of the Voluntas Dei Institute. Grounded in responsible fidelity to all that is asked by the Institute’s authorities, carrying out the will of God is the hallmark of their whole lives. Following the example of Jesus whose pleasure it was to do the Father’s will, members apply their energy and generosity to learning about and understanding the projects and directives of the Church and Institute, and to carrying them out as perfectly as possible, as expressions of the will of God. In this spirit, members are open with competent authority and share with them in all simplicity their own perception of the will of God for themselves, their desires, difficulties, and objections. They then abide by the latest decisions of authority, refraining from any negative criticism of them. 46. By the vow of obedience, members of the Institute commit themselves to submit to decisions of authority in all that is consonant with the Constitutions. Members also commit themselves: • To accept the intervention of authority regarding their behavior and the witness of their lives • To accept directives of the Institute regarding application of the Constitutions • To seek the advice of the Institute’s authorities regarding important personal projects, and to take this advice into account.
Recommended publications
  • 2019 Fall Mountaineer
    The United States Conference of Secular Institutes November 2019 Volume 12, Issue 3 The Mountaineer From the President: consecrated persons, to reflect the life of Christ, to radiate his love, to serve as he served. Our Dear Friends, circumstances are different, but God has As the leaves turn golden and ruby and determined an original way for each of us to the winds become brisk and filled with the aroma climb the mountain of sanctity. of fall (at least here in Nebraska), my thoughts Many of you will remember the days turn to some of my favorite feasts, that of All when we made numerous trips in and out of Saints and All Souls. These are the day when the church, and back in again, to pray for the Church remembers and celebrates the unsung deceased on All Souls Day. Now the Church has heroes of holiness throughout the millennia. given us an octave to gain indulgences for them Above all, I like to celebrate those saints “with a (November 1-8), just by visiting a cemetery and small s” that I knew personally: my Lutheran praying for them. I make it a point to alter my grandfather Ole, Terese from my institute who drive home to pass by a cemetery, pulling over to literally brought people into the Church through pray. In a special way we want to pray for all the her conversations over homemade bread, an deceased members of secular institutes, auxiliary bishop so humble and caring. remembering that we build on their shoulders. And that said, I want to let you know that In Gaudete et Exsultate Pope Francis reminds us in the past two months I have received inquiries that saints are not perfect: from three different people who are interested in “To recognize the word that the Lord founding new institutes.
    [Show full text]
  • For a Better Understanding of Lasallian Association.” AXIS: Journal of Lasallian Higher Education 5, No
    Sauvage, Michel. “For a Better Understanding of Lasallian Association.” AXIS: Journal of Lasallian Higher Education 5, no. 2 (Institute for Lasallian Studies at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota: 2014). © Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Readers of this article have the copyright owner’s permission to reproduce it for educational, not-for-profit purposes, if the author and publisher are acknowledged in the copy. For a Better Understanding of Lasallian Association Michel Sauvage, FSC, S.T.D.1 I have been asked to introduce this formation session on Lasallian association. To do that, I must first recall what association meant at the beginning of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. As a foreword to this talk, I would make three points on the parameters of my proposal with regard to the aim of these two days. For you, who are heads of establishments and responsible for educational institutions under a Lasallian trusteeship, this aim is to live out association better today. So, my first point is that I will stick to the meaning of the word association and the realities that it had in the founding experience of John Baptist de La Salle and his first Brothers. I will thus at least go some way to addressing the sub-titles given in the program: History, Origins, Characteristics. It is not possible, however, even to sketch out a development that would relate to another subtitle: “Experiences ‘in the course of history.’” Since I have not studied this question, I am not even certain of fully understanding what it means.
    [Show full text]
  • Abbess-Elect Envisions Great U. S. Benedictine Convent Mullen High to Take Day Pupils Denvircatholic Work Halted on Ten Projects
    Abbess-Elect Envisions Great U. S. Benedictine Convent Mother Augustina Returns to Germany Next Month But Her Heart Will Remain in Colorado A grgantic Benedioine convent, a St. Walburga’s of ser of Eichstaett. That day is the Feast of the Holy Name In 1949 when Mother Augustina visited the German as Abbess will be as custodian and distributor of the famed the West, is the W jo c h o p e envisioned by Mother M. of Mary, a name that Mother Augustina bears as'' a nun. mother-house and conferred with the late Lady Abbess Ben- St. Walburga oil. This oil exudes from the bones of the Augustina Weihermuellcrp^perior of St. Walbutga’s con­ The ceremony will be held in St. Walburga’s parish church edicta, whom she has succeeejed, among the subjects con­ saint, who founded the Benedictine community and lived vent in South Boulder, as she prepares to return to Ger­ and the cloistered nuns of the community will witness it sidered wJs the possibility of transferring the heart of the 710-780. Many remarkable cures have been attributed many to assume her position as, Lady Abbess at the mother- ffom their private choir. order to America if Russia should:overrun Europe! to its use while seeking the intercession o f St. Walburga. house of her community in Eidistaett, Bavaria. That day, just two months hence, will mark the first At the great St. Walburga’s mother-house in Eich­ 'Those who have heard Mother Augustina in one of her Mother Augustina’s departure for Europe is scheduled time that an American citizen ,has returned to Europe to staett, she will be superior of 130 sisters.
    [Show full text]
  • Pdfs/Young Adult.Pdf (Accessed March 15, 2007)
    Theological Studies 68 (2007) THE NONVOWED FORM OF THE LAY STATE IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH PATRICIA A. SULLIVAN The nonvowed “secular single lay state” claims many of today’s Catholics, yet is little noticed, even though it was validated by Vat- ican II and was arguably the first Christian form of life given explicit theological articulation. Insufficient attention and appreciation may prevent the Catholic Church from realizing the full benefits of this form of the lay state. Patricia Sullivan finds in the thought of several renowned theologians guidance for a theological exposition of the nonvowed life whose central feature may be stewardship. WENTIETH-CENTURY CATHOLIC THEOLOGIANS Hans Urs von Balthasar, T Karl Rahner, and Bernard Häring demonstrated a keen sensitivity to the important role that the laity would play in the Catholic Church as it headed toward and into the third millennium of Christianity. Yet their work only nominally recognized the form of the lay state that is the non- vowed life as it is lived today.1 They could not have foreseen the impor- tance for a future generation of more concerted reflection. More curious, then, is the near-invisibility in theological reflection and the near-dismissal from pastoral and popular consciousness today of this form of Christian life, while Catholic demographics show that the “secular single lay state” embraces a significant portion of the Catholic faithful.2 The lack of general PATRICIA A. SULLIVAN earned her Ph.D. from Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wis., and is now assistant professor in the Theology Department at Saint Anselm College, Manchester, N.H.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Company of St. Ursula Secular Institute of Saint
    COMPANY OF ST. URSULA SECULAR INSTITUTE OF SAINT ANGELA MERICI FEDERATION www.istitutosecolareangelamerici.org www.angelamerici.it Email: [email protected] 1 2 CONTENTS To the Readers p. 4 A Thought from the President p. 5 A Thought from the Ecclesiastical Vice-assistant p. 8 He has left us… Mons. Gaetano Zito p. 12 Worldwide: Canadian Culture p. 14 Angela Merici‘s Journey of the Heart p. 19 Together: Formation Leaders and Young Members p. 22 484th Birthday of the Company p. 26 Letter to Saint Angela p. 27 FROM THE COMPANIES AND GROUPS Company of Congo D.R.C. p. 30 A Special Experience in Congo p. 32 In Ethiopia p. 33 News from Eritrea p. 34 Minnia Ammar p. 35 Group of Kenya p. 37 Burundi August 2019 p. 38 The Companies of Brazil p. 40 Company of Toronto p. 42 Group of the Philippines p. 42 Group of the United States p. 43 80th Anniversary: Company of Syracuse p. 44 INCOMING MAIL North American Ursuline Convocation p. 45 The Pope in Madagascar p. 46 Company of Indonesia: Meity p. 47 CONVENTION OF THE FEDERATION p. 48 3 TO THE READERS United together to serve his Divine Majesty… Happy New Year 2020, dear readers, still united together in service of the Kingdom of God. One year follows another and it doesn't seem to change much, but we want it to be a new year of grace, of experiences, of relationships... to be lived in synodality, in sisterhood. A year, for us in the Company of St.
    [Show full text]
  • 2015 Spring Mountaineer
    “JOY OF THE GOSPEL” “WAKE UP THE WORLD!” Inside this issue: Easter blessings 1 Year of Consecrated … 2 Pope Francis 3-4 OSV article 4-5 T.A. Druart honored 5 Year of Mercy 6 Vocation 6-7 Article by Betsy 8-9 International update Catechism on line 10 Mark your calendar 11 April 2015 Volume 8 issue 1 1 ―Year of Consecrated Life‖ A working message from our President to Sr Miriam Fidelis, a Religious Sister of Mercy, Alma, MI, who is working on a paper entitled: “Year of Consecrated Life: Year in Review” for the World Meeting of Families: Sr. Miriam Thank you for the invitation to participate in answering questions on the subject of ―The Year of Consecrated Life.‖ Last weekend, at all the Masses in my parish, a letter from our local Bishop was read highlighting ―The Year of Consecrated Life.‖ His message was very encouraging and affirming. He said: ―To you who live a consecrated life, your joy is infectious and continually renews the Church with hope. Our diocese is blessed with your presence.‖ He invites us to celebrate the richness of our vocation from now until February 2, 2016, and to let the diocesan communication office know how we will celebrate and when. This information will then be communicated to the faithful of the diocese ―to keep before their eyes the focus of this year.‖ During this year, the diocese will also be sponsoring events. Our Bishop closed his letter by echoing the words of Pope Francis: ―The Church Needs You.‖ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As President of the United States Conference of Secular Institutes, I share with you Pope Francis address to Secular Institutes in Italy.
    [Show full text]
  • Who Are the Secular Franciscans, and What Do They Do?
    Who are the Secular Franciscans, and what do they do? The Secular Franciscan Order is a vocation, a Way of Life approved by the Church, for men and women, married or single, who are called to take an active part in the mission of Christ to bring "the good news of salvation" to the world. Secular Franciscans commit themselves to a life in Christ calling for a positive effort to promote Gospel attitudes among their contemporaries. They are united with each other in communities, through which they develop a sense of direction according to the Gospel spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi. FRANCIS, the saint known and loved the world over, was born at Assisi, central Italy, in the year 1181, the son of a wealthy merchant. He died there in 1226, after a life in Christ that earned him the title Poverelo (little poor man). As a youth, Francis had a series of powerful incidents of conversion, including a vision in which Jesus told him to "rebuild my church, for it is falling into ruin." He found Jesus in the poor and suffering, especially the lepers. He and his followers became visible exemplars of a literal Christian life. In the words of Pope Pius XI, "So lifelike and strikingly did the image of Jesus Christ and the Gospel manner of life shine forth in Francis, that he appeared to his contemporaries almost as though he were the Risen Christ." Saint Francis attained this marvelous ideal by making the holy Gospel, in every detail, the rule and standard of his life.
    [Show full text]
  • The Evangelical Counsels and the Total Gift of Self
    THE EVANGELICAL COUNSELS AND THE TOTAL GIFT OF SELF • Jacques Servais • “Gospel obedience, which is the interior form of the counsels, because it is the essential and decisive act of the gift of self, in effect conforms the consecrated person to the obedience of Christ who redeems the world.” 1. Obedience: the constitutive element of the evangelical counsels As St. Thomas Aquinas affirms, and with him the entire tradition, obedience is first among the three evangelical counsels. These counsels, of course, constitute an organic whole; it is impossible to separate them one from another. Like faith, hope, and love, they reciprocally complete each other in the one and multifaceted grace of the imitation of Christ. However, just as of the three that “abide,” “the greatest is love” (1 Cor 13:13), so too does obedience have pride of place among the counsels. Arranging them schematically, we could say that the question of marriage or virginity should be clarified before a person enters the novitiate, and the question of holding onto or freely renouncing one’s goods arises and finds its response as a rule at the moment of the profession. But it is the question of one’s free submission to Christ—who is known, loved, and followed in an obedience that is not only spiritual but also “carnal” (Péguy!)— which in a very special Communio 31 (Fall 2004). © 2004 by Communio: International Catholic Review The Evangelical Counsels and the Total Gift of Self 363 way will accompany the consecrated person through to the end of his life. As the initial counsel, virginity1 is also the most natural thing in the state of the counsels, and if one were to have difficulties in this area, it would be a sign that one is not really called to this state: for far from being something that needs to be cultivated for its own sake, virginity has no other meaning than to fix one’s attention on the Lord, as one chooses to be like him a “eunuch for the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 19:12), in an attitude of humility that forbids any self-regard.
    [Show full text]
  • Celebration for the Year of Consecrated Life – 2015 Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary October 7, 2015 Acts 2:42-47; Matthew 5:13-16
    Celebration for the Year of Consecrated Life – 2015 Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary October 7, 2015 Acts 2:42-47; Matthew 5:13-16 When Pope Francis announced that the special year for Consecrated Life would begin in December and continue through this year, it seemed a little senseless to try to gather a large group of people during the winter even though many dioceses honored members of consecrated life on February 2, which is the annual occasion to remember the gift that is consecrated life in the Church. We decided to wait until winter was over and the weather would be nice. No ice, no snow. From all appearances we are getting this in just in time. (Well, maybe it will be another month before we see snow.) “You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.” Jesus encourages his disciples to be what he calls them to be. We celebrate today, in consecrated life, the fact that so many, including you who come together today, have chosen to strive with the commitment of your lives to follow him in living out those words. It is a wonderful thing to be with you for this celebration of the Year of Consecrated Life here in our diocese. We gather in the glow of the memory of Pope Francis’ visit to us in our country. We are blessed in the diocese with a richness of forms of consecration, of people who live the evangelical counsels and point us beyond ourselves to the love of God.
    [Show full text]
  • Embracing Absence: a Trinitarian Spirituality of Consecrated Celibacy
    Embracing Absence: A Trinitarian Spirituality of Consecrated Celibacy In his letter for the Year of Consecrated Life, Pope Francis invites religious to “live the mysticism of encounter…live in the light of the loving relationships of the three divine Persons.”1 Lived mysticism suggests a spirituality. Since religious life “expresses in a particularly vivid way the Trinitarian nature of Christian life and it anticipates in a certain way that eschatological fulfillment towards which the whole Church is tending,” 2 a spirituality of the evangelical counsels would have Trinitarian and eschatological dimensions. I propose that in this Year of Consecrated Life, religious try to develop a Trinitarian spirituality of the evangelical counsels, not as a way to better understand their function, but to appropriate our lived experience of them. While all of the vows are experienced in unique and challenging ways, I believe that consecrated celibacy presents the most significant challenge at the affective and existential levels of our humanity. After all, intimate sexual relations are not “purely biological, but [it] concerns the innermost being of the human person as such.”3 Thus, consecrated celibacy touches us at our “innermost being” and understood within a Trinitarian and eschatological framework leaves us yearning for something that will not be fulfilled in this life. Consecrated Celibacy: A Challenge from Within Certain challenges to living consecrated celibacy will remain in every era: psychosexual immaturity, a lack of commitment, poor community life, etc. However, three contemporary factors affect our experience and understanding of chastity. First, we live in a hyper-sexualized society. Excessive concern and indulgence in forms of sexual expression is evidenced in advertising, on the internet, and in increased numbers of sexual addictions.
    [Show full text]
  • The Constitution and the Statutes
    The Constitution and the Statutes of the Swiss-American Benedictine Congregation Established by the General Chapter Changes Approved by CIVC – September 21, 2005 and summer 2008 Contents Preface Section I: Of the Nature and Purpose of the Congregation C 1-5 Section II: Norms for the Individual Monasteries A. Of the Organs of Government of the Monastery C 6-8; S 1-5 1. Of the Chapter C 9-10; S 6-10 2. Of the Abbot C 11-20; S 11-26 3. Of the Council C 21-23; S 27-29 4. Of Delegated Authority C 24-25; S 30-31 B. Of Order in the Community S 32-33 C. Of Claustral and Secular Oblates S 34-35 D. Of Novitiate and Profession, and of the Juniors C 26; S 36 1. Of the Novitiate C 27-31; S 37-41 2. Of Profession and the Temporarily Professed C 32-38; S 42-43 3. Of the Effects and Consequences of the Vows a. Stability, and Fidelity to the Monastic Way of Life C 39-42 b. Obedience C 43 c. Consecrated Celibacy C44 d. Poverty and the Sharing of Goods C 45-46; S 44-46 E. Of the Component Elements of Monastic Life 1. Of Common Prayer and the Common Life C 47-49; S 47-48 2. Of Private Prayer and Monastic Asceticism C 50-52; S 49 3. Of Work and Study C 53-54; S 50 4. Of Penalties and Appeals C 55-57; S 51-52 5. Of Financial Administration S 53-56 6.
    [Show full text]
  • Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience
    Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience The Big Three Poverty. Chastity. Obedience. There they are: the “big three.” According to canon law, every member of a religious order must profess publicly these three vows (canon 654). My congregation, the De La Salle Christian Brothers, requires its members to profess two vows special to the order: to associate for service of poor people through education, and to ensure stability in the institute. The first special vow calls the brothers to associate and to strive constantly to make their schools and educational works accessible to those who are poor. This is the work not of a single brother but of a community of brothers and Lasallians who together make this happen. This vow challenges all Lasallians to serve economically disadvantaged people in all schools, including those that enroll students from the middle and upper classes. The vow of stability reminds the brothers to be faithful to their worldwide institute and to its members and traditions. Stability is a fitting response to the faithfulness of God, who guides the global institute to serve as a stable force in the life of hundreds of thousands of young people. Other congregations may also have particular vows, but the bottom line for nuns and monks, sisters and brothers, and priests who are members of a religious order (i.e., Jesuits or Dominicans) is the three fundamental vows. Fundamental is a good word to describe them, because the vows touch almost every meaningful aspect of life. How is a vow different from a promise? The difference is similar to how discerning differs from deciding.
    [Show full text]