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VATICAN II Renewal of Religious Life

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VATICAN II Renewal of Religious Life b eigh or an h n d PERFECTAE CARITATIS it ne w ig r h o b b o h PERFECTAEr CARITATIS per consilia evangelica g i w e i t n h g G n prosecutionemi Sacrosancta Synodus praevie ostendit, o t d c e n n n o o in ConstitutioneC cui initium est «Lumen gentium», a Spring 2013 Divini Magistri doctrina et exemplis originem ducere et tamquamS praeclarum signum Regni caelestis apparere. Nuncoundingso vero, de vita ac disciplina institutorum,g quorumVol. 35 #3 Remembering and embracing VATICAN II Renewal of Religious Life “We affirm the diversity of gifts among us, since this richness allows us to reach out in so many ways to so many people.” CSJ Constitution, pg. 37 #6 "Receiving the Gift of Life in All its Diversity" by Rosemary Brennan, CSJ, President rom Perfectae Caritatis to the Nuns on the The future of religious life is still evolving, but a future Bus, religious life since Vatican II has been, and there will be because it is of God. As the theologian continues to be, a challenging and exciting Ilia Delio states, “Whether we see this present moment F journey. The directives in Perfectae Caritatis as hopeful or hopeless, it is our moment to act. We instructed that religious institutes remain faithful to need to let go of controlling God, controlling ourselves, their purpose, particular spirit, and healthy traditions, controlling the church, and controlling the world. All is and called for an adaptation to modern conditions, gift, and our human role is to receive the gift of life in an aggiornamento. A new emphasis in the document all its diversity and to respond graciously. The God of called for a “radical and unconditional imitation of evolution is the God of adventure, a God who loves to Christ’s life"1 and said that all should be done with the do new things and is always new. We are invited into cooperation of all members of the institute. this adventure of love to find our freedom in love and to Women religious took these directives seriously even love without measure.”4 † though initial reactions to the document engendered intense discussions and strong feelings.“The first five years after the council were alive with congresses, conferences, workshops, and other national and diocesan initiatives throughout the world.”² This translated into new and enriching ways of prayer, the opportunity for women religious to study theology, expanded ministries which sought to serve the poor and marginalized, and a renewed commitment to the social teachings of the church. Personally, I had the good fortune to enter our Congregation on the wave of this renewal. Through the years since Vatican II, much has changed within religious life, most being for the best. Joan Chittister, OSB, recently stated in an NCR article, “Religious life had its own kind of monarchies to be deconstructed before anything creative could possibly happen or the gifts of its members be released for the sake of the world at large.”³ And released they have been! Today, women religious find themselves living in a whole new reality, one which roots them, both communally and personally, in a contemplative stance toward life that seeks to discern, as Jesus did, the movement of God’s Spirit in the here and now, and calls them to respond always with “sleeves rolled up.” Above image "Family Prayer" can be found under Google Images, A Gift of Life. 1 See Rediscovering Vatican II Religious Life and Priesthood, Maryanne Confoy, Paulist Press, 2008, p. 208. ² Ibid p. 224. ³ NCR, March 6, 2013, From Where I Stand, “Vatican could learn a thing or two about renewal from women religious.” 4 The Emergent Christ: Exploring the Meaning of Catholic in an Evolutionary Universe. Ilia Delio. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY 2011, p.34. 2 Soundings 35-3 Responding to the Call of Vatican II Eileen Dever, CSJ - The Council thrust – a story that continues… us into a long series of community changes. It was like the "shot by Joanne Gallagher, CSJ, Director of Communications heard round the world." We were suddenly propelled out ell before the call of Perfectae Caritatis to return of our very small world to the sources of our identity and renew religious into a whole new way life in light of the signs of the times, the change of life. in American religious communities had begun. WThere were two significant initiatives in this process. The first was the Sister Formation Movement, which promoted spiritual, educational, and professional development of women religious. The second was the request from the Vatican that American sisters consider forming a national conference of women religious. Thus was born the Conference of Major Superiors of Women of the USA, today known as LCWR.1 As a result, “When the Second Vatican Council closed in 1965, sisters took seriously the Council’s commission that they should renew their religious communities from the inside out. Cover Image: Therezon Sheerin, CSJ, This meant two things: first, exploring the original charism, the ministered in many capacities throughout original mission of their congregations; and second, it meant the years, some of which are reflected on finding new ways to make that mission come alive amid the the front cover. Therezon was an Assistant challenges and opportunities of the contemporary world.”² Professor of Psychology at Regis College The Sister Formation Movement “…created a whole generation in the first two images. The last image of religious exposed to developments in theological, liturgical, comes after years of ministering as the CSJ and biblical studies, which led up to the Council. If you can Archivist, then Archivist Emerita, and now picture this, when the Council was announced in 1962, suddenly she is volunteering in the CSJ Archives. Not you had a generation of younger members who were eager for only does this photo illustrate the changes the message.”³ in religious garb, it also points to the Vatican II’s universal call to holiness4 positioned religious life forward movements since Vatican II. in the midst of, rather than apart from, the people who are the church. Gaudium et Spes states, “…the future of humanity lies in the hands of those who are strong enough to provide coming generations with reasons for living and hoping.”5 “The story of U.S. religious women in a reforming Catholic In This Issue . Page church between 1965 and today has unfolded amid enormous FROM OUR PRESIDENT changes, cultural shakeups, and contested new developments.”6 Rosemary Brennan, CSJ 2 In the pages ahead, sisters and associates reflect on their FROM THE COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE experience of religious life before and after Vatican II. Ours is Joanne Gallagher, CSJ 3 a story that continues to be written as we seek ever-widening Articles: circles of communion and community, widening the circle of our Marie Thérèse Martin, CSJ 4-5 Joseph family, and continuing to embrace the church’s call to Anne Kiely, CSJ 6 share in the mission of Christ, the source and wellspring of our Catherine Ginty, CSJ 7 energy. Mary Anne Doyle, CSJ 8 Marie Connolly, CSJ 9 1See Lora Quinonez, CDP and Mary Daniel Turner, SNDdeN, The Transformation of American Marie Doyle, CSJ 10-11 Catholic Sisters, © 1992, Temple University Press, pgs. 6ff. Kathleen Hegarty, CSJ 12-13 ²How American Catholic Sisters Shaped the Church since Vatican II - Fordham University 14-15 – 12/11/12 Marian Batho, CSJ ³ibid Marianne Miller, CSJA 16 4Lumen Gentium, Chapters 5-6 Karen Hokanson, SND 17 5 Gaudium et Spes, #31 Kathleen McCluskey, CSJ 18-19 6 Op Cit, Fordham Panel www.csjboston.org 3 Marie Thérèse (center) is a pastoral minister, tending to elders and the sick and homebound at Our Lady of the Angels Parish, Worcester, MA. Embracing Rerum Novarum Revisited - Then and Now “Come and See . .” by Marie Thérèse Martin, CSJ Jn 1:39 erfectae Caritatis states “the fundamental norm participation in the decisions and direction of Assembly/ of religious life is the following of Christ as Chapter. proposed by the Gospel,”1 in Perfect Love. My “With the ‘epiphany’ of aggiornamento and a return involvement in Rerum Novarum Revisited (RNR) to the sources initiated by Pope John XXIII, RNR was P 3 and response to Jesus’ invitation to “Come and see” born." “The RNR Committee was formed by the has shaped my life in mission. Reflection on the life of Assembly in 1972 as a subcommittee of the Committee Jesus, leads us individually and corporately to “Come and on Creative Ministry, to fulfill the part of its mandate See.” Our Congregation has always encouraged in us an that called them to seek out “a new consciousness awareness of contemporary human conditions and the of the demands of the Gospel in today’s world and a needs of the church. renewed dedication to involvement in the struggles of The Decree on the Appropriate Renewal of Religious (hu)mankind.”4 Life states that two simultaneous processes needed Conscious of the injustice of farm workers’ conditions to be involved: (1) a continuous return to the sources in California, a number of sisters who formed the of all Christian life, and to the original inspiration original RNR group were involved in education and behind a given community, and (2) an adjustment of the public witness at local food chains – regarding the community to the changed conditions of the times.”2 farming of lettuce and grapes. The spacious living Like many communities of women religious, we were room at our Washington Park home was the site of well on the road toward discovering the original learning and planning. You joined the picket line, made inspiration of the “Little Design” as it met the needs sandwiches, or provided transportation with our “house of the Dear Neighbor in LePuy of 1650.
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