DOCSLIB.ORG

Handbook for Initial Formation for Sisters

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Handbook for Initial Formation for Sisters Drawing on the wisdom of formators throughout the U.S. Federation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, other religious communities, and formation professionals, this handbook provides suggestions for a comprehensive initial formation program. Handbook for Initial Formation for Sisters Best Practices within the U.S. Federation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph CSSJ Handbook for Initial formation Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………….2 Preface……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………......4 Philosophy of Incorporation…………………………………………………………………………….……………………………....5 Confidentiality………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………...6 Formation Personnel……………………………………………………………………………….…………………………………….…10 Vocation Discernment………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………....15 Candidacy…………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………….…………..….20 Novitiate …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……….…...28 Initial Profession ………………………………………………………………………………………………….….……….………….….41 Emerging Trends, Best Practices, and Resources…………………………………………………………………………….…46 A Space for Transformation: Guiding Principles for Communities Welcoming New Members by Colleen Gibson, SSJ……………………………………………………………………………………..…………………...46 What Does Intergenerational-designed Housing Look Like?.....................................................52 Graces Given: A Reflection on the Importance of Immersive Experiences in Initial Formation by Colleen Gibson, SSJ…………………………………………………………………………………..…………………...….56 Graced Whole-making and the Evolution of Social Justice by Susan Wilson, CSJ……………….…...61 The Voice of Younger Women: A Summary of the Survey of Newer Members on Creating Welcoming Communities …………………………………………………………………………………………………..….64 Summary of Survey Data from Women of Differing Ethnicities from the Dominant Culture of Their Congregation…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………70 Encountering Difference: Creating Unity: Accompanying Younger Seekers in Vocation Ministry by Celeste Mokrzycki, SSJ and Mary Rowell, CSJ ……………………………………………………………..…....86 Appendices: Appendix 1 Core Curriculum …………………………………………………………………………..…………………….….…91 Appendix 2 Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults: A Concept for Religious Formation ..….…………...95 Appendix 3 Identity Values ……………………………………………………………………………………………….………..99 Appendix 4 Core Values ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….103 Appendix 5 Sample Forms and Rituals ………………………………………………………………………………….…....108 • Applications o Checklist o Medical Health Form o Dental Form o Mental Health Form o Psychological Form o Letters of Recommendation o Membership Application Form • Assessments o Vocation Summary Assessment 2 o Candidate Evaluation Forms o Sample Template for Evaluation o Novice Self Evaluation o Evaluation by Director • Rituals and Forms o Candidate Welcoming Celebrations o Act of Reception o Declaration Concerning Remuneration o Template for Ritual of Initial Profession o Template for Ritual of Perpetual Profession Appendix 6 Sexual Abuse Guidelines………………………………………………………………………………………….154 Appendix 7 State of the Heart and Order of the House ……………………………………………………………..155 Appendix 8 Separation Guidelines …………………………………………………………………………………………….162 3 Preface Formation is a lifelong process that sustains each of us as we are called to engage with our charism of the Sisters of Saint Joseph as vowed religious women. Lifelong formation is an approach that incorporates development and education from initial vocation work to helping sisters, associates, and agrégées age well. This document is focused on initial formation for vowed life. The initial formation process needs to be relevant, cohesive and integrated so that it leads to personal growth and progressively responsive actions throughout our lives. This handbook provides a unified vision of the process of initial formation for the U.S. Federation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph. It is meant to support congregations and offer them useful guidelines for incorporation of new members into their life and mission. These are best practice standards gleaned from the tested practices of several congregations and carefully considered by the Lifelong Formation Committee. Each congregation is encouraged to review, assess, and adapt these standards at their discretion according to their unique circumstances. Another document produced by the U.S. Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, “Readiness Indicators for Initial Formation (RIFF),” is a helpful companion piece for this handbook. It provides goals and behavioral indicators for each stage of formation. This handbook enhances the formation experience by a mutual understanding of the expectations and observable progress required for each period of formation. It supports formation directors with a structure that provides direction for the process of initial formation with an emphasis on charism and spirituality specific to the Sisters of Saint Joseph. 4 Philosophy of Incorporation into Consecrated Religious Life Religious formation is a lifelong developmental process of ongoing personal growth and integration of a call to intimacy with God lived in community. This experience of inner transformation is the fruit of a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ whom the sister desires to meet in those she serves in ministry and those with whom she shares her life in community. Through contemplation the sister opens herself to the mystery of the Trinity and strives to emulate their virtues. Initial formation begins with a woman's entrance into candidacy and concludes with her profession of final commitment. Sisters on the formation team journey with the women who come to the congregation in order to assist and encourage them in developing the values of the consecrated life including but not limited to inclusivity, zeal and generosity, humility, prayer, reflection, lifelong conversion, and joy. We believe that no formation program can develop and sustain its new members apart from the real challenges, strengths, and difficulties of our life together. In this light, we strive to deepen our relationship with God and one another while continually discerning the changing needs of the people of God so as to be a vital presence to those whom and with whom we serve in ministry. We are women who recognize religious life as primarily the gift of God and who are convinced of the contribution of religious life in the Church and world of today and tomorrow. Therefore, with the grace of God and the action of the Spirit, we seek to welcome new members and sustain their ongoing commitment. The formation process of the Sisters of Saint Joseph assists the woman to: • grow in holistic personal development (emotional, intellectual, physical, psychological, spiritual, theological) which will then lead to confirmation of the woman's call to religious life • live the mission and charism of the Sisters of Saint Joseph • become integrated as a contributing member of the congregation • develop, encourage, and deepen a sense of the mission through ministry The formation/discernment process is a gift exchange which considers the uniqueness of each individual and is attentive to the movement of the Spirit of the charism in each person’s discernment and faith development. With the awareness that the charism is already present within the individual seeking membership, the formation process seeks to deepen the charism’s power, influence, and integrity in her life. We affirm that a personal and communal desire to be open to the movements of grace and the influence of the Holy Spirit is essential to fidelity to God's call. The women who walk with us also give us many gifts offering new perspectives and helping us to see our lives together through a new lens. 5 Confidentiality At each stage of the formation process — from initial vocation discernment throughout initial profession — it is the responsibility of the director to safeguard and ensure the integrity of the discernment and formation process according to the congregation’s constitution and policies, as well as to the established ethical norms of vocation and formation ministries. Each director observes strict confidentiality in regard to a woman’s process and discloses to the congregational leader, and when necessary the general council and the next formation director, only the information which is relative to the criteria established for that stage of formation. Confidentiality during the Vocation Phase For many women, participation in the initial inquiry phase comes about for reasons that may be tentative or unclear even for the woman making an inquiry. An initial consideration of religious life often takes place in the context of a complex set of practical realities and circumstances related to her employment or academic pursuits, family, friends, colleagues, and faith community. In addition, while consecrated life in the Church is a public witness and life, the discernment of this life as a possible option for living out one’s baptismal call is not necessarily of a public nature. This initial inquiry period is a privileged time of questioning and self-discovery and is supported by providing a woman with the greatest degree of freedom from external influences. For this reason, as well as for the reasons noted here, the confidentiality that the vocation director observes is essential. While a woman making an inquiry or in the discernment process is free to disclose to others the nature, content, and characteristics of her process, the vocation director observes confidentiality
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Profession Class of 2020 Survey
    January 2021 Women and Men Professing Perpetual Vows in Religious Life: The Profession Class of 2020 Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate Georgetown University Washington, DC Women and Men Professing Perpetual Vows in Religious Life: The Profession Class of 2020 A Report to the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations United States Conference of Catholic Bishops January 2021 Thu T. Do, LHC, Ph.D. Thomas P. Gaunt, SJ, Ph.D. Table of Contents Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................... 2 Major Findings ................................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 6 Institutes Reporting Perpetual Professions .................................................................................... 7 Age of Professed ............................................................................................................................. 8 Country of Birth and Age at Entry to the United States ................................................................. 9 Race and Ethnic Background......................................................................................................... 10 Family Background .......................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Women and Men Entering Religious Life: the Entrance Class of 2018
    February 2019 Women and Men Entering Religious Life: The Entrance Class of 2018 Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate Georgetown University Washington, DC Women and Men Entering Religious Life: The Entrance Class of 2018 February 2019 Mary L. Gautier, Ph.D. Hellen A. Bandiho, STH, Ed.D. Thu T. Do, LHC, Ph.D. Table of Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 1 Major Findings ................................................................................................................................ 2 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 5 Part I: Characteristics of Responding Institutes and Their Entrants Institutes Reporting New Entrants in 2018 ..................................................................................... 7 Gender ............................................................................................................................................. 8 Age of the Entrance Class of 2018 ................................................................................................. 8 Country of Birth and Age at Entry to United States ....................................................................... 9 Race and Ethnic Background ........................................................................................................ 10 Religious Background ..................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • 5211 SCHLUTER ROAD MONONA, WI 53716-2598 CITY HALL (608) 222-2525 FAX (608) 222-9225 for Immediate
    5211 SCHLUTER ROAD MONONA, WI 53716-2598 CITY HALL (608) 222-2525 FAX (608) 222-9225 http://www.mymonona.com For Immediate Release Contact: Bryan Gadow, City Administrator [email protected] Monona Reaches Agreement with St. Norbert Abbey to Purchase nearly 10 Acres on Lake Monona The City of Monona has reached agreement with St. Norbert Abbey of De Pere to purchase the historic San Damiano property at 4123 Monona Drive. The purchase agreement, in the amount of $8.6M, was unanimously approved by the Monona City Council at the September 8th meeting. Pending approval by the Vatican as required by canon law, if all goes as planned Monona will take ownership of the property in June 2021. “We are very excited to have reached an agreement with St. Norbert Abbey to purchase the San Damiano property. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Monona to significantly increase public access to the lakefront and waters of Lake Monona in addition to increasing our public open space. While Monona enjoys more than four miles of shoreline, over eighty percent of Monona residents would not have lake access were it not for our smaller parks and launches. It will be a tremendous asset for the City,” said Monona Mayor Mary O’Connor. At just under ten acres, San Damiano includes over 1,000 feet of frontage on Lake Monona. Much of the grounds are wooded. The house and property are part of the original farm developed by Allis-Chalmers heir Frank Allis in the 1880’s. The land, as is true of much of the area, was originally inhabited by Native Americans, including ancestors of the Ho- Chunk Nation.
    [Show full text]
  • Life and Works of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux
    J&t. itfetnatto. LIFE AND WORKS OF SAINT BERNARD, ABBOT OF CLA1RVAUX. EDITED BY DOM. JOHN MABILLON, Presbyter and Monk of the Benedictine Congregation of S. Maur. Translated and Edited with Additional Notes, BY SAMUEL J. EALES, M.A., D.C.L., Sometime Principal of S. Boniface College, Warminster. SECOND EDITION. VOL. I. LONDON: BURNS & OATES LIMITED. NEW YORK, CINCINNATI & CHICAGO: BENZIGER BROTHERS. EMMANUBi A $ t fo je s : SOUTH COUNTIES PRESS LIMITED. .NOV 20 1350 CONTENTS. I. PREFACE TO ENGLISH EDITION II. GENERAL PREFACE... ... i III. BERNARDINE CHRONOLOGY ... 76 IV. LIST WITH DATES OF S. BERNARD S LETTERS... gi V. LETTERS No. I. TO No. CXLV ... ... 107 PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION. THERE are so many things to be said respecting the career and the writings of S. Bernard of Clairvaux, and so high are view of his the praises which must, on any just character, be considered his due, that an eloquence not less than his own would be needed to give adequate expression to them. and able labourer He was an untiring transcendently ; and that in many fields. In all his manifold activities are manifest an intellect vigorous and splendid, and a character which never magnetic attractiveness of personal failed to influence and win over others to his views. His entire disinterestedness, his remarkable industry, the soul- have been subduing eloquence which seems to equally effective in France and in Italy, over the sturdy burghers of and above of Liege and the turbulent population Milan, the all the wonderful piety and saintliness which formed these noblest and the most engaging of his gifts qualities, and the actions which came out of them, rendered him the ornament, as he was more than any other man, the have drawn him the leader, of his own time, and upon admiration of succeeding ages.
    [Show full text]
  • Taking the Veil: Clothing and the Transformation of Identity
    Taking the Veil: Clothing and the Transformation of Identity Danielle Rives Centre d'anthropologie de Toulouse (E.H.E.S.S.) I spoke my name in religion. He asked me for my family name as well. I spoke it out loud without shame because In such an encounter, Speaking our name, When I want to renounce it for Him, Is like speaking the name of God.1 Most female monastic rules include a description of a ceremony for taking the veil: "Receiving the Habit," "Offering the Habit," "Ceremony for Veiling and Profession" – the variety of descriptions emphasizes the solemnity of a celebration in which postulants enter into a new estate. This essay analyzes both the symbolic and material aspects of this moment in which identity is transformed. Taking the veil is a rite of passage whose every aspect, including both gesture and speech, has been carefully formalized. This essay focuses first on the ceremony's script, in which clothing draws together the postulant, her family and friends, and the monastic community that welcomes her. I then turn to an analysis of the transformation of the novice's identity, examining both how the performance of the ordinary acts of monastic life 1 Angélique de Saint Jean Arnaud d'Andilly, Aux Portes des ténèbres. Relation de captivité (Paris: La Table Ronde, 2005), 30-1. 465 466 Danielle Rives reveals this new identity and how the nun inhabits this doubled personality. The traditional ceremony has origins dating back to the beginning of monastic institutions, but it assumed its present form during the Counter Reformation.
    [Show full text]
  • Sister Pia-Marie, Novice
    FROM THE CENTER 1 April 2020 A Newsletter for Friends and Benefactors of Saint Benedict Center across the Country Sister Pia-Marie, Novice Lent 2020 has been an unusual time for everyone, in the Church and in the world! The unprecedented situation created by the coronavirus crisis has touched all of our lives. But Holy Mother Church will always remain close to her children despite the closing of the churches. The lenten liturgy reminds us all to keep our eyes on the eternal goal. Just like a true mother, when anxiety is at its height, she provides us with beautiful thoughts to meditate on… this was the case on Laetare Sunday 2020, when Julia O’Leary was accepted as a Novice of the Sisters, Slaves of the Im- Left: Sister Pia- Marie cuts the cake in celebration as Sister Katherine Maria, Sister Superior, and Sister Christopher Margaret, Prioress stand by. Julia O’Leary receives the habit of a novice and her new name of Sister Pia-Marie! maculate Heart of Mary. Laetare! Rejoice! Even though all public Masses were cancelled, the MICM religious and the O’Leary family gathered in the small convent chapel, called “Gate of Heaven,” to witness this young woman ask for the habit of a novice. What a beautiful contrast to the worries of the world! Julia O’Leary, the third of Christa & Denis O’Leary’s five children, was raised in Texas. She and her sisters became acquainted with the Sisters through the Morn- ing Star Camp program, and travelled to attend for many years.
    [Show full text]
  • The Resistance of the Monks RIGHTS Buddhism and Activism in Burma WATCH
    Burma HUMAN The Resistance of the Monks RIGHTS Buddhism and Activism in Burma WATCH The Resistance of the Monks Buddhism and Activism in Burma Copyright © 2009 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 1-56432-544-X Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA Tel: +1 212 290 4700, Fax: +1 212 736 1300 [email protected] Poststraße 4-5 10178 Berlin, Germany Tel: +49 30 2593 06-10, Fax: +49 30 2593 0629 [email protected] Avenue des Gaulois, 7 1040 Brussels, Belgium Tel: + 32 (2) 732 2009, Fax: + 32 (2) 732 0471 [email protected] 64-66 Rue de Lausanne 1202 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 738 0481, Fax: +41 22 738 1791 [email protected] 2-12 Pentonville Road, 2nd Floor London N1 9HF, UK Tel: +44 20 7713 1995, Fax: +44 20 7713 1800 [email protected] 27 Rue de Lisbonne 75008 Paris, France Tel: +33 (1)43 59 55 35, Fax: +33 (1) 43 59 55 22 [email protected] 1630 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 500 Washington, DC 20009 USA Tel: +1 202 612 4321, Fax: +1 202 612 4333 [email protected] Web Site Address: http://www.hrw.org September 2009 1-56432-544-X The Resistance of the Monks Buddhism and Activism in Burma I. Summary and Key Recommendations....................................................................................... 1 Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 26 II. Burma: A Long Tradition of Buddhist Activism ....................................................................... 27 Buddhism in Independent Burma During the Parliamentary Period ...................................... 33 Buddhism and the State After the 1962 Military Takeover ...................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Travels in America: Aelred Carlyle, His American “Allies,” and Anglican Benedictine Monasticism Rene Kollar Saint Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, Pennsylvania
    Travels in America: Aelred Carlyle, His American “Allies,” and Anglican Benedictine Monasticism Rene Kollar Saint Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, Pennsylvania N FEBRUARY 1913, Abbot Aelred Carlyle and a majority of the Benedictine monks of Caldey Island, South Wales, renounced the Anglican Church and converted to I Roman Catholicism.1 For years, the Caldey Island monastery had been a show piece of Anglo-Catholicism and a testimony to the catholic heritage of the Anglican Church, but when Charles Gore, the Bishop of Oxford, tried to regularize their status within Anglicanism by forcing Carlyle and the monks to agree to a series of demands which would radically alter their High Church liturgy and devotions, the monks voted to join the Church of Rome. The demands of the Great War, however, strained the fragile finances of the island monastery, and during the spring of 1918, Abbot Carlyle traveled to America to solicit funds for his monastery. “And it was indeed sheer necessity that took me away from the quiet shores of Caldey,” he told the readers of Pax, the community’s magazine, but “Caldey has suffered grievously through the war.”2 Abbot Carlyle saw a possible solution to his problems. “In our need we turned to our Catholic Allies in the United States, and my duty seemed obvious that I should accept the invitation I had received to go to New York to plead in person the cause of Caldey there.” Carlyle had not forgotten lessons from the past. During his years as an Anglican monk, the American connection proved to be an important asset in the realization of his monastic dreams.
    [Show full text]
  • Preparing-For-Ordination.Pdf
    Preparing for Ordination: Reflections for Westerners Considering Monastic Ordination in the Western Buddhist Tradition Edited by Ven. Thubten Chodron Originally published by: Life as a Western Buddhist Nun For free distribution. Write to Sravasti Abbey, 692 Country Lane, Newport Wa 99156, USA. The decision to take monastic ordination is an important one, and to make it wisely, one needs information. In addition, one needs to reflect over a period of time on many diverse aspects of one's life, habits, aspirations, and expectations. The better prepared one is before ordaining, the easier the transition from lay to monastic life will be, and the more comfortable and joyous one will be as a monastic. This booklet, with articles by Asian and Western monastics, is designed to inform and to spark that reflection in non-Tibetans who are considering monastic ordination in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Thich Nhat Hanh's article and materials in this booklet have been edited and reprinted with his kind permission. Gendun Rinpoche's article first appeared in "Karme Gendun," the newsletter of Kundreul Ling, and has been reprinted here with his kind permission. This booklet as a whole is copyright by Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron. For permission to reprint the entire booklet, please contact her. For permission to reprint any of the articles separately, please contact the individual author. Addresses may be found with the biographies of the contributors. Contents Foreword His Holiness the Dalai Lama Introduction Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron The Benefits and Motivation for Monastic Ordination Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron and Bhikshuni Tenzin Kacho Being a Monastic in the West Bhikshu Thich Nhat Hanh If We Want to Work for the Good of All Beings, What Should We Do? Bhikshu Gendun Rinpoche H.
    [Show full text]
  • The Adrian Dominican Sisters in the Us and Dominican Republic, 1933-61
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ NOVICES, NUNS, AND COLEGIO GIRLS: THE ADRIAN DOMINICAN SISTERS IN THE U.S. AND DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, 1933-61. A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in HISTORY with an emphasis in FEMINIST STUDIES by Elizabeth Dilkes Mullins March 2014 The dissertation of Elizabeth Dilkes Mullins is approved: ___________________________ Professor Marilyn J. Westerkamp ___________________________ Professor Susan Harding ___________________________ Professor Emily Honig ___________________________ Professor Alice Yang ________________________________ Tyrus Miller Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Table of Contents Introduction: Novices, Nuns, and Colegio Girls. ...................................................... i Chapter 1: Adrian Dominican Sisters in Context: The Adrian Congregation and Pre-War Catholic America ...................................................................................... 23 Chapter 2: “In the world but not of it”: Adrian Dominican Sisters Negotiating Modernity Through Body, 1933-39 ........................................................................... 46 Chapter 3: “This is a peculiar place, Mother”: The Post WWII Dominican Republic and the Foundation of Colegio Santo Domingo. .................................... 85 Chapter 4: Colegio Girls – The Colegio’s Two Curriculums ............................. 129 Chapter 5: Body Politics ........................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Identity and Mission of the Religious Brother in the Church
    CONGREGATION FOR INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED LIFE AND SOCIETIES OF APOSTOLIC LIFE IDENTITY AND MISSION OF THE RELIGIOUS BROTHER IN THE CHURCH "And you are all brothers" (Mt 23:8) Vatican, October 4th, 2015 Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi 1 INTRODUCTION 1. Brother 2. To whom is this document addressed? 3. A framework for our reflection 4. Outline of this Document 1. RELIGIOUS BROTHERS IN THE CHURCH-COMMUNION "I have chosen you as a covenant of the people" (Is 42:6) 5. Putting a face on the covenant 6. In communion with the People of God 7. A living memorial for the Church’s awareness 8. Rediscovering the common treasure 9. A renewed project 10. Developing the common treasure 11. Brother: a Christian experience from the beginning 2. THE IDENTITY OF RELIGIOUS BROTHER: A mystery of communion for mission 12. Memory of the love of Christ: "The same thing you must do ..." (Jn 13:14-15) I. THE MYSTERY: BROTHERHOOD, THE GIFT WE RECEIVE 13. Witness and mediator: "We believe in the love of God" 14. Consecrated by the Spirit 15. Public commitment: making the face of Jesus-brother visible today 16. Exercise of the baptismal priesthood 17. Like all his brothers in all things 18. Profession: a unique consecration, expressed in different vows 19. An incarnated and unifying spirituality 20. A spirituality of the Word in order to live the Mystery "at home" with Mary II. COMMUNION: BROTHERHOOD, THE GIFT WE SHARE 21. From the gift we receive to the gift we share: "That they be one so that the world may believe" (Jn 17:21) 22.
    [Show full text]
  • A New Consecration?
    62 A NEW CONSECRATION? By ALFRED DE BONHOME ~HE LEADING document of Vatican Council II on the nature I! of the Church brought into prominence an aspect of their state of life with which most religious were entirely ~ unfamiliar: that their profession of the evangelical counsels was integral to the consecration common to all Christians-- sacramental baptism. In fact, before Lumen Gentium had been promulgated, Pope Paul VI had declared: So it is that the profession of the evangelical vows is added to the consecration which is proper to the baptized. One may call it a special kind of consecration which is the fulfilment of baptism, in that, by means of this consecration, Christ's faithful commit themselves wholly to God to such an extent that their dedication puts their entire lives at his disposal. 1 The question thus arises whether this consecration of those who make profession of the evangelical counsels is something new, in addition to their baptismal consecration. 2 One of the key-texts of the dogmatic Constitution on the Church reads as follows: Through vows or other sacred bonds which of their nature are similar to those vows, certain of Christ's faithful take on the obligations of the three evangelical counsels, and are wholly given over to God, their supreme love, as his slaves. In this way they are taken into God's service, for his glory, by a new and speciaI title. Indeed, they are already dead to sin and consecrated to God through baptism . (but) they are more intimately consecrated to his worship.
    [Show full text]