Institute of Spirituality and religious Formation Tangaza College Catholic University of Eastern Africa

Religious Life; What Happens after Final Vows?

Author: REVY HANG'ANDU, CFC. Tutor : Fr AELRED LACOMARA, CP

March, 2005. Institute of Spirituality and religious Formation Tangaza College Catholic University of Eastern Africa

Religious Life; What Happens after Final Vows?

Author: REVV HANG'ANDU, CFC.

Tutor: Fr AELRED LACOMARA, C.P.

This is a long essay submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a diploma in religious Formation

March, 2005.

STUDENT' DECLARATION

I. the undersigned, declare that this project is my original work achieved through my personal reading, scientific research method and critical reflections. It is submitted in partial fulfihnent of the requirements for the Diploma in Psl,:c\Lts,“ It has never been submitted to any other college or university fOr academic credit. All sources have been cited in full and acknowledged.

Signed: rerrY

Name of Student: \p \tY kAi\ACI'NJ 0

Date: oi 703 to.5

This project has been submitted for examination with my approval as the college supervisor

at)) Signed: Cerlsokon..q e,

Name of Supervisor: actee-4 bq doM 4124 A RJff .....

Date:

3 DEDICATION

I dedicate this essay to the late Br Charles Mulenga, who was a member of my community in Lukulu, Zambia. He struggled to become a good Christian Brother. He died in 1999, before making final vows. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to sincerely thank the people that helped me to come up with this essay. In particular, I remember the members of my congregation for the material and personal support. I would also like to thank my moderator, Fr Aelred Lacomara, C:P. for the guidance and encouragement throughout the period of writing. I also extend my word of thanks to Sr Aurelia Maria Mtui R.A. and Webster Chifuwe C.Ssp for their support in terms of reference books. TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION.

1.1 What is Religious Life? 1 1.2. What are Religious Vows? . ...... 2

2.CHAPTER ONE

2,1 Before First Vows 3 2.2. Peoples' Expectations after First Vows 4 2.3 Experiences of The professed after first Vows 6

3.CHAPTER TWO

3.1 . Final Vows 11 3.2. Life after Final Vows ...... 12 ••••• 3.3. Expectations from Religious Community 15 3.4. Expectations from Larger Community • ., .. . 18 3 5. Expectations from The Person Involved 20 3 6. Final Vows and There after ...... 22 3 7. Is This kind of Life Worthwhile? ... 31

4 CHAPTER THREE

4.1. Biblical Interpretation of Religious life ..... 34 4.2. Importance of Religious Life Today ...... • .• ..... • , • 42 4 3 Conclusion ..• ...... 46

BIBLIOGRAPHY 52 1. 1NTRODLCTION

1.1 What is Religious Life?

In this context, Religious Life is a consecrated way of life that people choose voluntarily in order to dedicate themselves fully to the service of God. Religious life is sometimes referred to as the consecrated life. It stands at the very heart of the church as a decisive element of its holiness and mission'. Prayer, service to the community, community living, characterizes this way of life. It also demands that people living it show good witness to society around them. They should lead a simple and yet valuable kind of Christian life. In order to achieve this kind of life style, people that pursue this life follow some guidelines.

These are rules that have been bound together in what I could call Religious vows. These rules are actually based on scripture.

In this essay, I would like to highlight these rules or vows as they are commonly called and relate them to some aspect of scripture and the general day today living of the religious. I will make reference to the rules in the constitution of my own congregation as an example. Rules of many congregations would be similar to these. I would also like to write about how people live them out; what is good about them and how challenging they are I would also like to write about how people live these vows when they are under

temporal vows and how they live them when they have attained their final vows. In order

Mc ; U2R1 C. The ( 'onsecrated Itfe,16 for me to come out with some concrete information. I have tried my best to conduct some interviews with people in Religious Life, mostly from my own congregation. These are people under temporal vows I have also talked to people under final vows and have tried to find out from them if they have met their expectations. I have not forgotten to talk to a few people who were once in religious life but have since left. It was good to listen to them I will also base my arguments on what the scriptures say. Religious vows cannot be lived out fully without putting them in the scripture context The writings by the Pope in

"The Consecrated Life" cannot be left out also. This hide book gives an insight on the expectations of a religious person.

The various constitutions of the various congregations also have expectations on the religious person. I have tried also to look at these expectations. Most importantly, I have enjoyed talking to the actual persons who have made these final vows. Have they so far met their expectations as religious? This is the big question for this essay. If they have not, where did they go wrong or what is missing in religious life?

1.2 WHAT ARE RELIGIOUS VOWS?

In order for me to tackle this topic appropriately, especially for the non-Catholic reader, it is good to talk about vows. Religious vows are special commitments that people who are taking on religious life subject themselves to They are otherwise referred to as evangelical counsels. These vows are mainly three in number, but some congregations could have more than this, depending on their objectives and mission. The three common vows taken by many congregations are those for chastity, poverty and obedience. The

2 vow of chastity is supposed to free a person from committing himself or herself to another person, otherwise what I might call marriage. It enables a person to give himself up to God with an undivided heart2. A person remains free so that he or she could be readily available to offer service to others whenever there is need. The vow of poverty helps the religious to live simply and share what they have. It also shows to people outside religious life that it is possible to live simply and share whatever is available. The vow of obedience enables the religious to be faithful in their calling by being obedient to

God through their respective superiors and other leaders It calls for the religious to remain humble in their humanity.

On the basis of this introduction my long essay will begin.

2.1 CHAPTER ONE

Before First Vows

Before a person takes on the vows, some preparations are made. In many Congregations and institutes there is a year before a person enters the novitiate, which is the most important stage of training. This is called th& postulancy, which prepares a person to go to the next stage, the novitiate. The novitiate, which varies from one year to two years, is a moment of seclusion. Here, the person being trained, now called a novice, is introduced to the rules and life of the institute or congregation that they have joined. They are also introduced to the various teachings of the church on the consecrated life. The Holy Father in The Consecrated Life says:4- The synod wishes to promote 'wholeness' in the

C Met; \RRY. S J.. The Consecrated Life. 14 C Mc( 'ARIZ Y. S .1. The rouse, ruled ajii, 33.

3 formation of a person. " Thus the whole essence of the novitiate is to prepare a person

into entering Religious Life. The person should be fully prepared spiritually, mentally

and should actually be physically ready for the job

Persons undergoing this programme need to be free in mind so that they are seen to be

making a free will. There must be dialogue in the process Again Me consecrated life

says.. Formation to consecrated life, which is a work of cooperation with God, takes

place in a process of dialogue." The novices therefore, are encouraged to participate in

the process of dialogue as they grow as Religious Life members. After the novitiate, a

novice may ask if he or she wishes to make first vows. This decision is a free one. If the

authority in the Congregation accepts the request, then the process of profession is

organized and thus the candidate goes ahead to pronounce vows, usually, publicly.

I consider this period the actual beginning of Religious I .ife because a person is granted

some liberty to live out what he or she has freely chosen

2.2 People's Expectations after First Vows

Usually a profession is performed publicly. Because of this many people, especially here in Africa would turn up for the occasion. Some of these people would come to genuinely

offer their support for the person making vows Others would, however, simply come out of curiosity to see what is going on. Others still will come as critics. They do not believe

that it is possible for a person to lead such kind of a life. In any case, people have some expectations of a person who has entered Religious life These expectations are huge. For

C. MWARRY, S The Consecrated I tie, 35

4 example, this person should be seen to be very holy. Ile or she should be going to mass

everyday and should be very prayerful. There is no substitute to this. This person should

lead a clean life, free of all kinds of sin. This person should also act as a parent of all in

the society where she or he lives. They are expected to do so by helping everyone who is

in need. The other expectation is that they should live very exemplary lives. They should

not quarrel with other people. They should not engage themselves in vices like beer

drinking or going out to parties or any of such functions They should be truthful to their

vows especially the vow of chastity. Failure to uphold this vow is a big taboo and a great

embarrassment to the person involved, the family of that person and society at large.

Once a person has entered this kind of life, they are expected to remain there and not to

give up

There are several other expectations, which I may have forgotten to mention here. But it

is against such expectations that a person who has just taken vows is weighed against. On

the other hand the person who has just taken the vows has some expectations as well.

These may include a very friendly atmosphere in the new community that he or she is joining. He or she would be expecting a life of prayer Ile or she would expect others in the new community and the society around to be very understanding and accommodative of the new ideas that he or she might have from the novitiate. They expect a very peaceful life, free from conflict and gossiping_ Again, there are other ideas that I may have forgotten to mention here. But these are some of the expectations of this new person who is pursuing this new life. In many cases they believe such ideas form the basis for

Religious life. However, as I have found out through talking to people and my own

5 J•••

experiences, these expectations do change after a few months or years in the new

community. People who have taken vows are subjeeted to treatment contrary to what they

expected to find in religious life

2.3 Experiences of the Professed After first Vows

The experiences of a person who has just taken first vows can be quite interesting and

worth wnting about. As part of my preparation for writing this essay as I have already

mentioned earlier, 1 have talked to a number of people who have been in Religious Life

for many years. I have also talked to those who have just started their journey into this

life 1 have also tried to recall my experiences over the last years as a member of a

Religious Congregation. These are some of my findings:

Many people feel what they are taught in the novitiate and what they actually experience

in the actual lived life do not correspond. For example, one young man told me that in the

novitiate they were told to be very hospitable to people He says when it was his turn to

go to the new community, he did not find this value at aft He says he was simply told

that he was welcome but did not see this in action. A number of times members of the

community were actually seen quarreling over some issues For a young man, he thought

this was unchristian. A young lady who is just becoming a religious also expressed to me

how surprised she was at what was happening in her community. She says some of her

community members were not even talking to one another. For her, this came as a great

shock as she could not imagine Religious women not talking to each other. And yet

another brother recalled how he lived life as a young person He says life was so tough

a 6 -A-

for him that he needed to be strong in order to go through it. When he looks back at it, he

says, he really gets amused_ One of the expectations for him as a young man was that he

was supposed to be punctual at all functions. He says he was late many times. This

landed him into many troubles. At some stage they even nearly kicked him out of the

system altogether. For him, he expected them to be a forgiving community.

I personally recall funny things happening to me as a young man. I was constantly

accused of violating the vow of poverty. I should confess that I had a number of pairs of

trousers and shirts. I used to wash these on Saturdays. But little did I know that one of the

order men was actually counting them and a year later, when I was being evaluated for

the renewal of vows, this issue was brought up in a very strong way This old brother

produced a file where he used to write down the number of trousers I had on the line each

Saturday. He could even mention their colours. This was considered a huge scandal. I

was nearly thrown out of the entire system But for me. I thought this issue had gone too

far. I did not see any love and compassion in these men fbr me. All I saw was a group of

men that wanted to follow rules without knowing why they were doing so.

And yet another old man narrates how tough life was as a young man just after the first

vows. But for him he says it was so tough that you simply had to comply with what was

put before you, whether you agreed with it or not. The idea was to remain good and loyal

so that you are not thrown out.

7 In a number of cases, it seems obvious that people loin Religious Life for genuine reasons. They want to be of some service to God and the community around. But, unfortunately, they find themselves in situations where they forget about this service. The kind of life-style that they meet is contrary to their expectations. Many things do not seem to go their way. Therefore they end up concentrating on problem solving so that they can survive in their communities In the end, the whole thing ends up like a game, the game of survival so that you are not thrown out until you make your final vows.

The unfortunate experiences in community life styles seem to come about because of a breakdown in some structures. In order for people to live together in community, they need to sit down and organize their lives.5" Living together in community demands, even from free and trained religious, the mastering of certain skills." These skills can only be formed in us by coming up with suitable structures These structures such as the time for prayer, time for community meeting, time for recreation, and many others can help the religious organize their lives more professionally Failure to observe these structures could result into negative experiences of community life such as the examples stated above.

Many of the people that I talked to clearly stated that the kind of religious life that they are going through contradicts their expectations before they joined their respectable orders. In some cases, they say their life is contrary to the teachings of the church. In the light of the church, a religious person is in the first place a Christian who should be loved by others and love them in turn. But this love seems to he lucking in many of our houses.

11 (.1 )NN( C ss R.. Religious Life, 51

8 This love seems to have been replaced by a set of rules. Finbarr B. Connolly nicely puts

the life of a Christian as a Three-fold situation. Ile says

The experience of being a Christian is a three-fold one.

It is a PERSONAL experience, we are touched and transformed as individuals.

h is a ( II J1) experience, we cannot be Christians on mu own

!o be a Christian is an APOSTOI.IC experience, one who is a Christian is one sent to preach

Christ BN the very fact of being tree Christian, I radiate Christianity into the world around me.

These are some of the requirements of a Christian that are supposed to be brought into

religious life but which are, in many cases, overlooked and thus bringing the confusion as

I am finding out in my discussions with members of the various congregations as well as

my own experience. One other experience of people after first vows is that they expect

holiness to just come their way. They struggle to achieve this but then they discover that

they are lost when it comes to prayer life. Sometimes this loss is due to bad examples that

are shown to them by those already in the system. When this happens, the individual

becomes rather confused and the vision is lost. The young religious, therefore, ends up

concentrating on means to survive so that he or she is not thrown out of religious life.

This is an unfortunate way of living out religious life. I shall discuss more on this issue in

chapters to come.

After first vows I have discovered that many brothers in my congregation do not like to

face any challenges They would rather live out life the way they feel it should be lived.

Any kind of challenge is taken as an attack on their personal lives. Very often, if such a

challenge comes from an order brother, then such a poor old man is branded name such

S. 9 as being old-fashioned and being conservative When this happens, the young brother tends to be frightened and looks forward to the day when he will make final vows and be liberated from this -bondage'. Many of our young brothers do experience this in many ways. I personally, when I was at this stage, could not entertain some challenges from my older brothers. I thought that they hated me. Criticisms and challenges were not high on my expectations as I entered into community for the first time. It is no wonder that many of our people detest living under temporal vows and look forward to the time of their final vows so that, as one young brother put it to me, "they can hit back".

One other experience after first vows is that of falling in love with a woman. I must say it was not easy for me to get out the full truth on this matter from those brothers that I had talked to. But the truth remains that at this stage of religious life, a person has got some liberty as opposed to the period that they were in the novitiate. This liberty enables this person to associate quite freely with members of the opposite sex. In my congregation, we have had cases where people fell in love and sonic ended up quitting religious life altogether, while others struggled on to come to terms with it But this is quite a common experience after taking first vows. Of course the experience will vary depending on the age of the person involved.

10 3 CHAPTER TWO

3.1 Final vows.

When a person has joined religious life, he or she has got many expectations. For those that joined for wrong reasons, they expect to reach a stage when they can attain freedom and do what they want. For those that have joined for genuine reasons, they hope that one day they will become more holy and live according to the demands of their congregations and that of the scriptures Whatever the case, people in religious life look forward to making their final vows.

A lot of preparations are made for this occasion. These would range from attending short courses to raising of funds to buy food and drinks for people to eat and drink on that day.

This really is a very big day and it calls for a great celebration. The person who is making these final vows commits himself or herself to the complete service of God and other people. This commitment is for life. It requires n lot of deep reflection and prayer on the part of the person in the position. The person who has taken these vows becomes fully incorporated in the life of the church. This person should he able to live in harmony with

I' God and other people. This vowed life is lived in groups, in organized communities°. It is

because of this that it poses a great challenge to people entering into it.

3.2 Life After Final Vows

For many people in religious life (myself included) making final vows means quite a lot.

For me it meant that my congregation had trusted me to live a full life as one of them. It

made me a bit scared actually. It made me ask a lot of questions about my life and if it is really true that I will never marry for life. According to the people that I have talked to,

they felt quite the same. They too had a lot of expectations. Many of them felt that they now had more freedom than they had before. They were entrusted with many responsibilities and in some cases they even became in-charge of other people. Such responsibilities are big. They attract a lot of temptations too. It is because of this that a number of religious people find themselves in some situations where they cannot control

themselves. Sometimes people feel that they have so much freedom and they can do what

they want. As a result, they engage themselves in vices contrary to their vows. For example, the vow of poverty. This vow demands the sharing of what we have with those that have less or indeed the sharing of resources in community so that we show to others the kind of life Jesus lived. But the reality is after making final vows, a person must not change their way of life-style. That is if they were holy, they should even become more holy for that is what we are called for. If we look at the teachings in various parts of the bible, we see many examples of such holiness as is required by God for us. But then we shall look at these passages in later chapters_

Covm i 13 F.. Religious Life, I

12 4-

As I was talking to some of my brothers about the challenges ahead when one had taken

final vows, one of them told me this little unfortunate incidence. He says it truly

happened

He says, a young man had just taken his final vows. This man had lead a very good life as

a brother under temporal vows. He was very prayerful and did everything that was

expected of him by his congregation. In fact he was very obedient to his superiors and did

everything that was asked of him. The day he took his final vows he became very excited

and happy as expected. It was a very big occasion It was as if he had crossed over the

bridge from the dangerous side of the river to the more peaceful, prosperous one. A few

months later, because of the trust that the congregation had put in him over the years, he

was entrusted with some big responsibility. He was appointed to head his community.

This appointment marked big change in his life. The man started undergoing several

changes. One of them was that he abandoned regular community prayer. He gave a lot of

excuses for this, ranging from too much work pressure to various unknown reasons. He

stopped listening to advice from anyone. In fact he started living his own style of life.

This change made a lot of people start wondering what had gone wrong. Worse still,

some community property began missing. People that knew him reported that he was

actually taking community property to his home village and was using it to build houses

at his home village. Apart from building houses, he wa s also reported to be having some

commercial business. Now, the truth about his family is that they were quite poor. This

means that for him to carry out all these works, he mu st have used community property,

taking advantage of the fact that he was head of his c( immunity In his community, the

4. 13 question being asked was what really has brought this change to this person? I suppose a

number of reasons lead to this.

This is just one small example of what happens after some people have taken their final

vows They forget or ignore what they are called for They fall into materialism. They

forget to pay attention to the needs and suffenngs of the poorest and the weakest'. They

rather concentrate on their own needs. This leaves many people to wonder as to whether

their calling is a genuine one or not.

For the many that I have talked to, they say that life after final vows is a penod to make up for what they missed during the years of temporal profession. They say during temporal profession, they went through a lot of restrictions. They were told not to do this or that. But ones they took final vows, especially in my congregation, they became much at liberty to do whatever the want. This is, the cause of the many misunderstandings.

Freedom is often exercised today without any reference to truth or moral norms'. This is leading to a lot of wrong decision-making.

Another problem that comes as a result of making final vows is that of luck of trust and respect for those in authority_ I would, at least, like to confine this to some examples in my community. Some of our men, once they have reached this stage, feel. that they are old enough to look after themselves. They can go out whenever they want to and come back at their convenient time, without even alerting the leader of the community. They

\RRY C. S.J. The Concecraied Life. 52 Mut ;Rm. C. ti.J. The Concecroted Life, 52.

14 attribute this kind of behaviour to the freedom that they have attained. They forget what

they learned with regard to obedience. In fact obedience in the consecrated life, after the

example of Christ, shows that there is no contradiction between obedience and freedom9.

But what happens at this stage is that the freedom that is seen now, brings some division

with people in authority. Finbarr Connolly, in his book, Religious pp, stresses that in

religious life:

We have the gift of freedom, the person in charge has the gill ofauthont

We need to sec how obedience in freedom and authorib his Int() our lives

of celthacv in community The delicate work of balancing the need and growth

()I the individual with the need and growth of the community_ Mcuses on our

bringing these two gills into harmony.'

a. However, this kind of thinking as listed above is often overlooked at this stage of

religious life. It is because of this that there tend to be quite some confusion in

community, mostly brought about by the person who has just made final commitment

because of their high expectations.

3.3 Expectations from Religious Community

This expectation from the religious community is based purely on my congregation and

what it stands for. The life of a Christian Brother, in this case, should be centered on a

number of things. Firstly, service to the church. We Christian Brothers are called by God

as evangelizers of the church within the ministry of the Church". As this statement goes,

the Christian brothers' community expectation is that a person who has joined them and

4 MC(I RRY C. S.J . The colorer-Weil Li /e.52 . B.. Religious Life, 70. • C( t IREGATh )>: OF CIIRISlIAN BR( IERS, Constitutions. I

15 4-

has made final commitment should be dedicated to the service of the youth within the

church. This is mainly done through education. This means a person must not choose

who to serve but all the youth, particularly the poor. Of late we have actually moved from

targeting the youth only as our area of service. We now try to work with as many

marginalized persons as possible from a cross section of life. Indeed the church expects

us to work that way. Therefore, when a person has joined us, they are expected to work

along this path. When a person has taken final vows, the challenge is even greater. He

should take advantage of the fact that he has grown, to work for the congregation and the

church even harder

Another great expectation is that of following Chnst The constitution clearly states that,"

Our highest rule of life is the following of Chnst as revealed in the scriptures". This

means that we should try as much as possible to lead our lives in the footsteps of Christ,

who was loving to his neighbour and was 'dedicated to prayer and works of charity.

Following Christ entails that we live simply in order for others to simply live. This

simplicity finds expression in the way we live and in the distinctive way we dressu. This

is one of the biggest challenges to our life as Christian Brothers. The congregation

expects as to offer a challenge to the kind of world that we are living in. It is a world full

of materialism and we cannot afford to simply fit into this world when millions of our

neighbours are experiencing great misery. We are called to share with others the

resources that are at our disposal or at least use them well to show that we are in

solidanty with those that are less privileged. We shall look at this later to see if this kind

of thinking does change to some brothers as they make their final commitment.

I: CONGREGATI( )N ( IF CI IRISTIAN 13 ROT} IERS, Consul:if/0in. 5

16 Yet another expectation from this religious community is that of mission. As followers of

Edmund rice, the founder of the Christian Brothers, we are missioned by the Church to

reveal the Reign of Godl3. We are expected to teach the word of God to those that we

minister to, mainly in the schools that we operate from. We are always challenged to lead

our lives based on Gospel values. Again we shall look at this later to see how we violate

the Gospel values. But as our constitutions say, with confidence we grow as a gospel

community characterized by a love that struggles to cast out fear". This gospel

community should help us to love one another and be of service to each other. In short we

are expected to build communities that are healthy, where people can grow. Out lives

must be a true manifestation of our struggle to follow the teachings of Christ. A lot of

expectations are expected here from the community We shall look at them further in the

next coming pages.

Another expectation one cannot run away front is that of prayer. It is expected that each

brother should do some personal prayer as well as sonic community prayer. This is done

a number of times in a day. We need time each day for personal prayer and pondering the

word of God in the Scriptures's. Apart from this being a requirement from the religious

community, it is also a constitutional requirement of the congregation and therefore, it

determines whether one is a suitable member or not. This requirement has come from the

fact that Edmund Rice, the founder of the congregation, spent a great deal of time on

prayer. This prayer helped him to succeed in his mission Since this is the person that we

Ci .N6REGATIi ”,/ OF C I IRIS HAN BR( iii IERS. C 'mistily lions. 15 11 (..:(11“./11.141ATI( IN Of CHRISTIAN 11R0THER5i 'ffillitu lions, I 5. ;121:( iXFI( of CIIRiSriAN BROTHERS,( vonstilrilions,1 9

17 follow, we should also emulate his ways. His ways are an example to us of following the

footsteps of Christ. It is no wonder the constitution stresses that the sacramental presence

of Jesus was a constant source of strength to our founder, Edmund Ricci°. Ignoring

prayer would therefore be very disastrous to us. In fact if we have no prayer, we have no

reason to be in religious life. We might as well be just like anybody else out in the world.

Prayer is supposed to be at the heart of our living and therefore it is of great importance

in our life.

These therefore are some of the major expectations of a person in my congregation. After

an individual has made final vows, it is expected that he should live out his life according

to these expectations. However, these expectations are not enough. There are some more

• coming from the community around.

3.4 Expectations from Larger Community

Expectations from the larger community arc vast and many. Just as this larger

community, which includes the parish, school, family etc, had some expectations when

this person had just joined religious life, they expect a lot from this person at this stage.

For example, the local parish would expect him to be highly involved in parish ministry.

By this I mean that the person should be seen to work for God through helping other

people. But is this a must and is it possible? We shall see later. Other people expect this

person to be of sober character, one who is kind to all the people that he meets. He should

be friendly but should keep away from social places such as those for alcohol

consumption. The person is largely seen as a problem solver in the neighbourhood. That

NGRI:t4A EION ( )1 CIIRISHAN BRoTHERS. C ‘011.5nititi011, 19

18 means that if there is a problem, such as an illness or a funeral, people should come to him for help and he should willingly offer that help Since this is the perception that people have for him, he should therefore take the role of a leader, who is a good parent.

He should lead by good example and show others how to live. People expect that this religious should be a man of prayer. People can even come to him for advice should they need some prayer. So prayer should be a very important aspect of his life.

When it comes to his family, expectations differ here Sometimes a typical African family would consider him as a financial problem solver. Many of our families do not understand the concept of poverty when one lives in a nice house that also may be in possession of motor vehicles. He would therefore be expected to come to their aid when trouble has befallen. This is probably one of the expectations that is very hard to come to terms with, especially if one is living in a mixed culture community. Again, I will elaborate on this and give some concrete examples later

So, there are many expectations on this person who has just made it to the final commitment and these expectations do truly interfere with the life of the person involved.

In general the general public will look at this person who has attained final commitment as a man who has really entered into a life of mission This mission meaning doing the work of God that every religious man or woman should be doing. Therefore, his entire life should be different from ordinary men around and the larger community will tend to make judgments based on these differences.

19 -4r

3.5 Expectations from the person involved

On the other hand, the person that has gone through to this stage of life has got some

expectations. In my case, I was always looking forward to die day when I was to take my

final vows because I thought this would mark a turning point in my life. As a temporally

prophesed person. I believed I was always being watched in whatever I was doing.

Therefore. I wanted to move away from this bracket so that I could lead a much freer life.

I also thought that after making my final commitment, I would have greater freedom to

do what I wanted without much restriction on my life from those in authority. I had a lot

of such expectations I guess this is similar to many people, especially in my

congregation, that are about to make their final vows. There is in many cases that need to

be freed. I have certainly heard from some of our young persons under temporal vows

saying that when they take their final vows, they will do this or that. Or that they will

change structures and come up with new ones and many of such wishful thinking.

Sometimes, expectations, as I have come to realize are for one to be a person who can

really work hard and improve the lives of the poor. But this does not end up being the

reality. Taking my own example, I always felt that taking final vows would help me gain

access to some of my congregational resources so that I could use it to better the lives of

those that were less privileged as I was, but things did not work out that way. In fact I

was confusing the differences between mission and ministry. I did not know which one

was what. Talking to some of my brothers, those that have made their final commitment,

I get the similar feeling that their expectations were many times being confused between

ministry and mission. As one writer says, when such confusion takes place, then some

IL 20 congregation members connect their identity and charism with the works of the group and especially with the institutions founded to carry out that work, rather than with the mission itself:71 think that a lot of expectations from the persons that are about to make final commitment are often based on wrong desires and end up confusing the real mission of the congregation. But that is the way many people would think and we shall look at the implication such thoughts could have on the person who is making final vows.

Another big expectation, at least as I have experienced it, is to suddenly become a serious man of prayer. I always thought you became a man of prayer when you reached a certain stage in religious life. This is because I mostly used to see older men spending a lot of time trying to pray and challenging young men to pray. So, it is a big expectation that one will suddenly become a man of prayer. Another expectation is that of bringing about the issue of justice As young religious there is always that question of justice. Many people in authority are looked upon as being unjust because of the many ways in which they throw out various challenges. The issue of justice therefore becomes an area of interest for one to work on when they have taken their final vows. It is mostly believed that the temporally professed religious and not treated fairly. So they look for a time when they will become order and then start attending to their issues in an independent way. The question of love is also often on the minds of the young people in religious life. They strive to show love to other people and care for them, but at times this could be misinterpreted and therefore it becomes an area to work on when they have reached the final vows stage. This love could be how they relate to people both men and women.

• IIAR‘ii•.RC.M.. Religious Life In the 21° ('entun, 49

21 One other expectation is that of trust. The truth is that many of our temporally professed

brothers are not fully trusted to carry out certain duties It is believed that they are still

young and therefore they cannot do this or that. The end result is that such young persons

are left with no choice but hope that things will change when they make their final vows.

This becomes a big expectation.

So there are a lot of expectations from the person making final vows. These expectations

determine in a great way the way this religious person is going to lead his life. Many

times life never turns out the way it is expected, as we shall read about in later chapters.

3.6 Final vows and there after.

ir

Reaching the stage of final vows is probably one of the most challenging things in

religious life, at least in my own congregation. Somebody must be seen to be very serious

in what they are doing otherwise they are asked to find another way of life that might suit

their behaviour. However if you are seen to be suited for religious life, then you can be

permitted to go own and make your final vows. But then the question is what kind of life

are you expected to lead after that? And is there anything else to look forward to after

that? This are some of the big questions am trying to answer in this essay.

Firstly, the day of making final vows is a great one There is great celebration, good food

and all that goes with some great celebration. In my case when I took my final vows

some four years ago, I did not really think about the seriousness of what 1 was taking

22 upon myself until when time came for me to read out my vows publicly. At the end of the three vows, I read the words, "for life" and then it dawned on me that what I was doing was indeed a very serious commitment.

When I went back to my community after a few weeks holiday, I realized that I was now being considered as a grown up religious. I was no longer being asked to do this or that, but all was left to me to decide. I thought this was a bit difficult because I felt being left out. But then this has been what some order brothers have told me as their experience of religious life after final vows. One of the most difficult things that some older brothers have told me in my congregation is loneliness. A number of them expressed the fact that they were lonely probably because they had nothing to look forward to apart from the routine of going to mass, morning prayer and then attending to their various ministries, which were usually in the school. One friend of mine actually told me that in his loneliness, he always thought of the time when he would meet a woman who would really help him get out of his ordeal.

So, one of the dangers of this stage of formation is loneliness, which could result into depression. According to the older brothers that I have talked to, this loneliness could be as a result of routine and having nothing to wait for again in life If this was to happen, the purpose of community living is defeated and one does not see the need for religious life. This loneliness has in many cases lead younger religious into doing bad vises. One of the sad vices that I can immediately recall is that of alcohol consumption. It is sad that in some parts of my congregation, this has really taken root among the brothers that have

23 attained the level of final profession. The reason they give for this is that they have

nothing else to do after their daily ministry. This taking of alcohol has brought with it

things like car accidents and in some cases, evidence of indulgence in immoral conducts

that include sex. Sad to say, but these are some of the realities that are happening in

religious life, at least after taking final vows. I suppose such events come about because

of a breakdown in prayer life. In the book, The Consecrated Life, a call is made that sad

situations of crisis invite consecrated persons to a deeper faith in Christ so that they

themselves may become a visible sign of the passage from death to life". Indeed, in a

world where there is so much trouble and misery, religious life is supposed to be a means

for hope But once those that are opposed to lead by example are not doing so, then the

whole situation becomes complicated. And yet this is one of the realities being

fr experienced today. It all happens after taking final vows.

One other aspect that is endangered after making final commitment is that life of

simplicity. At least in my congregation, a lot of trust is shown to the person who has

reached this stage. The number of responsibilities such a person is given shows this. Such

responsibilities including jobs like heading a community or looking after finances.

According to my observation, those individuals that have been trusted have abused such

responsibilities to quite some large extent. In so doing. the vow of poverty, which in

many ways calls for a simple life style, has been violated. Individuals have paid great

attention to their personal desires at the expense of serving those who are in real need.

'h MC( iARRY. C., The Concecrated I ile.22

-r 24 This reaction, however, could be a reaction to the kind of life style an individual went

through before making final vows. A person may have been living under some form of

oppression and now he is trying to make up Or the person may be looking at religious

life in a different way when it conies to the vow of poverty. I have witnessed cases where

a person who is entrusted with community fluids could actually use it to buy goods such as good clothes for himself To justify this, this person could say poverty is not about living poorly but showing some good attitude towards what you have. This is indeed

falling into the temptations of the world of material things In the book, The consecrated life, this kind of behaviour is summarized as," The legitimate need to be familiar with the world and society today in order to respond to the challenges they present can lead to a surrender to passing fashions with a consequent lessening of spiritual fervour and d scouragement."I9 It is quiet easy for anybodY to fall into such temptations but I think they do come mostly after making final vows.

After final vows, I have also observed that people tend to really rededicate themselves to the charism of the congregation. When it comes to doing the work that they are supposed to do, that is teaching, a lot of our men are very serious about this. Sometimes they are so serious that they concentrate on ensuring that those young people that they teach do pass their exams. I doing so, they forget that they have to do sonic evangelization to these people as well. Emphasis is placed on passing the exam, not necessarily evangelization.

Such a style of doing things is derived from other teachers who are not religious. In short, at this stage of formation, a number of religious may be too taken up with their work and forget what their ministry and mission really is. Whereas working hard is not really

• MCUARRY. C., The Concecruiecl Life, 23

25 harmful, but it can make someone lose direction of what they are supposed to do after making final vows

I have an example of one of our men in one African country. Soon after he made final vows, he was entrusted with some responsibility. Ile was made a headmaster of a big school He really took this job very seriously. The job meant that he had his own car and had access to school money. But this man really went wild. He abandoned most of community exercises. He stopped asking for money from the community, meaning he started depending on school money. He lost regard for authority in community. His actions actually brought a lot of tension within the community. At the school, he really lost the fact of what it means to be brother. He was just like any other teacher, working away like everybody else. This kind of behaviour, however, drifted him far from the realities of religious like_ He decided to quit and now he is no longer in the congregation.

This is just one of the examples of the aftermath of making final vows.

Prayer. This, as earlier stated, is at the heart of being a brother. A brother is always expected to spend time at prayer if he has to make a difference to his society. Earlier on I mentioned that a person who has made final vows expects to grow deeper into prayer life, now that he has grown. This however, is not always the case A lot of things can happen in between that can affect it. As stated in Me Concecntiet1 1.i,fe, those who follow Christ will experience the cross'''. This is the cross that is experienced when one makes final vows. Because of the many expectations that have been placed on this person from the various angles, the person tends to be working under a lot of pressure. This can affect his •

ICU VRIZ C.. Ihe Concecrated Rfe,23

26 prayer life. It can either improve or become worse. To support this, I have an example of an incidence that happened to me a few years ago but one that helped me to pray.

Two years after I took my final vows, I had a phone call from my father. My father was present at a time when I made my final vows for life. The message was a sad one. My brother had just been found dead in some area in the Zambian capital Lusaka. My father wanted me to travel immediately because there was nobody else in the family that could handle this case except myself. Surely, I had to travel from my west corner of the country where I was working. And indeed when I arrived, everybody was waiting for me. They were expecting me to provide money to buy a coffin and also to contribute money to buy food for feeding mourners. There was a big crowd at the funeral house. When I told my father that I could not afford all these demands, he looked surprised for according to him, at my stage as a brother, I should not have difficulties with money. Now, this was a stressful situation for me. It made me reflect on my life I prayed. But anyway, the end result was that my congregation came to my did

My point here is that sometimes, the family might be a bit hard on the person who is now under final vows. If such a person is not very careful, the situation could lead to desolation and this could have a negative impact on his prayer life.

Sometimes, prayer is affected because of the many jobs that one can find himself in.

Remember that little incidence of the man who was made to head his school. He chose to become busy and neglect his prayer. For the many people who have taken their final

27 vows that I have talked to in my congregation, they have lost interest in prayer because of

their carelessness. This carelessness has been as a result of being too busy, probably

doing unnecessary thin.

The truth of the matter here is that after taking final vows, our prayer life could be

affected, positively or negatively, depending on our numerous actions.

After making final vows, the biggest challenge in our congregation for an individual is to

follow Christ. This is the real life that we are called to In order to achieve this, we need

radical commitment in the following of Christ's ways. And these ways entail that we love

one another, firstly among ourselves in community and then we extend this love out to

other people. However, it is not easy to achieve this. As Finbar Connolly puts it in

Religions We." We religious are to some extent untrained for community building. We

are untrained in true Christian loving which is another prerequisite for community

building.-21Because of this lack of skills for loving others, community life becomes quite difficult after final vows for some. This in the end contradicts our calling to follow

Chnst.

Because of the difficulties in the community at this stage, a number of our men have found themselves seeking relationships outside of the congregation. It is quite easy for them to do this because they have taken their final vows and believe they can now lead their own style of life. In fact in an effort to seek relationships outside, some have given up religious life altogether and opted for married life. If they find relationships outside,

-•_ CNNi B Efieligious Life, 50.

28 some of our men have opted to live a duo kind of life By this I mean that they remain

members of the congregation and have secret lovers outside This indeed is one of the

biggest challenges of life at this level. The following of Christ becomes an issue that is not clear to us. But if looked at it properly, the following of Christ in three vows that me

take, inspired by love, lived in faith and sustained by hope becomes our wholehearted

response to God's love.22

And yet another big task for the person who has made final vows in my congregation, is to be of good service to the community. Actually I look at this as being fundamental in the life of every community member. However, some of our men do not take this seriously. They do every other job outside the community and only come back home to eat and sleep. And of course this is done in the belief that they are now old enough for any one to challenge them. The point here is that for some people, they are of great service when they are still under temporal vows, but this zeal dies out when they take their final vows. This is a sad thing to do because it defeats the whole purpose of brotherhood. Normally, a community member should be involved in little jobs around the community such as ensuring that the premises are clean gardening and many such little and yet necessary jobs. Some of our men, however, neglect this saying they are now old for that.

Our mission as a group is to do God's work as already stated above. This mission is quite clearly stated for every brother and we try to follow it especially when we are still under our temporal vows. As years go by, however„this missionary spirit gets lost. Some of the

CO:CcMFG/CI ION of CI IRISFIAN B120TIIERSJ 'onsillti /ion v.5

29 older members that I have talked to bring to my attention the fact that some of them lost

direction in life. They no longer knew why they joined this kind of life or whether this

life is of any benefit to them. This is one of the biggest risks of life after taking final

vows. One could easily lose direction and start doing things that can only suit them and

not the mission of the congregation and the church

Helping the larger community outside? Many of our brothers seem to find this job

fulfilling. They are ready to go out and help, many times even before they are asked to do

so. This is probably as a result of some pressure they may be going through in

community They could be finding some relief and consolation through doing outside

works. But as they are doing so, people outside do have some reactions as to what they

think of a brother who has taken final vows. Some of the comments people pass are that

such brothers become full of themselves when it comes to spintual matters. By this they

mean such brothers do not heed to advice from anybody when it comes to matters of

prayer and other spiritual matters. They believe they know it all.

When it comes to personal expectations, this becomes very interesting. Personally, when

I made my final commitment, I thought my way of looking at religious life will change.

For example, I thought I would become a more prayerful person than I was under

temporal vows But this has not been that way. I have found myself still struggling to become a man of prayer. It is still not yet easy. I do get similar sentiment from brothers in my category_ They all seem to be finding it hard to become men of prayer. One other personal expectation that is hard to fulfill is that of trust By this I mean that despite a

30 person having had made it to this final stage, there is still not much trust shown to them

by the community. The same treatment that was given to them when they were under

temporal vows does seem to continue to be ,given One of the reasons why a person

would be looking forward to making final vows would be to reach a stage when your

community can trust you. If this does not happen, then there is a lot of tension within

oneself and this can lead to a person going astray,

Some of our brothers that are having difficulties in life are those that have not been given the trust that they had expected when they were still young. Some of them have resorted to doing what they are not supposed to do as an expression of their anger. Some of these could be refusing to participate fully in the life of the community. Some have tended to neglect community prayer. Others have gone into excessive alcohol consumption, others still are not just ready to corporate with anybody.

Nevertheless, some expectations are truly met. Some of the trust I have been talking about above is actually given. This has been my experience, anyway. I have been left to make choices over what I want to do. This was so because my community trusted me. A number of the brothers that I have known at this stage have too expressed that they have been trusted but the problem had been what to do with the trust and confidence that was shown to them. Generally, some personal expectations are met while others do still have a long way to be met.

3.7 Is This Kind of Life Worthwhile?

31 This is one of the questions that has been haunting me all the time. It has actually been

one of the questions that made me come up with this topic for my essay. I suppose many

people that that have made final vows do have this question in mind and those that are

about to make this commitment do have this question in mind. Talking to some of my

brothers in my congregation, I do get some mixed feelings. For some brothers who have

been in this life for a long time, they express that a number of times they have

encountered moments of loneliness. It was during these moments that they have been

flooded with questions as to whether what they were doing was the right thing or not. But

many of them would express that they have no regret for being religious for most of their

lives. They regard this life as being precious.

However, many people, especially the young ones, would have a lot of reservations when

it comes to joining religious life. They would regard it as being an outdated kind of life.

And this makes the thought of following this kind of lire for life a very hard decision to

make. There are so many changes that are taking place in the world today. These changes

do not favour the kind of lifestyle that is dictated to in religious life. It is true to say that

the changes that are taking place in the world today have lead to a sharp decrease in the

number of vocations in many parts of the world'. These changes have equally affected

my congregation. But by far I feel that there is a lot of hope for the future. Many of the

young people that are joining us are very optimistic that there is some bright future ahead.

And so, when answering the question whether there is a future for religious life, the

answer would be yes. Despite the difficulties that may be encountered on the way, many

73 MC( iARRN" Ihe Concecra fed We,22.

'Tr 32 of our brothers that I have talked to express that the future is bright. The evidence to this

has been the growing number of vocations, especially in Africa. This increase in vocation

is raising great hope for the rest of the world.

It is encouraging reading the Consecrated Lilt It says, "The various difficulties must in

no way lead to a loss of confidence in consecrated life".241 think this is the spirit that is

also prevailing in our congregation Difficulties have to weighed down our zeal. The

brothers who are under final vows so far are still leading a life that is giving a good

example to other people around.

So, after many years, the experience of religious life is a very positive one for many of

our men. An 80-year-old brother recently told me that he thanks God for his life because

most of it was characterized by good moments He did not show any signs of regret. He is

still a shining example to us all My findings so far prove ihat many of our religious men,

old and young especially those that have gone through final vows do not believe that

theirs is a wasted life. Instead, they believe that theirs is a life that is full of hope and it

brings hope to others. Whether there is loneliness, confusions, hard tasks and any kind of

difficulties, there is still great hope for the future, at least in our congregation. But that is

not to say that temptations have been overcome, but rather we struggle to overcome them.

21 Mt.'t UZRY C . The Consecrated Life, 22. -r-

33 4 Chapter Three

4.1 Biblical Interpretation of Religious Life

Religious Life is not just another kind of life. It has its mots deeply grown in the Bible,

based on the teachings of Christ. It is for this reason that we that try to live it out should

center our lives on the Biblical teaching. It is meant to he lived out as a holy kind of life.

It is gratifying to note that the Bible does have a lot of teachings that can help us go on

with life in a holy way. 2 Thesalonians 2:13 has this message for us;" But we ought to

give thanks to God for you always, brothers loved by the lord, because God chose you as

the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in truth"?5 In

• this the message for us in religious life should be that of thanks giving to God for being

chosen in a very special way to serve Him. We should always remember that being

chosen does not mean that we are a privileged type of Christians. Therefore, we should

never take anything for granted, whether we have attained final vows or not. We should

try to live according to the vows that we willingly made

By becoming members of a religious congregation like the one that I belong to, we are

publicly saying that we have truly accepted God and are geared up to work for Him. Just

this acceptance enables us to be a holy people, worthy to belong to God' family. In the

Gospel of John 1:12, this acceptance is brought out when the passage says:" But to those

who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in

TM' AfRICNN 131131E

34 his name".26 So we do actually have the power to become children of God. I do believe

that this is the kind of power that we do abuse sometimes by misusing the property and

other privileges that are entrusted to us by the church.

Religious life may look different today as compared to the way it was in the past.

Nevertheless, it must always have Biblical components in it. Otherwise it would simply

become a life without any meaning or direction. As stated earlier, it calls for holiness. In

the Old Testament, the people of Israel were called to this holiness. They, as a chosen

people of God, were supposed to abide by certain regulations Otherwise, they would not

have been a chosen race at all. Leviticus I I:44-45 says:

For I the Lord, am your Ciod: and you shall make and keep yourselves

holy. because lam holy. You shall not make yourselves unclean, then, S.

In any swarming creature that crawls on the ground Since I lie I .ord

brought you up from the land of Egypt that I might he your Clod, '. ou

Shall be luth 1,CCIIIISO I wii hol).

In the same way, as members of a religious family. I believe, we should try to embrace

some of this teaching as it can help us come to terms with what we are really called for.

In earlier chapters, I did mention the need for religious to embrace prayer life. This could

actually involve reading the Bible. It is readings such as the ones am trying to highlight

now that can help us grow and understand what we are really doing. Otherwise we are

bound to lead a life without any significance.

Iin AFRICANI3IBLE

35 Being religious people does not mean that we are totally different from other people. We

still remain different. In my congregation, however, we are always encouraged to make

use of the differences that we have with each other for the benefit of all humanity. We all

have different gifts. We need to use these differences for the growth of the kingdom of

God. I do believe that when a person has made final vows, it is an important moment to

realize the different gifts that he or she has and use them to serve the community that he

is leaving with. The use of such gifts could lead to a reduction in the various wrong

doings that we do see around among people who are living in religious life today. I Peter

4: 10 seem to be giving us an idea on how best to do this The passage says,"As each one

has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace."27

Indeed when we come to join a religious congregation, we bring with ourselves our

similarities and differences. Certainly, these will contribute towards the shaping of our

lives in religious life. But how beautiful it can be if we can use these differences for the

growth of the entire group Sometimes we learn from these differences. They help us

know the way we are going with our life.

Indeed how beautiful religious life can be today if it was deeply rooted in the teachings of

the bible. I wouldn't mind equating this style that I would imagine religious life should be

with the teaching found in Ephesians 4: 15,16. These two verses say:

Rather living in the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the

The head, Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every

Supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the

'Cr; Pr nu: 4 Ill 14- 36 -11

Body's growth and builds itself up in love?'

Really, the main emphasis in religious life should be love. Love among the members of

the congregation and then love towards those people whose lives we are supposed to

touch. This is very important. Otherwise if we do not show love to ourselves and those

people around us, we must as well consider ourselves as just another organization that

exists for the sake of humanity.

As stated in earlier chapters, religious life is quite challenging, at least in my

congregation. But if we read some parts of scripture we can have some consolation as to

how to minimize some of these challenges. The only sure way to try and achieve this is

through prayer. If we invite Christ in our lives, many of our burdens can be minimized.

Some of these words of consolation can be found in I Peter 4: 4-10.29 These words

clearly point to Christ as the answer to some of our troubles. And yet how many times

have we faced what we might consider as serious problems and yet forgotten to bring the

to Christ in prayer? In whatever we do, we should always remain steadfast in prayer. This

is the core of religious life. John 15:5 also has some strong message for us. This says:

"lam the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much

fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Again this passage too has some pointers

to us in religious life that without dedicating our lives to Christ, we can achieve quite

little of what we try to live out.

FPIII siANsA 4:15-16 15 5

37 So the fact remains that our lives as members of religious life should be engrossed deeply in prayer. Not only that, they should be modeled on the teachings of Christ. After all, it is

His life style that we are trying to imitate , Therefore, as much as possible, we are expected to do things the way Himself did them. This is not easy, but this is the challenge that lies ahead of us.

Because our lives are so much dependant on the life of Christ, we cannot run away from

Him for favours. This therefore requires of us to be humble all the time. We should humble ourselves before the Lord and seek guidance from him. This in turn will help us to be humble before our fellow human beings. In a way, I think our vow of obedience stresses the need to be humble. A number of times, some of the men in my congregation have failed to achieve their objectives because they have failed to humble themselves before the Lord. They have taken life for granted simply because they have made final vows. But as humble servant of the Lord we need to give thanks to God our father for whatever we have done. Colossians 3: 17 says;') And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the father through Him". I believe that we can only give thanks to God genuinely, if we can humble ourselves. Humbleness is a good virtue for any God-fearing Christian. Being humble will enable us to do good to the many people that our lives are Rely to touch. "So then, while we have the opportunity, let us do good to all, but especially to those who belong to the family of the faith."Thn this little quote. Galatians is trying to remind us of the need to be good to one another. This calling, once implemented, can make religious life very

Cr 0 )LOSSIANS 3 . 17. 'Ci (i.kLA I-1ANS 6: 10

38 worthwhile. I believe even after taking final vows, if the virtue of kindness is put

forward, those people that make these vows cannot regret for the decisions that they

make And yet in my earlier analysis above, we have seen how sometimes we can be very

unkind to one another, how we can wish earth other had luck simply because of some

small differences. This is uncalled for according to biblical teachings.

The various scripture passages have got a lot to teach about religious life. One good

lesson that I do always find in Matthew and the one that helps me to move along is the

one that talks against revenge. "Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.

This is the law and the prophets.32 One of the greatest difficulties in building.religious life

communities is the area of mistrust. This mistrust leads to hateful feelings among the

members of the community. I have certainly expenenced it in my community. Because of

these hateful feelings, members of the community may tend to seek revenge whenever

their counterpart has offended them. This is the kind of behaviour that is being

discouraged here in Matthew As members of one family, the family of Christ, we should

not do to our fellow community members, indeed to any fellow human being, what we

would not like them to do to us. Doing so will be a breach of what we stand up to as

Christians. And how lovely our community lives would have been if we had followed

these principles. However, many times we do fail to live up to these principles and this

failure leads to a lot of discomfort among ourselves. As Christians, we are always

challenged to do away with hateful feelings. We are challenged to show brotherly

affliction to those that we live with and those outside whom we are likely to get in touch

with.

L.- CI, MA injpw 7: 12 t. 39 •t

As religious people, we are also challenged strongly to have regard for others in its

highest form. This challenge keeps on being repeated because it is at the core of our

being and followers of Christ. Certainly, as brothers we try to live a life not to ourselves

but for others. We are supposed to be of service to others. John 15:13 truly challenges us

on this. John says: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's

fnends.-331 think this is our greatest service that we can offer; to lay down our lives for

one another. This does not literally mean that we physically die for one another, but

rather we do the best for the other person. Doing the best for the other person entails that

we show them our love, care and concern. In a way, I regard this as the prime reason for

one to opt for final vows. Making these final vows would give the person involved an

opportunity to be of great service to others without hoping to get some reward at the end.

This kind of service is only possible is the virtue of love is really emphasized. John again

reminds us of the teaching of Christ when he says, "I give you a new commandment: love

one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another .13411 is this love

that should control our every action in our lives as religious people. And I believe it is

this kind of love that can make us different from other people.

Earlier on, I mentioned the fact that some of our brothers, myself included, can easily

develop a tendency to like money and other possessions. This in a way is a violation of

the vow of poverty, which we freely and publicly make. Well, the scriptures have got

something to say on this. Matthew in particular has something from Christ Himself when

CF JOHN 15.13 "CF JOHN 13: 34

40 He says, "No one can serve two masters. lie will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."35 This is clearly the danger of seeking wealth for those that have opted for religious life, more especially when one goes even further to make final vows. It is either one goes all the way for wealth or one decides to follow the teachings of Christ. We cannot go both ways.

Acquiring wealth puts us in bad way. Instead of concentrating on what we are called to do, thus praying and serving the Lord, we can find ourselves concentrating on protecting the wealth that we have accumulated. As religious or brothers, like in my case, we are the

Disciples of Chnst. Now, it is not easy to be a disciple of Christ. It demands letting go of a lot of desires and comforts that go with human nature Certainly, wealth and other possessions that we may not need should be gotten rid of Jesus in Luke says in the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.-36 This is indeed a fnghtful statement, for how many of us to actually have possessions and yet claim to he Disciples ofChnsi9

However, we can try to follow these various teachings if we follow the teachings of

Christ. Christ always challenges as to pray. This has already been stated above but this shows how important prayer is. Prayer is the key to all the difficulties that we could be going through. Jesus Himself spent a good amount of time praying. On many occasions he was found in the house of God, praying. That is why even at a tender age, he got lost from his parents and was only found in the temple. "And he said to them, 'Why were you

" CI- MAT mtw 6 24 0; Ina; 14 33.

41 looking for me? Didn't you know that I must be in my father's house'?"37Many of these

Bible passages are interpreting the way religious life should be lived. They try to guide us how we are supposed to behave ourselves and be true followers of Christ. As many of them state, it is not an easy thing to be a follower of Christ. It demands that we let go of a lot of things and lead a disciplined life. The Bible is our guide. Let those who really want to follow Christ follow it's teaching.

Religious life is based on the scriptures. People that look at us judge us according to the way they understand the scriptures. This is therefore a big challenge for those who are known as religious The Bible is the ground on which our lives are built.

4.2 Importance of Religious Life Today

We the people that vow to spend our lives as religious men and women should do so happily and courageously. When we go ahead and pronounce our final commitment, we should bear in mind that what we are doing is good For the whole humankind. I do strongly believe that religious life is still highly valid in the world today. A number of

reasons for this.

Firstly, the world as we know it today has undergone a lot of changes. People have gone

into a great desire for matenal possessions to an extent that they have even forgotten about the value of fellow human beings. This is one of the areas where religious life

comes in to challenge such behaviours. If the people that live out this kind of life style

IA kr 2 49

42 can live it the way it should be, then they can show to the rest of the world that you can

actually lead a happy life even with the very minimum of possessions. Apart from

demonstrating the possibility of a simple and yet a happy life style, religious life is also

there to show that it is possible for people to still live as a family today. This is one of the

structures that is being destroyed in many parts of the world today. Many people are

opting to stay in nuclear families. The extended family system is gone. However, in

religious life, this extended family system is still there. The challenge here lies on the people in this life to show that they can live with other people. This is one of the

challenges of the person who has gone ahead and publicly says yes he or she is ready to

make final vows. When such an action is taken, for sure the world is given an example of

another form of life-style and thus emphasizing the importance and relevance of religious

life in the world today.

Where as consumerism is on the increase in many parts of the globe, high poverty levels

in places like Africa are on the rise. Many people find themselves in such situations end

up having nobody coming to their aid In such instances, members of religious

communities have come in to offer some form of help. This help has ranged from

material support to skills training so that such people can become self-reliant. Now such

activities are very important. They actually form the basis for the taking of the vow of

poverty A person who has taken such a vow therefore tries to show to those he or she is

serving that they are ready to share what they have with those that have very little. This is

the relevance of religious life in the world today that I am talking about. Religious life is

as valid today as it has been in previous centuries, even though its role might vary. I like

43 a quotation in Catherine M. Harmer's book, Religious tile in The 2I' Century, when she says:

A good friend of her's, an Episcopal priest, used to speak of religious as 'The

Protcstants of the Catholic Church'. He said this as praise in the sense that religious exercise their prophetic roles and challenge the church and the world as part of their nature. 38 I believe this is one of the biggest roles of religious life today. To stand up and challenge those structures that are oppressive to people regardless of who they are.

Religious life is very important today because the people, who profess this kind of life, if they are true to themselves, are supposed to be a source of hope to those that are marginalized. The religious are supposed to be a voice for the voiceless. There are so many voiceless people today. Take for instance those that have no one to provide for their needs, they need somebody to take care of them. This can only be possible if there can be some intervention, let's say from religious people Thus why the religious people must be ready to lead society by very good example because they are expected to perform very highly by people around them

In the church, there are notable structures, mainly the clergy and the laity. Very often, the clergy are seen to be high up in leadership and the laity are below. But both groups need to live their lives as Christians. This can be quite challenging. The religious, however, if they are true to their calling, can try and bndge this gap. Their life-styles can be an example to those that are seeing how they do things. Recently, somebody asked me why I

I& HARMER C.M. Religious Life in the 21's Celan 92

44 take delight in being a brother. At first, I thought I had an immediate answer to this question and then I realized that the question needs some good thought before answering it. I think one of the reasons for one entering into religious life today is to show the world

that there is another way of serving the Lord. And this is one way. The structure of

religious life, thus, community living, prayer, simplicity of life-style, sharing and other

virtues can show to the rest of the world that the resources that we have together can

actually be shared and that we can try and live out our lives happily. Some two years ago,

my own father came to visit me in my community back in Zambia I sat him in our

community room and shortly, other brothers came to greet him. These brothers included

whites and blacks. He was very surprised at this mixture of races in one community. He

asked me quietly how possible it is for us to live together I told him that it is very

possible and in fact we do not even see each other as members of different races. We just

see ourselves as brothers. This kind of mixture did actually shock him a bit, but this is the

kind of life that we as religious are supposed to show to the. outside world.

The very act of discipleship, which is supposed to be at the center of our lives, is in itself

an important reason to exist in this world that has become full of evil. Many people have

lost direction in life. Many people have lost the sense of belonging to any God-fearing

group. They are always trying to find a group that can help them out. I think this is where

the importance of religious life comes in. According to the traditional doctrine of the

Church, the consecrated life by its nature is neither lay nor clerical.39 For this reason, I

think it stands in a better position to dialogue between the laity and the clergy. In this

way, it stands a better chance to change the lives of many people who might need help.

IE CONSECRATED LIFE_ 60

45 By its nature, religious life and those that do live it practice jobs that are not very

different from other people That is why the laity can easily associate themselves with the

religious when it comes to their daily duties hence the religious can find it easy to help

them sort out their faith problems. If properly understood, religious life can help build the

church greatly.

One other practical reason for religious life today is its involvement in many activities

such as running of schools, medical institutions, social groups and many others. These are

not easy undertakings to curry out, certainly not in the third world. And yet we have seen

how successful such institutions have been under the care of these men and women of

God. We have seen how much help these institutions have given to the poorest among

our society. I do not know how life would have been in the absence of some of these

religious congregations. This brings back to the question of dedication among the people

that do join this kind of life-style. They must be honest people right from the time when

they join to the time when they make their final vows. There should be no change to say I

will start working hard when I make my final vows or I will work hard now and reduce

after my final vows.

I believe religious life is as important today as it was years back. It stands to do the work

of God. It may have changed its form and rules may have changed over the years, but its

significance remains the same as it was before.

43 Conclusion

46 APE In this essay, my interest was to find out about people in religious life if their life-style

changes as they go on in life. Through my readings and talking to different people in

religious life and indeed through my lived experience, I have concluded that yes, people

do change after some years. It was interesting to note that some of our young men in my

congregation lead very good lives before they make their final vows. One told me that he

does that just for survival. However, no sooner had they made their final vows than they

change their ways of life. Some tend to be harsh towards those in authority, just to try and

hit back where they were mistreated. Personally, when I made my final vows after years

of being told by my superior what to do, I just felt a sense of relief I felt like becoming

rebellious so that I hit back at those people that were hard on me. Then after months of

reflection, it occurred to me that actually these people were being of help to me. They

were merely challenging me and they helped me to reach this far. These were my honest

thoughts and they are different from the thoughts of some of my fellow religious.

A number of our young people even up to today believe any challenge on their behaviour

is an attack on their human rights. The person that challenges them is looked upon as an

enemy, who should be taught a lesson once they have made final vows. Such people have

become very difficult to live with in community because they are trying to come to terms

with the alleged mistreatments of the past. In fact my findings are that it is from among

these people that went through a tough temporally professed religious background that

we find many that enter into vices that are unbearable with the teachings of scripture and

indeed of many religious constitutions. Such vices include excessive beer drinking and

even indulgence in immoral sexual behaviour. I believe this is because of the anger that

47 was accumulated over the many years. A number of people who have gone through this kind of life have not only lead sad lives in religious life but also ended up quitting religious life altogether. I do have in mind a number of examples to this effect, some of which include members of my own congregation.

However, many people that I talked to including those that are not members of my congregation expressed that making final vows was a turning point in their lives. They said that the ritual of making vows enabled them to look at their lives seriously and make some changes to those areas where they had made mistakes. I felt in a way that this was my feeling too when I was about to make my final vows. I was compelled to reflect on my life and came to a realization that I was supposed to be a true follower of Christ, so much that if there were any shortcomings in my life before my final vows, now it was time to change The final vows ritual in itself was a very peaceful moment to be in the company of Christ

Taking final vows should be a step forward for those that want to serve God in an honest way and want to remain at His service for the rest of their lives. It is a big challenge to those of us still in religious life as we have to keep on asking ourselves questions such as what really am I doing in the building of God's kingdom? Is this really the kind of life that I will pursue forever? It really calls for one to be prudent. Otherwise, the events in the modem world of today would make one lose direction I mean the world of today does not see much sense in one following Christ in this manner. Very often the media is at the negative side as it takes a swipe at people who are trying to live out this life. But

48 there is always hope to succeed at the end ,when we see examples of great men and

women who have lived this life very happily.

My observation as I was writing this essay is that many peoples' expectations after

making final vows are not met. For example, I did talk about people who think that they

will become more holy after taking this step. But once they get there, they discover that

they still remain who they were before and therefore do not succeed in achieving this

holiness. For many this period after final vows becomes a time of loneliness. They have

done what is expected of them and so what else is there for them to achieve? Apart from

daily routines such as going to teach, what else are they supposed to be doing? If one is

not careful, the tendency is to lose direction and start leading a life contrary to the freely

taken vows. For some people still, their vision for being members of a religious family

gets lost. In some cases, I was made to believe that when some people are joining

religious life, they have that great zeal to work for the kingdom of God However, upon

joining, structures in some of our houses have made them lose that zeal Sometimes, the

old members that are found in the religious houses do not treat them well to an extent that

some of them lose focus of what they are supposed to do and eventually end up leaving.

This, however, does not mean that all is not well after final vows. A lot of people have

found fulfillment in this life. Many older religious people would tell you that they have

no regret for choosing religious life. Man jH young people still find this way of life

enriching for them as they try to serve the Lord in different ways.

*if 49 My other observation has been that while many of our brothers (and I guess this is true

even to some other congregations) knew very.well the requirements for being members

of a religious congregation, requirements such as the keeping of the vows, they

deliberately decide to go against these requirements in the name of being modem people.

Such a move has very often has lead to the confrontation between an individual member

and the rest of the community. When such a thing happened, it was not the rest of the

community that suffered but rather the individual member So, the keeping of the vows is

a big factor in determining whether one should.remain the same person after making final

vows. I think in the case of Africa, the vow of celibacy plays a big role in this matter.

Many young people could be going through a lot of difficulties as are result of this vow

and yet it is difficult for them to express themselves, especially if they are living in cross-

cultural communities and many of their fellow members are way above their age. The

vow of celibacy is crucial. I do agree with Barbara Fiand, in her book Refocusing The

Vision when she quotes Sandra Schneider's as saying that

Celibac is the determining characteristic ()I' religious life in a way militia

Poverty nor obedience can be Celibacy distinguishes religious life

From other forms of Christian life just taking another person for one's

awful wedded spouse tbr better or for worse distinguishes marriage

e nun other states of life. (New Wineskins [New York: Paultst. 19861. 69

This vow indeed can be a source of concern to persons entering religious life. It can be

biting. As I have already mentioned, people may not want to express it openly but

I! ' VIAND B., Refocusing The I 'ision,105.

•fr 50 probably it can be expressed in deeds, whose result could be quiet disastrous in

community

To really conclude to the question, Religious Life, what happens after final vows? The

answer could be that a lot of things do happen after final vows. But this stage of

formation requires one to remain focused on their calling and what they are doing.

Otherwise many people do leave or if they remain, they would simply be members of the

community who might otherwise be members of a non-governmental organization.

51 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Azevedo M., S.J., Vocation for Mission, New York 1988.

2. Arbuckle GA., Earthing The Gospel, New York. 1990.

3. Carroll L.P.,S.J,, To love M Share To Serve, Minnesota, 1980.

4. Chittister J., OSB , The Fire in these Ashes, Mumbai, 1995.

5 Connolly B.F., C.ss.R, Religious Life, Balaka.

6. Constitution of The Christian Brothers,1996.

7. hand B., Refocusing the Vision, New York, 2001

8. Harmer CM., Religious Lde in the 21" t'enturv. Mumbai, 2000.

9. McGarry C., The ( .onsecrated life, Nairobi, 1996.

10 The African Bibk, Nairobi, 1999.

11 Van Kaam A., C.S.Ssp., The Vowed Life, New Jersey.

52