On February 2nd, Pope Francis preached for the 25th World Day for Consecrated life. His theme was patience: how Simeon was patient in waiting for the Lord and how those in religious life must be patient, too, whether personally, in community life, or with the world. Read Francis's full homily [...]
Koningshoeven Abbey in the Netherlands has introduced a new idea for those discerning entrance into their Trappist monastery: an electronic, or virtual, novitiate, which they call "eNovice." This system does not seem to be a replacement for the in-person novitiate, but rather is a tool that those interested in the monastery [...]
The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL) released a letter on January 18th, 2021 in honor of the upcoming World Day for Consecrated Life on February 2nd, 2021. With this letter, we wish to lessen the physical distance imposed on us for so many [...]
Dr. Peggy Delmas recently published a qualitative account of three early scientific pioneers, all of them women religious. She found their experience in scientific research to be marked by marginalization and religious discrimination, but they also enjoyed remarkable support from their congregations and often saw their work as extension of [...]
A number of religious orders or leadership bodies associated with religious orders issued statements or offered prayers in the aftermath of the violence at the US Capitol building on January 6th, 2021. Links: Leadership Conference of Women Religious Sisters of St. Joseph, US Federation Congregation of the Sisters of St. [...]
Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk who famously documented his conversion and entrance into the monastery in the Seven Storey Mountain, also wrote about race during the 1960s. Those writings now seem especially relevant given the racial tensions the United States experienced in 2020. Although it may seem odd that a largely [...]
Fr. Reginald Foster, OCD, the longtime Latinist for the Vatican's Secretariat of State, passed away on December 25th, 2020 at the age of 81. Obituaries and remembrances: New York Times First Things Vatican News Catholic News Service Smithsonian Magazine Aleteia.org National Public Radio Photo: CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
The COVID-19 pandemic has been especially devastating to those in religious life, as communal living makes the normal measures taken to defeat the virus - social distancing and isolation - hard to enact. In addition, an aging population in religious life means a greater risk of death from COVID. Recently, [...]
On July 1, 2020, CICLSAL issued a notice giving congregations and institutes the power to dispense with the "personal presence" required by canon 166§1 for the safety of all involved. Meetings between councilors and major superiors can now be held via "telecommunications," provided the following conditions are met: “that in [...]
Student loans continue to impact entry into religious life. In a 2012 study, nearly 1/3 of applicants reported significant student debt which hindered their vocation, according to to the National Religious Vocation Conference. The problem continues today: Sr. Ann Dominic, a Dominican sister who found a way to pay down [...]