Courtney McGrailThe year of consecrated life should motivate us for mission, writes Fr Peter Rodgers
Fr Peter Rodgers
As we move towards the middle of this special year of prayer, reflection and action dedicated to all forms of consecrated life in the Church, it is no harm to pause for a while and look back on our experience to date but also look forward to what lies ahead.
Even before the year started, it seemed to me that in dedicating a special year to consecrated life, the Church was offering to religious women and men a great gift, an opportunity to focus on the place of religious life at the heart of the Church and at the heart of the Church’s mission. It is also a great opportunity for personal and community renewal, for re-focussing on Christ and on the Gospel message which must be at the centre of all that we are and do.
This particular gift, it seems to me, comes with a task. Like any other gift it must be unpacked. Pope Francis has spoken of this year as a call to “wake up the World”, to rediscover the “joy of the Gospel” and to communicate this joy by all that we are and all that we do. The joy of the Gospel is such that once we have discovered it ourselves we will want to share it with others.
So there is a challenge offered to religious this year and this challenge is to rediscover, to unpack once more the joy of being called to religious life in the Church, which should in turn motivate us for mission. In other words, this particular gift is not meant just to be put in a glass-case to be admired but brings with it an urgent call to action.
This supplement is offered as a snapshot of some of the many ways in which religious in Ireland today are involved in “waking up the world”. By no means does it pretend to be in any way comprehensive. It focuses in a particular way on the various projects through which religious are responding to the new and emerging needs occasioned by the changing circumstances of life around us.
Religious throughout the country continue with the many facets of their lives that have been part of the Irish landscape over many centuries. They are women and men of prayer, personally and in community, they continue to be involved in institutions providing healthcare and education; they continue to bring practical help to people who are poor and homeless, who feel marginalised and lost. Many religious have received public recognition for their contribution in these areas. It is also the case that much of the energy and resources of religious today are devoted to caring for the growing number of elderly religious, who spent their lives in the service of the Church and of God’s people and who are now in need themselves.
With this supplement we want to open a window on some of the projects which respond to new “cries of the poor”. Issues of social justice, peace and care for the integrity of creation will always be important for the Christian family, as also will help and support for those who fall through the gaps created by the new systems, be they educational or health-related.
The growth in the number of people, young and old, coming to our country and seeking asylum has touched the hearts of many religious and has evoked a generous and heartfelt response to their plight. This growth has also brought with it first-hand experience of inter-faith issues and the necessity to be actively engaged in this dialogue. People trafficking is a growing phenomenon and once again women religious are in the forefront seeking practical solutions to what Pope Francis has rightly described as modern-day slavery.
While we are very aware that the story of religious in Ireland has an unacceptably dark side to it, efforts have been made, and continue to be made, to try to redress some of the unspeakable harm done. Very large personnel and financial resources have been put in to setting up the three-pronged response promised by the Bishops’ Conference, Conference of Religious Ireland (CORI) and the Irish Missionary Union (IMU), namely, the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, the counselling service Towards Healing and the offer of spiritual accompaniment in Towards Peace. Our hope is that they have, even in a small way, made a positive contribution.
One of the hallmarks of religious life in Ireland today is the openness to collaboration, collaboration with other religious, collaboration with laity and diocesan clergy. This is especially evident in many of the new projects presented in these pages, and is a rich source of new fruitfulness and opens up a whole new range of possibilities. It is the way forward.
All of this work, and much more, is put out there before you not for praise or for thanks, but as a simple statement that religious men and women continue to play a part in the Ireland of today. The generosity that was a mark of so many religious in the past is still alive today and long may it flourish.
Pope Francis has given religious three tasks for this year: To look to the past with gratitude, to live the present with passion and to embrace the future with hope. So be it. Amen.
Fr Peter Rodgers, OFM Cap., is Director General of the Conference of Religious Ireland (CORI).
Why have a year of ‘consecrated life’?
Many people have wondered why this year is called the ‘Year of Consecrated Life’ and not the ‘Year of Religious Life’.
All Christians share a common consecration through their Baptism and the Church recognises a great variety of ways in which Christians live this consecration. Among these ways is a group of people who belong to what the Church calls Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
Religious Life is one of these, familiar to us in Ireland through the many orders and congregations with communities here: Dominicans, Presentation Sisters and Brothers, Franciscans, Jesuits, Mercy Sisters, Religious Sisters of Charity – to name but a few.
Side by side with religious life, the Church also recognises as forms of consecrated life Societies of Apostolic Life(such as the Columbans and the Mill Hill Missionaries); consecrated virgins(the oldest form of consecrated life in the Church); hermitswho lead lives dedicated to solitude, prayer and penance; secular instituteswhose members live lives fully engaged in the ordinary conditions of life while observing a private commitment to the Gospel counsels.
All of these are included in this special year.