February 2, 2013
(Romereports.com) A time for transformation, renewal and an opportunity to go back to one's spiritual roots. This is how Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz describes the current state of religious life.
As the prefect of the Congregation for Consecrated Life,
the Cardinal says that in Asia, Africa and Latin America, there's a
continuous need to make sure that vocations are chosen in good faith.
While in Europe, the U.S. Canada and Australia, for example, the
challenge is to renew congregations by going back to the root message of
their founders.
CARD. JOAO BRAZ DE AVIZ
Prefect, Congregation for Consecrated Life
“The
most important things are not projects. See, projects are the fruit of
different religious charisms. But what we must consider is, if these
projects help keep these charisms alive. Without the charism, the
project will surely die. It's better to reduce the projects and have the
charism intact. That is returning to the fundamental message of the
founders, which is based on the Gospel.”
The cardinal
highlights the need to return to the root mission of a congregation. He
goes on to say that throughout history, some congregations survived with
only one member. By living out their true mission, the numbers
eventually grew to 3,000.
CARD. JOAO BRAZ DE AVIZ
Prefect, Congregation for Consecrated Life
“The
grace and the message by which the congregation was born, has to be the
focus. It has to be cared for. Sometimes it's not only members who
don't live this out, but also superiors. When that happens, the charism
dies. It's not that God wants it to die, but it's that we haven't
created the conditions for it to thrive.”
Another challenge is the relationship between religious orders. The cardinal says, there must be a stronger bond among them.
CARD. JOAO BRAZ DE AVIZ
Prefect, Congregation for Consecrated Life
“In
the Church we must learn to help one another. If one charism is
suffering and needs help, another that's in good standing, should
respond. But it should respond in every sense of the word: So
economically or even with vocation formation... There are so many things
we can do to help. Sometimes we are too isolated and in the end this
hurts us.”
So when it comes down it, Cardinal Braz de Aviz
says authentic missions are key, not necessarily the number of members
or institutions. Even though there's still work to be done, he says, he
sees clear signs of hope.
OFL @ odelafu /KLH
AA
JM
-PR
U:vic
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