Natalia Dedinsky
The number of women entering consecrated life has declined in the United States since the 1960s. Many religious communities are aging, with fewer young women entering formation.
Friends of the Bridegroom is an organization that works to promote healing in religious communities and cultivate vocations on a diocesan level.
The founder, Fr. John Burns, believes there are practical ways to foster a renewal of women's religious life.
FR. JOHN BURNS
Founder of Friends of the Bridegroom
They're the best vocation directors there are when you see a holy happy healthy religious woman you're like well that's what the life is that's what the bride is that's what a spiritual mother looks like And then with that, we work to cultivate a culture of vocations in dioceses, parishes.
Fr. John says many young men first consider the priesthood because a priest, parishioner, or family member encouraged them to discern. He explains that young women should receive similar encouragement.
FR. JOHN BURNS
Founder of Friends of the Bridegroom
The church. doesn't work well without women religious, that kind of a church without sisters is like a family that doesn't have a mother. And we've got good fathers in our priests, and we need more of them. We need to help them always. But we also need to have spiritual mothers present in the church everywhere, because they remind us that we need to have spiritual mothers present in the church. that the church is Marian, the church is a bride, the church is a mother.
The women religious of today have much wisdom to give, and have waiting lists into the hundreds of dioceses requesting their presence. They have walked through difficult times and come out the other side. Through their dedication, Fr. John says, they have helped the Church grow and heal, especially in the United States.
FR. JOHN BURNS
Founder of Friends of the Bridegroom
There is a real movement, I know, in the heart of God to renew religious life, and it's going to renew the church. But the Lord really invites us to ask the Lord to send vocations. And rather than just looking back and being nostalgic and saying, oh, remember the sisters or I miss the sisters. Let's love the sisters that we have well, and then let's beg the Lord to renew their communities and to send more. We'll only be a better church.
For Friends of the Bridegroom, the future of women's consecrated life is one of hope. Fr. John says that as new vocations emerge and religious communities grow, the Church will be renewed through them as living icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
