THE HERMENEUTIC OF CONTINUITY IN RELIGIOUS LIFE AND WITNESS LINKED TO THE PRE-VATICAN WITNESS OF THE SAME BROUGHT UP TO DATE FOR TODAY AND PROMOTED BY READING ONE POPE THROUGH ANOTHER!

Sometimes our collective memory fades, even of things that are of the recent past. As a teenager in the late 1960's I recall reading in Our Sunday Visitor or perhaps it was the National Catholic Register (not Reporter) an article lamenting the confusion in the Church caused by the wrong implementation of Vatican II and an egalitarian view of the world that all things are equal and God is to be found in a variety of places even apart from the Catholic Church. This had led to a diminution of evangelical mission in the Church. The number of "converts" had plummeted in the Church in the 1960's and 70's and there was a sense that there was no need for converts, especially from the Protestant traditions since all things were equal.

Yes, prior to Vatican II there was great interest in the Catholic Church, vocations to the priesthood and religious life were at an all time high and so was the number of those joining the Church from Protestant traditions but also from other religious traditions and no tradition at all.

What was it about the pre-Vatican II Church that attracted so many vocations, so many converts and allowed Catholics, be they lay, religious or clerical, to build a network of parishes, schools, hospitals and agencies to serve the needs of the poor, the immigrants, and the rich?What attracted so many to the Church was the witness of religious sisters, brothers, nuns and monks and even priests and the manner in which they cared for their own flock, but also for others, especially in our schools, hospitals and assistance to immigrants, the poor and dispossessed. What attracted so many was a clarity of belief and a profound humility of the clergy, religious and laity, especially in worship and popular devotions and especially in popular devotions. We gained new converts to the Church not through proselytism, but through example. People knew what Catholics did and what they wouldn't do! And what they did and the example they gave was positive, wholesome and holy, what they avoided doing was giving scandal, in other words, poor witness! We got converts and tons of vocations not by prolystizing, as they was taboo in the pre-Vatican II Church of the 1950's, but through clarity of teaching and how Catholics lived their lives and the very special and public witness
of religious orders, especially the active orders of Religious Sisters!

It was the following:

"...the Church grows through witness, not by proselytism.

The witness that can really attract is that associated with

attitudes which are uncommon: generosity, 

detachment, sacrifice, self - forgetfulness in order to care for others. This is the witness, the “martyrdom” of 

religious life. It “sounds an alarm”

for people. Religious say to people with their life:

“What’s  happening?” These people are telling me something! These people go beyond a mundanehorizon. “Thus,” ...“religious life ought to promote growth in the Church by way of attraction.” “The Church,”  therefore, “must be attractive.Wake up the world! Be witnesses of a different 

way of doing things, of acting, of living! It is possible to live differently in this world.”"

My Comments: What has happened to religious life since 

Vatican II? There has been a wrong-headed so-called "renewal" where the religious identity of most orders was

completely lost as was their Catholic identity. This affected lay

Catholics and their identity of that period. You had religious living as lay people, devoid of habit and communal living, many living as bacholers in their own apartments and dressing

better than the laity in secular clothes! They then abandoned

Catholic schools for individual pursuits that they wanted to

do. They abandoned Catholic hospitals and turned them over

to lay interests. Then vocations abandoned them and they

are in the state they are now and the Church is without the 

charism and public witness of these religious who so impacted

the pre-Vatican II Church in such a positive way!

Who said all of the above? It was Pope Francis, primarily quoting Pope Benedict XVI! He did so in his two our casual

talk with Superiors of Religious Men in Rome in late November, when I was still in Rome! You can read the

whole exchange from La Civilta Cattolica HERE!

What is interesting is that religious orders have been extremely quiet about something else Pope Francis said

at this meeting! Local bishops need more "collaboration"

with religious orders and an appreciation of their true charism

as highlighted by Pope Francis above! I wonder what the 

LCWR thinks about that? Complete silence so far!

VATICAN CITY  — Pope Francis said he has ordered a revision of what he called outdated Vatican norms on the relations between religious orders and local bishops, in order to promote greater appreciation of the orders’ distinctive missions.

Pope Francis gestures as he arrives for a meeting with superiors of men’s religious orders at the Vatican Nov. 29. During the meeting, the pope ordered the revision of norms on the relations between religious orders and local bishops. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano)

The pope’s words were published Jan. 3 in the Italian Jesuit magazine La Civilta Cattolica. He made the comments Nov. 29 at a closed-door meeting with 120 superiors general of religious orders from around the world.

Pope Francis referred to “Mutuae Relationes,” a set of directives issued jointly by the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for Religious in 1978. The document said that religious orders are part of the local church, though with their own internal organization, and that their “right to autonomy” should never be considered as independence from the local church.

“That document was useful at the time but is now outdated,” the pope said. “The charisms of the various institutes need to be respected and fostered because they are needed in dioceses.”

The pope, who until his election in March 2013 served as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and formerly served as a Jesuit provincial, said he knew “by experience the problems that can arise between a bishop and religious communities.” For example, he said, “If the religious decide one day to withdraw from one of their works due to a lack of manpower the bishop often finds himself suddenly left with a hot potato in his hand.

“I also know that the bishops are not always acquainted with the charisms and works of religious,” he said. “We bishops need to understand that consecrated persons are not functionaries but gifts that enrich dioceses.

“The involvement of religious communities in dioceses is important,” the pope said. “Dialogue between the bishop and religious must be rescued so that, due to a lack of understanding of their charisms, bishops do not view religious simply as useful instruments.”