I HAVE TO HAND IT TO THIS PARTICULAR BRANCH OF THE SISTERS OF CHARITY FOUNDED BY ST. ELIZABETH ANN SETON…

This will happen to most of the once storied religious orders in the world. At least this one is pro-active in bringing about its demise or completion which is a more positive term. 

I wonder what would be the case today if these “going out of business” religious orders had changed course earlier on and followed the lead of religious orders who are growing and attracting vocations, like the two major orders of Dominican Sisters in Nashville and Michigan or the Sisters of Mercy of Alma or the others that are traditional but growing? Instead of criticizing them, following them might have saved their religious orders and returned them to their storied days. 

This has been predicted since the late 1970’s when most sane people realized that the path of renewal that once storied religious orders were taking was suicide. This suicide took place within what was called “Chapters” in religious life, where in a synodal way, the sisters came together to listen to each other and then take steps to renew their life in light of the spirit of Vatican II. They listened to each sister and then followed the lowest common denominator. 

It is very much like what happened in Germany’s synodal way and now in the international one. 

I want to thank this group of Sisters of Charity for being honest and not dragging unsuspecting novices into their order coming to its completion. It is the moral thing to do.

Ireland, another Vatican II success story, all of Ireland, only has 29 seminarians. Should the Catholic Church there say to the minuscule number of seminarian applicants, don’t waste your time, the Catholic Church in Ireland is completing its mission and will no longer accept new seminarians? It just might be the moral thing to do.

Copied from the Deacon’s Bench: 

A sad and sobering moment for the order. The press release: 

After a long and prayerful discernment process leading up to The Sisters of Charity of New York’s 2023 General Assembly, delegates voted unanimously on April 13, 2023 to accept the following recommendations from our Congregation’s Executive Council:

• The Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of New York will no longer work toward finding nor accepting new members to our Congregation, in the United States. However, because we believe in the future of religious life, we will continue to promote vocations, and redirect inquiries to Federation congregations and/or to the Religious Formation Conference.
• The Council asks the Assembly to affirm that we, Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of New York, continue to live our mission to the fullest, while acknowledging that we are on a path to completion.

The decision was not an easy one.  Currently there are 154 Sisters of Charity of New York. We will continue to grow in love.  We will continue to deepen our relationships with each other, with our Associates and with our ministry partners. We will continue to deepen our relationship with our God.

After more than 200 years of service for the Church, the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of New York will continue to pass the torch of charity. This is not the end of our ministries. Our mission will continue beyond our Sisters, through our Associates and partners in ministry, expanding what it means to live the charism of charity into the future.

This is the order, of course, founded by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Maryland, but their work has stretched far beyond that and touched countless lives.