All posts by Scott E. Agulo

News

Unveiling Newly Overhauled IRL Website!

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On this Feast of St. Benedict, the Institute on Religious Life is pleased and excited to announce that our newly re-designed ReligiousLife.com website went LIVE on Friday, June 28th, the Solemnity of The Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Designed by the Catholic Website Design Experts at Solutio (a very talented and very faithful web development group based out of Kansas) we hope you’ll agree that it is visually appealing and easy to navigate but more importantly content rich for discerners to religious life seeking information about the IRL’s affiliate communities as well as for those currently in religious life seeking resources and opportunities for ongoing formation.

We hope that our affiliates and friends will enjoy this new website and frequent it often for updates and information from the IRL. We invite and encourage all also to visit CloisteredLife.com and ReligiousBrotherhood.com to see the updates for both websites.

Affiliate communities: Please stay tuned for how you can contribute your current high resolution pictures, news, videos, and other content to serve as a window to the public about your communities and attract young people who are in the discernment process!

Discernment, General interest, Liturgical Year, News, Reflection, Resources, Saints, Vocations, Women's Communities

New IRL Affiliate Alert: Marian Sisters of Santa Rosa!

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“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too… It behooves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church’s Faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place.”  ​
​- Pope Benedict XVI, concerning the venerable liturgical rites of the Church

We at the IRL are happy to announce a new community added to our roster: Marian Sisters of Santa Rosa!

The Superiors of the Marian Sisters previously belonged to another religious Traditional order, however at the gracious invitation of Robert F. Vasa, Bishop of Santa Rosa, California, they founded a new community “to make visible the invisible reality of God’s love in the Diocese of Santa Rosa.”

As Marian Sisters, they live and love at the heart of the Church.  Their spirituality can be described as Ecclesial, Eucharistic, and Marian.  This is, in part, lived out through their charism of living the fullness of the liturgical life of the Roman Catholic Church – they participate in both the Ordinary Form (Novus Ordo) and also the Extraordinary Form (traditional Latin) in their chapel several times a week and provide the choir for the Extraordinary Form High Mass at the Cathedral each Sunday.

Since their founding, the community has grown and its active apostolates have expanded.  Committed to the spread of the faith in the Diocese, every Sister teaches the Faith in some manner.  While some are formal classroom teachers, most of the Sisters exercise the charism more broadly through children’s catechesis, faith formation groups, retreats and camps, and any other way in which God’s will is made manifest.

Called to a life of total consecration to Christ and His Church, the Sisters take the Blessed Virgin Mary as their inspiration and model and dedicate their time and talents completely to the service of God and neighbor.

The Constitutions of the Marian Sisters of Santa Rosa  were approved and canonically erected the community on January 4, 2012.

 

 

Cloistered life, Consecrated Virgins, Discernment, General interest, News, Pro-life, Reflection, Resources, Saints, Vocations, Women's Communities

New Website Alert: Poor Clare Colettine Nuns of Corpus Christi Monastery in Rockford, IL

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In the Fall of 2017, a seminarian for the Diocese of Rockford, Jack Reichardt began exchanging letters with Poor Clares Mother Abbess, Mother Maria Dominica, PCC, in order to obtain permission and discuss building a new website for the local monastery, home to twenty professed nuns.

Finally meeting at the Monastery in January, Reichardt and Mother Dominica decided that the site should serve two purposes:

  1. To appear to an audience of those women who may be discerning a call to the consecrated life as a Poor Clare nun, and
  2.  To appeal to the faithful who would like to visit with the Poor Clares in prayer.

Having taken a web design course while in high school, Reichardt wanted to put his hobby to use and build something worthy of the Poor Clares that reflected their “beautiful life, that is chaste and pure and prayerful” where people could find out more about their history, life, and vocation.

Click here: Poor Clare Colettine Nuns of Rockford, Illinois | JMJ+FCC

In gratitude for his hard work, one of the sisters offered the following remarks:

“[Jack’s] deliberation and prayerfulness impressed us very much, and his competence to create a site that is simple but beautiful and which effectively reflects our way of life has been crowned with success. We are grateful to him and to all those who contributed!”

 

News

The Holy Father’s May Intention

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That the lay faithful may fulfill their specific mission, by responding with creativity to the challenges that face the world today.

 

An excerpt from a reflection by Fr. Jacob Boddicker, S.J.:

St. Paul writes in his First Letter to the Corinthians, “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it. Some people God has designated in the church to be, first, apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then, gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of tongues.” (vv. 27-28)

Every member of the Body—from the newly baptized infant to the shut-in who can only pray and watch Mass on television—has a part to play in Christ’s work to redeem the world. Much of this work is the day-to-day, unseen, little tasks done with great love and fidelity: the raising of children, the honest day’s labor, showing kindness to a stranger, making a hidden sacrifice for the sake of another, and so on.

We are the living stones (1 Peter 2:5) which build up the Church, not only in the sense of bricks in the wall, but also as laborers adding on to it. As a little salt flavors a great deal of food, as a little light dispels a room full of darkness, as a city on a hill is seen from miles around, so each of us is to follow and serve Christ in the way only we can, living our Catholic faith in the world as an ambassador for Our Lord.

 

Cloistered life, General interest, News, Reflection, Vocations, Women's Communities

New Affiliate: The Dominican Nuns of Our Lady of Mt. Thabor Monastery in Ortonville, Michigan

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The IRL is very delighted to welcome a new affiliate: The Dominicans Nuns of Our Lady of Mount Thabor Monastery in Ortonville, Michigan (Archdiocese of Detroit).  The contemplative community lives the joy-filled monastic life of prayer, work, silence, and study… all for the sanctification of souls!

The foundation of the Monastery began in 1969 when two nuns, Sister Mary Martin, O.P. and Sister Anne Mary, O.P. received permission to leave the Dominican Sisters of the Perpetual Rosary Monastery (Blue Chapel) in Union City, NJ, to establish a new contemplative mode of life within the monastic setting.  Remaining faithful to the essentials of monasticism, they eventually found a home in Detroit at the invitation of John Francis Cardinal Dearden. In August of 1973, they moved into their current location in Ortonville, in rural Oakland County.  Their foundation day is August 6, 1973, the feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ on Mt. Thabor. The community received its letter of aggregation into the Dominican Order in 1999.

Their daily schedule focuses on the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours), which they sing or chant together in chapel. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated daily and is the center of their contemplative life.  Profound silence is observed from after Compline until after Morning Prayer. Their habit is a simple white tunic, black veil, leather belt with rosary attached, and scapular.

The community is self-supporting and does remunerative work for its self- sufficiency.  Sewing services are offered by the Sisters including the making and alteration of Dominican habits as well as the sale of Dominican Third Order Scapulars.  They also maintain Transfiguration Retreat House where faithful may come for a private retreat.  The intellectual life is nourished through reading, research, and study.  This strong charism of the Dominican Order is never neglected.

General interest, News, Papal Address

The Holy Father’s March 2018 Intentions

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Formation in Spiritual Discernment

That the Church may appreciate the urgency of formation in spiritual discernment, both on the personal and communitarian levels.

From a reflection by Rev. William Blazek, S.J.,  the director of The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network::

Do I pause to reflect, meditate and ask the Lord to guide me in the major and minor decisions of my day? In what ways has the Holy Spirit helped me to see or hear God’s will in these first months of 2018? Has the bad spirit, the enemy, the tempter, been whispering deceits to me in secret?

…

And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ… (Phil 1:9-11)

General interest, News, Papal Address

The Holy Father’s February 2018 Intentions

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Say “No” to Corruption

That those who have material, political or spiritual power may resist any lure of corruption.

From an excerpt by Rev.  William Blazek, SJ,  the director of The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network:

[T]he founder of the Jesuits (Saint Ignatius of Loyola) knew that riches, power and pride were all closely interrelated. The enemy of our human nature leads us to think our gifts and abilities are our own or that having some power might bring us material, social or spiritual wealth.

…

“[P]ut away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.” (Eph 4:22-24)

General interest, Liturgical Year, News, Papal Address, Reflection, Saints, Vocations

The Holy Father’s January 2018 Intentions

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That Christians in Asian countries may be able to practice their faith in full freedom.

Please read the inspiring homily by Pope Francis at the 2015 Mass of Canonization of Saint Joseph Vaz († 1771).  He was an Oratorian missionary priest who was born in India and ministered in Sri Lanka, a country that, despite the best efforts of this holy man, was and remains today to be predominantly Buddhist.   His feast day is January 16.

https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2015/documents/papa-francesco_20150114_srilanka-filippine-omelia-canonizzazione.html

Cloistered life, General interest, Liturgical Year, Men's communities, News, Papal Address, Reflection, Resources, Women's Communities

Tuesday, November 21, 2017 – World Day of Cloistered Life

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On November 21 (the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple), the Church will celebrate World Day of Cloistered Life, also known as “Pro Orantibus” Day, which is a Latin phrase meaning “for those who pray.” This is an important ecclesial event for all Catholics worldwide to commemorate the hidden lives of consecrated religious in cloisters and monasteries.

We celebrate this day because the contemplative life is a gift from Almighty God to us all — all the world benefits spiritually from the prayer and sacrifice of these dedicated and faithful souls, even when we may not know it. On this day, the faithful are encouraged to reach out to the cloistered and contemplative communities in their diocese, through prayer, encouragement, and material support.

Please click at the link for more info and for resources: //www.cloisteredlife.com/news/pro-orantibus-day/

College Campus News, Men's communities, News, Vocations

“The one who has Hope lives differently” says Pope Benedict XVI

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Saint Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews writes that the Christian virtue of “Hope” is set before us as “an anchor of the soul, sure and firm.” (cf. Heb 6:19) The anchor of a ship is that substantial piece of equipment that when thrown down, grabs hold of the solid sea bed below.  The winds may blow and the waves crash about, but the anchor provides security and stability until the skies clear and the waves calm.

The community of religious brothers called the Brotherhood of Hope was founded in 1980 by Father Philip Merdinger.  With their motto as “Primum Deus, Deus Solum”, Latin for “God First, God alone”, this community  based in Boston, MA wears on their habit the Anchor.

With 18 young men in Brotherhood formation as of this writing, these serious, yet joyful men prepare to labor in the harvest of the Lord with a zeal for the “lost sheep”, particularly college students and young adults who are especially vulnerable to being lost in the storms of the increasingly secularized and hostile culture with its many allurements and distractions.

From the earliest days of the Church, the Anchor has served as a powerful symbol of Hope in Christ our Resurrected Savior and His promise of eternal salvation, with countless examples found on the epitaphs of the faithful departed within the catacombs in Rome.

The important work of the Brothers is that in their apostolate, in their fidelity to Christ and to the Church and their works of mercy, they inspire Hope and demonstrate the “freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom 8:21)

//brotherhoodofhope.org/