The most recent Thomas Aquinas College Newsletter highlighted the more than 50 alumni ordained to the priesthood in the College’s first 40 years. Serving as pastors, chaplains, seminary professors, and missionaries in 12 religious orders, 21 states and 8 countries, many more alumni are preparing for the priesthood as seminarians.
President Michael McLean says, “One of the greatest affirmations of the work we do at the College is that so many men who graduate from here go on to answer God’s call to the priesthood.”
Thomas Aquinas College is an Affiliate Member of the Institute on Religious Life. We are pleased to have on our Board of Directors, Rev. James E. Isaacson, S.J.C., Class of ’88.
Please visit the College website for more information.
Today, the Church asks all people to pray for the legal protection of unborn children. Tens of millions of children have died since the Supreme Court ruling of 1973. But out of this darkness, a beautiful seed of hope has arisen — the Sisters of Life. Founded in 1991 by John Cardinal O’Connor for the protection and enhancement of the sacredness of every human life, they profess the three traditional vows but also a special, fourth vow— to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life.
The Sisters of Life, an IRL Affiliate, carry out their mission with the hope of revealing to those they serve the inherent goodness and beauty of their own lives, so that each person may see and experience the truth that they are an unrepeatable creation of the Master.
The Sister of Life are opening their eighth convent in Rockland County, NY, which will be their motherhouse. We pray this day for them and the 700 women a year they serve through outreach programs and advocacy.
“Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40).
The 16th annual World Day for Consecrated Life will be observed in parishes in the United States the weekend of February 4-5.
The annual celebration was established by Pope John Paul II in 1997, to be marked each year on February 2, the Feast of the Presentation.
The U.S. bishops voted to observe the occasion the weekend following the feast, to highlight men and women religious in consecrated life as part of weekend Mass celebrations and to enable expressions of appreciation for the service of those who have chosen the consecrated life and to pray for an increase of vocations.
Archbishop Robert J. Carlson of St. Louis, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations (CCLV), heralded the role of religious.
“Many consecrated men and women share Christ’s light and love through their work in parish or diocesan ministries, education, health care, social services, spiritual direction and prayer,” he said. “Through their service and vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, they show that Jesus Christ is our most valued possession.”
The Church recognizes several forms of consecrated life, said Father Shawn McKnight, executive director of the Secretariat. “All who embrace the consecrated life promise poverty, chastity and obedience,” he said. “Religious priests, sisters and brothers live and pray in community, and they serve the Church in apostolic service or are wholly devoted to contemplation. Members of secular institutes fulfill their promises living within, not apart from, the world. Consecrated virgins, who are consecrated by the diocesan bishop, also serve the Church while remaining within the world, and hermits observe separation from the world in solitude, prayer and penance.”
Prayers of the Faithful, a bulletin announcement and a prayer card for the World Day for Consecrated Life can be found on the U.S. bishops’ website here .
In 1997, Pope John Paul II instituted a day of prayer for women and men in consecrated life. This celebration is attached to the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord on February 2nd. This Feast is also known as Candlemas Day; the day on which candles are blessed symbolizing Christ who is the light of the world. So too, those in consecrated life are called to reflect light of Jesus Christ to all peoples. The celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life is transferred to the following Sunday in order to highlight the gift of consecrated persons for the whole Church.
In October, five monks, members of the Eastern rite Catholic Church, arrived at their new monastery in St. Nazianz, about 50 miles south of Green Bay. The three-story structure, originally a convent, offers enough space for the community to grow and to welcome guests from around the Midwest for retreats and worship.
“We are a new foundation of a very ancient tradition in the Eastern Catholic Church,” said Abbot Nicholas Zachariadis, leader of the monastic community. “We began about 17 years ago and we had a home in Newberry Springs,” located in the western Mojave Desert in California.
Last year, one of the monks, Fr. Moses Wright, came across Maria Haus — formerly St. Mary Convent in St. Nazianz — while doing an online search for church property. “So we came and looked at it and we liked it,” said Abbot Nicholas.
“Bishop Ricken extended his invitation for us to come and made us feel very welcome,” said Abbot Nicholas. “He’s very enthusiastic about our presence and ministry here, so his support is important.”
With boxes yet to unpack, Abbot Nicholas said the monks are eager to settle into their new home. It’s especially significant to land in a community named after a father of the Eastern Catholic Church, St. Gregory Nazianzen.
Abbot Nicholas said the monastery wants to offer retreats and days of reflection to the community. “We hope to have Saturdays as days of pilgrimage and reflection,” he said. “Most Saturdays we hope to have groups of anywhere between 10 and 50 people who will come for the day to celebrate liturgy with us; Mass in the morning and lunch. We can show them around and explain to them about our tradition. Then they can stay for vespers.”
To read the complete article, click here. For more information, about Holy Resurrection Monastery, visit www.hrmonline.org.
On January 28, 2012, the Institute on Religious Life will host a Regional Meeting entitled: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord, God of Hosts. The meeting will be held in Wilmington, CA, at Sts. Peter & Paul Parish beginning at 9:15 AM. All are invited. There is a $15.00 registration fee. Registration must be received by January 25, 2012.
This year’s regional meeting will offer reflections on the vital importance of the Sacred Liturgy in the Church’s life and mission. Special emphasis will be given to how Divine Worship relates to the consecrated life. Speakers will include: Rev. Brian Mullady, O.P., Mother M. Julie Saegaert, S.C.M.C., and Rev. Norbert Wood, O.Praem.
As the Catholic Church embraces the revised edition of the Roman Missal, it is good to be reminded that “an indispensable means of effectively sustaining communion with Christ is assuredly the Sacred Liturgy” (Vita Consecrata, 95).
Click here for registration information or call (310)521-1930, ext. 112 or FAX (310)521-9645.
A three-year survey of women’s religious life in the United States has concluded with the filing of a final report by the Vatican-appointed apostolic visitator, Mother Mary Clare Millea. “Although there are concerns in religious life that warrant support and attention, the enduring reality is one of fidelity, joy and hope,” Mother Millea said in a Jan. 9 release announcing the submission of her findings to the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Along with her comprehensive report on women’s religious communities, Mother Millea is presenting individual reports on nearly 400 religious institutes to the congregation’s secretary, Archbishop Joseph Tobin.
These reports are likely to be completed by the spring of 2012. Cardinal Franc Rodé, the congregation’s former prefect, began the visitation in December 2008 to “look into the quality of life” of communities nationwide. Mother Millea, who is the superior general of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and hails from the U.S., oversaw the process and conducted much of the research. Her review of women’s religious institutes spanned 2009 and 2010, with a further year dedicated to compiling and summarizing the findings. Its first three stages involve meetings, questionnaires and other communications, along with visits to around a quarter of the groups nationwide.
The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life has not yet set a date to announce its own conclusions from the report. But Mother Millea said the apostolic visitation had “generated widespread interest” and was already reaping “tangible benefits” in the U.S. Church. “The attention to it has resulted in a renewed appreciation for the role of religious in the Church and society and has increased dialogue and mutual awareness among the various communities in the United States,” she noted. Not all of the attention drawn by the visitation was positive, as some communities challenged its mandate and opted not to provide requested information.
However, Mother Millea called the three-year process “demanding, but equally refreshing,” a reminder of religious orders’ “history and vital
role in the Church in the United States.” She said after submitting her report to the Vatican congregation, “As I learned of and observed firsthand the perseverance of the religious in the United States in their vocations, in their ministries and in their faith … I have been both inspired and humbled.”
“The people bear witness to their faith quite openly.” With these words, Sister Margret Obereder, Provincial Mother Superior of the Redemptoristine Order in the Ukraine, described the religious revival in that East European country.
In this post at the Aid to the Church in Need website, author Michael Varenne reports that the Conference of Mothers Superior of Orders of the Greek-Catholic Church in the Ukraine, which is headed by Sister Obereder, now has a membership of 19 religious order communities with 850 Sisters.
In the last few years, 24 young women have joined the Order of Redemptoristines alone. They are active in five parishes in Lviv, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ternopil and Chernihiv, especially in the area of youth ministry.
On January 6th, the Holy See issued a series of pastoral recommendations for the Year of Faith, which will begin next October to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The Year of Faith will also coincide with the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization.
This bold initiative of Pope Benedict XVI includes all sectors of the Church. Here is what the Holy See suggested concerning the involvement of consecrated men and women in the forthcoming Year of Faith:
“During this time, members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and of Societies of Apostolic Life are asked to work towards the new evangelization with a renewed union to the Lord Jesus, each according to their proper charism, in fidelity to the Holy Father and to sound doctrine.
“Contemplative communities, during the Year of Faith, should pray specifically for the renewal of the faith among the People of God and for a new impulse for its transmission to the young.
“Associations and ecclesial movements are invited to promote specific initiatives which, through the contribution of their proper charism and in collaboration with their local pastors, will contribute to the wider experience of the Year of Faith. The new communities and ecclesial movements, in a creative and generous way, will be able to find the most appropriate ways in which to offer their witness to the faith in service to the Church.”
The Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has been awarded a grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation that largely underwrites a comparative cultural survey of Catholic youth in the United States.
The survey aims to identify common and distinctive cultural traits that affect the openness and ability of Catholic youth to respond to a call to a vocation to the priesthood or religious life. The Secretariat has commissioned the Center for Applied Research (CARA) at Georgetown University to conduct a national survey of never-married Catholics, ages 14 and older, to study their views about vocations and their own consideration of a vocation.
Statistical data found in two reports commissioned by the Secretariat, “The Class of 2011: Survey of Ordinands to the Priesthood” and “The Profession Class of 2010: Survey of Women Religious Professing Perpetual Vows,” indicate fewer than expected religious vocations among the Hispanic and Latino Catholic population in the U.S.
Father Shawn McKnight, executive director of the Secretariat, said that Hispanics/Latinos constituted 15 percent of the ordination class and 10 percent of the religious profession class, while constituting 34 percent of the total adult Catholic population.
“There is not enough objective data to explain the reasons for their underrepresentation,”Father McKnight said.
The Secretariat seeks to identify specific reasons for their underrepresentation, to guide the efforts by dioceses and religious communities to promote vocations.
In the same reports, other cultures show a stronger representation. For example, Asians constitute four percent of the adult Catholic population in the U.S., yet 10 percent of the past year’s ordination class were Asian.This is a consistent trend over the past 15 years. In the 2010 class of women who made their religious profession of perpetual vows, 19 percent of the entire class was Asian.Further study is needed to explore why there is such a difference in representation.
The identification of cultural elements that support and challenge a culture of vocations among Asian, Latino and the general youth population would be helpful information for collaborating organizations, such as the National Religious Vocations Conference and the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors.The results of this study would also benefit those involved with the evangelization of youth, as they would indicate how the influences of culture impact the ability to reach out to all Catholic youth.
“This study will aid in the New Evangelization by serving as a helpful resource in determining emerging needs within the Church as well as assisting in the development of timely and effective responses,” said Peter Murphy, PhD, executive director of the USCCB Secretariat of Evangelization and Catechesis.
“The success of ministry among a growing number of Hispanics/Latinos requires leadership from the Hispanic/Latino community itself, especially in the priesthood and religious life,” added Father Allan Deck, former head of the USCCB Secretariat for Cultural Diversity in the Church. “This proposal is the single most important effort to find the best ways to provide the priestly leadership necessary for Hispanics/Latinos to flourish in the Church.”
Courtesy of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Recently at Patheos there was an article by Elizabeth Duffy on Mount de Sales Academy in Maryland, run by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, more commonly known as the Nashville Dominicans, in which the faith is beautifully integrated into every aspect of the educational experience. Duffy writes:
“The Nashville Dominican Sisters have gained a national reputation for helping to facilitate this Catholic Identity wherever the sisters go. Many parents and administrators are wondering, how can we get the Nashville Dominicans to come into our schools and transform them? The Sisters shine a light on the potentialities of Catholic education, but they also point a way for the laity. Christ is the one who transforms us. If he is integral to our lives, he will be integral to our schools. Holiness, not hot air.”
Mount de Sales is living proof that rigorous academics and a vibrant Catholic identity need not be an either/or proposition for our Catholic schools.
The most recent Thomas Aquinas College Newsletter highlighted the more than 50 alumni ordained to the priesthood in the College’s first 40 years. Serving as pastors, chaplains, seminary professors, and missionaries in 12 religious orders, 21 states and 8 countries, many more alumni are preparing for the priesthood as seminarians.
