Gospel, Vatican II can help religious face challenges, cardinal says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Consecrated men and women can face their current challenges by turning to the Gospel, the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and papal teachings for guidance, said Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz.
The prefect of the Congregation for Consecrated Life and Institutes for Apostolic Life spoke April 8 at the opening of an international conference in Rome of about 1,200 religious formation directors. The theme of the April 7-12 conference was "Living in Christ according to the Way of Life of the Gospel." It was drawn from "Perfectae Caritatis," the 1965 conciliar decree on the renewal of religious life.
Cardinal Braz told those present they must embrace the future with hope, despite the challenges of fewer vocations, aging memberships, economic difficulties, globalization, relativism, marginalization and feelings of being socially irrelevant. He also spoke of the challenge to be the Good News in new places and cultural contexts.
It is in these difficulties that consecrated men and women must "activate their hope, fruit of the faith in the Lord," he said. This hope is not based on "numbers or works but on the one (God) in whom we have placed our trust," he said.
The Gospel must be the "vade mecum" or handbook of consecrated life, and the documents of the Second Vatican Council and the teachings of the popes can serve as guidelines on how to face these challenges, he said.
But religious orders and their members are not living just for themselves, he said. "In a society of confrontation, difficult coexistence among different cultural groups, the subjugation of the weakest and inequality, we are called to offer a concrete model of community that, in recognizing the dignity of every person and sharing the gifts each brings, allows us to live fraternally."
The cardinal invited those present to reflect on whether they truly refer to the Gospel daily, as their founders did. Their founders' experiences, he said, must be looked upon as inspiration to take on the complexities and current challenges. He recalled that Pope Francis exhorted them to live the present with passion and to become experts and artisans of communion.
The conference is one of several events organized by the congregation for the Year of Consecrated Life, which Pope Francis opened last November.