Pre-COVID, people considering entering religious orders would have many in-person meetings to discern their vocation.

That still happens, but most meetings now take place online.

So do the formal welcoming ceremonies for candidates.

While the pandemic is forcing changes, there are some advantages new technology offers to long-established rituals.

UK woman Liz Dodd's formal welcome as a candidate for a religious order, for instance, involved an online ceremony from London.

Her housemates were with her. Family, friends and sisters from around the world joined in.

At the start of the ceremony, the congregation's Washington-based formation director spoke of the blessing the technology offered, enabling so many to take part from across the world.

Then a sister said a prayer of blessing for Dodd. Other sisters joined by raising their hands toward their computer screens, warmly welcoming Dodd as their new candidate.

Dodd had formally stated her wish to discern joining the order the day before England went into lockdown last March.

Apart from one weekend visit, all her interaction with the sisters has been online. She joins with weekly and biweekly Zoom gatherings for discussion or prayer and has a weekly Zoom meeting for formation, which her housemates call "nun school."

Dodd hopes to enter the novitiate this year and live with a community.

During her online ceremony, she said though her experience is different from other sisters, there is "an amazing thread" that ties them together.

The ceremony tied everything together for Dodd, because until that point the process had been very private and personal. Suddenly it was public and joined by sisters and associates from all over the world.

"I'm a convert, and neither my family nor my housemates are Catholic, so their first real encounter with this whole process was that Zoom ceremony," she added.

Dodd says her unique discernment process makes her wonder if she is "among the first candidates in church history" to do her postulancy like this.

"It works because you're creating an intentional space — albeit online — in response to God's call, and God absolutely honors that, whether it's virtual or in person," she says.

Millennials and those even younger "get a degree of security and comfort from being behind a screen — it's our natural environment," which makes the initial stages in the vocation discernment process less daunting, she says.

"You have more of a sense of control and security because you're having these wild conversations at your desk and in your home."

Traveling to visit congregations and orders someone is interested in "could feel impossibly overwhelming, but an email and a Zoom call doesn't. Plus, you can fit it all in with work and regular pandemic social life."

But that's not to say that online is always better. Dodd said it took in-person meetings to really confirm what she was discerning, so she thinks a hybrid model works best.

Source

• Catholic News Service
• Image: Sisters of St Joseph of Peace

Forty of the sisters belong to the Daughters of San Camillo convent on the outskirts of Rome, while 19 of the 21 sisters from the Angelic Sisters of Saint Paul convent in Rome are reportedly infected.

Local authorities have been informed and an investigation has been launched into how the infections came about.

The San Camillo convent specifically cares for young students and elderly sisters.

The survival of the 40 sisters diagnosed with the COVID-19 is of concern, as the median age of those who die in Italy is below the average age of many convents and religious communities in Europe.

The speed of the virus's spread within the religious houses is similar to an outbreak in a US nursing home in Kirkland, Washington.

So far 35 people at the nursing home have died, representing over 60 percent of the country's total COVID-19 cases.

Despite the rate of infection, the general postulator of the Daughters of San Camillo says overall "we are fine,".

Three of the 40 infected nuns are hospitalized, while the others are not showing serious symptoms and are at home in the convent.

The general postulator also notes that despite the number of infected nuns being made public, "we don't know how many positive cases we have. We are still testing,".

The convent was not notified before the numbers were shared with the public, she says.

On the bright side, she comments, the sisters are nurses, so "we are prepared to face health risks and take care of the sick."

The situation at the two convents has drawn attention to the situation facing religious congregations across the world.

In many cases the often very elderly religious live in close contact with each other, and their order's apostolates can bring them into contact with the general public.

Cardinal João Braz, who is the prefect for the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, has written to religious around the world.

He urged them to obey both civil and ecclesial authorities during the pandemic.

The "most effective witness we can give is first of all a serene and committed obedience to what is demanded by those who govern us, both at the state and ecclesial level, to all that is disposed to safeguard our health, both as private citizens and as a community," he wrote.

He encouraged all religious to offer "concrete signs of closeness to our people," at a time when public celebration of the sacraments have been put on hold in most parts of the globe in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.

Source

• Crux
• Image: Crux Now

The Pope was speaking to a conference of religious formation directors in Rome on Saturday.

He told the 1200 directors that they must be "gravely attentive" to those they are guiding.

This is so that "the eventual crisis of quantity does not result in a much graver crisis of quality".

"Vocational discernment is important," Francis said, according to an article in the National Catholic Reporter.

He continued: "All the people who know the human personality - may they be psychologists, spiritual fathers, spiritual mothers - tell us that young people who unconsciously feel they have something unbalanced or some problem of mental imbalance or deviation unconsciously seek strong structures that protect them, to protect themselves."

"There is the discernment: to know to say no," said the Pope, referring to formation directors who tell young people that religious life may not be for them.

But Francis also encouraged the directors not to "chase away" such young people.

"Like you accompany the entry, accompany also the exit, so that he or she finds their way in life, with the needed help," he said.

Pope Francis said it is sad when a young person who has been considering religious life chooses another path, and "this is hard."

"But it is also your martyrdom," he told the directors.

"And the failures, these failures from the point of view of the formation director, can foster the continuing path of formation in the director."

"Some say that the consecrated life is paradise on Earth," the Pope joked.

"No. If anything, [it is] the purgatory! But go forward with joy, go forward with joy."

In a report last year, the Vatican stated that the higher numbers of people in religious life in the United States in the 1960s was an historical aberration.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Washburn Chamber

Dom Aidan Bellenger, former Abbot of Downside Abbey and a leading historian of the monastic life, made this assertion in an article in The Tablet.

He suggested that communities had made "too much accommodation with consumerist ideals of the modern world, too many credit cards, too many expensive holidays".

"A decline in the number of vocations has combined with the ageing of the communities, and a tendency to middle class stagnation, strangulation by comfort and gerontocracy," Dom Aidan wrote.

He stated that many of the problems were to do with money and finance.

He also argued that the running of schools and parishes have taken religious away from their foundational ideas.

Traditionally communities have run schools, parishes and other institutions and have sought to balance the call to be contemplatives with work in the world.

Last year, Pope Francis proclaimed a Year for Consecrated Life, running from November, 2014, to February, 2016.

In his apostolic letter announcing the year, Pope Francis noted that he did this "on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, which speaks of religious in its sixth chapter, and of the Decree Perfectae Caritatis on the renewal of religious life".

In his apostolic letter, the Pope challenged religious to examine themselves in terms of their openness to the Gospel, and whether it is truly the "manual" for daily living for them.

"The Gospel is demanding: it demands to be lived radically and sincerely," the Pope wrote.

"It is not enough to read it (even though the reading and study of Scripture is essential), nor is it enough to meditate on it (which we do joyfully each day).

"Jesus asks us to practice it, to put his words into effect in our lives."

Sources

• The Tablet
• Vatican papal statements
• Image: The Times

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland published reviews on the implementation of policies in 16 religious congregations.

Only two orders - the Congregation of the Sacred Heart and the Dominican Sisters - were found to have had good compliance.

Teresa Devlin, the board's chief executive, said she was "disappointed that for the majority of orders, the whole area of safeguarding is only being embraced in the last couple of years".

There is considerable work still to be done in seven male congregations, she said.

These are the Franciscan Friars, Franciscan Brothers, the Servites, Passionists, Augustinians, Discalced Carmelites and the Marist Fathers.

During the audits carried out last year, inspectors found poor record management in many cases, making an assessment of child protection practice difficult.

The Irish Independent reported that the audits showed opportunities to safeguard children were missed.

Known abusers were allowed to remain in ministry in the 1990s, the board reported.

Management of accused priests and nuns has improved significantly, it noted.

But it warned there is still room for improvement including in the sharing of information.

It also stated that support for survivors is good in many cases.

But the reports warned of delays in reporting allegations to the authorities up until 2009, and that some practices did not improve until 2013.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin called the slow speed of implementation of guidelines "appalling".

While he acknowledged recent improvements, especially by current leadership of religious orders, he believed the audits point to the need for greater systems of accountability.

The archbishop said the findings cast doubt on the credibility of the Church's entire safeguarding efforts.

He said he intends to "meet with the superiors of all the religious congregations working in parishes" in Dublin archdiocese.

"Failure of any church organisation to implement fully and robustly the agreed clear norms is a direct affront to the desire of Pope Francis," he said.

Archbishop Martin said he was particularly concerned that rules on child protection may be interpreted differently by some orders.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Irish Independent
• Image: BBC

A recent circular letter from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life dealt with the use of financial resources by religious orders.

Under church law, each order is required to have an "economo," or treasurer, and that person should receive specific training in budgeting and bookkeeping, but every member of an order must have a general idea of the community's assets and expenditures.

The Congregation told communities they must adopt modern budgeting and bookkeeping practices and ensure their spending is for ministries in line with their founding purpose and the good of the whole Church.

"All members of the institute should be aware of the importance of working with a budget and estimates in the knowledge that these reflect the values and spirit of the institute," the document said.

Because the most pressing needs of the church and society may change over time, every order must "define which works and activities to pursue, which to eliminate or modify" and what new areas of ministry they should try to develop, it said.

Too often, the letter said, assigning economic oversight to just one person "generated lack of interest about economics within the community, leading to a loss of contact" with the costs of the community's daily life and activity and "provoking a dichotomy between economics and mission."

Efficient monitoring, including professional outside audits, will also help religious communities make decisions around projects.

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At a recent conference in Rome for treasurers for religious orders, a constant theme was criticism of capitalism.

Several speakers denounced it as a "structure of sin" that purposefully does not attend to the needs of the poorest.

Outlining the Church's response to the global economic system over past centuries, Stefano Zamagni told the conference it was "an unforgivable mistake" that the Church had not more openly critiqued the capitalist system.

Zamagni, a professor of economic politics at the University of Bologna and a member of the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences, critiqued the American model of capitalism.

He said this allows people to exploit the world's resources to gather wealth and then only expects them to focus on charitable work once they are wealthy.

"A Christian just cannot accept this," Zamagni said.

"It is not me saying this. It is the sacred Scriptures. We cannot accept this logic."

Quoting Popes Paul VI's and John Paul II's writings on "structures of sin", Zamagni also told the religious that if they allow their money to be used according to societal norms for getting rich, they are contradicting Church teachings.

The religious orders were also challenged to evaluate their own holdings of wealth.

Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo, the secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, told the conference "Disciples must have nothing, not bread, not money in their bags".

Accumulating such wealth, the archbishop said, "entails the danger of not being in the presence of God ... to lose the memory of God — trust in him — and forgetting about the poor".

Pope Francis had asked the congregation to organise the conference.

Last year, the Pope critiqued market capitalism in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.

This prompted some American critics to label the Pope's teachings as Marxism.

Pope Francis rejected this label.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• The Guardian
• Image: Pakistan Today

The report of what the Pope told leaders of the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Men and Women Religious was originally published on a website in Chile and has not been denied by anyone who was there.

A subsequent statement from the confederation described the leaked account of the meeting as a "summary based on the memories of the participants" and a reliable record of the Pope's "general meaning", though not a verbatim transcript.

A Catholic News Service report said Pope Francis urged his fellow Latin American religious to "put all your commitment into dialogue with the bishops," even though "there are some [bishops] who have another idea of communion" from that held by many religious.

He also counselled his visitors to take a constructive attitude toward criticism and discipline from the Vatican.

"Maybe you will get a letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine [of the Faith] saying that you said this or that," the Pope reportedly said. "But don't worry. Explain what you have to explain, but keep going."

While affirming the reality of error and the hierarchy's responsibility to correct it, his emphasis was on forgiveness.

"You are going to make mistakes, you are going to put your foot in it. That happens!" he said. "I prefer a Church that makes mistakes because it is doing something to one that sickens because it stays shut in."

Nevertheless, Pope Francis did not hesitate to classify certain trends in the contemporary Church as manifestations of ancient heresies. As an example of Gnosticism, he cited the case of an unnamed superior general of a congregation of women religious who encouraged members to "take a spiritual bath in the cosmos" in lieu of morning prayer.

Such expressions of "pantheism" worry him, the Pope is quoted as saying, "because they skip the Incarnation!"

Sources:

Catholic News Service

Catholic News Agency

Image: Catholic News Agency

The rise in men and women entering religious orders is across a wide variety of different orders, some of which have not had novices for many years.

Last year also saw the highest number of ordinations to the diocesan priesthood in nearly 10 years, with 31 priests ordained for the dioceses of England and Wales.

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In 2002 the Irish Government brokered a deal which saw the Orders involved awarded indemnity against all legal claims by institutional abuse victims if they paid 120 million euros (NZ$208m) in cash and property. The government estimated there would be 2,000 claimants.

With eventually more than 14,000 claimants, the Orders increased their offer, however only two of the 18 Religious Orders involved have replied positively to make up the shortfall.

BBC News reports that the State's bill is now 1.36b euros (NZ$2.35b), and it cannot pay the bulk of the these claims. The new Minister of State is saying the Orders much pay 50%.

The Irish Government has warned the country that there will be cuts to services unless the Religious Orders pay their share, and that they'll send in the bailiffs on the 16 Religious Orders.

"Of the properties offered to the State, only 12 have been identified as of potential immediate benefit to the State and these will be pursued," Education Minister, Ruairi Quinn said.

There will be blocking orders on transferring title without prior consent of the Department, he said.

The respective Religious Orders have offered many acres of property, schools, convents, convalescent homes, a rehabilitation hospital and nearly 50 playing fields, however they are still way short of what is required.

During Ireland's property boom, some religious orders sold tracts of land to developers for large sums. Quinn said religious orders had made about 600 million euros (NZ$1.04b) from property deals during the boom.

"They realised values of the order of 600 million but we don't know what is there now," he told Irish state broadcaster RTE.

Several Religious Orders have signalled their willingness to meet Education Minister Ruairi Quinn.

Representatives from the Brothers of Charity, the Presentation Brothers and the Christian Brothers all confirmed they would be meeting Quinn, however other Religious Orders contacted by the Irish Times refused to respond to Quinn's comments, many saying it would be inappropriate to go ahead with the proposed meeting.

The Government said it has only received 20.6m euro (NZ$35.6m) in cash to date.

Sources

• Kerryman
• Independent
• BBC
• Reuter's Faithworld
• Irish Times
• Image: Indymedia Ireland