Winter 2017
Convocation 2016
www.nrvc.net | Volume 42, Number 1
Called to discipleship 3
Updates
5
Digging deep into discernment By Father Kevin O’Brien, S.J.
14 Reflection: Discipleship in an Elijah/Elisha moment By Sister Susan Francois, C.S.J.P. 15 Discipleship: the key to vocations By Sherry Weddell 23 Reflection: Together with the Spirit By Sister Nicole Trahan, F.M.I.
24 How the pope’s Jesuit roots affect his ministry By Father Thomas Rosica, C.S.B. 32 Reflection Let us be God’s dwelling place By Brother Tom Wendorf, S.M. 33 Feed your spirit Surrounded by saints By Sister Juliet Mousseau, R.S.C.J. 35 Book notes: A hopeful, if undefined, view of refounding By Sister Judith K. Schaefer, O.P.
Come relax, renew, and refresh your ministry with fellow pastoral ministers from around the world at Catholic Theological Union, located in the beatutiful Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.
HESBURGH SABBATICAL PROGRAM A curriculum-based, community-centered sabbatical program
For more details, visit: www.ctu.edu/hesburgh Or contact Rev. Msgr. Patrick Lagges, Director of the Hesburgh Program. 773.371.5482 or hesburgh@ctu.edu.
INSTITUTE of RELIGIOUS FORMATION Empowering formation leaders for a global Church The Institute of Religious Formation (IRF) at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago provides a unique, holistic formation program for diocesan and religious formation directors. With 35 years of experience and more than 1,700 graduates, IRF is a trusted source in formation preparation. Br. Paul Michalenko, ST, Director 773.371.5481 or pmichalenko@ctu.edu
www.ctu.edu/IRF
Editor’s note
Dimensions of discipleship
O
NE THING I LOVE about vocation ministry is its focus on foundational questions about how to live. True to form the most recent convocation of the National Religious Vocation Conference focused on an essential question: what does it mean to be a disciple of Christ? Our convocation speakers in Overland Park, Kansas this past October—whose talks appear in this edition—each came at that question from their own expertise. Father Kevin O’Brien, S.J., who has guided many young adults through vocation discernment and has written a book on Ignatian spirituality, talked about how disciples engage in vocation discernment. Sherry Weddell of the Siena Institute and an expert on spiritual development, spoke about the stages of discipleship and their implications for vocation ministry. Father Thomas Rosica, C.S.B. spoke about Pope Francis’ Jesuit path as a disciple and the impact of his Ignatian spirituality on the church and world. Lastly, three active members of NRVC shared their understanding of “What does it mean to be a disciple?” through Scripture reflections. NRVC members and friends who were lucky enough to attend the convocation found in these talks much to savor and discuss with one another. While HORIZON cannot deliver all the richness of the in-person experience, we hope that you, the reader, will still find plenty of food for thought to enrich your own ministry and enhance your religious community. The question that so many seek an answer to, “What does it mean to be a disciple?” will be with us for a very long time. May this edition help us begin to answer it. —Carol Schuck Scheiber, editor, cscheiber@nrvc.net
Carol Schuck Scheiber, editor
Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 1
Visit NRVC.net for details on subscriptions, advertising, archives and more.
HORIZON Journal of the National Religious Vocation Conference HORIZON Editor Carol Schuck Scheiber Proofreaders Sister Mary Ann Hamer, O.S.F.; Virginia Piecuch Editorial Advisory Board Margaret Cartwright; Father Thomas McCarthy, O.S.A.; Brother Paul Michalenko, S.T.; Sister Elaine Penrice, F.S.P.; Sister Elyse Ramirez, O.P.; Sister Mary Rowell, C.S.J.; Jennifer Tomshack; Brother Tom Wendorf, S.M. Page Designer Patrice J. Tuohy Cover Photo Photo by Jerald Anderson, courtesy of University of Mary, N.D. HORIZON is published quarterly by TrueQuest Communications on behalf of the National Religious Vocation Conference, 5401 South Cornell Avenue, Suite 207, Chicago, IL 60615-5664. 773-363-5454 | 773-363-5530 fax | nrvc@nrvc.net | nrvc.net Facebook: Horizon vocation journal | Twitter @HORIZONvocation SUBSCRIPTIONS Additional subscriptions are $40 each for NRVC members; $95
each for non-members. Single copies are $25 each. Subscribe online at www.nrvc.net/signup_horizon. Please direct subscription inquiries to Marge Argyelan at the NRVC offices at 773-363-5454 or margyelan@nrvc.net. POSTMASTER Send address changes to HORIZON, 5401 S. Cornell Ave., Suite 207, Chicago, IL 60615-5698. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL and Toledo, OH, ISSN 1042-8461, Pub. no. 744-850. REPRINTS, ARCHIVES, ELECTRONIC EDITIONS Permission is granted to distribute no more than 50 copies of HORIZON articles for noncommercial use. Please use the following credit line: Reprinted with permission from HORIZON, www.nrvc.net. For other types of reprints, please contact the editor at cscheiber@nrvc.net. HORIZON archives, including files for mobile readers, can be accessed by subscribers at www.nrvc.net. EDITORIAL INQUIRIES & ADVERTISING All editorial inquiries, including article proposals, manuscript submissions, and requests for writer’s guidelines should be directed to the editor: Carol Schuck Scheiber, cscheiber@ nrvc.net. For advertising rates and deadlines, see www.nrvc. net or contact the editor.
© 2017, National Religious Vocation Conference
HORIZON is an award-winning journal for vocation ministers and those who support a robust future for religious life. It is published quarterly by TrueQuest Communications on behalf of the National Religious Vocation Conference.
National Religious Vocation Conference Board for 2017-2018 Father Toby Collins, C.R. Sister Gayle Lwanga Crumbley, R.G.S. Sister Anna Marie Espinosa, I.W.B.S. Sister Michele Vincent Fisher, C.S.F.N. Brother Ronald Hingle, S.C. Board chair Sister Maria Iannuccillo, S.S.N.D.
2 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
Sister Kristin Matthes, S.N.D.deN. Father Don Miller, O.F.M. Sister Priscilla Moreno, R.S.M. Sister Anita Quigley, S.H.C.J. Brother Tom Wendorf, S.M. Father Vince Wirtner, C.PP.S.
Updates
Photo courtesy of Catholic Standard
National Catholic Sisters Week in March National Catholic Sisters Week is an annual celebration of women religious that will take place this year March 8-14. Events and commemorations will occur around the country in order to draw positive attention to the lives of Catholic sisters. The week is supported by funding from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and it is held is held in conjunction with National Women’s History Month. Learn more about what different congregations and organizations are doing in honor of the week at: nationalcatholicsistersweek.org. Photo by Mariusz Cieszewski
The vocation of Catholic brothers will be the focus of a national symposium and a dedicated day this year. Above is Brother Ignacio Gonzalez, O.S.B. as he teaches a religion class at St. Anselm’s Abbey School.
Brothers Symposium, dedicated day for brothers A national Brothers Symposium will be held at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana on March 25. The program will be based on the Vatican document “Identity and Mission of the Religious Brother in Church,” with Brother John Mark Falkenhain, O.S.B. serving as keynote speaker. The event is sponsored by the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, the National Religious Vocation Conference, the Religious Brothers Conference, the Religious Formation Conference, and the University of Notre Dame. Further information is available at yearforconsecratedlife.com/brothers-symposium. In addition May 1, 2017 has been declared a day to recognize Catholic religious brothers. Updates
The pope hopes to focus on the needs and dreams of young people in the next synod of bishops. Above two women at the 2016 World Youth Day show their enthusiasm.
Pope calls for 2018 Synod on vocations In October 2018 a synod of bishops will take place to treat the topic: “Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment.” In a letter to young people about the synod, Pope Francis stated: “Do not be afraid to listen to the Spirit who proposes bold choices; do not delay when your conscience asks you to take risks in following the Master. Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 3
The Church also wishes to listen to your voice, your sensitivities and your faith; even your doubts and your criticism. Make your voice heard.”
Ethics in Vocation and Formation Ministry Father Raymond P. Carey, Ph.D. July 14-15, De Paul University Loop Campus, Chicago, IL Understanding, Assessing, and Fostering Psycho-Sexual Integration Sister Lynn Levo, C.S.J. July 17-20, DePaul University Loop Campus, Chicago, IL Orientation Program for New Vocation Directors Sister Deborah Borneman, SS.C.M. and co-presenter July 21-25, DePaul University Loop Campus, Chicago, IL FALL INSTITUTE 2017
Appearing in the video “Why I love my vocation” are Brother Chris Patiño, F.S.C. and Sister Pat Dual, O.P. as well as many other sisters, brothers, and priests.
Video, prayer card promote religious life The National Religious Vocation Conference has made available two new resources for promoting religious life: a two-and-a-half-minute video of religious entitled “Why I love my vocation” and a new prayer card. The video is available for anyone to use and can be accessed and shared via the NRVC Youtube site at: youtube.com/natrelvocationconf The prayer card, which uses icon artwork and a prayer composed from the words of Pope Francis, is available at the virtual store at nrvc.net/store.
Orientation Program for New Vocation Directors Sister Deborah Borneman, SS.C.M. and co-presenter October 11-15, Marillac Center, Leavenworth, KS Behavioral Assessment 1 Father Raymond P. Carey, Ph.D. October 16-18, Marillac Center, Leavenworth, KS Behavioral Assessment 2 Father Raymond P. Carey, Ph.D. October 20-21, Marillac Center, Leavenworth, KS
2017 vocation ministry workshops NRVC is offering the following workshops in the coming year. Registration begins in February, and full information about workshops and other activities and events are at nrvc.net. Vocation Ambassadors Program A variety of expert presenters June 9-12, Holy Cross College, South Bend, IN SUMMER INSTITUTE 2017 Behavioral Assessment 1 Father Raymond P. Carey, Ph.D. July 10-12, De Paul University Loop Campus, Chicago, IL 4 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
Those who have taken NRVC workshops say the courses are educational not only because of quality content but because of the rich exchange among those taking part. The networking and collaboration among workshop participants is often praised in evaluations. Pictured here are Father Pasala Joseph Jojappa, SS.CC. and Sister Rita Marie Tofflemire, O.S.B. at a Summer Institute workshop.
Updates
Convocation 2016
Discernment—or making decisions where God is part of the conversation —involves self understanding and a sense of who God is for you.
Vocation discernment requires time set apart, time away from the noise and clutter of life.
Digging deep into discernment
T
O SUPPORT THE IMPORTANT WORK of vocation ministry I offer some thoughts on discernment as I have learned and lived it in my own Jesuit tradition. This tradition of discernment is not the only one, but it is the one that I know best and the one that I have relied on as I have accompanied young people discerning their life’s vocation. First of all what do we mean by “discernment”? Very basically, discernment is making decisions where God is part of the conversation. Not every decision requires a lengthy discernment process. God has given us wisdom, intuition, and practical knowledge to make decisions. Sometimes a decision is clear. Sometimes there is not enough time to do time-consuming discernment. Here I focus on discerning significant life choices or complex moral questions. Before going into the specifics of this kind of decision-making, I share O’Brien | Discernment
By Father Kevin O’Brien, S.J. Father Kevin O’Brien, S.J. is dean of the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley, California. A Jesuit since 1996, he has worked in higher education for many years, often accompanying college students as they discerned major life decisions. He is the author of The Ignatian Adventure: Experiencing the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in Daily Life.
Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 5
Convocation 2016 here my own story of discernment. I grew up in an Irish Catholic family in South Florida with a fairly traditional upbringing, going to Catholic schools and attending Mass every week. I went to college at Georgetown, prodded by a perceptive nun, who was my guidance counselor. I remember her telling me: “Kevin, Discerning the spirits I want you to go to regularly helps us follow Georgetown because God’s lead in our lives and they send more men to resist that which leads to the Jesuits than any othsin and separation. er university.” Now that’s not the pitch you want to hear as a high school senior! I was more interested in politics and living in Washington DC. I had a great experience at Georgetown. I grew in my faith. I immersed myself in the liberal arts, and became passionate about not only politics but social justice. When I graduated, I went on to law school. There was something noble about that decision. Inspired by my faith and family, I wanted to serve; I wanted to change the world. Admittedly, there was also some unhealthy ambition mixed in there and perhaps a lack of creativity, because in the 80s everybody seemed to be going to law school. We are often people of mixed motives, aren’t we? We try to discern among those different motivations, but God stills works through all of it. I loved law school, learning about the law and what I could do with it to change the world. After law school, I joined a corporate and well-connected law firm in my hometown, intent on building a political career. I did not like practicing law very much. I became disillusioned with politics and felt more and more empty. But I was working so hard and was so caught up in my career that I didn’t realize what was happening to me. One day, my best friend, who has known me since first grade, turned to me over lunch and said, “Kevin you’re not very happy, are you?” That’s a tough thing to hear, and I became very defensive and angry. “I have this great job, this wonderful career,” I told her. “Of course I’m happy!” But her observation sunk in deep. When I actually stopped to consider—when I got rid of all the clutter and the noise—I realized that deep down I wasn’t really happy. Law is a good and noble profession, but it just wasn’t for me. So I stepped back and asked, “What is for me?” About the same time I was involved in a major legal case involving a great deal of land in Florida. The client in the case was an elderly woman, Marjorie, from Brook6 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
lyn. She was basically the beneficiary of a large estate. It was a very complicated case involving a sad, complex family history. My job as the young lawyer was to take care of the client. In court, when Marjorie got tired or upset, we would leave the courtroom and walk around the courthouse in the hot Florida sun. I would just listen to her stories. One day when we were walking, it hit me. I remember exactly where I was and how I felt. I thought to myself: I would rather be outside talking to her than inside the courtroom. And the other important thing that happened: I knew I was having that thought while I was having it. That’s an important step, a deeper level of self-awareness. There were two levels of knowing going on there—not just having an insight but understanding that it was significant. I was starting to take responsibility for my life decisions. It wasn’t my best friend or a priest or nun or my parents telling me to do something: I knew I had to do something different.
Finding myself, rediscovering joy About the same time, I got an offer to teach in a Catholic high school. A former teacher of mine, now president of the school, pulled me aside after a board meeting, and invited me to consider joining the faculty, as she knew I would be a good teacher. My immediate response was “no.” I thought to myself: “I have this great career in law and how could I go from that to teaching in a high school?” Yet, I couldn’t get her offer out of my head, and a few weeks later I left corporate law to go teach in that Catholic high school. God sometimes helps our discernment along through insights and opportunities offered by the people in our lives. Many thought I was crazy to leave the law, but those who really knew me told me it made perfect sense. I spent three years teaching social studies and religion. I coached the soccer team, even though I hadn’t kicked a ball in years. I started a debate club and retreat program. I was working as hard as I did as a lawyer; I was equally tired by the end of the day, but the difference was that I was full of joy, a joy I had not experienced in a long while. Back in my 20s, when all this was happening, I could not articulate these movements as clearly as I do now. My ability to now name what was happening to me is the fruit of 20 years of experience as a Jesuit, of writing a book on the spiritual life, and leading other people through their discernments. This is my story of discernment. You have your own, and you guide others in their own stories of discernment. Despite the differences in the narratives among us, O’Brien | Discernment
Redemptorist Renewal Center
there are likely some common themes and movements. Let me now articulate some guiding principles that can be applied not just to my vocation story but to a variety of life histories.
Two types of discernment: discerning spirits, making an “election” In the Ignatian tradition, there are two types of discernment. One is “discerning the spirits,” which Ignatius refers to in his Spiritual Exercises. In my book, The Ignatian Adventure: Experiencing the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in Everyday Life, I describe Ignatius’ rules for discernment of spirits. Inside of ourselves, Ignatius explains, there are various movements or motions of the soul: feelings, emotions, attractions, repulsions, passions, desires, resistances, and deep insights. Some are shallow; others are deep. Some draw us closer to God and lead us to greater faith, hope, and love, while other movements pull us away from God and diminish our faith, hope and love. Some movements impel us to union with other people. Opposite movements cause division and distrust. We need to first become aware of these various movements within us, which is not always easy because of the distractions in our lives. Once we are aware of certain movements, we can ask: where do they come from and where do they lead us? Discerning the spirits regularly helps us follow God’s lead in our lives and resist that which leads to sin and separation. The other type of discernment, according to Ignatius, is an “election,” or discerning God’s will in our lives. An election is a significant life decision, such as: Do I get married? Do I change jobs? Do I try to simplify my life radically? Do I enter religious life? “Discerning spirits” is part of making an election. We reflect on our experience and our options, and we try to notice how those options move us interiorly. The election also involves more practical considerations, like weighing pros and cons, seeking the counsel of others, and imagining the impact of one’s choice over a lifetime. A regular habit of discerning the spirits, such as in the Ignatian practice of the examen, facilitates making important life decisions. (Find the examen online at ignatianspirituality.com.)Except in moments of profound, God-given clarity, an election takes time.
Theological assumptions underlying discernment
“Celebrating over 50 years of Retreat Ministry ” 7101 W. Picture Rocks Rd, Tucson, AZ 85743 USA Phone: 520.744.3400 ~ 866.737.57551 Email: office@desertrenewal.org www.desertrenewal.org
Contemplative Study and Sabbatical Program Envision your sabbatical filled with silence so that you can rest and renew. The atmosphere of the Sonoran Desert is one of spirituality that is anchored in a contemplative attitude and approach towards life.
2017
March 5—May 12 August 6—September 8 October 8—December 15
2018
March 4—May 11 August 5—September 7 October 7—December 14
Hesychia School of Spiritual Direction Program focuses on the ancient art of Christian spiritual direction in a multi-faith context. Through contemplative study, Peer learning, and practicum exercises you will be prepared to direct and guide your spiritual community. February 5-17 and Mar 26-April 7, 2017
There are some theological assumptions underlying the O’Brien | Discernment
Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 7
Convocation 2016 practice of discernment. One assumption is that God labors in all creation. St. Ignatius urges us to find God in all things. The challenge is that we have to slow down and look and listen, and notice God at work. Discernment asks us to pay attention. The second assumption is that God works through our freedom. As Genesis reveals to us, we are created in the image of God. The way that we are most like God is in our freedom. The one thing that God What if discernment is gave us that God did like a jazz improvisation, not give rocks or birds where God provides a or dogs is freedom. The certain baseline, and I freedom I refer to here is listen to that and start interior freedom, a freeto play? And God listens dom by which we are not and then plays off of my captive to all the pushes playing, and so on. We and pulls in our life. No are co-creating music matter what is happening on the outside, we are together. free on the inside. All of those interior motions of the soul – those emotions, feelings, impulses, desires, passions – are part of being human, but they do not define us. We are not captive to them if we discern or sift through them and then make a decision from this point of freedom. What makes us unfree? In my life, to name one example, resentment makes me unfree, holding on to grudges or hurts way too long. As the adage says, resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die. It’s self destructive and hurts relationships. Resentment disturbs my interior freedom and holds me back from being the person God calls me to be. If not resentment, what holds you back? What diminishes your freedom? What gets in the way of connecting with God and others? When working with those discerning a vocation, pay attention to what might be limiting them. Help people notice those lacks in interior freedom. Are they excessively hard on themselves? Are they saddled with unfair expectations by parents or other authority figures? Are they too concerned about what other people think? Are they free enough to live a life that is counter-cultural? In good discernments we seek to be free so we can choose from a deep place of who we are. We want to say, “I choose it. I own my decision.” Instead of being reactive, we are reflective. We take a step back in order to take God’s perspective of our lives. Such a vantage point is liberating. 8 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
As we look at freedom, we also have realize there are limits to freedom not of our own making. We can deal with deep psychological and emotional issues that limit our freedom. Poverty can limit our choices. Discrimination of different kinds—racial, ethnic, gender—can unfairly limit our options. We have to acknowledge and name the exterior limits to our freedom, which are real in our culture, particularly for people who are marginalized in our society. Even within these limits, we are free interiorly, even if we cannot fully express that freedom.
Start with “Who is God for you?” As you guide people in their discernment, I suggest asking them three questions: • Who is God for you? • How is God calling you? • What is getting in the way? I shared with you my own experience of making the transition from practicing law to teaching. At that time, I went to an Irish nun for spiritual direction. At our first meeting, I told her: “I’d like to figure out if I am called to be a Jesuit.” She paused, gazed at me, smiled, and then said, “That’s good. Now, who is Jesus for you, Kevin?” We ended up spending a year on that question. Sometimes we put the cart before the horse. We race towards answering the question, “What is God calling me to do with my life?” and we skip the more important question: “Who is God for me?” You can’t figure out your call in life until you first understand better the One who calls you. This leads us to explore the images of God we have. We need images or symbols of God because God is God and we are not. God is close to us, but God is also Holy Mystery. Symbols and images of God bridge the gap between God and us, all the while knowing that the image will always fall short of the Mystery to which it points. We all have a variety of images of God dancing in our heads. Some images of God are helpful for our discernment; others are not. Some popular images include the old man up in the clouds, a grandfatherly type who is kind and helpful. That’s a nice image of God but it’s not all of who God is. Another image is God the judge or accountant who keeps track of our good and bad deeds. There is some truth to that image: God is a judge. But God is also merciful, as we learn from Jesus’ image of the Father in the parable of the Prodigal Son. We can be thankful for the trailblazing work of theologians like Sisters Elizabeth Johnson and Sandra Schneiders, who have broken open the Scriptures to show us feminine images O’Brien | Discernment
Convocation 2016
In Michelangelo’s fresco, “The Conversion of Saul,” Christ directs the action from on high. The movement and activity of the call takes place externally.
of God. We also benefit from theologians who reveal to us images of God that free us from strictly Western images of God. In the end, we need a variety of images of God to animate our discernment. Living in the 1500’s, St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, could have chosen a severe image of God from popular medieval imagery. Yet, he was also a man of the Renaissance. In his autobiography, he describes how, during his conversion, God worked with him as a teacher works with a student, gently, patiently, personally. The image of God as one who labors and helps people became central for the Jesuits. It inspired me to re-think what we mean by “God’s will.” Instead of seeing “God’s will” as an imposition, I see it as an invitation. “God’s will” conjured up in me an image of God holding a script of my life that was pre-written, and I had only to figure out a way to peek from behind God’s shoulder to read it. That image is too easy. It gets me off the hook from exercising our God-given freedom. Someone shared with me a more helpful image of God which takes my freedom more seriously: God and me playing jazz. What if discernment is like a jazz improvisation, where God O’Brien | Discernment
provides a certain baseline, and I listen to that and start to play? And God listens and then plays off of my playing, and so on. We are co-creating music together. This teaches me that God does not simply have a will for me, but a desire for me! Discernment is about God’s desires meeting my own holy desires, which are themselves God given. The challenge of a jazz-playing God is that we don’t know where the music is going to lead us, and sometimes I may be off-key. But together we are creating something beautiful.
How is God calling you? After exploring our image of God, we turn to the question of how God is calling us. Father Jim Keenan, S.J. at Boston College introduced me to paintings that depict two different experiences of call. In Michelangelo’s classic, “The Conversion of Saul,” we find a familiar scene of Paul on the road to Damascus, encountering the risen Lord in glory. Saul is blinded by the light, having fallen off of his horse. Christ directs the action from above. The scene is chaotic, with lots of people running to and fro, Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 9
Convocation 2016 Photo of Caravaggio artwork by Alvesgaspar.
thing that is mostly interior. It’s happening inside of Paul, an intimate encounter with his God that moves him deeply. We’ve all had moments like that. This is the stuff of discernment, sifting the different pushes and pulls, bold passions and holy desires within us. Such call experiences may take more time to figure out, but they are deeply personal and an invitation to greater freedom that leads to peace. As much as we need to pay attention to our interior life, discernment also takes experience seriously. Remember, God is at work and laboring in our lives and in our world. There, we may notice what attracts us and gives us life, and what deadens or distracts. Pedro Arrupe, S.J., Superior General of the Jesuits from 1965-83, encouraged us to pay attention to what we love as a cue to how we are called:
Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with In Caravaggio’s “The Conversion of St. Paul,” the action of the call is more interior than in your evenings, how you will spend your Michelangelo’s work. Here Paul lies on the ground, arms outstretched to heaven. God’s weekends, what you read, whom you action presumably is taking place within Paul. know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love – and it will decide everything.
and a host of angels surrounding Christ and watching from the heavens. There are moments in our lives when we fall off our proverbial horse and are utterly convinced of God’s presence and desire for us. The call is jarring but clear. It wakes us up. Admittedly, I don’t have many moments of such clarity in my life. I wish I did: life would be so much easier, although maybe not as much fun. I relate more to the image that Caravaggio offers of the same biblical account. In “The Conversion of St. Paul,” Caravaggio depicts a much simpler scene. There is a horse, someone tending to the horse, and a younger Paul is on the ground, lying on his back, his arms stretched to heaven in plea or surrender. His face is serene. There is no bright light from heaven. No image of the Lord. But the call is still there. Caravaggio understands the call of St. Paul as some10 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
If you love science, then consider being a doctor or researcher. If you are captivated by art or music, then think about developing those skills. If you keep falling in love with the same person, then you might think of marrying that person! Or if you find yourself hanging around your favorite priests, brothers or sisters, or serving more and more in your parish, then a vocation to religious life may be for you. Of course, talented and good people may be attracted to a variety of fulfilling commitments, which means that their discernment is a bit more complicated. Discernment is also complicated because life is complicated, but that is where God is at work. Pope Francis encourages us to pay attention to our experience and that of others. In his 2016 apostolic exhortation, AmoO’Brien | Discernment
Convocation 2016
God speaks through ordinary life. The pattern of a person’s daily decisions can reveal a direction and calling.
ris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), he provides the following counsel: “Jesus expects us to enter into the reality of people’s lives and to know the power of tenderness. Whenever we do so our lives become wonderfully complicated.” As spiritual directors and vocation promoters, we cannot fear walking with people in the blessed complexity of their lives. God awaits us there. Father Walter Ciszek, S.J., a Jesuit from Pennsylvania who served in Russia for many years during and after World War II, also had a gritty and down-to-earth notion about God’s will: “The plain and simple truth is that God’s will is what He actually wills to send us each day, in the way of circumstances, places, people, and problems. The temptation is to overlook these things as God’s will. The temptation is to look beyond these things, precisely because they are so constant, so petty, so humdrum and routine and seek to discover instead some other and nobler will of God that better fits our notion of what His will should be.” In the same way, Father Howard Gray, S.J., a prolific writer on Ignatian spirituality, wisely urged me, when I was fretting about the future, to be faithful to the present. God reveals what God wants us to do by what we are doing, seeing, hearing and experiencing in the present. So we need to look at the ordinary decisions we make every day and discern how they are indications of what God is calling us to do in the future. I still get preoccupied about the future. A spiritual director of mine pointed out this pesky habit. After I was ordained, I was sent to a vibrant and large Jesuit parish in Washington DC. Even then, I was restless. What should I be doing next? “Kevin,” he said, “it is the height of huO’Brien | Discernment
bris to think you could do more for God’s greater glory tomorrow than what God has given you to do for his greater glory today.” I didn’t like hearing that, but he was absolutely right. Age quod agis is an old Jesuit maxim. Do what you are doing. Do that which God has given you to do because in doing that, you may then see where God is calling you next.
What is getting in the way? What gets in the way of discerning well? We’ve already touched on a few blocks. Sometimes, we are too locked in regrets or resentment from the past or fixated anxiously on the future. We also reckon with too much noise and clutter in our lives. Our days are overstuffed with things to do, and our email As spiritual directors and inboxes overflow. Endless vocation promoters, we data and streaming images cannot fear walking with from the Web overwhelm us. Such noise and clutter people in the blessed impede quiet and stillness, complexity of their lives. which is absolutely critiGod awaits us there. cal to good discernment. Those of us who accompany young people in discernment have to model good behavior. Is there balance in our lives? Do we rely on online tools and social media with discretion? The world may be chaotic around us, but are we still inside? Or distracted? Disordered attachments is another problem area that interferes with discernment. Disordered attachments Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 11
In Caravaggio’s painting, “The Calling of St. Matthew,” Matthew has one hand on the coins he is collecting for taxes, while the other points to himself as if to reply to Jesus’ call, “Me? Really?”
describe anything, even very good things, that we hold too tightly. Loving your home and family is a very good thing. But even good parents need to let their children grow up, and children need to find autonomy from their parents. Of course, we can be attached to bad things, and these we clearly need to let go of. But letting go of good things or people we love: that is very hard. I have struggled when asked to leave ministries which I love to take on a new assignment. This is where freedom comes in again. To help me grow in spiritual freedom, I sometimes pray with my palms open. God may take something from my open hands, and they may be empty for a while, which can be sad. But they remain open to receive something new and maybe unimaginably joyful. I’ve always been surprised how God is always waiting to surprise me! In contrast, imagine hands clenched like a fist. This is the posture of holding on too tightly. This is the posture of fear and 12 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
control. God wants freedom. Caravaggio offers another helpful image. In his painting, “The Calling of St. Matthew,” he depicts Matthew at a table collecting taxes. Jesus is at the frame of the painting, looking at Matthew across the room and pointing to him, as if to say, “Yes, you Matthew, follow me.” Matthew stares at Jesus. His left hand points back at himself, “Me? Really?” His right hand, however, still reaches for the coins on the table. Matthew is caught between freedom and fear, the present and the past, openness and control. This painting inspires me to ask myself and other discerners: are we free to accept the Lord’s invitation to do something new? Are we still clinging unnecessarily to something? There are some other blocks to discernment to be aware of. First, we may not be creative enough, or we might limit our vision as we imagine our futures. Second, we may be captive to other voices or pressures that O’Brien | Discernment
Convocation 2016 are coercive, seductive or manipulative. Finally, we may fear or resist commitment, seeing it as confining and not as a pathway to a deeper life of meaning and thus joy. Whatever obstacle to freedom that we encounter, we need to name the block so that we can overcome it, with God’s help and the help of one another.
Other questions to guide discernment Father Michael Himes of Boston College poses three of his own questions that summarize much of what we have been exploring about discernment. They can help frame any discernment of a vocation: • What gives me joy? • Am I good at it? • Does the world need it? The first question is about looking inside and asking about what gives deep joy, not just fleeting happiness. A joyful thing to do can also be a hard thing to do. Marriage is a joyful and blessed union, but it can be challenging, as can be religious life and priesthood. Like Caravaggio’s experience of an inner call, this question asks the person to dig deep and reflect on their deepest desires, which are God’s own desires for us, since God is our creator and continues to create in us. The poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s advice to a young poet eloquently makes this point: Nobody can counsel and help you, nobody. There is only one single way. Go into yourself. Search for the reason that bids you write; find out whether it is spreading out its roots in the deepest places of your heart, acknowledge to yourself whether you would have to die if it were denied you to write. This above all—ask yourself in the stillest hour of your night: must I write? Delve into yourself for a deep answer. And if this should be affirmative, if you may meet this earnest question with a strong and simple “I must,” then build your life according to this necessity: your life even into its most indifferent and slightest hour must be a sign of this urge and a testimony to it.
Himes’ question, “Am I good at it?” is a helpful cue. That we are good at something is a sign that we are using our God-given talents well. As much as we want to do something, if we are not good at it, then it may mean that we need to leave that vocation to someone else, and embrace our own. In discernment we can fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others and making choices based on what others want and do, and not what O’Brien | Discernment
we are called to do ourselves. Realizing what we are good at or not good at also helps us recognize our limits. We cannot do everything, which is just fine. But we can do something well, and our God-given talents and skills indicate what that might be. The last question, “Does the world need it?” is also helpful in focusing our efforts. Discernment is usually about choosing between two or more good things. This question liberates us from the trap of self-involvement that some discernments can get stuck in. It’s not just about what makes me happy; it’s about serving others ultimately. If we’re choosing between two good things, we can ask ourselves, “What is the greater need?” While we certainly do not want to pressure a young person to consider religious life, I think it is important to state without apology that the world needs the witness of religious life. Or better: the world needs people like you! Through these or other guiding questions, we lead discerners to greater authenticity and integrity. As important as any question is our faithful presence to the discerner. Those questions and our abiding presence will help make Cardinal John Henry Newman’s prayer their own: God has created me to do him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission—I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I have a part in a great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do his work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep his commandments and serve him in my calling. n
HORIZON articles on discernment “Discovering ‘what God wants’ during vocation conversations,” by Brother Joel Giallanza, C.S.C., p. 4, Spring 2011 “Exploring images of God during discernment,” by Father Harry Hagan, O.S.B., p. 21, Fall 2012 “Issues that need to be explored during discernment,” by Sister Sandra M. Schneiders, I.H.M. , p. 22, Spring 2002 “The heart’s calling: feelings in vocational self-discovery,” by John Neafsey, p. 8, Fall 2008 “Soul Inquiry: a vocational discernment tool,” by Sister Cindy Kaye, R.S.M., p. 27, Fall 2008
Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 13
Convocation 2016
Reflection: Discipleship in an Elijah/Elisha moment
I
’VE BEEN PONDERING and praying with the story did not find God in the wind, earthquake, or fire. It was of Elijah and Elisha (2 Kings 2:1-4) ever since I heard only after hearing a “light silent sound” that Elijah is told it proclaimed during daily Mass by one of my elder by the Lord where to find Elisha, who will succeed him sisters in June. Sure I’d heard the story before, but on that as prophet. summer morning, all of a sudden, it was flooded with a In the 2 Kings reading, Elijah has been forming his surplus of meaning. disciple in the ministry of prophecy for approximately You see, as a (relatively) newer, younger religious who six years. The time has now come for him to leave this has already said goodbye to many of my wisdom friends earth and pass the mantle to Elisha, quite literally. and mentors in community, I found deep resonance in This transition moment, according to scripture Elisha’s conscious grasping and savoring of this sacred scholar Gina Hens-Piazza, is “fittingly positioned in a time with his elder. He’s not going to miss a minute of it! kind of liminal space.” No wonder this story resonated so First we have Elijah himself trying to go ahead withdeeply with me. Much has been written about this time out Elisha following him. Not once, in religious life as a liminal space. Here but three times. “Stay here, please, the we are in the midst of the already and Lord has sent me on to Bethel ... Jerinot yet. We are linked to our past, and We live into the future, cho ... the Jordan.” Each time, Elisha’s lean into a future full of hope, even if present moment by response is clear. Not yet! “As the Lord in our more honest moments we reallives and as you yourself live, I will not present moment. And ize that we don’t really know what we’re leave you.” doing. Yet, as vowed men and women, God is there, even if it is The guild prophets do not think we do know that our yes, the commithard to see through the Elisha understands what’s about to hapment we are called to profess, is key to fog of uncertainty. pen. “Do you know that today the Lord how we follow the way of Jesus, present will take your master from you?” they moment by present moment. ask. I love Elisha’s reply: “Yes, I know When Elijah tells Elisha, twice, to that. Be still.” “stay here,” Hens-Piazza believes that he is “testing the “Yes, I know.” There is much we do not know about steadfastness of Elisha’s commitment to follow in his the future, the future of our religious communities, our ways, no matter how mysterious the route.... Because church, our nation, our very planet. All we can really what God will do and how God will do it is shrouded in know is this moment, and then only if we pay attention. mystery, Elisha is called to maintain vigilance rather than “Be still.” We are called to discipleship in this present a pretense of knowing.” moment, awakened by the Spirit. Our founders and pioElisha does not know where the road to discipleship neer sisters and brothers were called in their moment. So will lead, and yet he has turned his back on his 12 oxen too those who will come after us. Together, across generaand his family in 1 Kings and stayed with Elijah as long tions, we live into the future, present moment by present as he can. When Elijah asks him what he can do for him moment, step by step. And God is there, even if it is hard before he goes, Elisha wisely asks for a double portion to see through the fog of uncertainty. of his spirit, to which Elijah replies: “You have asked for In a recent address to the Leadership Conference of something that is not easy.” Women Religious, Sister Pat Farrell, O.S.F. named the call Discipleship is not easy. The way ahead may be of this time: “This is our moment. The world around us clouded in fog. Our companions may not be with us long teeters on the edge of both peril and promise. Breakdown on the journey, and we’re not sure who else may join us. and breakthrough tussle with each other. The path forward And yet our loving God is there, ready is hidden in fog. It is your time to lead. To do so you must to journey with us as we cross over to learn to be led and to listen deeply.” take our next steps as disciples. n In the first part of the Elijah/Elisha story in 1 Kings the prophet Elijah was “discouraged and almost despairBy Sister Susan Francois, C.S.J.P. Franing” at the evil all around him. Not knowing what to do, cois is on the leadership team for the Conhe went to Mount Horeb, hoping to encounter God. Yet he gregation of Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. 14 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
Francois | Elijah/Elisha Moment
Photo by George Martell/The Pilot Media Group
Convocation 2016
The more our church helps form committed disciples, the more that Catholics will be ready to fully live their vocations.
Discipleship: the key to vocations
A
T THE CATHERINE OF SIENA INSTITUTE our staff works in parishes and dioceses as formators and evangelizers, equipping parishes to form committed lay disciples. What I want to share with you here is what we see happening at the ground level in parishes in faith formation and how that affects the emergence of religious vocations. The Catherine of Siena Institute is best known for its work in charism discernment (understanding one’s spiritual gifts), which we’ve done for more than 20 years. We have worked directly with over 130,000 Catholics, and by “directly,” I mean sitting down one-on-one and listening to people, their stories, their encounters with God, how God has used them. This Weddell | Discipleship
Even the most active Catholics sometimes experience little spiritual growth. Growth is important because people are ready for vocation discernment only after they have become intentional disciples.
By Sherry Weddell Sherry Weddell is the co-founder and co-director of the Catherine of Siena Institute, which is dedicated to equipping parishes for the evangelization and formation of lay Catholics. She is also the author of Forming Intentional Disciples: The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus and is editor of Becoming a Parish of Intentional Disciples.
Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 15
Convocation 2016 drew us into evangelization because we quickly realized that many people could not discern because they did not have much of a relationship with God. There was very little spiritual life there, even though they were active in their parishes. Consequently the charisms weren’t emerging in their lives, and they had a discernment struggle. We use a simple but very useful schema to describe the adult Christian developmental stages. We talk about seeker, disciple, and apostle. A seeker is someone who has not yet given an initial yes to Christ to follow him. That initial yes leads into a life of discipleship, which is the second, ongoing, lifelong conversion process. From discipleship emerges mission and vocation, the experience of being sent. An apostle takes the commitment that disciples have to the next level. As part of my work Parishes and dioceses in formation and evanthat seriously evangelize gelization I wrote Forming Intentional Disciples, have all kinds of people which focused entirely clamoring to know what on the first part of a faith God wants of them. They journey. The book looks are in place to begin that at stages ranging from “I journey. don’t even know if there is a God. And if there is, why should I care?” on through, “I have just begun following Christ as his disciple in the midst of his church. How do I make that journey?”
No personal relationship with God In researching the book, I found myself becoming the queen of depressing statistics. And one figure that really stayed with me was that less than half of American Catholics are certain you can have a personal relationship with God. According to the Pew Religious Landscape Survey of 2008, only 48 percent of American Catholics are certain that a personal relationship with God is possible. Since the book has come out I’ve had many conversations with leaders in the Catholic world who tell me privately that this is their own experience. One man came up to me at a major Catholic conference on evangelization that was by invitation only, and he said, “Until I read your book last month, I did not know it was possible to have a personal relationship with God.” I have to admit that I gaped like a fish out of water, my mouth 16 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
hanging open. I said, “Help me understand why do you think that is so?” This highly committed, deeply involved man is in full-time ministry forming clergy. He comes from a good, practicing Catholic family. He replied, “We just never talked about it; I didn’t know it was possible.” Conversations like the one I had with this man should be impossible to have, but I’m afraid we’re going to be having them for awhile. If that is happening with some of our very best, most committed people, what about those who are streaming out of the church right now? I’m especially concerned about the many baptized young adults who are leaving the church. All of them have a vocation, but without more faith development, they will not realize it. I like to point out that Dorothy Day did not know she was Dorothy Day. When she walked out of an abortion clinic as a young woman, it never occurred to her that she was Dorothy Day as we think of Dorothy Day. The fact is that a vocation emerges from a lived encounter, a sustained encounter, with Christ. She didn’t know yet who she was. She didn’t know the identity and destiny God had prepared for her. And that is where many of our own people are. Many Catholics don’t have a personal relationship with Christ. As noted in Catechesi Tradendae (On Catechesis in Our Time), many in the church are “still without any explicit personal attachment to Jesus Christ; they only have the capacity to believe placed within them by Baptism and the presence of the Holy Spirit” (19). Things are at a low level for those still in the church, but meanwhile many are abandoning the church. Two thirds or fewer of Millennials who were raised Catholic remain in the church, according to a 2016 Our Sunday Visitor article looking at data from several national surveys. Other data indicates that many young people who remain in the church are thinking about leaving. Not all the news is bad. There are also some positive things going on. For instance Millennials are fascinated by Pope Francis. When he was in Washington in 2015, one of my friends was standing in line for hours to attend a papal Mass. He expected to be surrounded by the incredibly hard-core Catholics, but he told me, “It was an evangelizers paradise. All I had to do was turn to people around me and ask, ‘So why are you here?’” On one side of my friend was an agnostic woman who liked what the pope is saying about the environment. On the other side of him was a guy in a Mohawk who said, “I’m here to find out if that guy (meaning Pope Francis) is right about that Jesus guy.” My friend prayed with that man on the spot. Francis is building millions of bridges of trust and arousWeddell | Discipleship
ing intense spiritual curiosity with many non-insiders. Our future Catholic sisters, brothers and priests are standing in those circles of doubters right now. They don’t know who they’ve been created to be because they haven’t yet lived the encounter out of which a vocation will emerge in their lives.
Thresholds of spiritual growth From this quick overview of where the Catholic population is in faith development, I want to turn to what the church says about the faith journey. The church makes a distinction between the power to believe and the personal act of faith. We recognize the first as virtus fidei, the “virtue of faith,” the power or capacity to believe given to us in valid baptism, but not the act of faith. Then there is actus fidei, the “act of faith,” which is the explicit, personal, free choice of an older child or adult to respond to God’s grace with belief and discipleship at some point in life. It is this personal response of faith that sets into motion the whole spiritual growth process that leads to the discernment of vocation. Vocation is a fruit of discipleship. Parishes and dioceses that seriously evangelize have all kinds of people clamoring to know what God wants of them. They are in place to begin that journey. But evangelization and the resulting commitment to faith is what’s supposed to come first. Institutionally, at the parochial level, we have not been systematically having these evangelizing conversations with people. If we look closely at what happens with 21st century Christians, we can identify steps along the journey of discipleship. Borrowing from Doug Schaupp, who pioneered “The Five Thresholds of Postmodern Conversion” in his book I Once was Lost, we can recognize steps in the spiritual development of a lived relationship with God. These steps apply to the baptized, unbaptized, churched, and unchurched. 1. Initial trust 2. Spiritual curiosity 3. Spiritual openness 4. Spiritual seeking 5. Intentional discipleship What we’ve heard from parish and diocesan leaders for about 10 years is that their best guess is that about 5 percent of their active members are actually conscious disciples—that is, at the level of intentional discipleship. In terms of vocations, that means about 95 percent of these folks are not yet ready to discern. Weddell | Discipleship
Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 17
Convocation 2016 Photo: Courtesy of the Diocese of Saginaw, Michigan
Parish life is where most Catholics engage with their faith. If a person is more spiritually advanced than the rest of his or her parish, it can feel lonely. But the more a parish is filled with intentional disciples, the more those men and women will realize their vocations.
We’re dealing with a developmental issue. There is no such thing as vocational unemployment in the Catholic Church. If you’re baptized, you have a vocation in Christ. But do we have the leadership, the vision, the structures, and the practices in place to facilitate an encounter with Christ and the spiritual growth that gets you to the place where you can start discerning? That’s the question. Let’s look more closely at where people are in their lived relationships with God, which is what the thresholds are about. As people move toward a faith commitment, trust is a huge issue. Trust must be in place—and trust is not faith—it’s just some positive personal association with Christ, with the church, with Christianity. Some people will find all those things useless, but say, “I like you” to Sister Kristin. They don’t even know why because they think her religion is weird. But they like Sister Kristin because she’s funny, kind, and trustworthy, and she helped them out once. Sister Kristin is then a living bridge to trust. Pope Francis is this living bridge for many people. Once trust is established, as people move closer toward faith, curiosity is next, identifying faith as something interesting. This stage is very non-committal. It’s like casual dating. As people become more and more curious, and we foster that curiosity, there is a moment when they open the door just a crack to the possibility of personal, spiritual change. They are at openness, which is a huge 18 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
transition that many 21st century people do not make because it means they have given up total control (or their imagined total control) over their lives. They have opened themselves, maybe just 1 percent, to the possibility of spiritual change. That is a huge turning point and something people really need help to arrive at. As people move further on then they get to serious seeking. This is not casual dating—this is dating with a purpose, with the question in the background being, “Am I going to commit?” This could change people’s lives. At this point we want people to be deciding, “Will I follow Christ as a disciple in the midst of the church?” For people in serious seeking, the process feels like a quest. There is a lot of internal drama. There may not be much to see externally, but it feels very dramatic inside for those at this stage. Next there is the point of saying yes, which I call intentional discipleship. This means that people are consciously and deliberately choosing to follow Christ. This kind of discipleship involves movement. The fact is that everyone in our religious communities is in spiritual motion because we have real relationships with God. Some of us are on vacation because we’re tired. Some of us have bodies in the church but our heads are on the way out. Some of us are moving back in after being away. Others are taking a break. Every conceivable journey is happening in our congregations. Discipleship is a living thing. Our lived relationship with God has always been fluid. Vocation directors know this. One of the first Weddell | Discipleship
Convocation 2016 times I ever dared to ask a vocation director this question, I said, “I’m just curious, but what would you say if I asked how many of the men you work with are intentional disciples?” His reply was, “None.” Why? He told me it was because nobody had ever talked to them about the idea of becoming an intentional disciple. It just wasn’t an issue.
Discerners often need spiritual growth to discern To repeat: vocation is the fruit of discipleship, but many Catholics are not at the level of discipleship. The average practicing Catholic in our experience is at the trust level. This is our best guess because there are no studies. However, we’ve worked now with well over 500 parishes in 150 dioceses, with some 130,000 people. We sit down one-on-one and talk about how we’re being used by God. Pretty typically people are at trust, and the cultural norm is at trust as well. If somebody’s body is in the church, they’re probably at least at trust, but they may not have moved from this early, passive stage of spiritual development. The earliest stages of trust and curiosity are essentially passive. St. Thomas Aquinas famously observed that that which is received is received according to the mode of the receiver. Basically that means whatever you’re telling me, I’m filtering through my own experience, and I will filter out whatever doesn’t make sense. If most Catholics and many discerners are at this very early stage, as vocation directors take them on retreat or explain religious life, the call, or the discernment process, they cannot take much of it in. Many leaders at the parochial level are still at the early stages. Ever since my book, Forming Intentional Disciples, came out many leaders in the church—archbishops, seminary faculty, pastors, religious, lay leaders at all levels—have told me, “When I began my ministry I was not yet a disciple. I am now, but I wasn’t then.” This is not because these are bad people; rather the church didn’t used to talk about this. Many of them literally didn’t know that further spiritual development was even an issue. This reality has all kinds of implications. Unconsciously we have rearranged our pastoral care, our practices, our vocational discernment—everything—to be where people actually are. This means people who are farther along a spiritual journey are in parishes where they feel completely alien and unsupported. As a result they suppress the expression of their discipleship to fit Weddell | Discipleship
in. This is stunning. We’ve just been learning this as we listen to people. People tell us, “I felt I was betraying my Catholic faith by being a disciple.” They are so intimidated by the de facto culture of the other lay Catholics in their congregations that they go into hiding. They don’t tell anybody about it. If the cultural norm is trust, and you have people who are great saints—or even just a little further on, say at openness—they will still feel extraordinary. However, if the parish culture shifts, spiritually advanced people who have remained hidden will come out of the shadows. There are hundreds of parishes seriously engaged in evangelization; whole dioceses are embarked on this journey, and this changes the conversation dramatically.
Catholicism has settled for too little I’m afraid we have accepted relative fruitlessness as normal at every level of church life. In practice Catholics have come to accept as normal that people identify as Catholic or are active parishioners even though they lack perIt’s hard for us to envision sonal faith and intenwhat it would be like tional discipleship. to be in a church filled It’s hard for us to with people who are envision what it would passionate about their be like to be in a church walk with God and want filled with people who to know what God wants are passionate about of them. their walk with God and want to know what God wants of them. I once worked with a 900-family parish from which 30 men had been ordained. They had 20 more in the seminary, as well as a homegrown community of sisters and a homegrown community of brothers. They had amazing lay apostles, social justice ministries, phenomenal giving, and so on. As I listened to their story, I kept saying, “You know this isn’t normal, right?” And they kept saying, “It’s normal here.” Here’s another example of what a parish could be like. In my former parish in Seattle, where I was a relatively new Catholic, we had a very informal group of men and women interested in priesthood and religious life. They would read church documents on religious life, talk about the charisms, and go through a discernment process together. If one of them visited the chancery or a religious community, that person had someone to come Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 19
Convocation 2016 back and talk to about it. It was a safe, confidential enviperhaps we get to know a religious community. ronment. People had a place to talk about their vocation Evangelization addresses the concern about disquestions before their families got wind of it and started position, and the church actually talks about revival. I pressuring them. In two years we had eight different was raised as a Southern Baptist in Louisiana, and we people enter religious life or priesthood did real revivals there. But, seriously, out of a community of 650 families. Catholics do revivals, too. Through Those eight were more than the whole revival the graces that we have objecFor most laypeople the rest of the archdiocese put together. tively received can wake up and flood parish is the only place to Nurturing this kind of disciplethrough our lives. We’ve been baptized, find sustenance. It’s the ship—which leads to vocation discernwe’ve received communion, and now ment—is not rocket science. An awful the power of the Holy Spirit can be only house of formation lot can happen at the parish level that released in people’s lives. When we most of us will ever have can lay the foundation for discernreceive the sacraments, we have a spiriaccess to. ment processes in dioceses and relitual itch that we can’t always scratch. gious communities. Vocation directors There’s an uneasiness, something there should not be carrying the burden all spiritually that you can’t quite get rid of by themselves, having to be everywhere and meet everyeven if you call yourself an ex-Catholic or “recovering” one. If we’re forming disciples at the parish level, the isCatholic. There’s an itch, and if someone comes along sue of religious vocation just becomes part of the normal and preaches the call to discipleship, you can respond conversation for Catholics. and the graces of discipleship will be released in your Here is a great image that illustrates where we often life. And fruit is what comes out of this process, includare at the parish level. In his 1925 book A Key to the Docing discernment of vocation. trine of the Eucharist Dom Anscar Vonier wrote: It is a favorite idea with St. Thomas that faith is truly a contact with Christ.... Without this contact of faith we are dead to Christ, the stream of his life passes us by without entering us, as a rock in the midst of the river remains unaffected by the turbulent rush of waters.... Till faith be established, the great redemption has not become our redemption; the riches of Christ are not ours in any true sense.”
I envision the riches of Christ as a great snowmelt of water in a mountain stream, just pouring over a person on all sides—but never penetrating. The person is a like a rock in the rushing waters. Nothing penetrates because there is no personal openness. The problem is the disposition of the people: there is little faith, no repentance, and no intention of embracing a new life. Now the spiritual journey is a lifelong process, and the church has been talking about this for hundreds of years. I could start off really well, on fire, excited, and then 10 years down the road I can lose my way somehow. Meanwhile somebody else who sleep-walked through their confirmation can wake up 15 years later and begin to move into deeper faith. Spiritual disposition and openness are lifelong issues, and how to sustain them is an important question. For most laypeople the parish is the only place to find that sustenance. It’s the only house of formation most of us will ever have access to, unless 20 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
Vocations artificially suppressed or misidentified Basically our failure to evangelize artificially suppresses the emergence of vocations because the desire to discern God’s call is a normal fruit of discipleship. Vocations are there. We believe they are there, that every baptized person has something to discern. That is what the church officially teaches. It is part of pastoral governance to call forth the vocations of all the baptized. But we have almost no vision, no structures, no leadership, and no plans to make this happen. From the parish pew level, the working assumption is that vocations are rare, not universal. From the average layperson’s perspective Catholic sisters, brothers, and priests clearly have been zapped. They are future saints. They’re extraordinary and rare. Laypeople tend to believe that priests and religious have a vocation and they do not. Here is a second problem that comes up a lot. A culture of discipleship produces a culture of vocation. In the absence of a culture of vocation, people confuse the emerging signs of discipleship with a call to religious life. We see the signs of discipleship, and we think they are signs of a religious or priestly vocation. I could tell you many stories about this. One woman I know entered religious life, she said, because she Weddell | Discipleship
wanted to talk about God and nobody else was doing it except the sisters. She could go to them and talk, and she didn’t have to hide around them. Another young man I know had an extraordinary, dramatic conversion experience following 15 years of methamphetamine addiction. He was totally on fire for his faith—and he was single. Every priest in the diocese was swarming him. They had no category for him. He was clearly not normal, ergo, everyone thought he had a vocation as a priest. However, he was a laborer who had barely scraped through high school. He had never read a book in his life until his conversion. He was not going to make it through six years of philosophy and theology. Nobody could take that in because they had no other label for him. He was not at all typical. Misidentifying discipleship as an automatic religious vocation may not be our foremost problem, however. More urgently we need evangelizing parishes that are creating disciples. If our parishes were facilitating and evangelizing and building up a culture of discernment where it’s normal to ask, “What does God want of me?” vocation directors would have people flowing to them. In every parish we know of that does serious evangelization, one of the first questions that comes up is, “What does God want of me now?” In our work in charism discernment—that is, helping lay Catholics discover their spiritual gifts—we often hear that our outreach is the first time Catholics have received help in figuring out what God is calling them to. Yet this is something the church urges us to do. In the 1992 document Pastores Dabo Vobis (I will give you shepherds) Saint John Paul II wrote, “Therefore, the Church fulfills her mission when she guides every member of the faithful to discover and live his or her own vocation in freedom and to bring it to fulfillment in charity” (40).
PREPARE TO BE HEARD We understand you’re under pressure to evangelize.
Holding conversations about faith Let’s consider how to put these ideas into practical use. When people are coming to you, a vocation director, I would suggest that one of the first things you ask be: “Where are you in your lived relationship with God?” At the Catherine of Siena Institute we call these “threshold conversations.” I know vocation directors ask for a spiritual autobiography later in a discernment process. I would suggest that perhaps you not only ask for this in writing but that you also do it orally. You can ask discerners to tell you their faith story, where they’ve been and where they are now. If you can Weddell | Discipleship
We’re here to help. PREPARETHEWORD.COM
Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 21
Convocation 2016 hear where their journey has been, and especially where they are developmentally now, it helps you know where to meet them and how to continue the process. The five thresholds can give you a framework for discussing the spiritual journey. These kinds of conversations help you see what sort of preliminary spiritual development is necessary before people can actually begin discernment. Typically the whole area of pre-evangelization has no structures. These are people in those early stages of trust and curiosity. They need a chance to wrestle with the initial proclamation of Christ, the basics, the kerygma. If you, as a vocation director, are seeing people at this level, you may have to facilitate their movement through the next threshold of spiritual development. A good resource to help you with this could be a 1965 classic that I recommend: Kerygma in Crisis? by Father Alfonso Nebreda, S.J., who was a missionary in Japan. I also want to note that only a small minority of people emerge from a single evangelization experience as intentional disciples. More common is that people come out of a single experience at the levels of curiosity or openness. This is partly because people are starting so far back. As people grapple with a deeper faith for the first time, issues arise in their lives. These can be things like astonishment that they can have a personal relationship with God, or fear about what a deeper relationship with God will demand of them. Or they may learn that they have been confusing activity with relationship with God. The latter is a big issue that emerges for many people. They think that a relationship with God means doing X, Y, and Z. Also, sometimes people don’t even have a way to step out of the crowd and make a personal response to God because they have no experience with prayer. The Mass is their only experience, but liturgy occurs en masse and is totally scripted. You can’t say yes to God with a script. People need time to stop and wrestle with these issues. What we usually find after the first evangelizing experience is that people move along spiritually, but likely into the level of curiosity or openness. They are on a journey; we need to not drop them but encourage them. Vocation directors are going to be walking with a lot of people at these levels.
show, and with that come very important clues as to what a person’s vocation is. If people are discerning charisms— discovering their spiritual gifts—they are discerning a vocation. They now are seeing themselves as personally responsible for some part of the church’s mission and life. They’re no longer just receivers; now they are apostles, people Christ is sending forth. The transition to this stage is enormous for the typical Catholic. They are now pushed out to see what God wants them to be. Disciples bear lots of fruit, including vocations. They worship, pray, study, give. They pass on their faith to their children. They clamor to know what’s next. This stage of disciple is the stage at which almost all vocations emerge. It doesn’t take forever to make spiritual progress. In an intentionally supportive community, people can make the journey from seeker to disciple to apostle in one to two years. It is not a glacially slow process. At least one seminary I know of is making sure that all their guys are disciples, something that’s integrated into all six years of formation. The seminary is also teaching them how to help someone else make this journey. There are parishes that are developing intentional disciples. They are out there, and they are supporting people as they make a journey of spiritual growth. Among the fruits are vocations, including religious life vocations. Pope Francis reminds us in Evangelii Gaudium (Joy of the Gospel) that the church must urgently reach out at all times and evangelize, to form new disciples who will then seek their vocations: Let us go forth, then, let us go forth to offer everyone the life of Jesus Christ. Here I repeat for the entire Church what I have often said to the priests and laity of Buenos Aires: I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security. n
Related HORIZON articles “Faith development takes time, and it can be assessed,” by Father Kevin Nadolski, O.S.F.S., 2009 No. 4.
What does discipleship look like?
“The call to new evangelization,” by Dave Nodar, 2010 No. 3
The disciple phase is when fruit starts to manifest. People go public with their faith. They begin to witness in the marketplace. They begin to pray. The charisms begin to
“The new evangelization is interwoven with vocation ministry,” HORIZON interviews Sister Theresa Rickard, O.P., 2013 No. 2.
22 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
Weddell | Discipleship
Convocation 2016
Reflection: Together with the Spirit
H
trust that? Do we believe the work we do is a partnerOW CAN THIS BE?” Sometimes people ship with the Spirit of God? I find myself needing to be assume that Mary’s question to the angel is reminded often that vocations ministry is really the work rhetorical. People think Mary would never of God. It’s not my work. It’s not our work. But we can actually question God. She, the only fully human person easily stand in the way of what the Spirit of God is doing. born without sin. How could she question? However, In my life and in this ministry, I have found that Mary, as I have grown to understand her, certainly would what helps me the most from standing in the way of have asked this question, out of confusion, surprise, what the Spirit of God is trying to do is the companionand a desire for understanding. It’s as if she said, “Wait, ship and collaboration of others. what?” Mary had her cousin, Elizabeth, to whom she could To question, to seek understanding and clarity, is turn. “And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also connot a problem or a sin. In fact, we walk with people who ceived a son in her old age….” Mary had someone who seek clarity, don’t we? People come to us because they’re understood being in a seemingly impossible situation. seeking clarity in their life, and they may be confused or Someone with whom she could share her confusion, overwhelmed by what’s ahead. worries, concerns, anxiety, excitement. And, if we’re honest with ourselves, She was not in it alone. And neither are we are also often in that space. “How Awaken us Holy Spirit; we. can this be?” We may ask: How can I overshadow us as you In a society that glorifies indiwalk with these discerning young people vidualism and independence, it can be when I barely have myself together? Or: overshadowed Mary. a challenge to witness to the fact that we How can I be an advocate for our conEnable us to entrust our cannot walk this journey alone. Somegregation while also being a trusted lisministry to you. times this thinking in our society seeps tening ear for discerners? How can I posinto our religious lives as well. There are sibly be everything that I need to be to places in which vocations directors do not collaborate, do this ministry well? How can this be, that I am called perhaps due to lack of time, but also perhaps because of to this ministry at this time in my life, Lord? a slight sense of, “This is my community’s way,” or a comSometimes the work entrusted to us feels overpetitive sense that a discerner is “ours.” whelming. I don’t know about you, but I have lists of How can this be? things to do, people to email, programs to plan and run, Being together at our convocations reminds us we committee meetings to chair, meeting minutes to read. cannot do the ministry we are called to without the supThere are follow up phone calls, behavioral assessments, port, guidance, mentorship, friendship, and collaboralunches and coffee conversations with discerners, reports tion of one another. We do not have to work in our indito present at Chapters. “How can this be, Lord?” vidual, charism-based silos. Wonderful things can hapFor some of us, the work of vocation ministry can pen when communities come together with a common be invigorating, exciting, and yet, at times, frustrating goal to walk with those discerning their path in life. and challenging. We may pray: God, how can this be, And so we pray: Awaken us Holy Spirit, overshadow that I promote with joy; I create discernment retreats, us as you overshadowed Mary. Enable us to entrust our and minister with hope, and yet I can’t help wondering ministry to you. And help us to learn from Mary’s exwhy we have so little interest from inquirers and even at ample and rely on her companionship with us. May we times, my own members who have all but given up that learn from Mary, the first disciple, how to be better disnew people will come. How can this be, that my efforts ciples, examples of your love and concern for others, atdon’t always equate to applicants? How can this be?” tentive to your action in our lives. And The answer came to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will may we not forget: we do not do this overshadow you ....” Mary had to trust in the power of alone. Amen. n the Holy Spirit to work in her life. And she did. She was so close to God, her relationship with God was so strong, By Sister Nicole Trahan, F.M.I. Trahan is that she knew the Spirit would be faithful. the national director of vocations for the This answer spoken to Mary is also spoken to us. Marianist Sisters. That same Spirit overshadows us. The question is, do we Trahan | Together with the Spirit
Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 23
Convocation 2016 Photo by Alfredo Borba
This article has been updated and revised to correct for omissions and errors in attributions. Please see the updated version at this link: hhttps://nrvc.net/ publication/10247/article/19648-what-observers-aresaying-about-how-the-pope-s-jesuit-roots-affect-hisministry
Pope Francis has brought his experience of religious life into the papacy, giving his ministry a distinctively Ignatian flavor.
Pope Francis greets the faithful in St. Peter’s Square. His papacy reflects an Ignatian spirituality at every turn, allowing the church and the world to glimpse one tradition within the world of religious life.
By Father Thomas Rosica, C.S.B. Father Thomas Rosica, C.S.B. is a priest of the Congregation of St. Basil. After working in campus ministry and overseeing the 2002 World Youth Day in Toronto, in 2003 he became the founding chief executive officer of Salt + Light Catholic Media Foundation, based in Toronto. He also serves as the English language attaché to the Holy See Press Office and as procurator general of his congregation. This article is a condensed version of his presentation to the 2016 convocation of the National Religious Vocation Conference.
24 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
How the pope’s Jesuit roots affect his ministry
S
INCE MARCH 2013, few people in the world have not been touched or inspired by the Ignatian spirituality being offered daily by the current bishop of Rome, who happens to be a son of Ignatius. Francis is the first pope from the Society of Jesus—this religious congregation whose worldly, wise intellectuals are as famous as its missionaries and martyrs. It’s this all-encompassing personal and professional Jesuit identity and definition that the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio brought with him from Buenos Aires to Rome, and that continues to shape almost everything he does as Pope Francis. From his passion for social justice and his missionary zeal, to his focus on engaging the wider world and his preference for collaboration over immediate action without reflection, Pope Francis is a Jesuit through and through. Rosica | Pope’s Jesuit Roots
Convocation 2016
What kind of a Jesuit is Francis? Jorge Mario Bergoglio had initially joined the Jesuits in the 1950s because he was attracted to its position on, to put it in military terms, the front lines of the church. But little did he know how serious the combat would become. As a Jesuit in Argentina, ordained in 1969, Bergoglio found himself in the midst of the tumult of the Argentine Dirty Wars which erupted one year later. The violence that overtook the country also threatened many priests—especially Jesuits—even as the regime co-opted much of the Argentine hierarchy. Bergoglio was made provincial superior of the Argentine Jesuits at the age of 36, thrown into a situation of internal and external chaos that would have tried even the most seasoned leaders. In a revealing interview in the fall of 2013, (published in America magazine), Francis spoke honestly about the situation that had engulfed his early priesthood: “That was crazy. I had to deal with difficult situations, and I made my decisions abruptly and by myself.” He acknowledged that his “authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions led me to have serious problems and to be accused of being ultraconservative.” Bergoglio fully embraced the Jesuits’ radical turn to championing the poor, and although he was seen as an enemy of liberation theology by many Jesuits, others in the order were devoted to him. He turned away from devotional traditionalism, but was viewed by others as still far too orthodox. Critics labeled him a collaborator with the Argentine military junta even though biographies now clearly show that he worked carefully and clandestinely to save many lives. None of that ended the intrigue against Bergoglio within the Jesuits, and in the early 1990s, he was effectively exiled from Buenos Aires to an outlying city, “a time of great interior crisis,” as he himself described it. As a good, obedient Jesuit, Bergoglio complied with the society’s demands and sought to find God’s will in it all. His virtual estrangement from the Jesuits encouraged then-Cardinal Antonio Quarracino of Buenos Aires to appoint Bergoglio as auxiliary bishop in 1992. In 1998, Bergoglio succeeded Quarracino as Archbishop. In 2001, John Paul II made Bergoglio a cardinal, one of only two Jesuits in the 120-member College of Cardinals. The other Jesuit cardinal was Carlo Maria Martini of Milan. Bergoglio’s rise in the hierarchy, however, only seemed to solidify suspicions about him among his Jesuit foes. During his regular visits to Rome, Bergoglio never stayed at the Jesuit Curia on Borgo Santo Spirito but rather at a guest house for priests and Rosica | Pope’s Jesuit Roots
prelates in central Rome—a place that became famous when, as the newly minted pope, Francis would return to the Domus Paulus VI the morning after the events in the Sistine Chapel to pay his own hotel bill! I can assure you as one who lived through the conclave experience in a very intense way, and resided at the Jesuit headquarters in Rome during the entire Papal transition, that the initial response of Jesuits to Bergoglio’s election consisted of gasps, shock, bewilderment that has since been transformed into profound gratitude, exhilaration, pride and at times, incredible joy. How many times have these two scripture passages run through my mind as I watched Pope Francis move among his Jesuit confrères in different parts of the world over the past three Today, the Holy Father and a half years: “The is living his Jesuit stone which the builders vocation with a true rejected has become the corner stone … a marvel missionary zeal, a in our eyes,” and another love for community exclamation from Genesis that is oriented for 45: “... then Joseph said to mission, and a discipline his brothers, ‘Please come that does not waste closer to me. And they anything, especially not came closer. And he said, time. ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.’ ” Today, the Holy Father is living his Jesuit vocation with a true missionary zeal, a love for community that is oriented for mission, and a discipline that does not waste anything, especially not time. To journalists aboard the return flight to Rome after his first World Youth Day in Brazil in 2013, the newly-elected Jesuit pope said: “I am a Jesuit in my spirituality, a spirituality involving the Exercises (of St. Ignatius).... And I think like a Jesuit,” he said, but smiled and quickly added, “but not in the sense of hypocrisy.” Francis’ Jesuit confrère, Father Tom Reese said it well: “He may act like a Franciscan, but he thinks like a Jesuit.” The question I want to look at is: How is Francis’ “Jesuitness” impacting his Petrine ministry and through that ministry, the entire church, including vocation directors and their religious communities? Here are some key moments and words that reveal the infiltration of Ignatian spirituality or as one cardinal called it: the ‘“Jesuit virus” on the universal church. In Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 25
Convocation 2016 all peoples, trying to touch the heart of each person, conOctober 2016 Pope Francis went with a message to the tributing in this way to establishing a church in which all General Chapter of the Jesuits, taking place in Rome. His have their place, in which the Gospel is inculturated, and address was characterized by an openness to what lies in which each culture is evangelized. ahead, a call to go further, a support for caminar, the way These three key words of the pope’s address are of journeying that allows Jesuits to go toward others and graces for which each Jesuit and the whole Society must to walk with them on their journey. always ask: consolation, compassion, and discernment. Francis began his address to his Jesuit confrères But Francis has not only reminded his own religious quoting St. Ignatius, reminding them that a Jesuit is family of these three important gifts that are at the core called to converse and thereby to bring life to birth “in of Jesuit spirituality, he has also offered them to the unievery part of the world where a greater service of God versal church, especially through the Synods of Bishops and help for souls is expected.” Precisely for this reason, on the Family. the Jesuits must go forward, taking adPope Francis is clearly a man of a vantage of the situations in which they certain temperament. Whether it is living find themselves, always to serve more in Santa Marta guesthouse, turning the and better. This implies a way of doing Francis manifests Papal apartment of Castel Gandolfo into things that aims for harmony in the conto the world a deep, a museum, or traveling in simple vehicles, text of tension that is normal in a world interior, joyful freedom. he knows what he wants. Beginning with with diverse persons and missions. The his refusal to wear the red mozzetta, or pope mentioned explicitly the tensions What is the source cape, for his introduction to the world between contemplation and action, beof such freedom? I from St. Peter’s loggia, Francis showed he tween faith and justice, between charism think it comes from was in charge. In doing so he also showed and institution, between community Francis’ appropriation his freedom from pressures that have and mission. of the Ignatian value of made previous popes prisoners of the The Holy Father detailed three areas “indifference.” Vatican. of the Society’s path, yet these areas are Francis manifests to the world a not only for his religious family, but for deep, interior, joyful freedom. What is the universal church. The first is to “ask the source of such freedom? I think it insistently for consolation.” It is proper comes from Francis’ appropriation of the Ignatian value to the Society of Jesus to know how to console, to bring of “indifference.” This classic, philosophical term, borconsolation and real joy; Jesuits must put themselves rowed from the Stoics, means a freedom from distracting at the service of joy, for the Good News cannot be anand degrading attachments, so as to be free to do what nounced in sadness. Then, departing from his text, he is more conducive to the good of souls. As Pope Francis insisted that joy “must always be accompanied by hugoes about his daily work, and slowly implements the mor,” and with a big smile on his face, he remarked, “as I reform his brother cardinals commissioned him to do, see it, the human attitude that is closest to divine grace is it has become clear that his aim is to make the church of a sense of humor.” Jesus Christ welcoming to all and appealing and attrac Next, Francis invited the Society to “allow yourtive because it shows its care for all people. selves to be moved by the Lord on the cross.” The Jesuits must get close to the vast majority of men and women who suffer, and, in this context, it must offer various serDiscernment vices of mercy in different forms. The pope underlined certain elements that he already had occasion to present Pope Francis has also stressed that quintessential qualthroughout the Jubilee Year of Mercy. Those who have ity of Ignatius of Loyola: discernment. Discernment is a been touched by mercy must feel themselves sent to constant effort to be open to the Word of God that can present this same mercy in an effective way. illuminate the concrete reality of everyday life. It was Finally the Holy Father invited the Society to go eminently clear to me and many who took part in the forward under the influence of the “good spirit.” This imrecent Synods of Bishops on the Family that this Jesuit plies always discerning how to act in communion with spirit of discernment was a guiding principle throughout the church. The Jesuits must be not “clerical” but “ecclethe synodal process. One concept that re-emerged at sial.” They are “men for others” who live in the midst of the 2015 Synod of Bishops was the proper formation of 26 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
Rosica | Pope’s Jesuit Roots
Convocation 2016 conscience. The Synod’s apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love) states: We have long thought that simply by stressing doctrinal, bioethical and moral issues, without encouraging openness to grace, we were providing sufficient support to families, strengthening the marriage bond and giving meaning to marital life. We find it difficult to present marriage more as a dynamic path to personal development and fulfillment than as a lifelong burden. We also find it hard to make room for the consciences of the faithful, who very often respond as best they can to the Gospel amid their limitations, and are capable of carrying out their own discernment in complex situations. We have been called to form consciences, not to replace them (37).
The church does not exist to take over people’s consciences but to stand in humility before faithful men and women who have discerned prayerfully and often painfully before God the reality of their lives and situations. Discernment and the formation of conscience can never be separated from the Gospel demands of truth and the search for charity and truth and the church’s tradition. In keeping with his own Jesuit formation, Pope Francis is a man of discernment, and, at times, that discernment results in freeing him from the confinement of doing something in a certain way because it was ever thus. In paragraph 33 of his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (Joy of the Gospel) Francis writes: Pastoral ministry in a missionary key seeks to abandon the complacent attitude that says: “We have always done it this way.” I invite everyone to be bold and creative in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of evangelization in their respective communities. A proposal of goals without an adequate communal search for the means of achieving them will inevitably prove illusory.
Tantum quantum As he pointed out to his brother Jesuits gathered in October 2016, a maxim from the Spiritual Exercises, tantum quantum, summarizes the principle for using all created things: Use them insofar as they contribute to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Discard and reject them when they lead away from that goal. Francis has done much to further the supervision and reform of the Vatican bank, but he has also made it clear that the Holy See may not need its own bank. His basic choices follow Rosica | Pope’s Jesuit Roots
the rule of tantum quantum. If there is a genuine apostolic purpose for running a bank, and it is run in accord with that purpose and does not distract from the church’s evangelizing mission, then it has a place. If not, then it is wholly dispensable. The first Jesuits were “a holiness movement,” inviting everyone to lead a holy life. Francis of Assisi was committed to a literal imitation of the poor Christ. Ignatius was inspired by that poverty and originally planned that the Jesuits would follow the same route. But as the historian Father John O’Malley, S.J. has indicated, just as Ignatius learned to set aside his early austerities to make himself more approachable, he later moderated the Society’s poverty to make it possible to evangelize more people, especially through educational institutions. Even evangelical poverty was a relative value in relation to the good of souls and their progress in holiness. That same apostolic reasoning is found in Pope Francis’ instructions to priests around the world about their ministries.
An inclusive, listening church The spirit of openness is foundational to the Jesuit way of proceeding. Jesuit parishes are known for their inclusiveWinter 2017 | HORIZON | 27
Convocation 2016 Photo courtesy of Diocese of Saginaw, Michigan
In keeping with the Jesuit emphasis on attention to those in greatest need, Pope Francis has emphasized the call to justice and service to the poor. Pictured here are youth from the Diocese of Saginaw, Michigan doing home repairs for the needy.
ness and Jesuit confessors for their understanding and compassion. At a time of religious controversy Ignatius Loyola urged retreatants to listen attentively to others, to give a positive interpretation to their statements, and when there was apparent error, to question them closely, and only when the interlocutors were steadfast in their error to regard them as heretics. At the time of the Reformation, that was a remarkable point of departure for retreatants preparing to make life decisions. Early in his pontificate, when Pope Francis made his controversial statement about even atheists having a chance to get into heaven, he was following the teaching of Vatican II, but he was also following a very Ignatian approach toward the good of souls.
Care of those most in need Ignatius of Loyola’s recommended style of ministry anticipates the positive pastoral approach Pope Francis has taken to evangelization. Pope Francis’ attention to refugees, the abandoned elderly, and to unemployed youth exhibit the same concern as the first Jesuits for the lowliest and most needy people in society. Ignatius’ twin criteria for choosing a ministry were serving those in greatest need and advancing the more universal good. The Jesuit Refugee Service and creative Jesuit projects in education, like the Nativity and Cristo Rey schools, are contemporary embodiments of the same spirit of evangelical care for the neediest. These apostolates are part of the postconciliar renewal of the Society of Jesus, but they have 28 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
deep, formative roots in Jesuit history and spirituality as well. In the mind and heart of Pope Francis, even elite Jesuit institutions can combine the intellectual apostolate with service to the poor in the spirit of Ignatius.
Humility and clerical reform Pope Francis’ humility has impressed people around the world. His style has truly become substance. It is the most radically evangelical aspect of his spiritual reform of the papacy, and he has invited all Catholics, but especially the clergy, to reject success, wealth, and power. Ignatius insisted that a Jesuit is never to have an anti-ecclesial spirit, but always be open to how the spirit of God is working. The Jesuit commitment not to seek ecclesiastical office, even in the Society, is an outgrowth of that experience. What is surprising is that Francis has so interiorized those values that without hesitation he applies it to clerical and curial reform today. He has told cardinals and priests not to behave as princes, counseled priests to abandon their expensive cars for smaller, more economical ones, and he has given them personal examples. Humility is a central virtue in the Spiritual Exercises. One of its key meditations focuses on the “three degrees of humility.” In Ignatius’ eyes, humility is the virtue that brings us closest to Christ, and Pope Francis appears to be guiding the church and educating the clergy in that fundamental truth. Reform through spiritual renewal begins with the rejection of wealth, honors, and power, and it reaches its summit in the willingness to suffer Rosica | Pope’s Jesuit Roots
Convocation 2016 humiliation with Christ. Humility is the most difficult part of the Ignatian papal reform, but it is essential for the church’s purification from clericalism, the source of so many ills in the contemporary church. Undoubtedly, it is here that Francis’ reform is receiving the most resistance from practitioners of the millennial-old system of clerical entitlement and a distorted ecclesiology that stems from bygone days of the church triumphant! Francis is teaching us that precisely this humility is essential to make the New Evangelization real and effective both within the church and in her encounter with the world.
Francis’ Ignatian style of leadership Ignatius did not use the word “leadership” as we commonly do today. Someone whose style of leadership is inspired by the Ignatian tradition will particularly emphasize certain habits or priorities. One of these is the importance of formation—not just learning to do technical tasks like strategic planning but also commitment to lifelong self-development. Another Ignatian priority is deep self-awareness, of coming to know oneself, for example, as happens in the Spiritual Exercises. The Jesuits also emphasize becoming a skilled decision-maker, as happens through the discernment tools of the Exercises, and committing oneself to purposes bigger than self, to a mission of ultimate meaning. Jesuits often refer to this commitment by the expression of “magis. ” Then, too, Ignatian spirituality emphasizes a deep respect for others, “finding God in all things.” The difference between the worldly style of leadership and that traced by Ignatius is that the Jesuit style of leadership always points to God, the ultimate source of meaning. Great Jesuit figures like Peter Faber, Francis Xavier, Matteo Ricci or Alberto Hurtado were able to accomplish their feats not simply because they had some good leadership skills but because they were inspired by love of God. I cannot tell you how many times these very ideas have surfaced in Pope Francis’ addresses to the cardinals, bishops, priests, deacons, religious, lay leaders, catechists, and young people around the world. These leadership qualities are distinctly Ignatian! St. Ignatius once wrote that sometimes we have to go in through the other person’s door in order to come out through our own. That is a very powerful idea for us and it is completely relevant to the church in the 21st century. We live in a secularized society, and young adults in particular are showing little interest in the church. What are we going to do for young adults, our target audiences as vocation directors? We are being challenged daily to find Rosica | Pope’s Jesuit Roots
ways to “enter the other’s door,” to offer them some of the riches of our traditions in ways that will better their lives and that might invite their deeper thought, that might draw them toward the essence of Christianity. Contrary to some voices in the church today, we are not being called by Christ, St. John Paul II or Pope Francis to bring about a smaller church for the perfect, the holy, those who think like us. St. John Paul II did not write his final apostolic letter at the close of the Great Jubilee with the title “Stay close to the In Ignatius’ eyes, humility shore and don’t risk.” is the virtue that brings He filled that hopeus closest to Christ, and ful document with the Pope Francis appears to mantra: Duc in altum, be guiding the church and put out to the deep! educating the clergy in Francis has said to us: “I that fundamental truth. prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.” Our goal is not to form a smaller church where we all end up sitting around in small circles talking to each other and bemoaning what we have lost!
The devil Pope Francis seems obsessed with the devil. His tweets and homilies about the devil, Satan, the Accuser, the Evil One, the Father of Lies, the Ancient Serpent, the Tempter, the Seducer, the Great Dragon, the Enemy and just plain “demon” are now legion. For Francis, the devil is not a myth, but a real person. Many modern people may greet the pope’s insistence on the devil with indifference or, at best, indulgent curiosity. Francis, however, is drawing on a fundamental insight of St. Ignatius of Loyola! In his first major address to the cardinals who elected him, the Argentine pontiff reminded them: “Let us never yield to pessimism, to that bitterness that the devil offers us every day.” The pope has stressed that we must not be naive: “The demon is shrewd: he is never cast out forever, this will only happen on the last day.” Francis has also issued calls to arms in his homilies: “The devil also exists in the 21st century, and we need to learn from the Gospel how to battle against him.” Acknowledging the devil’s shrewdness, Francis once preached: “The devil is intelligent, he Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 29
2017 VOCATION MINISTRY WORKSHOPS
Get educated and connected. Retool and refresh.
SPECIAL PROGRAM
FALL INSTITUTE 2017
Vocation Ambassadors Program Father Larry Rice, C.S.P. et al. June 9-12 Holy Cross College, South Bend, IN
Orientation Program for New Vocation Directors Sister Deborah Borneman, SS.C.M. October 11-15 Marillac Center, Leavenworth, KS
SUMMER INSTITUTE 2017 Behavioral Assessment 1 Father Raymond P. Carey, Ph.D. July 10-12, 2017 De Paul University Loop Campus, Chicago Ethics in Vocation and Formation Ministry Father Raymond P. Carey, Ph.D. July 14-15, 2017, Chicago De Paul University Loop Campus, Chicago
Go to NRVC.net to sign up.
Psycho-sexual Integration Sister Lynn Levo, C.S.J. July 17-20 De Paul University Loop Campus, Chicago Orientation Program for New Vocation Directors Sister Deborah Borneman, SS.C.M. et al. July 21-25 De Paul University Loop Campus, Chicago
Behavioral Assessment 1 Father Raymond P. Carey, Ph.D. October 16-18 Marillac Center, Leavenworth, KS Behavioral Assessment 2 Father Raymond P. Carey, Ph.D. October 20-21 Marillac Center, Leavenworth, KS
et al.
Convocation 2016 knows more theology than all the theologians together.” In a rally with thousands of young people during his visit to Paraguay, the pope offered the job description of the devil in these words: Friends: the devil is a con artist. He makes promise after promise, but he never delivers. He’ll never really do anything he says. He doesn’t make good on his promises. He makes you want things which he can’t give, whether you get them or not. He makes you put your hopes in things which will never make you happy.... He is a con artist because he tells us that we have to abandon our friends, and never to stand by anyone. Everything is based on appearances. He makes you think that your worth depends on how much you possess.
In all these references to the devil and his many disguises, Pope Francis wishes to call everyone back to reality. The devil is frequently active in our lives and in the church, drawing us into negativity, cynicism, despair, meanness of spirit, sadness, and nostalgia. We must react to the devil, Francis says, as did Jesus, who replied with the Word of God. The temptations Francis speaks about so often are the realistic flip side to the heart of the Argentine Jesuit pope’s message about the world that is charged with the grandeur, mercy, presence, and fidelity of God. Those powers are far greater than the devil’s antics.
The field hospital There is also another image from Pope Francis that has captivated the minds and hearts of millions: the powerful image of the “field hospital” which he uses often and is drawn from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. When Francis speaks of the church as a “field hospital after a battle” he appeals to the Jesuit founder’s understanding of the role of the church in light of God’s gaze upon the world: “So many people ask us to be close; they ask us for what they were asking of Jesus: closeness, nearness.” In his 2013 interview, published in America magazine, he said: The thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Rosica | Pope’s Jesuit Roots
Heal the wounds, heal the wounds.... And you have to start from the ground up.
A field hospital image is contrary to an image of a fortress under siege. From the image of the church as a field hospital we can derive an understanding of the church’s mission as both healing and salvific.
What a Jesuit pope means for the church We’ve looked at some critical Ignatian principles, styles, concepts, and images that make Pope Francis who he is. Let us now turn to how some of his deeply Jesuit approaches might affect the church. The whole concept of setting up committees, consulting widely, and convening smart people around you is how Jesuit superiors usually function. They do these things, then they make the decision. This sort of discernment—listening to all and contemplating everything before acting—is a cardinal virtue of the Ignatian spirituality that is at the core of Francis’ being and his commitment to a conversion of the papacy as well as the entire church. It’s hard to predict what will come next. Francis is shrewd, and he has repeatedly praised the Jesuit trait of “holy cunning”—that Christians should be “wise as serpents but innocent as doves,” as Jesus put it. However, the pope’s openness also means that not even he is sure where the Spirit will lead. He has said: “I don’t have all the answers. I don’t even have all the questions. I always think of new questions, and there are always new questions coming forward.” Pope Francis breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants, because he is “free from disordered attachments.” Our church has indeed entered a new phase: with the advent of this first Jesuit pope, it is openly ruled by an individual rather than by the authority of Scripture alone or even its own dictates of tradition plus Scripture. Pope Francis has brought to the Petrine office a Jesuit intellectualism. By choosing the name Francis, he is also affirming the power of humility and simplicity. Pope Francis, the Argentine Jesuit, is not simply attesting to the complementarity of the Ignatian and Franciscan paths. He is pointing each day to how the mind and heart meet in the love of God and the love of neighbor. And most of all he reminds us each day how much we need Jesus, and how much we need one another along the journey. n
Related HORIZON articles Spring 2015 HORIZON. Theme: Pope Francis and vocations. Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 31
Convocation 2016
Reflection: Let us be God’s dwelling place
W
religious communities are called to embody particularly E ARE MEMBERS of the household of what the whole church is called to be—a dwelling place God. So St. Paul tells us in our reading from for God in the Spirit. Ephesians, 2:19-22. We are built upon the We are really a house that is grounded yet doesn’t foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ stay still. We grow like a tree, bearing the Spirit of God Jesus himself as the capstone. In Christ we are also being to the world in every age. We are a community rooted in built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. time and transcending time and death. What a wonderful mix of metaphors to describe the So here in Ephesians Paul reveals discipleship by emerging church, as well as the church today in all its showing us what we are and are becoming. As consecratdiversity and complexity, in all its expressions of discipleed religious we can in our own particular and peculiar ship. ways embody beautiful rooms in this wondrous house of In this reading typically designated for the feast days God into which others are always invited. Come be and of apostles, we have our place as consecrated religious. build and grow with us on the foundations of the prophWhat kind of household are we, as particular communiets and apostles and of Christ the cornerstone. ties and congregations? As consecrated religious collecIt’s not about me or you individually exactly, altively? What sort of room or space does my community though each of us is vital. It’s about us. embody as a dwelling place of God in the We witness to the life of the Spirit in our Spirit? unity in diversity, just as the church of What a great building we are, sprawlAs consecrated religious Ephesus was a fledgling unity of Gentiles ing, soaring, delving, with many rooms we can in our own and Jews. and balconies and turrets, cantilevered particular and peculiar In various ways we are called to be open spaces and cavernous halls, snug ways embody beautiful a growing temple sacred to the Lord. womb-like rooms and narrow passagerooms in this wondrous We do so following the precise lines and ways leading to yet other spaces and house of God into which magnanimous reaches laid out by Christ stairs and doors. We are diverse. And we the living Word. are one. others are always invited. We are called to be built together In our diversity, we must always reinto a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. member how we are held together—by Religious life is an architectural wonder, itself reflecting Christ the capstone, or, better translated, the cornerin particular what the whole church is and is becoming. stone. In buildings of antiquity, the cornerstone was the To be called to discipleship is to go out to the whole first stone laid, and it was most crucial because it set the world in one way or another, whether by prayer from a lines for the rest of the foundation and all the supporting cloistered chapel space or on foot in an urban refugee walls of the structure. We are set right and true by our center, in a rural parish, or on a university campus. But, cornerstone, Jesus Christ. as Paul tells us, discipleship is shaped by our realizing on We live in this mysterious dwelling place of the some level what we are and are becoming in our going church as consecrated religious, and we also are this out. How does my religious community embody a part dwelling place. Paul’s metaphor of a building is one that of the living structure that is the church, that is the mysis alive and growing. Think of the greatest human feats terious dwelling place of God in the Spirit, that is the livof architecture: cathedrals in all their splendor, pyramids, ing body of Christ here and now, local bridges, skyscrapers, greenhouses, museums, monuand historical, boundless and eternal? ments—the living church we are is more wondrous than What sort of members are we in this any or all of these. We are being built together into a great household of God? n dwelling place of God in the Spirit. The call to discipleship is expressed vividly here. It By Brother Tom Wendorf , S.M. Wenis a call to community in Christ. Christ indeed dwells in dorf is the national vocation director for every human being, but here the call to discipleship is the U.S. Marianist Fathers and Brothers. a realization of what we embody together. Consecrated 32 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
Wendorf | God’s Dwelling Place
Feed your spirit
Photo courtesy of Marquette University
Mother Teresa is one of many saints to whom the author looks for support and inspiration.
Surrounded by saints
A
S I SAT HOLDING MY GRANDFATHER’S HAND, I spoke to him even though I didn’t know if he could hear me or that I was there. I told him to look for my grandmother, his wife of 52 years, that she has been waiting for him. I said that his sister was waiting too, along with his parents and his aunts and uncles. I asked Jesus to be there, and thought of all the holy women and men I had known throughout my life, aware that many of my grandfather’s friends had passed away in recent years. All of those lovely and loving people were certainly with him in those last days, eager I’m sure to laugh with him when they were reunited. Death is such a moment of mystery and solitude. Since entering a religious order seven years ago, I’ve had more opportunity to reflect on this mystery than most women my age. Like most younger women religious, the number of women I know and love skyrocketed at the moment I joined the order. When one of our beloved sisters dies, we use language like “gone to God” or “was embraced by her Beloved,” images that reflect their absence in our daily earthly lives and a deeply held faith that this life is only part of our human journey. These phrases point to a reality that we don’t fully understand but trust to be grace-filled. In any loss of someone I love, whether due to death or for other reaMousseau | Surrounded by Saints
By Sister Juliet Mousseau, R.S.C.J. Sister Juliet Mousseau, R.S.C.J. is an assistant professor of church history at the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri. She entered the Society of the Sacred Heart in 2009 and made first vows two years ago. Contact her at jmousseau@rscj.org.
Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 33
sons, I am reassured by the belief that we are all connected even when we feel alone. The relationships I have with the ones I love are not limited by location, by life and death, or by the passage of time. In my congregation, the connection between sisters is illustrated by the language of “cor unum,” or “one heart,” which is engraved on the cross we receive at final profession and in stone on our institutions. We know that we share something profound and mysterious at our deepest core. It’s not just talk! The greeting and hospitality I received in Peru this summer revealed a love in our “one heart” that could embrace me with great tenderness even though I was until then only a name in an email. Though we don’t have it engraved in stone or silver, I also witness the one heart I share with my family and friends in the connectedness I feel regardless of the distance that separates us. Each one of these sisters, friends, and family members is part of the circle of saints who surround and support me. Over the last weeks, since those days by my grandfather’s bed, I’ve been more conscious of the circle of saints which accompanies me, and in fact accompanies all disciples of Christ, especially those whose ministry can be lonely, such as vocation ministers. While I might feel alone, I am upheld by my circle of saints. Some of these saints I have known personally, and some I know from the stories we tell about them. The sisters in my community have sent loving notes of encouragement and sympathy. I’ve prayed to the ones I know are with God, aware of how close that heavenly realm feels in this moment of grief. In travelling to see my family for the formal rituals of grief and mourning, I am amazed at the strength of our relationships despite our wide dispersal. We are intimately connected to one another. I feel close to others, too, as if my family reunion were extended to include the presence of invisible ones. I have been thinking of the people I love whom I don’t often get to see, the sisters I’ve known who are in heaven, and the (official) saints I claim as friends and mentors. I know my circle of saints will only grow as I get older and can claim other beloveds. Though it is more apparent at this particularly poignant moment, the stories of saints and official saints encourage me daily with struggles and desires. I think of the loss experienced by our congregation’s two saints, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat and St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, who were great friends but separated by the Atlantic Ocean and unreliable mail service for the last three and a half decades of their lives. What sorrow such separation must have given them! What comfort for me to know the 34 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
power of friendship can withstand physical separation. I think of the great visionaries of history, who saw and experienced the profound love of God, such as Julian of Norwich, Hildegard of Bingen, and Teresa of Avila. Knowing of their experiences gives me comfort in the sometimes lengthy spaces between my own experiences of God’s love for me. In my moments of temptation and challenge, I think of Augustine of Hippo and Mary Magdalene, both humble recipients of the forgiveness of our loving God. Mary Magdalene’s friendship with Jesus shows me the deep tenderness of love between friends. As a teacher of church history, I’ve been surprised by saints as I get to know them on a more personal level. My mental image of Thomas Aquinas has more compassion and generosity than it used to, which balances his brilliant and analytical mind. I know now that his profound desire to understand more deeply was not in order to be right, but in order to help others understand. Mother Teresa shows me what it means to live in service to God and every person in need in the midst of spiritual darkness. Dorothy Day challenges me to speak up in the midst of injustice. Francis of Assisi leads me to tender care of our earth and all that God created and continues to create. My sisters teach me to love those around me and to treat all with the respect they need to grow into the person God created them to be. My best friend shows me the self-sacrificing nature of a mother’s love. My nephew is a bundle of the unrestrained joy of children. My extended family shows (imperfect) unconditional love and acceptance of one another, a diversity of beliefs, and a fundamental goodness in action. All these are my saints, and so many others. This communion of saints is the Body of Christ, connected to one another, interdependent and interwoven into one beautiful colorful tapestry. In this moment of personal grief, I find comfort in knowing that the loss of loved ones is just one more rather ordinary step in life, one in which I am by no means alone. I am lovingly embraced both by those who are far away on earth and those who are intimately close in heaven. Many of us find our ministries to be places of solitude, where those around us may not understand what we are doing or recognize the commitment we have or the grief we feel in difficult circumstances. Vocation ministry is no different. It too is built on relationships, which means that there will be natural joys and losses. The good news is that all our hard work, and even our grief, is supported by the saints and Saints who surround us here on earth and in heaven. n Mousseau | Surrounded by Saints
Book notes
A hopeful, if undefined, view of refounding
I
N HIS LATEST BOOK, his 25th published work, Father Diarmuid O’Murchu, M.S.C. returns to the topic with which he began his writing career, that is, vowed religious life. O’Murchu himself portrays Religious Life in the 21st Century: The Prospect of Refounding as a “landmark” book and there are ways in which this portrayal could be accurate. However, the only true test of such a moniker is how it inspires others to engage in the very work the book promotes: the refounding of religious life. O’Murchu admits at the end of the book that “this is a book without a proper conclusion,” and this lack of closure will frustrate many readers. However, as O’Murchu also asserts, the main purpose of Religious Life in the 21st Century is to stretch the horizon of our imagination and “to err on the side of largess (rather) than to run the risk of minimalizing the surprises that await us at every new refounding horizon that the Spirit co-creates.” Readers who are open to such a perspective will find the book helpful; those seeking conclusions and “recipes” for refounding will be disappointed. Religious Life in the 21st Century is structured as a source book for study groups, with a summary conclusion at the end of each of the four parts of the book, and discussion questions and suggested readings at the end of each of the 12 chapters. The core of the text is an extensive review of the history of religious life from within the categories of: revisioning, reclaiming, value radiation, and revitalization. For O’Murchu, an unfolding pattern grounds his hope for refounding, and this book is his attempt Schaefer | Refounding
By Sister Judith K. Schaefer, O.P. Sister Judith K. Schaefer, O.P. is a professor of theology at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota in Winona. She previously served her Sinsinawa Dominican congregation in formation ministry. An award-winning writer, she is author of The Evolution of a Vow: Obedience as Decision Making in Communion (LitVerlag, 2009).
Winter 2017 | HORIZON | 35
tic reading of the current reality of religious life, one that allows for a more creative, open-ended, and hope-filled future. O’Murchu affirms the direction of all evolutionary unfolding as growth into greater complexity and sees the direction primarily as a response to “the lure of the Paradigm of 300-year life-cycle future (and) a fruit and wisdom of the Holy Spirit.” Using the historical paradigm and an evolutionary Central to Religious Life in the 21st Century is O’Murchu’s perspective, O’Murchu proceeds to examine contempoincorporation of and acceptance of the paradigm for rary religious life and offers new ideas and frameworks religious life that has been popularly promoted by Rayto the reader. Although the book reaches few conclusions mond Hostie and Lawrence Cada, et al. Hostie and Cada about what refounding looks like, severpropose a 300-year cyclic pattern for al ideas are worth noting—and make it religious life that extends from 300 CE worth the reading of Religious Life in the to 1800 CE during which a dominant One of O’Murchu’s 21st Century. One of O’Murchu’s stronmodel evolves, expands, stabilizes, and gest ideas is his reclaiming of the purdeclines. For O’Murchu, this paradigm strongest ideas is his pose of religious life as “our allegiance offers a model with “an enduring credreclaiming of the purpose to the new reign of God.” O’Murchu ibility,” “an intuitive wisdom”, and “a of religious life as “our proposes a new phrase to describe this consistency within the paradigm that allegiance to the new priority—the Companionship of Emdefies rational analysis.” O’Murchu even reign of God.” O’Murchu powerment. Although the phrase is a disavows criticisms of the paradigm proposes a new phrase bit awkward in conveying his insight, without serious engagement because to describe this priority— “seeking first the kingdom of God” is a he believes that the cyclic approach “ofthe Companionship of needed refocus for any new moment in fers courageous hope in the sense that it Empowerment. religious life. O’Murchu rightly offers a indicates that religious life will prevail, corrective to the more individualistic, come what may.” heroic projections of the past and sugSome readers might see this stategests that religious in their life of sequela ment as symbolic of the very fault that Christi focus all their life energies, as Jesus did, on a realO’Murchu attributes to others, that is, “an addiction ity greater than the individual self, e.g., the coming of the to immortality.” A stronger rationale for acceptance of reign of God. the paradigm seems to lie in an earlier section when Throughout the book, O’Murchu relies on the linO’Murchu describes the cyclic paradigm as exhibiting a guistic context of parable, paradox, and paradigm. This pattern “similar to the organic trajectory that characterframework allows him to reframe much of the contempoizes all life-forms, a dynamic movement flowing through rary theology of religious life. It is out of this framework a pattern of growth, stabilization (maturity), decline, and that O’Murchu’s strongest insights come. The reframing death.” of what he calls the monastic archetype offers a vision As the previous statement conveys, besides an hisworth working toward—a life lived in meaningful relatorical focus, Religious Life in the 21st Century is written tionship with the surrounding web of life, all in pursuit of from the perspective of evolutionary consciousness. union with God that has substantial ethical and aesthetic O’Murchu grounds his writing in the work of Sister Ilia Delio, O.S.F.; John Haught; Sister Elizabeth Johnson, consequences now and in the hereafter. Father Raimon C.S.J.; and Barbara Marx Hubbard and sees such a perPanikkar describes this as making incarnationally visible spective as essential for any new envisioning of religious on earth the radiant face of God. Such a vision of life calls life. For O’Murchu, it is only out of an evolutionary imto many, not only religious. perative that we will be able “to see our way through the In Religious Life in the 21st Century: The Prospect of crisis of religious life today (with) enormous vision charRefounding, Diarmuid O’Murchu attempts a herculean acterized by deep perception, creative imagination, and a task—to re-vision the history of religious life in ways great deal of Christian discernment.” that allow us to re-imagine the meaning and purpose so The evolutionary cycle of growth-change-developthat a new refounding emerges. Overall, he accomplishes ment undergirds O’Murchu’s insights about revisioning much of the revisioning. The reimagining begins to and refounding of religious life. It also offers an authenemerge. The refounding remains. n to read the history more imaginatively. This feature alone could make it valuable for education and formation opportunities.
36 | HORIZON | Winter 2017
Schaefer | Refounding
Meet our discerning readers PRIME CHARACTERISTICS OF VISION READERS Ü Faith-filled and committed Catholics Ü Engaged (They read, like, share, download, attend, and join!)
Ü Seriously considering a religious vocation Ü Culturally and spiritually diverse
60% of VISION readers are between the ages of 18-30
ESSENTIAL BENEFITS OF BEING A VISION SPONSOR Your community is featured in: Ü VISION VOcatION GuIde (print & digital formats) Ü VOcatION Match, the #1 discerner matching tool Ü VISION Vocation Calendar Ü VOcatIONNetwOrk.OrG and its many social outlets.
VISION is your best source for reaching young discerners
RESERVE YOUR AD IN VISION TODAY! CALL 800-942-2811
5401 South Cornell Avenue, Suite 207 Chicago, IL 60615-5664 www.nrvc.net | nrvc@nrvc.net | 773-363-5454
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE
PAID TOLEDO, OH PERMIT NO. 242
Candidate Assessments & Initial & Ongoing Formation for healthy ministry
assessments: sli.org/services/candidate
formation: sliconnect.org