August 22, 2008
Renewal and transformation
Recent and ongoing discussions concerning the future direction, structure and mission of the various provinces of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, reported in last week’s Review, as well as similar dialogue in countless other communities of women and men religious, are certain to raise questions and perhaps even to cause alarm among many in the Church.
Change, self-examination, reflection and questioning often stir up uneasiness in a world in which stability and sameness are taken to be the only good signs for the future.
Such dialogue is not to be reduced merely to a response to diminishing numbers in religious communities. Even if their populations were at record level highs, such self-examination, mission reflection and charism discernment would be no less vital and needed.
Any healthy body must be renewed and refreshed. As there is no perfect body on earth, a religious community, like any other body, must ever be seeking, searching and striving to grow, to improve and to deepen in its commitment to living out its mission.
Change, though perhaps a bit unsettling as it shakes us up out of our complacency, is not the enemy. That is stagnation and rigidity. There is no such thing as growth or progress without change. Growth is itself a change, and it usually brings its share of growing pains.
No less a prophetic leader than Pope John XXIII recognized the necessity that the Church ever be updated to be attuned to an ever-changing world, lest it grow obsolete and irrelevant; thus, the need for similar refreshment, renewal and recommitment within religious communities. If they are not changing, they are not moving with the Spirit of God.
One cannot overlook the fact that our religious communities in general have seen membership decline over the past few decades. Living in denial only adds another problem. Our communities are aging, and this presents its own challenges for members and the ways in which they are to live out their mission in the future. It takes the boldness, courage, zeal and optimism of Christ Himself to meet the challenge head on, to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and to respond with full heart and spirit.
As noted at the funeral of Mother Caroline Freiss, U.S. foundress of the School Sisters of Notre Dame: "It was never the number of sisters that she was worried about; it was their inward transformation into Christ." Mother Caroline was right on the mark.
Nor is our Lord Himself impressed or swayed by numbers. It is hearts that He seeks. Each heart bears full weight and dignity; each is given full, unique and individual attention. Each must be transformed in Christ. If hearts are not thus transformed, then membership totaling in the millions will count for less than nothing.
Questioning, dialogue, discernment of charism and mission — these are born, not out of desperation, but of dynamic and ever-deepening faith, commitment and openness to the movement of the Holy Spirit. Any community that ceases to seek, to strive, to discover and to reach out will stagnate and die on the vine.
In just the same way, each individual member of the Body of Christ must embrace with full openness and zeal the call to renewal and transformation. Ever there are questions to be asked: What is God calling me to embrace now? How is my mission to serve Him and His family unfolding? What charism is He calling me to embrace, to embody and to live? How can my soul best proclaim His greatness to all His family?
Let us support in faith and love all our communities of men and women religious as they face and undergo change, renewal and transformation with boldness and courage. Let us pray for and with them as they respond to Our Lord’s ever-unfolding plan; and let us celebrate our charisms, collaborating fully with them and one another in living out the one mission we all share in Christ.
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