Sister Leticia Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 @Nunsuch - I'd be interested to read your article, if it's available online. Just to add to what was said... Charism and mission/ministry are two different things, though sadly they often get confused, and people talk about a congregation's charism when what they really mean is its ministry, or its service. As Nunsuch says, apostolic congregations have mostly been founded to meet a specific need, usually in healthcare or education. This usually arose from a local need, or a need at that particular time. (For example, my congregation, the Society of the Sacred Heart, was founded in Paris shortly after the French Revolution, as a response to the breakdown of society and lack of religion, in order to educate hearts as well as minds) Other orders may have been founded for something like housing and nursing destitute elderly people, or work with a particular group of people, eg Lithuanian immigrant children. Over time, needs change: immigrants assimilate, elderly people get pensions, the state begins to provide services, and meanwhile more laypeople become teachers and nurses - it's no longer a niche, just for religious. As needs change so does the response: the focus might now be homeless people in general instead of just the destitute elderly, or the wider needs of immigrants and the issues they face. That's the changing story of the mission. Charism is the spiritual meaning, the raison d'etre of the congregation. It can be born in the original founding vision, but how it is expressed can take many years to develop. It shouldn't be tied to a specific work, though it can flow from it - but it is much deeper than that. Thus - for example - a congregation founded for healthcare (mission) might go on to express their charism as "being instruments of Christ's healing love". This has its roots in healthcare but is wider than that - a sister can work as a therapist or social worker or in a soup kitchen and be in line with the charism, and it also means that retired sisters can live the charism in all sorts of ways. A charism isn't tied to what we do, it's about who and how we are - but it underlies what we do in that it's about the spirit and attitudes we bring to our work, and indeed to all our relationships and activities. As Nunsuch said, not all congregations have a clear sense of their charism. I thank God that my own congregation has developed and clearly defined its charism - to discover and reveal the love of God, whose source is in the open Heart of Jesus. This flows from the original vision and inspiration of St Madeleine Sophie, and from our educational mission, but it's much wider than any one work. All our lives can be about making known God's love, whether we're in full-time ministry or students or in congregational admin or elderly or infirm - whatever our circumstances, our health or energy we can make God's love known till the day we die. And that is a fundamental difference between charism and mission! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nunsuch Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Sister Leticia, p.m. me your email address, and I will send you the article. I'm not sure it's online; it was in "Review for Religious." I'll check. If it is, I will post a link on this page. It is online. Go to this link and then it is the lead article in that issue. Thankfully, Review for Religious is now entirely online. http://cdm.slu.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/rfr/id/368/rec/56 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponsa-Christi Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Interesting secondary discussion here about the meaning of "charism," which is something that I also have an academic interest in. "Charism" is a very old word for a special spiritual gift given by God to an individual for the good of the Church. However, it has only been since Vatican II that "charism" has been used to describe the core spirituality/mission/special identity of religious communities. It seems like there was a deliberate theological choice on the part of the Council Fathers to identify religious life with a special gift of the Holy Spirit, although this does raise some questions when we look at the practical circumstances of the foundation of some active congregations. (E.g., "Bishop X needs teachers, so founds a teaching community, and figures they might as well be Franciscan because they need some sort of Rule" can seems more like a practical administrative decision based on human prudence rather than a special inspiration from the Holy Spirit.) However, there are at least some cases when there very obviously WAS a true charism associated with a community's foundation---I'm thinking of Mother Teresa's experiences that led her to found the Missionaries of Charity as a clear example. Other communities, like the Sisters of Life, did arise as a response to specific needs in the Church, but also had a deep spiritual inspiration at the start of their foundation. 3 hours ago, Nunsuch said: Sister Leticia, p.m. me your email address, and I will send you the article. I'm not sure it's online; it was in "Review for Religious." I'll check. If it is, I will post a link on this page. It is online. Go to this link and then it is the lead article in that issue. Thankfully, Review for Religious is now entirely online. http://cdm.slu.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/rfr/id/368/rec/56 Sorry for a really off-topic question, but since Review for Religious has stopped publishing new issues, does anyone know if there is another scholarly (or semi-scholarly) English language journal that focuses on religious/consecrated life? As in, one that still publishes new issues? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nunsuch Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Religious Life Review is still being published by Dominican Publications in Dublin. Sister Letitia, the RSCJs DO have a clear understanding of charism, and have worked hard to continue to deepen that understanding. Were you at the "Inspiring Souls" Conference at Digby Stuart College in 2014? I gave a paper there! And I have loved reading the work of Sister Phil Kilroy, which has meant a great deal to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NadaTeTurbe Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Amazing discussion. Nunsuch, I'm an history student, and I'm passionate about the history of religious life, specially the congregations founded in the XIXth century and their evolutions, and the evolutions of religious life after Vatican II. I'm looking for a book about the evolutions of religious life from Vatican II to now. The only book I've found was not very serious and more "community founded after Vatican II are all amazing, no problem !". Do you have any titles ? I can read in english, french and spanish. I'm going to give a look to the review for religious that you posted. Thank you ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nunsuch Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Nada, there are a lot of such books, though I confess most of what I know about is the U.S. If you would p.m. me your email, I can send you some titles. A lot of congregations here (US) are publishing their "last 50 years" histories---that is, since Vatican II, and a few of them are really excellent. Two good ones I have read are Phyllis Kittel's oral history of the Ohio Sisters of the Precious Blood, "Staying in the Fire: A Sisterhood Responds to Vatican II," and the new history of the Grand Rapids, Michigan , Dominicans: "Tapestry in Time" (many authors, but compiled by Mary Navarre). There are also some books about religious life more generally. Let me know what interests you most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheresaThoma Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 And the scholarly side of VS comes out. I like it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheresaThoma Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 After reading the other post's and Nunsense's article maybe a better term/idea is that a community should have a good understanding of their spiritual identity. Obviously like all things this can change and evolve but the community needs to have a general spiritual direction. An analogy for me is the software I use in my current job. It is very customizable and since I am the administrator and first user I can set it up how I want it. I have to be careful though because what may be just perfect for me regarding organization of things may be confusing and cumbersome to another user. I have to make sure that I'm not just fitting it to my own preferences. I think a similar thing can happen to a community, rather than positions of fields you have devotions and spirituality. Without a general direction certain aspects of different spiritualities can get added on or taken away and that becomes very risky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nunsuch Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Just a friendly reminder: I am "Nunsuch"--there is another participant In this Phorum named "Nunsense." TheresaThoma, I really liked your emphasis on Spiritual Identity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheresaThoma Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 On 1/5/2016, 11:28:49, Nunsuch said: Just a friendly reminder: I am "Nunsuch"--there is another participant In this Phorum named "Nunsense." TheresaThoma, I really liked your emphasis on Spiritual Identity. Whoops. Probably a good reason not to post when tired. What got me thinking about the Spiritual identity vs charism is how the Community of St John describes themselves. "Finally if you were to ask why the community of St. John was founded we might respond: You would have to ask the Holy Spirit! He is the only One who clearly understands.... But the characteristics of the Community appear quite distinctly: insistence, from the very beginning at Fribourg, on the search for the truth through philosophical and theological work; a life consecrated to God, emphasizing silent prayer in community and the Eucharist; the importance of communal life in intense fraternal charity" On a quick look over their website there is no mention of charism but lots to do with their spirituality. A bit different from what I have seen on other websites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nunsuch Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 TheresaThoma, that is interesting. I guess if I were seriously looking into them, I would want to ask why they believed there needed to be a new community to search for truth through scholarship, and emphasizing prayer in community and the Eucharist? All of these are wonderful, of course--but from the outside, at least, it sounds a bit generic. And I would imagine that a lot of congregations could describe themselves in this way.... Hmmmm.... Does anyone know more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NadaTeTurbe Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 It's because of the context of their birth. Their founder, Marie-Dominique Philippe, was a dominican (he stayed dominican until the end of his life). He was a theology's teacher at Fribourg (I think). Some students asked him questions about common life, prayers, "traditionnal" study, etc... They began to live a common life, praying together, studying together. It was supposed to be just like one year, but the students wanted more, Father Philippe thought it was usefull. He asked help from a benedictine abbey, thus the community of Saint John was born, in the beginning as oblate from this abbey (their habits come from here). The "oblate" part of their history gave them this "monastical" life, and the "university" part of their birth + the fact their founder was a dominican gave them this "search for truth". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheresaThoma Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 On 1/8/2016, 9:07:30, Nunsuch said: TheresaThoma, that is interesting. I guess if I were seriously looking into them, I would want to ask why they believed there needed to be a new community to search for truth through scholarship, and emphasizing prayer in community and the Eucharist? All of these are wonderful, of course--but from the outside, at least, it sounds a bit generic. And I would imagine that a lot of congregations could describe themselves in this way.... Hmmmm.... Does anyone know more? As Nada has said the birth of the community really explains it. Just note about the founding it was a Cistercian abbey that agreed to take them on for their "ad experimentum" They were never officially oblates with the abbey but rather the understanding was they would eventually be their own community but this period was to help form the first brothers. You can read the whole story here. Their "parentage" has influenced their identity but it is also very uniquely their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NadaTeTurbe Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Yes, sorry for the abbey, I just realized ! It's the cistercian abbey of Lerins http://www.abbayedelerins.com/site/index.php/fr/ it's on an island, very nice. Thank you Theresa for correcting me ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nunsuch Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I find it interesting in that the mendicant and monastic ways are so very different. To combine them is something of a patchwork. And, yes, I realize that the contemplative Dominican nuns have a monastic dimension, but that's less to do with their being Dominican than their being women, with Periculoso and all that.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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