"Polish Church takes to the catwalk to battle slump in numbers"

There are a lot of ways to promote vocations - I'm just not sure religious "fashion shows" are any of them. Perhaps it's something deeply ingrained in me, but I always think we must bring the youth/culture to the Church not the other way around. Yes, it is important to understand the culture, and even to use it, if possible to move people from one place to another spiritually. Historically missionaries have done this very effectively. The Fishers of Men video is a good example. It has the look and feel of a popular culture video, as good as anything out there, but it communicates a very different and powerful message. That video would have failed miserably if it contained priests trying to act like they were something they were not - in other words, trying to act like celbrity figures from our contemporary culture. Something tells me having religious sisters on a catwalk, imitating fashion models, verges on pandering to your audience. I could be wrong, and perhaps in a Polish culture it works well. I just pray it doesn't catch on here. The Church can not compete with pop culture on its turf - the Church will lose. The Church can only compete on its own solid foundation - the fullness of Truth. From the beginning men and women religious have been counter cultural, and they must never waiver from that reality. Some religious communities have worked hard for decades to be more like everybody else "in the world" and their decline in numbers is the fruit of their labors. Yet other communities, that are becoming even more radically counter cultural are seeing rapidly increasing numbers. It seems pretty simple to me.

All that said, this is a good article to read from the standpoint of seeing how popular culture affects vocations even in a very Catholic country like Poland. To read this article, it seems like the shortage of priests and religious in Europe could become even more dire in the years to come if the number of Polish vocations continues to decline. - BW

From AFP
LUBLIN, Poland — A striking brunette sashayed down the catwalk, showing off her simple yet elegant white robe and black headgear to the enraptured audience.

Sister Lucja of the Order of the Sacred Heart of Jesus smiled as the crowd burst into applause.

Faced with a slump in the number of nuns, monks and seminarians in Europe's Roman Catholic heartland, the Church in Poland is trying to dust down its image.

The recent, somewhat tongue-in-cheek fashion show in this city in southeast Poland was just the latest sign.

"The name 'fashion show' is provocative. We want to show that we live simply, and that even if we sometimes dress in an old-fashioned way, our clothes are a reflection of our lifestyle," organiser Father Andrzej Batorski, a Jesuit, told AFP.

After Sister Lucja, other nuns, then Jesuits and Capuchin friars hit the red carpet to show off their cassocks in the main hall of the Catholic University of Lublin.

The 90-year-old university is a renowned centre of religious and secular teaching and research in Poland, where more than 90 percent of the 38-million-strong population professes to be Roman Catholic.

Some two dozen orders took part in Batorski's fair, setting up their stalls to try to spread the word that taking religious vows isn't a thing of the past.

The stands boasted multimedia displays, leaflets, giveaway calendars and -- at the missionary orders' booths -- souvenirs from Africa and Asia.

Meanwhile, religious chants echoed from loudspeakers.

Under Poland's post-World War II communist regime, the Church played a dual role as both a religious institution and as a bulwark against the authorities.

While its clout has remained significant since the regime's demise in 1989, and is certainly far stronger than in most other European countries, it has been a victim of its own success in helping bring about political change.

In a democratic country where the free market has brought previously unimaginable opportunities for a new generation of Poles, drawing new recruits is becoming a headache.

The mainstream Church's image has also been tarnished by an ultra-Catholic fringe whose outbursts regularly grab headlines, turning off would-be recruits.

"Ten years ago, we had 25 novice nuns. Last year we only had six," said Agnieszka Kranz of the Servant Sisters of Debica, a small Polish order.

Such figures are a worry for the Polish Church, and even for Roman Catholicism beyond the country's borders.

Until recently, the Polish Church was training more than a quarter of Europe's priests, monks and nuns, and supplied them worldwide to fill gaps in other countries.

Last year, the number of Poles taking vows fell by around 25 percent.

For the 2007-2008 academic year, Poland's diocesan seminaries, which train priests, recruited 786 new students, down from 1,029 the year before.

The total number of trainee priests has fallen by 10 percent in one year, to 4,257.

The country's monastic orders are also feeling the pinch.

The number of novice nuns slumped from 728 in 1998 to 468 last year. The number of new monks fell by half to 797.

"For the Polish Church, this is ringing alarm bells," said Monsignor Wojciech Polak, who oversees recruitment.

Batorski said it is up to the Church to reach out to young people, speaking a language they understand.

"We wanted via the fair to enable people to meet those who have chosen a monastic life, to show that they are just regular individuals," he said. (I don't really think having women religious strutting around on a catwalk shows that they are "just regular individuals". I think it shows that they are mimicking something that is particularly disordered in our world.)

"At the same time, we wanted to give a voice to people who have taken vows, allowing them to explain their chosen path and their faith," he added.

The Polish Church has also jumped headlong into cyberspace, and also turned to other planks of public relations.

Most orders have their own website -- and the Jesuits have even posted a video on YouTube. Others have tried television advertisement and the Franciscans even give their monks public speaking training.

At the Lublin fair, however, the impact seemed limited.

"I'd miss men, and nuns don't use make up or colour their hair," said Dominika Pietron, an 18-year-old school student.

However, she said she appreciated her hour-long discussion with a nun there.

"Religion helps you take a look at yourself, and builds confidence. But it should only be taken in small doses," she said.

Eye Opening Article: "Disorder among the Orders"

From Our Sunday Visitor

By Ann Carey

Emphases and (comments) mine - BW

With vocations shrinking and financial problems looming large, some women Religious find themselves at a crossroads

When leaders of Religious orders met with Pope Benedict XVI earlier this year, he praised and encouraged them, but also expressed concern that many orders are in crisis, with shrinking numbers, confusion over their role and identity, and even disagreement with Church teaching.

Speaking to a group of superiors general, Pope Benedict said that many orders are experiencing "a difficult crisis due to the aging of members, a more or less accentuated fall in vocations and, sometimes, a spiritual and charismatic weariness."

Three days later, the pope met with leaders of the Jesuits and reminded them of their fundamental duty of "keeping the harmony with the magisterium, which avoids creating confusion and bewilderment among the people of God."

It may seem strange to Catholics in the pews that Pope Benedict felt compelled to remind superiors that many Religious orders are in disarray and that they should be in harmony with the magisterium. After all, canon law says that sisters, brothers and priests in Religious orders are to be "totally dedicated to God" and to "the upbuilding of the Church."

Yet, the pope was voicing the obvious: Many Religious orders that thrived for a century or more have given up their traditional work and common life and are struggling to decide who they are and how they relate to the Church.

Furthermore, many of the most outspoken Church dissidents are members of Religious orders, a fact that naturally raises this question: "How can one remain a member of a Religious order while at the same time rejecting Church teaching?"

While Religious orders of both men and women are struggling today, the men's orders have remained more stable, probably because about three-quarters of the approximately 19,000 men Religious are priests, an identity that grounds them.

The crisis is more pronounced among women's orders, which have about 65,000 members. What follows is a closer look at the current concerns about Religious orders via a focus on women Religious.

These include a loss of identity, shrinking vocations, retirement worries and at-risk property. Some of the sisters interviewed for this article asked not to be named out of concern for repercussions from their orders.

Some orders have lost a sense of themselves

Before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Religious sisters almost always lived in convents, where they shared Eucharist and common prayer with other sisters. They worked in their orders' institutions in jobs like teachers, nurses, retreat leaders, counselors and administrators, and carried out their work in communion with the Church. They also understood their identity as vowed, consecrated persons dedicated to Jesus Christ and his Church -- a role clearly defined by the Church.

When Vatican II documents directed Religious orders to update obsolete practices and to examine their lives and ministry according to their founders' vision, confusion reigned in many orders. Some orders did manage to renew their practices -- perhaps 10 percent to 20 percent of women's orders -- while maintaining their identity as consecrated Religious.

Pope Benedict alluded to those renewed orders in his remarks to superiors, saying they are a positive sign, "especially when communities have chosen to return to the origins and live in a way more in keeping with the spirit of the founder."

However, many orders of women Religious went far beyond the mandates of Vatican II, even blurring the distinction between their vowed members and lay "associate members." These orders have been outspoken in their efforts to "transform," bring "systemic change" and "re-image" Religious life and even the Catholic Church. Much of their motivation is driven by the attitude that unjust patriarchal structures in the Church do not value or understand women, and only women can create a new vision of Religious life.

'Systemic change'

Dominican Sister Laurie Brink(photo at left), assistant professor at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, explained this attitude in her keynote speech last August at the annual assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). LCWR is composed of leaders of about 90 percent of women's Religious orders. The theme of that assembly was "The Next Frontier: Religious Life on the Edge of Tomorrow."

Sister Brink explained: "We have lost sight that we are ecclesial women. We have tired of the condescension, and we have opted instead for ministry outside the Church. . . We may not avail ourselves of the sacraments, because we are angry -- not about the Eucharist itself -- but about the ecclesial deafness that refuses to hear the call of the Spirit summoning not only celibate males, but married men and women to serve at the table of the Lord." Some sisters, she added, have "moved beyond Jesus."

The new LCWR president, Sister of the Most Precious Blood Mary Whited (Photo at left), was interviewed for an article last September in the St. Louis Review that reported: "Many Religious today, she said, 'realize that we're in a period of transition to something new. But we're not far enough in that transition to known what the "new" will look like.' LCWR is helping to ask the hard questions 'as we try to make choices that will allow us to move into the future.'"

The LCWR website ( http://www.lcwr.org/) reveals a strong focus on "systemic change" of Religious life, and its publications and workshops offer guidance for sister leaders to "transform" their orders into entities that do not resemble the Church definition of Religious life. The Winter 2008 issue of LCWR's "Occasional Papers" titled "Exploring the Next Frontiers" includes advice to leaders on how to carry "some essential strands of Religious life forward and birth something new," and on "reprogramming of old habits, attitudes and customs."

Indeed, some sisters report that their leaders are heavy-handed in this "reprogramming" by making controversial decisions for their orders and then ensuring that the sisters go along by hiring expensive outside consultants -- many of whom are sisters or former sisters -- skilled at forging a "consensus" for a predetermined path of action.

Misplaced passion

Several sisters from various orders -- including Dominican, Josephite and Mercy, as well as smaller groups -- have told Our Sunday Visitor that their leaders speak passionately about justice for women, the earth and the poor, but the leaders fail to see the injustice they are perpetrating on their own sisters, who are not angry at the Church and who want to live as ecclesial women according to the Church definition of Religious life. These sisters wonder when bishops and the Vatican will acknowledge their predicament and require women and men Religious to accept Church teaching and respect Church authority, or else depart for another way of life that does not exploit the resources and reputations of their Religious orders and of the Church.

Loss of identity leads to vocations shortage

Vocations to Religious life have dropped sharply in the past 40 years. When Vatican II closed, sisters numbered 180,000 in the United States. Today there are about 65,000 sisters, with an average age of 69.

This decline in numbers occurred for a combination of reasons: In the 1960s, more career choices became available to women, and laywomen gained more opportunities to serve the Church. Sisters became less visible as role models when they donned lay clothing and left Catholic institutions to work elsewhere. Also, Catholic families had fewer children and were less likely to encourage Religious vocations.

However, another major reason for the decline in vocations is becoming much more apparent: Many orders of women Religious have lost their identity, so it is difficult for potential members to know what those sisters do and how they relate to one another and the Church.

Unclear missions

Many women Religious no longer live or pray in community. Many orders have no specific corporate apostolate, though members often do good works on an individual basis. So, women looking for a distinctly Religious way of life often see no difference between being a faithful lay person and being a sister in one of these orders.

For example, Sister Julie Vieira (photo at left), a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, explained her lifestyle in a March 2007 interview in The Chicago Tribune headlined "The blogging nun: Religion, technology and beer."

Sister Vieira works for Loyola Press in Chicago. She lives alone in an apartment, fills her iPod with her favorite tunes and enjoys the on-tap beer at her favorite neighborhood bar. On her blog, "A Nun's Life," she explains that she visits her community in Monroe, Mich., and a member of her order sometimes joins her at her apartment for prayer and a meal. Yet, this lifestyle is indistinguishable from many other thirtysomething lay single people.

Furthermore, vague mission statements like this one from the website of the Sisters of St. Joseph of LaGrange, Ill. (photo at left) , do little to inform potential members:

"Rooted in God and our mission of unity . . . we desire to move toward greater inclusivity that reflects the interconnectedness of all creation, reverences diverse cultures and religions, and directs our choices in ministry, community living and corporate decisions."
In his talk to superiors general, Pope Benedict noted that many young people still experience "a strong Religious and spiritual attraction, but are only willing to listen to and follow those who give coherent witness to their adherence to Christ." He continued: "It is interesting to note that those institutes that have conserved and chosen a state of life that is often austere and faithful to the Gospel lived sine glossa ('with clarity') have a wealth of vocations."

Cycle of rebirth

Indeed, orders of sisters that still live and pray in community, work in a corporate apostolate within the Church and express strong fidelity to the magisterium are attracting most of the new vocations, and these orders have an average age in the mid-30s. (Photo at left, Nashville Dominicans)

The 2007 "Report on Trends in Religious Life," sponsored by Vision Vocation Guide, found that: "Those considering Religious life (discerners) identify strongly with the teachings of the Catholic Church, with 66 percent of all respondents saying they are most drawn to Religious life by a 'desire to live a life of faithfulness to the Church and its teaching.'"

A recent study of 142 new or emerging communities of consecrated life by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University concluded that "the Catholic Church in the United States may be on the threshold of another cycle of rebirth in consecrated life -- new groups of Catholics committed to a shared spirituality and the evangelical counsels [vows of poverty, chastity and obedience] that will address the changing times, concerns and needs in new and creative ways."

In his remarks, the pope praised such new groups "for faithful love of the Church, and for generous dedication to the needy with particular attention to that spiritual poverty which so markedly characterizes the modern age.

Aging orders put strain on assets

With the average age of all women Religious at 69, and with more sisters retired than working, financial problems loom large for Religious orders.

Since Religious men and women weren't eligible for Social Security until the law was changed in 1972, many retired Religious receive only minimal Social Security benefits.

Furthermore, Religious used to work in Church institutions for little or no compensation, so orders were not able to set aside substantial retirement savings. Rather, they relied on salaries of younger members to care for the orders' retirees, but that system collapsed when new vocations declined and the orders continued to age.

Combining orders in mergers or unions is becoming common, as shrinking orders seek to pool assets. However, unions result in the disappearance of all the orders involved -- a blow to Religious identity -- and can also place solvent orders into debt. Sister Elizabeth McDonough(photo at left), a Dominican of St. Mary of the Springs, told Our Sunday Visitor that many sisters in her 249-member order continue to object to a pending union with six smaller orders in the "Dominican Cluster." Objections are partly because of the process leading to the disappearance of their 178-year-old order, but also because her community is the largest of the seven and is the only one adequately funded for retirement.

"Two or three communities of 30 to 40 sisters, or even one larger community, merging with us -- or with another large Dominican community -- would provide continued adequate retirement funding," she said. "But in the pending union of these seven 'cluster' communities, combined assets cannot meet retirement needs for the combined number of elderly sisters." She added that those favoring union insist it is not about money but about mission, though mission is yet to be defined in any specific manner.
Underfunded

The National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO) reports that the annual average cost of independent living for a retired Religious is $24,927, and for skilled nursing care is $49,850. Of the 527 women's orders that gave data to the NRRO, only 56 were adequately funded for members' retirement (see related chart below). Some 190 orders of women Religious reported being less than 40 percent funded, with present unfunded retirement liability for all Religious orders, including men, being approximately $9 billion.

In 1988, the U.S. bishops authorized an annual collection for retired Religious, which has been the most successful national collection in the U.S. Church, according to the NRRO. Since inception, the collection has received $529 million to help Religious orders care for their elderly.

In November 2007, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious reported in its "Update" newsletter that the NRRO had "determined that an increased portion of the funds collected would be used for systemic change in congregational practices as well as for direct donations."

Our Sunday Visitor asked the acting director of the NRRO what this meant. Sister of the Most Precious Blood Janice Bader said that the collection has been significant, but it does not begin to approach the billions in unfunded liability. Thus, the NRRO is considering some changes in distribution of funds. Presently 90 percent of the collection goes for current care of religious, she said, while the other 10 percent is for administrative expenses and special projects. Special projects include helping the financial situation of orders by assessing property utilization, method of care, staffing and fund-raising.

However, other special projects seem only remotely connected to retirement needs, like the $65,000 the NRRO gave for planning the Dominican union mentioned above. Sister Bader said that in 2009, the percentage given for special projects likely will rise, but she could not say by how much or exactly what those projects would be.

Even though the special collection was authorized by the bishops, Sister Janice said that the body of bishops does not need to approve changes in how the funds are distributed, for they delegated that responsibility to the Commission on Religious Life and Ministry that oversees the NRRO. That commission consists of the general secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the officers of the three organizations that represent leaders of religious orders--Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious and Conference of Major Superiors of Men.

She said that in qualifying for NRRO funds, orders with little money designated for retirement have an advantage over those who have allocated more funds. But many orders with unfunded retirement have additional assets, so, beginning in 2009, the NRRO will take into consideration an order's unrestricted funds that could be available for retirement needs.

Little oversight

Because Religious orders are given a great deal of autonomy over internal affairs by canon law, financial decisions by leaders have little-to-no oversight. Funds often go to lay associates to support work unrelated to the Church. Some sisters have told Our Sunday Visitor that they know some of their order's retirement funds are going into the order's operating budget.

Indeed, leaders may decide that other matters have priority over retirement needs. For example, several orders of Catholic sisters with inadequate retirement funds donated money to sponsor last year's "Earth Spirit Rising Conference," where self-proclaimed witch Starhawk was a featured speaker.

Women Religious have been the backbone of the Catholic Church in this country, not only in establishing and operating Catholic institutions, but also for their witness as persons focused on God. The dramatic drop in numbers of sisters from 180,000 in 1965 to 65,000 today obviously means fewer sisters to provide that witness, and it also means a loss in terms of Church institutions and property.

Property owned by orders of women Religious is worth hundreds of millions -- if not billions -- of dollars, and that property is at great risk as many orders shrink and some of them distance themselves from the Church. Most of this property was acquired through donations by generations of hardworking Catholics who gave money for a specific purpose, such as a school, convent, hospital, retreat house or monastery.

Canon law is very specific in requiring that Church properties be used for their original purpose or according to the will of the donor. For example, if a Religious order goes out of existence, the order's assets first must be used to support remaining members of that order. Once the members have all passed away, remaining assets must be used for a similar purpose, like supporting another order of sisters or a school operated by sisters, for example.

Circumventing canon law

Certainly, there can be many legitimate reasons for selling an order's property, like the inability to maintain aging and unneeded buildings. However, in recent years, canon law has often been circumvented in this matter. Sisters report that Religious communities have sold properties used for traditional apostolic works and put that money toward "ministries" unrelated to the Church. Other sisters believe that their orders are unwittingly selling valuable properties for less than market value, or are purposely selling below market value to avoid complying with Church law requiring ecclesial approval for sale of property worth over $5.475 million. And there are unsettling precedents of orders signing over properties to other entities that are not Catholic.

For example, in 2006 the remaining two Benedictine sisters at their Madison, Wis., monastery transferred their 130-acre property to the Benedictine Women of Madison, an ecumenical group they formed and then joined after renouncing their vows. This follows the pattern of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters of Los Angeles, who in 1970 transferred their order's college, hospital, retreat house and high school into civil corporations before being dispensed from their vows and becoming an ecumenical community.

Left unchecked, this scenario is likely to be repeated over and over as some Religious distance themselves from the Church and take property with them.

How some orders challenge Church teaching

Women Religious are among the most public Catholics ignoring or challenging Church teaching and authority. Here are a few examples:

Hospitals

Some Catholic hospitals sponsored by women religious have, over the years, allowed surgical sterilizations to be performed, contrary to the "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services."

The Vatican intervened in the early 1980s after it was revealed that the leaders of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas had decided to permit sterilizations in their hospitals. The Vatican became involved again in the 1990s after some Catholic hospitals sponsored by women's religious orders set up "creative" arrangements in which they leased space within their hospitals for sterilization clinics. Yet, some Catholic hospitals sponsored by women Religious still persist in quietly providing sterilizations, a subject that will be covered by Our Sunday Visitor in a future article.

Homosexual Issues

Among the signers of the "Roman Catholic Statement Supporting Marriage Equality for Same-sex Couples in Massachusetts" at http://www.rcfm.org/ are several Sisters of St. Joseph, Sisters of Notre Dame and a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur.

Loretto Sister Jeannine Gramick (photo at left) continues to ignore a 1999 directive from the Vatican to stop ministry with homosexuals and disassociate herself from New Ways Ministry. Yet, according to the New Ways Ministry website, last month Sister Jeannine is leading "A GLBT Friendly Pilgrimage" to Italy that will benefit New Ways Ministry.

Removing the Vatican from the United Nations

A "See Change" petition (http://www.seechange.org/) sponsored by Catholics for a Free Choice to remove the Vatican's permanent observer status at the United Nations was signed by several groups of Religious, including the Loretto Women's Network and the Sinsinawa (Dominican) Women's Network. Another signer is Women-Church Convergence (www.women-churchconvergence.com), an umbrella organization whose members include the Institute Justice Team of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas; the Sisters of Charity Office of Peace, Justice & Integrity of Creation; the Sisters of Providence; the National Coalition of American Nuns; and the 8th Day Center for Justice. The 8th Day Center (www.8thdaycenter.org) has a membership of more than 30 Religious orders and is committed to, among other things, "uphold the right to dissent against oppressive structures in church and society."

Abortion rights

Dominican Sister Donna Quinn and other self-proclaimed "Nuns for Choice" regularly participate in public abortion rallies wearing their "Nuns for Choice" shirts.

Before the November 2006 elections, Loretto Sisters Mary Ann Coyle, Mary Ann Cunningham and Anna Koop, speaking for the National Coalition of American Nuns, wrote an open letter to Catholic voters stating their support of "the right of women to make reproductive decisions and receive medical treatment according to the rights of privacy and conscience."

Pagan events

Seventeen orders of women Religious were among the sponsors of the 2007 "Earth Spirit Rising" conference, which featured self-proclaimed witch Starhawk (photo at left). Susan Schaefer of the Sisters of St. Agnes Justice, Peace, Ecology Committee had this to say about Starhawk in the committee's September 2007 newsletter: "She is a pagan, which really means finding the spirit/Spirit in the rhythms of nature and a witch, which really only suggests a Wise, Intuitive, Teacher, Counselor, Healer."

Ann Carey writes from Indiana.

"Youths revel in pope's message"

From The Washington Times

By Julia Duin
April 20, 2008

NEW YORK — Pope Benedict XVI yesterday celebrated the third anniversary of his election as pope with a solemn Mass for 3,000 at St. Patrick's Cathedral, then was cheered by thousands at a joyous parade up Fifth Avenue and by thousands more at an afternoon youth rally at a Yonkers seminary.

The 81-year-old head of the Catholic Church got a rock-star reception at the seminary when 20,000 young people cheered and waved Vatican flags. Organ music loudly boomed in the background. When the crowd refused to stop cheering after several minutes, he strode out on walkways jutting into the crowd and shook hands with seminarians in the front rows.

"These are our future priests, brothers and sisters," New York Cardinal Edward Egan proclaimed to the pope. "We pray more and more young people will come forward at the urging of the Divine Master to serve as priests and religious," he said.

While it was not clear how many youths had plans to do so, about 3,000 seminarians from around the country were in the crowd. A black-and-white banner reading "nypriest.com" hung on the back fence. The Web site's slogan: "The world needs heroes."

Priests, nuns, monks and bishops were at the pope's audience at the St. Patrick's Cathedral morning Mass. In his homily, the pope again addressed the topic of the clergy sex-abuse scandal, which has victimized at least 12,000 young people, mostly adolescent and teenage boys. He encouraged his "loyal sons and daughters of the church" who had remained faithful to their vows despite the tarnishing of the priesthood's image as a result of the scandal.

"I simply wish to assure you, dear priests and religious, of my spiritual closeness as you respond with Christian hope to the continuing challenge that this situation presents," he said. "I join you in praying that this will be a time of purification for each and every particular church and religious community and a time for healing.

"I also encourage you to cooperate with your bishops, who continue to work effectively to resolve this issue," he said.

In stark contrast to his predecessor, John Paul II, who rarely mentioned the scandal, Pope Benedict has raised it repeatedly on this trip in both word and deed: expressing his shame on the flight to the U.S., chiding the American bishops for their mishandling of the crisis, mentioning the indescribable damage the scandal has done during his homily last week at Nationals Park, meeting with several Boston-area abuse victims at the Vatican Embassy, and in yesterday morning's homily.

Dressed in gold, red and white vestments, the pope said priests and religious need to be filled with an interior "mystic light," much like the stained-glass windows surrounding them in the Gothic cathedral.

"This is no easy task," he acknowledged. "The light of faith can be dimmed by routine, and the splendor of the church obscured by the sins and weaknesses of her members. It can be dimmed, too, by the obstacles encountered in a society which sometimes seems to have forgotten God and to resent even the most elementary demands of Christian morality."

Still, he called on them to have an "ever-deeper faith in God's infinite power to transform every situation, to create life from death and to light up even the darkest night."

He also hinted at divisions among his flock in a call for unity among leaders of the American Catholic Church.

"For all of us, I think, one of the great disappointments which followed the Second Vatican Council ... has been the experience of division between different groups, different generations, different members of the same religious family," he said. "We can only move forward if we turn our gaze together to Christ.

"In the light of faith, we will then discover the wisdom and strength needed to open ourselves to points of view which many not necessarily conform to own ideas or assumptions. Then we can value the perspectives of others, be they younger or older than ourselves, and ultimately 'hear what the Spirit is saying' to us and to the church."

Yesterday's ceremony was the first time a pope has celebrated Mass in St. Patrick's, a venerable New York institution founded in 1858. Just before the pope marched down the aisle, New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who is Jewish, briefly appeared in the pulpit, calling the occasion "a historic day for New York."

His predecessor, twice-divorced former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, took Communion at the Mass, even though church law forbids remarried persons to do so, without a declaration from the church that the earlier marriage was never valid. Mr. Giuliani does not have such an annulment.

When asked by a reporter whether he was uncomfortable with breaking church rules, Mr. Giuliani said, "No."

Mr. Giuliani, who also is pro-choice on abortion and favors gay rights, is not the only liberal Catholic public figure to take Communion at a papal Mass. Democratic Sens. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, and Edward M. Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts partook at Thursday's Mass at Nationals Park in Washington. (Beyond tragic - news of this saddened me greatly.)

Today is the final day of Pope Benedict's U.S. trip. He will visit the former World Trade Center site and celebrate Mass at Yankee Stadium.

Following the Mass and a private lunch at the cathedral, the pope made his way down Fifth Avenue, which was packed at least 10-persons deep on both sides. He then headed to St. Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie, a suburb in Westchester County.

The pope had visited the seminary once before in 1988 as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He had planted a small sapling on the grounds, which has grown into a medium-sized oak.

After a brief service with 50 disabled children in the seminary chapel, he received an adoring welcome from the crowd of thousands of young people who had been waiting since late morning to see him. During the interval, they had listened to Grammy Award-winner Kelly Clarkson, Father Stan Fortuna (aka the "rapping priest"), the Christian rock group Third Day and vocal trio Three Graces and watched a dance performance by the St. Michael's Warriors Dance Company.

The pontiff's speech, for which many of the youths remained standing throughout, began with memories of his own teen years under the Nazis. It then shifted to an explanation of the nature of truth and the dangers of relativism.

"In some circles, to speak of truth is seen as controversial or divisive, and consequently best kept in the private sphere," he said. "But what purpose has a 'freedom' which, in disregarding truth, pursues what is false and wrong?

"How many people have been offered a hand, which — in the name of freedom or experience — has led them to addiction, to moral or intellectual confusion, to hurt, to a loss of self-respect, even to despair, and so tragically and sadly to the taking of their own life?"

He urged his listeners to "turn to the saints" for inspiration on how to live and not to doubt their faith.

"Sometimes we are looked upon as people who speak only of prohibitions," he said. "Nothing could be further from the truth. Authentic Christian discipleship is marked by a sense of wonder. We stand before the God we know and love as a friend, the vastness of His creation and the beauty of our Christian faith." The latter remark prompted a huge burst of applause.

His listeners were entranced.

Francesca Grix, 15, of Pearl River, N.Y., spent the afternoon text-messaging her friends about what she was seeing.

"He is, like, such an important person," she said. "He is the closest figure to Jesus."

Brian Thomas, a former employee of the Archdiocese of New York now living in Rochester, N.Y., admitted he pulled strings in Cardinal Egan's office to get a ticket for his daughter, Liz, who celebrated her 14th birthday yesterday.

The youthful crowd was the one of the most enthusiastic in Pope Benedict's U.S. journey so far, and the pope paused frequently in his speech to acknowledge spontaneous cheers. Planners of the event lost few opportunities to remind the young listeners of the church's declining vocations. St. Joseph's Seminary has only 22 men currently enrolled, six of whom graduate this spring. None are slated to enter its first-year theology program.

Still, when Pope Benedict brought up vocations late in his speech, the crowd cheered again. They also cheered when the pope mentioned marriage and family life.

"I am sure that some of you young people will be drawn to a life of apostolic or contemplative service," he said. "Do not be shy to speak with religious brothers, sisters or priests [about it]."

He added, "Dear seminarians, I pray for you daily."

The black-garbed young men standing beneath him broke into a cheer: "We love you! We love you!"

The pope smiled.

"Thank you," he said. "Thank you very much."

"Nuns facing a grim retirement"

Please remember this article the next time there is a collection at your church for retired religious. It is scandalous that women who gave their lives in service to the Church should need to find minimal care in public healthcare facilities. I understand that the there may be many factors within some religious communities that have contributed to their financial difficulties, but these brides of Christ should not be abandoned by the Church in their final years.

From amNY.com
By Matthew Sweeney

April 16, 2008

The Catholic women who spend their lives in religious service ministering to others are increasingly at risk of spending their final days in a grim retirement, cared for by strangers in a public nursing home away from their fellow sisters.

"The religious women have for a long time been sorely neglected in our church," said Fr. Brian Jordan, from St. Francis of Assisi on West 31st Street. "All those who were served by these sisters should reach into their pocket and help them out as soon as possible."

A combination of factors, including a shortage of men and women entering religious orders, an aging population, and the rising cost of health care, pose a challenge. Who will care for them once they can no longer care for themselves?

"It's a problem for the orders to which the church is responding," said Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, noting that the diocese gives $1 million a year to a national retirement fund.

Those who enter one of the many religious orders take a vow of poverty. Any money they earn from teaching, hospital work, or other service goes to the order. Until 1972, this prevented them from participating in Social Security.

There is no "retirement" from religious life in the usual sense. Men and women work until they are no longer physically able to, then they "retire." Most large orders have their own retirement homes with nursing care; smaller orders have joined together to share facilities or they place frail sisters with larger orders.

The Sisters of Charity are one of the largest orders in New York and are fortunate that they started planning as early as the 1950s for retirement care, said Sr. Margret O'Brien. A recent expansion at one of their retirement homes came just in time, she said. At the moment their 160 beds are not yet filled.

"I'm not saying we're well fixed," said Sister O'Brien, who at age 65 has served for 47 years. "We're holding on."

For centuries, women who were called to a religious life could expect that when they became physically unable to minister to the laity they would retire to a residence, like the order"s Convent of Mary the Queen in Yonkers where care is provided by fellow sisters. That's no longer a guarantee.

"This is not the world that most of us started out in," Sister O'Brien said.

For most, who choose a life of poverty, asking for charity for themselves is an uncomfortable proposition. At the National Religious Retirement Office in Washington, D.C. they are still counting 2007 donations sent from parishes around the country. It's likely to match or come in a little lower than the $30 million donated in 2006, said Sister Janice Bader of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood. It averages out to $500 to $700 per person over 70 years old.

"When it costs $20,000-plus to support someone who needs care, the $500 to $700 doesn't solve the issue," Bader said.

A lot of the money goes towards retrofitting staircases and bathrooms in old convents for use by the elderly. The average age is 70 for women in religious service and 65 for men. Four out of five of those living in religious communities are women.

Most diocese pay some retirement benefits these days to the men and women who are working to catch up with years of no benefits, Sr. Bader said.

"What happens when the community can't afford it? They do apply for Medicaid benefits," Bader said.

The Fund was started in 1988 and is expected to last 10 years, but the need has only increased. Its mission was renewed for a third, 10-year period in the summer of 2006. At the time Catholic News reported that religious orders had invested $9.1 billion to cover retirement expenses, but were carrying a retirement liability of nearly double that amount.

A report commissioned by the Fund estimated health care costs would reach $1.6 billion by 2023, while Social Security would return $184 million.

Sr. Justine Nutz of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, who recently turned 70 and celebrated 50 years in service, walks on Manhattan Beach in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, every morning before heading off to teach in one of two Catholic grade schools. Prior to teaching she worked in a homeless shelter for more than a decade.

"I care for my health because I care for the other sisters," she said. "We belong to one another is the way it works in the community," she said.

Her order is investing its money and making it last, she said. They have nursing homes for frail sisters. The care is not extravagant, but adequate. "We try to be prudent," Sister Nutz said.

Eventually, she assumes, they will have to consider Medicaid and other public services. Some already do, while they wait for a bed to open in one of the retirement homes run by their sisters, Sister Nutz said.

"I might live another 30 years," she said. "We might very well at that time have run out of money and be in public nursing homes with everybody else. We don't know. We say we'll just continue being who we are, and continue ministering wherever we are."

"Young adults holding vigil rewarded with papal handshake"

By Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Several hundred young adults holding a vigil behind the security perimeter around the house where Pope Benedict XVI was staying were rewarded April 18 with a papal handshake.

Helen Osman, director of communications for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said more than 1,000 people had gathered throughout the evening near the residence of the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations.

Members of the Sisters of Life, a religious order founded by the late Cardinal John J. O'Connor of New York, organized young people from three New York parishes to keep a vigil at the residence where Pope Benedict was staying.

"Some just came out of curiosity," but there also were members of the Legionaries of Christ, playing guitars and beating drums, and members of the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal and Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, she said.

Obviously, Osman said, they had let archdiocesan officials know of their plans and at about 8 p.m., the U.S. Secret Service began allowing small groups to pass the traffic blockade and approach the residence.

Pope Benedict came outside "after dinner" at about 9 p.m., said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman.

The pope spent about 10 minutes shaking hands with the young religious and other young adults who got the Secret Service nod.

They sang "Happy Birthday" to the pope; he waved to them and to a small group of media that had staked out the residence, then he went back inside.

Excerpt on Vocations from Pope Benedict XVI's Meeting with young people and Seminarians at St. Joseph's Seminary, Yonkers, NY

...

Dear young people, finally I wish to share a word about vocations. First of all my thoughts go to your parents, grandparents and godparents. They have been your primary educators in the faith. By presenting you for baptism, they made it possible for you to receive the greatest gift of your life. On that day you entered into the holiness of God himself. You became adoptive sons and daughters of the Father. You were incorporated into Christ. You were made a dwelling place of his Spirit. Let us pray for mothers and fathers throughout the world, particularly those who may be struggling in any way – socially, materially, spiritually. Let us honor the vocation of matrimony and the dignity of family life. Let us always appreciate that it is in families that vocations are given life.

Gathered here at Saint Joseph Seminary, I greet the seminarians present and indeed encourage all seminarians throughout America. I am glad to know that your numbers are increasing! The People of God look to you to be holy priests, on a daily journey of conversion, inspiring in others the desire to enter more deeply into the ecclesial life of believers. I urge you to deepen your friendship with Jesus the Good Shepherd. Talk heart to heart with him. Reject any temptation to ostentation, careerism, or conceit. Strive for a pattern of life truly marked by charity, chastity and humility, in imitation of Christ, the Eternal High Priest, of whom you are to become living icons (cf. Pastores Dabo Vobis, 33). Dear seminarians, I pray for you daily. Remember that what counts before the Lord is to dwell in his love and to make his love shine forth for others.

Religious Sisters, Brothers and Priests contribute greatly to the mission of the Church. Their prophetic witness is marked by a profound conviction of the primacy with which the Gospel shapes Christian life and transforms society. Today, I wish to draw your attention to the positive spiritual renewal which Congregations are undertaking in relation to their charism. The word charism means a gift freely and graciously given. Charisms are bestowed by the Holy Spirit, who inspires founders and foundresses, and shapes Congregations with a subsequent spiritual heritage. The wondrous array of charisms proper to each Religious Institute is an extraordinary spiritual treasury. Indeed, the history of the Church is perhaps most beautifully portrayed through the history of her schools of spirituality, most of which stem from the saintly lives of founders and foundresses. Through the discovery of charisms, which yield such a breadth of spiritual wisdom, I am sure that some of you young people will be drawn to a life of apostolic or contemplative service. Do not be shy to speak with Religious Brothers, Sisters or Priests about the charism and spirituality of their Congregation. No perfect community exists, but it is fidelity to a founding charism, not to particular individuals, that the Lord calls you to discern. Have courage! You too can make your life a gift of self for the love of the Lord Jesus and, in him, of every member of the human family (cf. Vita Consecrata, 3).

Friends, again I ask you, what about today? What are you seeking? What is God whispering to you? The hope which never disappoints is Jesus Christ. The saints show us the selfless love of his way. As disciples of Christ, their extraordinary journeys unfolded within the community of hope, which is the Church. It is from within the Church that you too will find the courage and support to walk the way of the Lord. Nourished by personal prayer, prompted in silence, shaped by the Church’s liturgy you will discover the particular vocation God has for you. Embrace it with joy. You are Christ’s disciples today. Shine his light upon this great city and beyond. Show the world the reason for the hope that resonates within you. Tell others about the truth that sets you free. With these sentiments of great hope in you I bid you farewell, until we meet again in Sydney this July for World Youth Day! And as a pledge of my love for you and your families, I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing.

"For some, a pope's words are a call"

From The Star Ledger
BY Peggy McGlone

Thomas Quinn was working as an oncology nurse at Hackensack Medical Center when Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass at Giants Stadium in 1995.

John Carlos DeSousa was a funeral director in Elizabeth who left work early that rainy October day to attend Mass with almost 83,000 others.

Joe Mancini was working part time as a youth minister in his home parish, also in Elizabeth, during the last papal visit.

All three men say John Paul's presence was a crucial milepost in their journey to becoming Roman Catholic priests.

"It confirmed what I felt at the time ... confirmed in me what I felt God was calling me to do," said Mancini about the Mass at Giants Stadium.

One of the greatest challenges for the American Catholic Church is recruiting the next generation of priests.

While no statistics are available to document the connection between papal visits and subsequent vocations, the Newark Archdiocese said it saw an increase in candidates for the priesthood after John Paul's visit 12 years ago.

In addition, many candidates entering the seminary say their decision to enter the priesthood was motivated in part by attending a papal Mass or having an audience with the pope.

Pope Benedict XVI will meet with hundreds of seminarians and other youth today in St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. Those involved in soliciting vocations are hopeful his influence will match that of his predecessor.

"I think it can change lives, change spiritual lives. It could produce enough fervor or zeal that someone on the fence can be pushed over," said Monsignor Thomas Nydegger, vice rector and director of formation at Immaculate Conception Seminary in South Orange of the pope's visit.

Sometimes that push can be immediate, as was the case with Mancini, who entered Immaculate Conception Seminary in South Orange within a year of John Paul II's visit. But for Quinn, John Paul's influence played out in his life over the years.

Quinn's connection to John Paul dates back to 1979 and the new pontiff's first American visit, when he celebrated Mass in Boston for more than 100,000.

Quinn, who describes the Boston Mass as a "joyful, epic event," wasn't able to attend the 1995 Giants Stadium celebration. But he remembers looking out the window that afternoon and seeing the Meadowlands lit up in the distance.

"I was taking care of my patients, but I was aware that the Holy Father was celebrating Mass," he said.

The next week, a colleague who attended the event brought Quinn the program, which featured a prayer for vocations on the back cover.

"I remember looking at that and saying, oh, yeah, I'm definitely going to consider that," said Quinn, 51, who was ordained in May 2005, almost 10 years after John Paul's visit.

"I wasn't looking for a sign, clouds parting or something extraordinary happening," said Quinn, now parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Ridgewood. "It's not razzle-dazzle. It's the whisper of God in your own soul."

Nydegger described many of the students at Immaculate Conception Seminary as "John Paul II seminarians" who grew up during the papacy of a highly visible and well-traveled pontiff.

"Definitely John Paul influenced many of the seminarians and young priests we have," said Stephen Saffron, 29, who is in his third year at Immaculate Conception and on track for a 2009 ordination. "I don't know if it was just his visit to New Jersey, but in general his entire pontificate influenced (us). It was the clarity of his message."

DeSousa was so inspired by the papal Mass at Giants Stadium that he traveled to Toronto for World Youth Day. He said he was amazed by the enthusiasm of the other young Catholics he met.

"That was significant for me," he said. "Seeing the energy, the love. Everyone felt the same."

"What John Paul did ... for the younger members of the church is to make us aware of what it is, how much it has to offer and how much the church needs us," he said.

DeSousa and Saffron will be at the seminary event today with the pope. Saffron said the event, coming a month before he is ordained a deacon, is an important step toward his ordination next year.

"It's exciting. I'm meeting him a the beginning of my ministry, I'm looking forward to listening to what he has to say," he said.

Benedict will conclude his first trip to the United States with a Mass at Yankee Stadium tomorrow, an event Mancini, a die-hard Mets fan, will attend.

"I hope others who are in the situation I was in 1995 might find in Benedict's visit some of the same confirmation," said Mancini, who was ordained in 2001 and is executive director of youth and young adult ministries for the Archdiocese of Newark. "We need to be in presence of God. And the pope can make that real for us."

"Thinking of becoming a monk or nun? Look to the Web"

From North County Times
By SARAH N. LYNCH
Sister Judith Miryam, the webmistress at the Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, N.J., believes the monastery's blog has helped attract the interest of six aspiring nuns who have joined the community. Photo courtesy of Columbia News Service.

The day Lauren Franko was inspired to become a nun, she did what many people her age would do: She logged on to the Internet in search of answers. But first, the 21-year-old New Jersey resident had to break the news to her boyfriend, whom she had met in an online chat room a few years earlier and planned to marry.

"I didn't have the grace for marriage," Franko said. "I just couldn't do it. I needed to give myself entirely to God. That was the only way I would be happy."

She began her online search in the fall of 2006, and it eventually led her to a Web site and blog for the Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary, a cloistered community of nuns in Summit, N.J. Intrigued, she fired off an e-mail inquiry. A little more than a year later, she entered the monastery.

In doing so, she is also joining an unfamiliar world ---- one without cell phones and, ironically, the Internet.

The cloistered lifestyle may seem incompatible with the Internet. Unlike "active" communities of nuns and friars, which devote themselves to community service and are often seen in public, cloistered nuns and monks rarely leave the monastery. Typically, they also limit their use of mass media so that the outside world does not distract them from a life of silence and perpetual prayer.

But now, more cloistered communities are launching Web sites to increase their visibility and assist young people who are exploring religious life. And while there are no statistics to suggest that the Internet is bolstering interest in cloistered life, many cloistered monasteries that have embraced the technology say they are starting to receive more inquiries about their lifestyle through the Internet, and in some cases, are experiencing newfound growth.

The Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary got its introduction to the online world about eight years ago, when the sisters invited two aspiring priests to give a talk about the Internet's pros and cons. Despite some initial concerns, the women took a vote and decided it could be used in a positive way to educate interested women about their life, recalled Sister Judith Miryam and Sister Mary Catharine, two of the more Internet-savvy nuns.

In 2004, the two decided to launch a blog to engage people and take them inside the monastery walls. The blog is written from the cloistered community's perspective, and it talks about everything from the handmade soap they sell to the rabbits eating their garden.

"This is how these young women communicate, and this is how they want to be communicated to," said Sister Judith Miryam, who maintains the Web site and believes the blog has helped spur the interest of six new women there, all of whom found the monastery on the Internet.

Many people who find their monastery of choice on the Internet say they are happy to leave the technology behind them. While some cloistered monasteries like the one in Summit allow minimal Internet use to e-mail family or buy groceries, others prohibit it.

That is the case for the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming, a new monastery founded in Clark, Wyo., in 2003 and whose Web site has caught the interest of some aspiring monks. Soft chants begin to play as its site pops up, and visitors are greeted by a photo of three monks bathed in the glow of candlelight. The monastery has eight members and another six candidates on the way. The site was created shortly after the monastery's founding and improved several months ago. But if interested men wish to contact the monastery, they have to pick up the phone or write a letter.

That's because the community does not have Internet access, even though the Internet is the way that some men find their way to the monastery. The site is maintained by people outside the monastery.

"Why have the walls around the monastery when the Internet is literally the world at your fingertips?" asked Brother Simon Mary, 24, who found the monastery online, but does not miss the technology. "For us, those things kind of break down the integrity of the enclosure. We believe it's important to use these modern resources ... but at the same time in a way that will not be detrimental to the world we're striving after."

It's hard to say whether the Internet is helping to bolster growth in cloistered communities. But the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, a nonprofit organization affiliated with Georgetown University, a Catholic school, is planning to launch a survey that will look at recent membership patterns in active and cloistered communities. The survey will also include questions about the Internet's role in vocations, said Sister Mary Bendyna, the center's executive director.

Even without statistics, some monasteries that used to be reluctant about having a Web site are starting to change their position as they grow to understand the importance of the Internet in the lives of young people.

Several cloistered Carmelite communities, including the Monastery of Cristo Rey in San Francisco, said a Web site could be in their future.

"I accept the fact that times have changed," said Mother Elizabeth, the prioress at the San Francisco monastery, who added that the monastery is still trying to figure out the logistics of setting up a site. "This is where young people are going."

Despite the rise in Internet use, however, some monasteries are sticking to traditional ways.

In Alexandria, S.D., the Discalced Carmelite Nuns at the Mother Marie Therese of the Child Jesus have worked to preserve their more conservative lifestyle. They do not show their faces to the public and they do not have television.

The community did get permission from its prioress about a year ago to test the waters of the World Wide Web when one of its sisters enrolled in an online course. But ultimately, the nuns decided it was simply too distracting to their life of silence and prayer, and they got rid of it.

"If you've been eating organic food and you have been eating fresh things, and then go out and have something that's processed, after years of that it does something to your system," said Sister Mary, who is not allowed to reveal her full name to preserve the integrity of the enclosure. "That is the same thing we have found with the Internet. It's too invasive."

Pope Benedict XVI Answers a Question from US Bishop about the Decline in Vocations

RESPONSES OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI TO THE QUESTIONS POSED BY THE BISHOPS

3. The Holy Father is asked to comment on the decline in vocations despite the growing numbers of the Catholic population, and on the reasons for hope offered by the personal qualities and the thirst for holiness which characterize the candidates who do come forward.

Let us be quite frank: the ability to cultivate vocations to the priesthood and the religious life is a sure sign of the health of a local Church. There is no room for complacency in this regard. God continues to call young people; it is up to all of us to encourage a generous and free response to that call. On the other hand, none of us can take this grace for granted.

In the Gospel, Jesus tells us to pray that the Lord of the harvest will send workers. He even admits that the workers are few in comparison with the abundance of the harvest (cf. Mt 9:37-38). Strange to say, I often think that prayer – the unum necessarium – is the one aspect of vocations work which we tend to forget or to undervalue!

Nor am I speaking only of prayer for vocations. Prayer itself, born in Catholic families, nurtured by programs of Christian formation, strengthened by the grace of the sacraments, is the first means by which we come to know the Lord’s will for our lives. To the extent that we teach young people to pray, and to pray well, we will be cooperating with God’s call. Programs, plans and projects have their place; but the discernment of a vocation is above all the fruit of an intimate dialogue between the Lord and his disciples. Young people, if they know how to pray, can be trusted to know what to do with God’s call.

It has been noted that there is a growing thirst for holiness in many young people today, and that, although fewer in number, those who come forward show great idealism and much promise. It is important to listen to them, to understand their experiences, and to encourage them to help their peers to see the need for committed priests and religious, as well as the beauty of a life of sacrificial service to the Lord and his Church. To my mind, much is demanded of vocation directors and formators: candidates today, as much as ever, need to be given a sound intellectual and human formation which will enable them not only to respond to the real questions and needs of their contemporaries, but also to mature in their own conversion and to persevere in life-long commitment to their vocation. As Bishops, you are conscious of the sacrifice demanded when you are asked to release one of your finest priests for seminary work. I urge you to respond with generosity, for the good of the whole Church.

Finally, I think you know from experience that most of your brother priests are happy in their vocation. What I said in my address about the importance of unity and cooperation within the presbyterate applies here too. There is a need for all of us to move beyond sterile divisions, disagreements and preconceptions, and to listen together to the voice of the Spirit who is guiding the Church into a future of hope. Each of us knows how important priestly fraternity has been in our lives. That fraternity is not only a precious possession, but also an immense resource for the renewal of the priesthood and the raising up of new vocations. I would close by encouraging you to foster opportunities for ever greater dialogue and fraternal encounter among your priests, and especially the younger priests. I am convinced that this will bear great fruit for their own enrichment, for the increase of their love for the priesthood and the Church, and for the effectiveness of their apostolate.

Dear Brother Bishops, with these few observations, I once more encourage all of you in your ministry to the faithful entrusted to your pastoral care, and I commend you to the loving intercession of Mary Immaculate, Mother of the Church.

"Nuns from Ann Arbor Township convent head to New York to attend papal events"

Something tells me that the sisters in my previous post, the ones who were unfazed by the precipitous decline in the number of vocations to their communities, will not be traveling with much joy and enthusiasm to see Pope Benedict XVI.

From THE ANN ARBOR NEWS

By ELIYAHU GURFINKEL

Nuns at the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist convent in Ann Arbor Township pick up snacks for their bus tripvFriday to see the Pope in New York City.

For days, the sisters in the convent off Warren Road had watched the television news for word of Pope Benedict XVI's trip to the United States.

Before sunrise this morning, all 56 of the sisters living at the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor Township planned to board a chartered bus to travel to New York City, where they will attend two of the big papal events.

Other members of the convent on missions elsewhere in the country will join them.

"Each time we hear him and see him the excitement grows," said Sister Teresa Benedicta.

On Thursday evening, the sisters were busy packing lunches and snacks for the trip. Bags of popcorn and boxes of games stood ready to go by the door.

"They won't even sleep tonight," said Sister Mary Samuel.

They'll stay with a parish in New York City, sleeping in a school, retreat center and a parishioner's home. They'll return home to Michigan on Sunday.

This is Benedict's first trip to the United States, where he'll spend six days in Washington D.C. and New York. In New York, the sisters will attend a massive youth rally with Benedict, and then the Mass in Yankee Stadium with the pontiff. The sisters said Benedict is bringing a message of hope.

"He's very gentle," said Sister Maria Guadalupe. "He has a reputation of being very harsh and extreme, but he just comes across as very fatherly."

"Local nuns follow their vision"

Unfazed by national drop in females joining orders

From the Times Herald-Record

By Jeremiah Horrigan

Photo by Jeff Goulding
April 19, 2008

Emphases and (comments) mine - BW

The number of nuns is declining, but those who choose to embrace the calling say they have ever-new opportunities to serve. Here, Sister Catherine Walsh teaches at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh.

NEWBURGH — If the pontificate of the late Pope John Paul II was something of a golden era for many Roman Catholics — a time of religious renewal and papal popularity — it was anything but a boom time for the world's Roman Catholic nuns. (Actually it was a boom time for many women's religious orders, those who completely embraced the teachings and traditions of the Church, rather than those who embraced new age spirituality, heterodox theology, desent from the Church and it's teachings, abandoned their traditional habits, stopped living in community, and generally set out on a course in a vastly different direction than what John Paul II was speaking of and thousands of young women are looking for in the Church today.)

According to Vatican documents released in February, the number of nuns declined by 25 percent during that 27-year period. This, despite an increase over the same years in church membership to more than 1.1 billion, according to BBC News. (It will only get worse in the years to come.)

The falloff appears to be increasing: in a single year, 2005 to 2006, the official Vatican newspaper reported "members of the consecrated life" — mostly women teachers, health-care workers and missionaries — fell 94,790, or 10 percent, to 945,210.

The order of the Little Sisters of Assumption would seem to fit those statistics. They have 25 provinces around the world numbering 1,000; their U.S. province, which is headquartered in Walden, has a membership in the 30s. The order hasn't seen a postulant enter "for years," according to the provincial of the order, Sister Annette Allain.

But statistics can be deceiving, and, as all the nuns interviewed for this story will tell you, the numbers represent new opportunities for them, as much as anything else. (I am always intrigued by the way orders that are clearly in the process of dying out, spin the demise of their order, all the while saying that the rapid growth of young "traditional" orders is somehow unhealthy.)

"Our service in the past would have been staffed by us. But now, there are so many more lay collaborators, people who have taken on the mission of the Little Sisters," she said.

A sense of history also helps explain the situation, she said. Before Vatican II, when Pope John XXIII opened up the liturgy in response to changing times and needs, "there were very few opportunities for the laity." (Sure, so in the past where the laity really saw there role in the Church as going out to serve, they now see it as being involved in the liturgy. How many of the countless numbers of ushers, readers, and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion do nothing else outside of the Mass to be at the service of the Church or the least among us? Yet, when asked about service they quickly respond - "I distribute communion once a month at Mass." This is a far cry from a lifetime of day in and day out service provided by the religious sisters in the history of the Church.)

"Now, we have lay deacons and their wives and all kinds of new approaches to the problems facing us." (There are no such thing as "lay deacons". Deacons are ordained clergy, and they are not a "new approach" to the very real problem of a decline in the number of vocations to women's religious life.)

The decline in numbers was no surprise to Sister Maura of the Dominican Sisters of Hope in Newburgh. She lives at the order's Newburgh convent, where 68 nuns, many of them retired or infirm, live and are cared for.

The large loss of young women joining religious orders may come as a surprise to some, but not to Sister Maura, who has witnessed the decline for decades. Neither, Sister Maura said, is it as dire a sign as it may seem. (Something tells me that the founder of her order might feel differently.)

"Whatever the change in numbers, there's no question God's work will be done, though maybe under new appearances," she said this week. "God has his own ways," she said in a voice full of conviction. (True, but I don't think God would have raised up the vocation to religious life for women, given us scores of Saints from their ranks, only to let the vocation die out. He did however, say that every branch that does not bear fruit He takes away. Perhaps there are many branches of women's religious communities that no longer bear fruit and He is simply taking them away [cf Jn 15:1-11].)

Sister Catherine Walsh, a Dominican Sister of Hope who teaches public relations and communications at Mount Saint Mary College, acknowledged that nuns have had their "stresses and strains" lately, but that declining numbers don't tell half the story.

She'd recently seen an article by a sociologist that identified nuns as "the only group that keeps diminishing in numbers while starting new things."

"We continue to find new ministries; if a call goes out, we do it; it's our mission to be of service to the people of God." (Yes, and many of these "new ministries" are part of the problem.)

She said that following World War II, there was a tremendous growth in spiritual vocations that tapered off — and has continued to do so — following the innovations of Vatican II. (Stress on the word innovations - this is a problem for many in the Church. They have found innovations in Vatican II that are simply not there and took license, to the detriment of their communities, to grow in discontinuity with the history and traditions of the Church.)

And don't tell Maureen Breslin, the passionate head of the Junior League of Mary at St. Augustine's Church in Highland, that vocations are declining.

She personally knows three girls who have entered novitiates around the country, a development she views as a sign of a resurgent interest in religious vocations among the young. (Let us dare say they are more traditional orders.)

"Today, young people are up against the world, they're exposed to the entire world, and they need the sort of inspiration Pope Benedict is bringing to the country."

Those members of the Junior League who are old enough to attend today's youth rally in New York City are excited like she's never seen before.

How excited is that?

"Bigger than Hannah Montana."

"Promoting call to the priesthood"

Albany Diocese sending men considering life as priests to papal event

From Albany Times Union
By MARC PARRY, Staff writer
Friday, April 18, 2008

GREEN ISLAND -- The young men who live in this house love the Yankees and Giants. They've stocked the refrigerator with a case of Molson Golden. They rib each other about their Irish culinary skills.
Brian Kennedy, 25, gets needled as a pretty good Italian cook "for an Irish guy."

"Usually Irish guys just burn things," jokes Brian Slezak, 24.

This Green Island home next to the Hudson River might be a small college dorm. It isn't. The block-shaped, red-brick building is a former Catholic rectory. And the men who live here are all preparing for the priesthood.

Saturday, the vocation to which these men feel called will come under an international spotlight as Pope Benedict XVI rallies young people and seminarians at an event in Yonkers. The pontiff is expected to encourage vocations during the appearance. Catholic dioceses across New York are using the Pope's visit to promote the priesthood.

In Albany, the official making that pitch is the Rev. James Walsh. The 51-year-old priest, a former Mazda RX7-driving engineer who nearly married twice, is the public face of clerical recruiting in the 14-county diocese. Walsh keeps typed lists of collar prospects in an office decorated with Notre Dame and Giants football helmets. He also runs the St. Isaac Jogues House of Discernment in Green Island, where priests-to-be live before entering seminary.

Walsh is taking more than a dozen "discerners," men considering the priesthood, to a weekend retreat structured around the Pope's New York appearances. About 85 discerners from across the state will gather at a Long Island seminary to talk about the priesthood. "It's an opportunity for these guys to see that there are other talented and gifted guys who are thinking about this -- that they're not in isolation," Walsh said.

The shortage of men thinking about the priesthood is a problem in the Albany Diocese, as it is elsewhere. About 411 priests were available for liturgies in 1980, including priests from religious orders like the Franciscans and "active retired priests."

Today, about 145 priests are available for full-time parish ministry service in the 165-parish diocese. Jack Manning, director of pastoral planning, projects it will fall to 95 by 2015.

Walsh describes two obstacles as "killers" that depress the numbers of new priests.

One, a culture he feels defines success in material, not spiritual, terms. And two, families are smaller, which can leave parents less supportive of their children pursuing the priesthood.

Add to that the fear discerners can feel when they consider the permanence of priestly vows. Some speak of a tug they might wrestle with for years before mustering the courage to become priests.

Rendell Torres, a seminarian now doing an internship-style "pastoral year" at Blessed Sacrament Church in Albany, came to it only after giving up a career as an RPI professor.

The Berkeley-educated 36-year-old had envisioned the benchmarks of professional success: tenure, research funding, publishing, attracting lots of students, becoming well-known. He didn't find them very exciting.

Though his parents were supportive, his mother feared he'd be lonely and find the priesthood difficult, especially after the clergy sex abuse scandal.

"She knew it was hard to be a priest publicly -- that people might look down just because you have a collar on," Torres said.

In 2002, still just considering the idea, Torres traveled to Toronto to see John Paul II. He found unexpected inspiration in a homily that encouraged young men to pursue the priesthood. "Do not be afraid to follow Christ on the royal road of the Cross!" the Pope said. "At difficult moments in the church's life, the pursuit of holiness becomes even more urgent."

Slezak speaks in similar terms of helping a church that "needs good men to pick up the task."

The Rotterdam Junction resident got on Walsh's radar as a high school student at Bishop Gibbons in Schenectady. Walsh invited him to discernment meetings after someone in the school suggested the teen as a possible candidate. But by the time he got to the College of Saint Rose, Slezak began to doubt the church. He dated and drank like a typical college student. He also delved into a deeper study of Catholicism.

The result was a complete turnaround. While friends abandoned the church, Slezak fell in love with it. In January, he began to "take some time off" from a two-year relationship with a woman.

Now he's discerning whether he is called to the priesthood or marriage. He prays the rosary and tries to attend daily Mass, where he sticks out both for being young and 6 foot 3 inches tall. He maintains a perpetual conversation with God, turning the car radio off to talk with him on the way to his job as a substitute teacher in the Scotia-Glenville district. He speaks of having one set of "secular friends" and another of discerners, seminarians and priests.

To his mother's surprise, he is 95 percent sure he wants to become one himself.

"I've always wanted to be part of something greater than myself, something awesome," he said. "I see the church as something real, something timeless."