Brothers and Sisters

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Brothers and Sisters

• Monasticism in the Church

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Monasticism a historical recap

• Remember when we went over the beginnings of
  Monasticism?
• Religious ascetics who live in the desert
• Originally living alone, they begin to form
  groups with individual rules called Orders
• Played a pivotal role in preserving education and
  sacred texts in the Medieval Era
• Continues to serve a vital and important function
  within the Church

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so what makes someone a consecrated religious?
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So what makes a consecrated religious?

• Religious men and women (as they are often
  called) must take the following vows
• Chastity
• Must refrain from any sexual relationships or
  marriage
• Obedience
• Must obey their Abbot (Men) or Mother Superior
  (Women)
• Poverty
• Must own everything communally and not have any
  personal possessions

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Consecrated Religious take three vows poverty,
chastity, and obedience
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Vows why and where did they come from?

• Religious vows for the consecrated life come from
  the aforementioned historical traditions as well
  as scripture
• Remember the story of Jesus and the rich man?
  (Matt 19)
• Jesus told him to go off and sell all his
  possessions and follow him
• This meant giving up his material life for full
  service and obedience to God
• Likewise, the consecrated life requires adherents
  to complete devotion to God and their communities

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Vows Poverty

• This vow has scriptural precedents
• In the Beatitudes, Jesus proclaims blessed are
  the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
  heaven (Matt 53)
• The aforementioned rich man in Matt 1922
• The story of the Prodigal Son
• Why?
• By not focusing on their possessions, monastic
  men and women are better able to focus directly
  on God and their Orders mission
• They no longer worry about cars, houses,
  computers or other things that may cause envy or
  desire
• They can put all the money they make to the
  service of God
• Most importantly They can better align
  themselves with the plight of the poor

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Vows Poverty

• How does it work?
• Often, monastic orders make some type of money
• Either through services, crafts, or donations
• Interesting note Dom Perignon, a Benedictine
  monk, was one of the first people to help develop
  fermenting process responsible for Champaign
  (which is which one of the best Champaigns you
  can buy holds his namesake)
• Chimay, a highly prized Belgian brewery, is one
  of several that are owned by a monastic order
  (the Trappists) who then turn the proceeds over
  to their various charities

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Vows Poverty

• So if they make money, what happens to it?
• All of their money goes to either upkeep and
  servicing of their order (shelter, food, travel,
  etc) or to the poor
• The poverty ideal is like perfect communism
• Nobody owns anything, but everybody owns
  everything
• The monastic order is allowed to have things
  (like cars or computers) but they are shared
  amongst the order and no one person can say that
  they own it

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Perfect Communism

• The reason why this works for monastic groups is
  that it prevents attachment to objects but allows
  monastic orders to function within society
• Brothers and sisters need to be able to travel to
  help the poor
• They need clothes, etc.
• By everybody owning everything, they are able to
  share items, saving money and allowing them to
  give more to the poor
• They realize that everything comes from God and
  that they stand in solidarity with the poor

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Vows Chastity and Celibacy

• The vows of chastity and celibacy are essentially
  the same for the consecrated religious as it is
  for priests
• Both must keep from any sexual activity
• Brothers and Sisters take the vow of celibacy for
  many of the same reasons as priests
• Allows greater mobility
• Monasticism would be difficult on ones family
• Two separate vocations with incompatible vows
• It also has been a historically ascetic virtue
  for the consecrated religious

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Vows Obedience

• The vow of obedience is a promise to follow Gods
  will through each persons monastic order
• This means that the religious must listen and
  follow intently the orders of their leaders and
  to the community at whole
• By the vow of obedience, we commit ourselves to
  strive to live the obedience of Jesus, who,
  remained obedient even unto death, death on the
  cross (see Philippians 25-11). Obedience is
  surrender of the self to God in love, but its
  concrete expression is obedience to the abbess,
  to those who are senior to us in community, and
  to the community as a whole. St. Benedict teaches
  us to obey promptly, cheerfully and
  wholeheartedly, without grumbling, lest
  self-protection rather than self-surrender
  consume the creative energy God has given us to
  become mature, free, responsible persons. (Taken
  from the Abbey of St. Walburga)

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Religious are called to do several things

• There are several types of orders

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Types of Orders Within the Church

• At the moment, there are about 54,000 religious
  brothers in the world (10 percent of those in
  America) and 775,000 religious sisters (9 percent
  in America)
• There are several types of religious orders large
  and small throughout the world
• Most of them stem from 5 foundational rules or
  monastic orders, the rules of St. Augustine,
  Benedict, Francis, Dominic, and Ignatius of
  Loyola
• Each order has different functions and purposes
• Some are contemplative orders and some are active
  in ministry

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Franciscan spirituality

• A video

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Contemplative Orders

• Contemplative Orders focus primarily on prayer
• Hence contemplative-to contemplate
• These orders are usually cloistered
• Meaning they are separated from the rest of the
  world and live in an enclosed house, building or
  church
• Contrary to popular understanding, cloistered
  religious are the only ones that can be called
  monks or nuns
• Non-cloistered groups are called brothers or
  sisters respectively

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Brothers and Sisters united for Social Justice

• Religious orders serve many needs and functions
• When the Pope forms a new diocese, he often
  invites various religious orders to enter that
  diocese
• This increases the Catholic presence and often
  helps the Church assess the needs of the diocese
• Most non-cloistered orders deal primarily with
  social justice issues

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Jesuit spirituality

• A video

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Brothers and Sisters united for Social Justice

• Social Justice primarily means trying to bring an
  end to poverty and oppression through social
  change
• Religious orders help with this through their
  mission work, teaching and educating, feeding the
  poor, sick and needy