Like the rest of the world, religious orders are having to adopt new ways during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pre-COVID, people considering entering religious orders would have many in-person meetings to discern their vocation. That still happens, but most meetings now take place online. So do the formal welcoming ceremonies for candidates. While the pandemic is Read more
Fifty-nine nuns belonging to two convents in Rome are said to have tested positive for COVID-19. Forty of the sisters belong to the Daughters of San Camillo convent on the outskirts of Rome, while 19 of the 21 sisters from the Angelic Sisters of Saint Paul convent in Rome are reportedly infected. Local authorities have Read more
Pope Francis has warned religious orders against letting low numbers of new vocations influence whom they accept into religious life. The Pope was speaking to a conference of religious formation directors in Rome on Saturday. He told the 1200 directors that they must be “gravely attentive” to those they are guiding. This is so that Read more
A drift into consumerism and a preoccupation with money and finance are key reasons for the stagnation of religious orders in England, says an historian. Dom Aidan Bellenger, former Abbot of Downside Abbey and a leading historian of the monastic life, made this assertion in an article in The Tablet. He suggested that communities had Read more
Audits have shown that several religious congregations in Ireland have been tardy in implementing the Church’s child protection guidelines. The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland published reviews on the implementation of policies in 16 religious congregations. Only two orders – the Congregation of the Sacred Heart and the Dominican Read more
Members of religious orders should not be ignorant of economic realities in their own communities, the Vatican has told religious. A recent circular letter from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life dealt with the use of financial resources by religious orders. Under church law, each order is required to Read more
Nearly one million Catholic religious priests, brothers and sisters have been challenged to issue critiques of the global market economy based on capitalism. At a recent conference in Rome for treasurers for religious orders, a constant theme was criticism of capitalism. Several speakers denounced it as a “structure of sin” that purposefully does not attend Read more
A report that Pope Francis told Latin American religious about a “gay lobby” in the Vatican has overshadowed other remarks the Pope made to the group about points of tension in the Church between religious orders and the hierarchy. The report of what the Pope told leaders of the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Read more
Vocations to religious orders in England and Wales have risen for the third year in a row, and this year has seen a noticeable increase in the number of men joining. The rise in men and women entering religious orders is across a wide variety of different orders, some of which have not had novices Read more
Ireland’s Religious Orders have so far failed to pay their share of the compensation for their part in the institutional child abuse settlements for victims. In 2002 the Irish Government brokered a deal which saw the Orders involved awarded indemnity against all legal claims by institutional abuse victims if they paid 120 million euros (NZ$208m) Read more