The following comes from a July 22 Catholic News Agency article by Elise Harris:
Amid modern challenges emerging from a culture which provides increasingly easier access to outside distractions, Pope Francis has issued new norms for women’s cloistered communities, which place a special emphasis on prayer and the centralization of communities.
He cautioned that the “silent and recollected peace of mind and heart” lived in contemplative live “can meet with subtle temptations.”
The most serious of these, he said, is what the Desert Fathers called “the midday devil,” referring to “the temptation to listlessness, mere routine, lack of enthusiasm and paralyzing lethargy.”
He also cautioned against the temptations presented by the current digital culture, which “has a decisive influence in shaping our thoughts and the way we relate to the world and, in particular, to other people.”
“Contemplative communities are not immune from this cultural climate,” he said, and while recognizing the benefits of media and communications, particularly in the process of formation, urged a “prudent discernment” aimed at ensuring these means are truly put at the service of the community, “and do not become occasions for wasting time or escaping from the demands of fraternal life in community.”
The new norms also encourage communities of the same spirituality, such as Franciscans, Benedictines, Carmelites, etc., to centralize into one federation, however, the specifics of these federations haven’t yet been defined.
Pope Francis’ Apostolic Constitution “Vultum Dei Quaerere,” or “Seek the Face of God” on cloistered women religious was signed June 29, on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, and was released July 22, the feast of St. Mary Magdalene.
An apostolic constitution is the highest level of decree to be issued by a Pope, and is addressed to the public. They typically focus on solemn matters of the Church such as the promulgation of laws or definitive teachings.
As a means of assisting contemplative women to “attain the goal of their specific vocation” amid the rapid changes in modern society and the temptations that come with them, he issued new norms on 12 areas of discernment and renewal for consecrated life, particularly the monastic tradition.
Monasteries, he said, “are to pay special attention to vocational and spiritual discernment, ensuring that candidates receive personalized guidance,” and must ensure that “ample time” is set aside for the initial formation process.
While establishing international and multicultural communities is good and a sign of the universality of the community’s charism, Francis stressed that “the recruitment of candidates from other countries solely for the sake of ensuring the survival of a monastery is to be absolutely avoided.”
In order to ensure this doesn’t happen, “certain criteria are to be determined,” he said. He also stipulated that to ensure “a high quality of formation,” monasteries should promote common houses for initial formation.
Since prayer “is the heart of contemplative life,” Pope Francis also established that “each monastery is to review its daily horarium (schedule) to see if it is centered on the Lord.”
A natural question that occurs is, “Why now is there a drive for ‘centralization’ (#30, “federation” of similar institutes) of these various, mostly contemplative, sisters’ orders, which have always been separately constituted and have generally been working well enough (if we consider the general present state of contraction in the C Church as it is).
The constitution “Vultum Dei Quaerere” specifically addresses itself to contemplative sisters several times and notably mentions diminishing vocations. Besides this it urges at least 9 years of formation for religious sisters and has some very positive points (“Each monastery… in addition to carefully preparing its Eucharistic celebrations, is to set aside appropriate times…
… for Eucharistic adoration, also inviting the faithful of the local Church to take part.” ) and seems to reinforce the need for a commitment to contemplative prayer and to asceticism (#35ff).
The key points seem to be contained in the about 20 or so rules adopted in the final section (following n. 37), entitled “Conclusions and Regulations”, and even includes some changes to the CIC (canon law). One wonders exactly how these rules will be carried out. Will an apostolic visitor be appointed? The outcome of the Franciscans of Mary Immaculate was not a felicitous one, and that casts a pall over where exactly this directive is intended to be going.
the remnant home page has a new posting from hillary white titled ‘springtime’s over ladies’… with some timely comments on this new decree. she lives north of rome not too far as a contemplative lay woman (norcia, near subiaco monastery) and has her ear very close to the ground.
Yes, david d., I have read the article of Hilary White in “The Remnant” on the reason for the loss of women’s religious vocations. Everyone should take the time to do so.
Hilary White also has a blog and contributes to LifeSiteNews. Here’s an example of her writing which is very clear and incisive and sharply thought out:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/author/hilary-white
I can’t find fault with PF for requiring contemplative nuns to do a healthy assessment check. I do fear, I hope needlessly, the centralization aspect. Suppose (a) nun(s) in charge wished to ride herd on a particular congregation of nuns in bad faith. In other words, politics, church politics, the ugliest kind. One already sees machinations against religious orders deemed “too conservative”. Is this PF’s move to control these nuns? I don’t know, but wish he would give more attention to the more active orders with women running around in buses.
I am wondering how much support the traditional religious orders of nuns are receiving from the Vatican. Lots of young women are interested to join these orders, which sounds very goo! On the other hand— it seems that the Vatican only gave a slap on the wrist, to the wayward, near-heretical, active religious orders of nuns, after an investigation! Today, we don’t have many active or contemplative nuns, who follow, and also teach to the world, Christ’s true teachings, of our Church!
“Steve Phoenix” is correct: While leaving the Femi-Nazi nuns on the bus alone, the Pope simply cannot abide the growth, vitality and independence of Traditional religious orders. Once there is a structure, you will see a slow strangulation of all TLM rights; the Vatican and all Novus Ordinarians cannot abide with having anything other than their man-made jewel. This is what all of the Papal oversight is about. Too bad Francis could not be found when the Wicca-Sisters of Kumbaya said that they worshiped Nature and all that (rather than through male-dominated liturgy). What a crock. See through this now and move your money away. Pray for the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, and other Traditional orders. New members will be few and far…
(Part Deux) ” . . . away. Nice move, Satan.
Nine years before you can be part of the community! Pope Francis wants to destroy prayer in the convents of the Church. Convents will close down by the hundreds. So sad.
I agree with the post of Gratias. It must be very discouraging, both to the aspiring young nun, who has left the worldly life behind for God, and the many struggling religious orders– to have to wait for nearly a DECADE– until each member is fully professed! Not fair! This may eventually discourage many serious vocations– and also, it may force many struggling religious orders to close! Plus– Vatican II, and its documents, teachings, Mass, and religious devotions– are not very oriented to the traditional Catholic contemplative life, anyway! Not much support! Centuries and centuries of contemplative religious practice… gone!!! Extinct!!! And this produced so many of our Saints!!!
Since Vatican II, I have heard many IGNORANT priests scorn our Church’s beautiful traditional religious devotions, such as Eucharistic Adoration, the Rosary, and even making visits to the Blessed Sacrament– stating that the Church was “all wrong,” for many centuries, encouraging Catholics to be “escapists,” in church, “escaping the real world,” for “isolated, lonely, selfish, narcissistic, hedonistic” pretenses of prayer, pretending to be with God– and meanwhile, neglecting the poor, the sick, the hungry, and those in need of social services!! IGNORANT!!!
Linda Maria, The devil knows his time is short. The 100 year Anniversary of Fatima, is fast approaching. I agree with you, and I also trust, that in these contemplative orders, God has placed holy women, like St. Teresa of Avila, who wisely exist for these very trying times and who can read between the lines. The digital world and snail mail are crucial in communicating the specific needs to these powerhouses of HOLY RESULTS, through prayer. The phrase “Man proposes, but God disposes” is a translation of the Latin phrase “Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit” from Book I, chapter 19, of The Imitation of Christ by the German cleric Thomas à Kempis.
Thank you, Catherine, you always have a pearl (or several) of wisdom. In this particular case, I never knew (despite 12 years of Catholic school and 8 years of Jesuit university presumably “higher learning”) that the phrase “Man proposes, God disposes” is from a Kempis and “The Imitation of Christ”.
Bless you, Catherine! Thanks for your posts– and for promoting Our Lady of Fatima!
this crucial part of the work of the church might have to go underground for a while and ‘go catacombs’ during the bergoglian persecutions
Our Lady of Fatima, 1917-2017 – Why 100 Years Matters – Roman Catholic Man
https://www.romancatholicman.com/our-lady-of-fatima-1917-2017-why-100-years-matters/
“To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.” – Words Spoken by Mary at Fatima
https://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/approved/words/wordfati.html
Catherine, the late, much-vilified Fr. Nicolas Gruner’s last letter to the general public in Mar. 2015 described his interview with “the Pope’s Own Exorcist”, Fr. Gabriel Amorth, with whom he had spoken many times over the years.
Fr. Amorth in the interview, conducted in Nov. 2014, stated pointedly that “starting next year (Nov. 2015 at that time)” in the 99th year of Fatima, according to Fr. Amorth, we would commence seeing the devil unleashed (verbatim). In ways we could never have foreseen, the massive Muslim immigration/invasion of Europe developed, at first slowly, then almost overnight, and with it an increasing series of bombings and killings: Nov. 13, 2015 – 130 killed in the Paris Bataclan bombings; Mar 22, 2016,…
… Mar 22, 2016, the Brussels airport bombing, killing 32 and wounding over 300; Jun 14 2016, the killing of a Paris police commander and his female partner; July 14th, 2016, the Nice truck attack killing 84 and wounding over 290. July 26th 2016, the murder at the altar of 84-year-old Fr. Jacques Hamel, and the wounding of one of the sisters, who is expected—miraculously—to survive.
And today, due to warnings from ISIS (is that the anagram for 666?) churches in the UK, France and all Europe are on high alert. There is much more, and I am sorry to expect, much worse, to come.
Thank you, Steve Phoenix, for always bringing up such very important points. As time progresses, many will think and feel very differently about certain matters, within the Church. Many already do. The reason being, Our Lord even told Sister Lucia, “The Consecration of Russia WILL take place, but the hour will be late. The hour IS late and that is why your words ring so true. “There is much more, and I am sorry to expect, much worse, to come.”
These were Pope Benedict XVI’s, very own words, when he last visited Fatima.
“Whoever thinks that, the prophetic mission of Fatima is concluded, deceives himself.”
Steve Phoenix, Here is Fr. Gabriel Amorth, himself, explaining in the video link below, how Our Lady of Fatima’s, specific requests, were NOT met. Fr. Gabriel Amorth knows because he was the chief organizer of the event and he was right there, standing close by the Pope. Fr. Gabriel Amorth personally witnessed what took place.
Father Gabriel Amorth clearly explains in this video link below how the specific requests, of Our Lady of Fatima, were NOT met. There was NO mention of Russia.
Our Lady of Fatima, https://youtu.be/vG3Bw3Z_gbM
People here scratching your heads….check out articles @
http://www.pewsitter.com and/or http://www.canon212.com
I read that Bergolio was NOT a friend to traditional contemplative religious orders in Argentina. Sounds like he really dislikes traditional religious orders. Maybe like he dislikes traditional Cardinals? This is perhaps yet another WRECKING BALL?
Does he have a good reason besides personal opinion? Anyone else know more?
Continued…… I always sleep better knowing that around this world, there is always someone praying in front of the blessed sacrament in adoration from a cloister order of religious nuns. Please dear God, bless these dear souls and their way of life with vocations and support.