No-one would pretend that religious life in Britain is booming. Religious congregations are greying; most of them are closing individual houses here and there; and many are winding up their presence in this country altogether, unable to sustain the numbers to keep a province going. This is true for both enclosed and apostolic religious life.
None of this negates the amazing witness and work of religious brothers and sisters in recent generations, but it raises questions about the meaning of religious life and its place in Christian culture.
So it was particularly inspiring to be at the profession of a young sister at the weekend. Despite the travel chaos that kept a number of guests away, Sister Clare Ruvarashe of the Cross made her final profession in the Poor Clare community at Arundel.
Assisi and the Basilica of St Clare
O Lord, You have seduced me, and I have let myself be seduced. Your word in my heart is like a consuming fire burning deep within my bones. [Jer 20:7]
It made me reflect on all the positive signs of religious life in Britain, and how it is not all one tidy story of ageing and exile. Just in my own random experience as a priest over the last few years I have known young women, in this country, who are in formation as Poor Clares, apostolic Franciscans, Benedictines, Assumptionists, Missionaries of Charity, Sisters of the Gospel of Life, Carmelites, the Community of Lady of Walsingham, and as three different ‘types’ of Dominicans. And young men in formation as Franciscans, Benedictines, Dominicans, Salvatorians, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Norbertines, Carmelites, Fransalians, Jesuits, as two ‘types’ of Augustinians, and as Oratorians (not strictly ‘religious’). I’m sure there are many others who have slipped my mind, and I know there are many other congregations and communities with new members that I just don’t happen to know.
It’s not an avalanche, but it shows the continuing attraction of religious life for many young people, and it must be an encouragement to all those religious men and women who have been so faithful to their vocation over the years, and given so much to the Church in this country.
Here are the questions that Sister Clare was asked on Saturday by Bishop Kieran Conry. It’s poweful stuff!
By baptism you have been consecrated to God. Following St Clare, do you wish ‘to love Him totally who gave Himself totally for your love’?
Do you wish to follow the way set out by Clare – ‘to observe the Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by living in obedience, without anything of one’s own and in chastity’?
Clare said to her sisters: ‘Love one another with the love with which Christ has loved you, so that all the sisters may always grow in love for God and for each other’. Do you wish to open your heart to the whole world in this way?
Clare wrote to her friend Sister Agnes in Prague: ‘As a Poor Sister, embrace the poor and crucified Christ, gaze at Him, think about Him and desire to imitate Him’. Do you, by renouncing every kind of possession and privilege, wish to talk along the way of poverty by living with nothing of your own?
Clare says in her Rule: ‘May the sisters desire above all else to possess the Spirit of the Lord, and to pray always to Him with a pure heart’. Do you wish to welcome our Saviour in prayer and silence?
And to each question Sister Clare answered:
Yes, by the grace of God and with the help of my sisters.
Bridges and Tangents 
thanks for sharing this story; as it makes my heart sing, may I respond by sharing a piece that may appear as a juxtaposition but in fact corresponds very well, I think, it is
from http://www.solitaries.org.uk:
“A Christian Solitary is someone called by God to share on friendly terms in the life of God, in solitude, the simplicity of “no-need” and silence. If such a person can live in a hermitage, physically and visibly set apart, that is something with which everyone can come to terms. But what if such a call comes to someone living an ordinary life on an urban street, with clear obligations to other people …”
Thanks for the link Barbara
A few days ago I went to the final profession of Sr Camilla Oberding, the Founder of the Community of Our Lady of Walsingham (COLW), at the Carmelite Church Kensington, of whom I’m sure you know. An inspiring and moving occasion, which in her words, has taken her 23 years of her adult life to reach this point! In her case patience, perseverance and faith (and Our Lady!) brought her there, a principle she is also applying to the growth of COLW itself.
Maybe we should not necessarily mourn the passing of the older, traditional communities, in that they may have served their purpose for the Lord. New communities are, as you say, gradually forming and beginning to grow by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. France, in particular seems to be an area of vigorous activity in the foundation of these New Communities. I just wish our Bishops (with a few exceptions!) could recognise and be more encouraging in letting the spirit of some of these communities into this country!
Thanks David – I know Sr Camilla and the other COLWs well, so I have added them to my post!
The older orders and congregations have not “had their time” – how could a congregation looking after the materially-poor elderly, for example, ever have its time?! – it’s just that in a new enthusiastic foundation it’s easier to have lively and strict observance than in an old one. And then there’s the dreaded liturgy question. Even if a congregation is doing absolutely kickass sterling work, a lot of people will be put off by the thought of mid-day prayer being ten minutes in chapel with a CD of Taize music. But there’s always the great blessing of a sound and tested rule – which is not the case, e.g., with the Little Sisters of Bethlehem (and the Assumption and St Bruno), for example, however atmospheric their convents might be.
There’s a certain French bishop whose fan I am increasingly becoming, whose politics in this matter are worthy of imitation, I think…
Exemples de Communion
My only personal experience of the diocese was a week staying with a (new) community there including long dinners with a diocesan priest, so there may be down sides I don’t know about, but still …
I believe more and more in the value of ‘sound and tested rules’; but how to keep it all fresh and alive?
Well, I’m not a religious, but I’ve spent a long time with some enclosed nuns of an old order, a short time with some of a very new one, and have various kinds of acquaintance with new groups in old orders (e.g. congregations of Dominican sisters), old(er) communities in old orders (e.g. Ryde), and so on and so forth. And this in a couple of countries – UK, France, Italy, Poland.
Observance, and literal observance, seems to be important! And being about Jesus, with no funny stuff. I was thinking about this recently – the great thing about Poland is that you can on the whole just go to Mass, there’ll be no funny stuff – it might be naff, boring, or anything else, but it’s just what it says on the tin – Catholicism. No-one is shoving their own funny ideas down your throat.
I think something of the same applies with religious communities. You don’t expect one to consist of saints who are also socially skilled, good-looking etc. But you don’t expect (or, well, experience leads you not to be surprised if you find, alas) a community in which doing stuff in a straightforward, literal -observation-of-the-rule way would be eccentric. Because if the rules stop being the written ones, you end up with the same thing that is found in so many parishes – rule of personality, of those who happen to be in charge, of a mindset or convention that forms – and those who do not agree have no redress, because the law is ignored. Whereas if life is regularly and honestly confronted with the rule, then at least those who keep it cannot be penalised (or at least can be so only unofficially).
Like someone says about the Scripture – we need to interpret ourselves by it, and not it by ourselves. The same with religious rules or constitutions – if I don’t like something, I’m wrong, not the rule.
Repeat of disclaimer – I’ve observed a lot of religious communities, and talked with a lot of religious, but I’m not a religious.
Erm – to add – there’s nothing wrong per se with ten minutes with a CD of Taize music – especially as lots of congregations don’t have an obligation to pray the Opus Dei , and weren’t founded with doing so in mind (esp. the apostolic women’s congregations).
Also – when I meant “and no funny stuff” – what I had in mind is the sort of mission statement that has a great deal to say about Women and Community and, oh, Respect for Creation, that sort of thing. Which is all excellent and laudable and all of which I am all for. But there’s quite a contrast between that and, say, the Rules of St Francis, or the opening of the Carthusian constitutions, or the whole of the Rule of St Benedict.
A case in point – I knew the Benedictines only from contacts with St Benet’s Hall. And I assumed that that was what Benedictines are in fact about, and never gave them another thought. Not even several visits to Pluscarden changed my semi-conscious opinion, until I got round to reading the Rule itself one day. And it is beautifully clear and intense and wise and centred on God.
With apologies to St Benet’s – I’m sure I didn’t see much of their better side, but then, perhaps many other people only saw what I did.
I was at a meeting of the sisters in our Province (Faithful Companions of Jesus) this last weekend, and I was really re-inspired by the wonderful witness, enthusiasm and fidelity of each one of them! It is true that perhaps religious in Britain aren’t ‘booming’ in numbers, but there is certainly new life (we have three young sisters in initial formation) and also plenty of energy for mission!
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beautiful. there is faith out there, and where it is, it is beautiful. I myself, am God-willing entering formation this coming August to be a sister!
Congratulations – I hope things go well