ARTICLES

What's Normal About Religious Life?

Q. To start with, why are they called "religious"? I thought all Catholics were supposed to be religious.

A. You're right. Religion entails making sacrifice to God. But what if some Catholics sacrifice everything? It would make sense to call them THE religious, wouldn't it? St. Thomas Aquinas says that's how "religious" got their name. And we still do this: for example, we call Joe DiMaggio "Mr. Baseball."

Q. Religious sacrifice everything ... you mean they give up sex?

A. At least. But humans have more desires than for sex or even for being married. They also have their desire to possess things that will make them happy. And they want to have their own way in life. All three of these desires are sacrificed to God by the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.

Chastity, says the Second Vatican Council, "uniquely frees the heart of man so that he becomes more fervent in love for God and for all men."

Poverty enables the religious "to share in the poverty of Christ who for our sake became poor ..."

And all religious, by the vow of obedience, "offer the full dedication of their own wills as a sacrifice of themselves to God ..."

After that, there's nothing left to give. That's why the Fathers of the Church called religious life a "holocaust," meaning a "whole offering" in Greek. In fact, the Vatican II document on religious life is called "Perfectae Caritatis" -- perfect charity.

Q. I thought that all the disciples of Christ are called to perfect charity.

A. That's true -- all the faithful are called to to follow Christ who, "virginal and poor," as Vatican II says, "redeemed and sanctified men by obedience unto death on the cross."

But religious are bound to follow him more closely because they bind themselves by vows to do so. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that it is the profession of the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience "within a permanent state of life recognized by the Church, that characterizes the life consecrated to God."

Q. I've heard of "state in life."

A. The religious state is one, the lay state is another, and the clerical state is the other in the Church. And just as priests wear identifiable clerical garb, so religious wear habits.

Q. I thought Vatican II did away with habits.

A. No, it only insisted that religious orders MODIFY their habits, making them more streamlined and hygienic for religious who are often sent into thorny and unhealthy situations, such as visiting the sick-poor. In fact, Vatican II, following the Church's constant tradition, said that the habit is "the sign of consecration" of a religious. And the Code of Canon Law (which Pope John Paul II said is the perfect complement to the authentic teaching of Vatican II) says that religious are to wear the habit as "a sign of their consecration and as a witness to poverty."

Canon law also says that "the apostolate of all religious consists primarily in the witness of their consecrated life..." But how can they witness when they don't wear the habit.?

Q. I don't agree. They witness through their works of service.

A. Yes, but for a religious, the root of those works is his vow of obedience. And obedience doesn't happen in a vacuum; rather, it is obedience to a human superior in a ecclesiastically recognized religious institute. "The evangelical counsel of obedience," canon law says, "undertaking in the spirit of faith and love in the following of Christ, who was obedient unto death, obliges submission of one's will to lawful superiors, who act in the place of God when they give commands that are in accordance with each institute's own constitutions."

That's a far cry from religious discerning God's will on their own and more or less autocratically taking action. So community life is essential before religious can perform to works of service in the name of the Church. In fact, that's what distinguishes religious from members of a secular institute.

Q. Secular institute?

A. Members of a secular institute do make the three vows -- but they continue to live in the world ("secular" means "world"). But religious, on the other hand, give a "public witness" which, canon law says, "involves that separation from the world which is proper to the character and purpose of each institute." Canon law even mandates that "religious are to reside in their own religious house and observe the common life ..." Religious living alone, or in twos or threes, or even with their families, is to be the exception and not the rule.

-- James McCoy