Changes in religious life

5. In recent years, there have been changes which have profoundly affected religious communities.

a) A new profile in religious communities. In many countries, increased state programmes in areas in which religious have traditionally been active -- such as social service, education, and health -- together with the decrease in vocations, have resulted in a diminished presence of religious in works which used to be typically those of apostolic institutes.

Thus, there is a shrinking of large religious communities at the service of visible works which characterised various institutes for many years.

This is accompanied, in some regions, by a preference for smaller communities composed of religious who are active in works not belonging to the institute, even though they are often in line with the charism of that institute. This has a significant impact on the style of their common life and requires a change in traditional rhythms.

Sometimes the sincere desire to serve the Church and attachment to the institute's works, combined with urgent requests from the particular Church, can easily bring religious to take on too much work, thus leaving less time for common life.

b) The increase in the number of requests for assistance in responding to more urgent needs (those of the poor, drug addicts, refugees, the marginalized, the handicapped, the sick of every kind) has given rise in religious life to responses of admirable and admired dedication.

This, however, has also made evident the need for changes in the traditional profile of religious communities, which are deemed, by some, to be inadequate for coping with the new situations.

c) The way of understanding and living one's own work in a secularised context, especially when it is understood as the mere exercise of a given profession or occupation rather than as the undertaking of a mission of evangelization, has at times obscured the reality of consecration and the spiritual dimension of religious life, to the point that fraternal life in common has become for some an obstacle to the apostolate, or a merely functional instrument.

d) A new concept of the human person emerged in the immediate wake of the Council, emphasising the value of the individual person and of personal initiatives. This was followed immediately by a sharpened sense of community, understood as fraternal life built more on the quality of interpersonal relationships than on the formal aspects of regular observance.

Here or there, these accents were radicalised (giving rise to the opposing tendencies of individualism and communitarianism), sometimes without coming to a satisfactory balance.

e) New governing structures emerged from revised constitutions, requiring far greater participation on the part of men and women religious. This has led to a different way of approaching problems, through community dialogue, co-responsibility and subsidiarity. All members became involved in the problems of the community. This greatly affected interpersonal relationships and, in turn, affected the way authority is perceived. In not a few cases, authority then encountered practical difficulties in finding its true place within the new context.

The combination of changes and tendencies mentioned has affected the character of religious communities in a profound way but also in ways that must be differentiated.

The differentiations, sometimes rather notable, depend, as can be easily understood, on the diversity of cultures and continents, on whether the communities are of men or of women, on the kind of religious life and the kind of institute, on the different activities and the degree of commitment to re-read and reclaim the charism of the founder, on the different ways of standing before society and the Church, on different ways of receiving the values proposed by the Council, on different traditions and ways of common life, and on various ways of exercising authority and promoting the renewal of permanent formation. These problematic settings are only partially common to all; rather they tend to differ from community to community.