2. 4. The correlation between the lay consecrated life and the ordained minister Bishops

Another kind of relationship is established between the Bishops and the Brothers and Sisters from Institutes of consecrated life, who belong to the “christifideles laici.” The religious consecration, lived in fraternity and apostolic mission, since it is a gift of the Spirit to his Church, produces specific relations of communion and collaboration in the proclamation of the Gospel and in the service of charity. The Brothers and Sisters, by their total commitment to Jesus Christ and the Church, are exponents of the divine gratuity and the sovereign power of the glorious Christ; “they give outstanding and striking testimony that the world cannot be transfigured and offered to God without the spirit of the beatitudes” ²⁸. They, in turn, are the witnesses and leaven of fraternity in the Church and in the world; and, through their many services and ministries in the Church, they prolong the charity of Christ, especially for the little ones and those in need.

The Institutes of Sisters and Brothers bring within the laity and before the ordained ministers a community and apostolic dynamism that is unique, spreading the charismatic, eschatological and prophetic dimension that stems from their profession of the evangelical counsels. Their vocation “both for the individual and for the Church, … is a value in itself, apart from the sacred ministry” ²⁹. Therefore, the shortage of priests is not sufficient reason for inviting or pressuring the Brothers towards priestly ordination.

In the logic of the ecclesiology of communion, the consecrated Brothers or Sisters offer their gifts and share them with all the members of the People of God and they integrate themselves – through their specific condition as consecrated persons and according to the spirit of their own Institute - in the Church’s communion-mission. With regard to the Pastors, the Brothers and Sisters recognise the mysterious reach of this ministry and accept it with its hierarchical and charismatic gifts as a gift of the Lord Jesus. They allow themselves to be guided by him and co-operate with all their strength and particular charisms in his priestly, magisterial and pastoral ministry.

The collective charism of the consecrated life of the Brothers and Sisters goes beyond the limits of a particular Church; it creates networks, operative nodes in various particular Churches; it functions with a certain degree of autonomy and a capacity for creativeness. If it is accepted in the Church – and it is accepted if not only diocesan but also pontifical approval has been granted – both the particular Churches and their Bishops are not simply to make use of them, but to foster their instinct for and their initiatives should also express their vocation to catholicity³⁰. As has already been pointed out, catholicity is part of the very core of the ordained ministry. The Congregations of Brothers and Sisters whose field goes beyond a single diocese allow the Bishops to fulfil their vocation to catholicity and openness to all, in a special way, in the area of the charitable apostolates, education, and the missionary proclamation of the Gospel.

When one keeps in mind the consecrated life’s total value for the Church, every temptation to “utilitaranism” or “exploitation” in the particular Churches is overcome. And concretely, when there is due appreciation of the value of life in community as a theological “space” in which the mystical presence of the risen Christ can be experienced (cf. Mt 18,20) ³¹, that form of life is protected and promoted.