A complex mass of causes

Obviously these are questions to which there is no easy answer and there is a danger in finding simple solutions with the fewest possible complications which, however, neither correspond to reality nor solve the problem.

Often this lack of vocations causes an unease which sometimes leads to attitudes of victimization, fatalism and culpability. This certainly does not help to resolve the crisis since such attitudes do nothing to facilitate an objective analysis of the problem of vocations; nor do they offer valid solutions.

Therefore we must pay close attention to emphasizing the vocational phenomenon of our times. The analysis of today’s culture, which we have just heard in the preceding lecture, is more than sufficient to make us realize its complexity. Our society, and even the Church herself, have experienced such a rapid accumulation of circumstances and profound changes that sometimes we are tempted to think that every vocation is a real miracle: permanent commitment seems to be neither easy nor apparent, the vow of chastity seems exaggerated and incomprehensible, the number of children has fallen noticeably, the religious family environment has disappeared or diminished in large sections of society, means of communication often paint a negative picture of the Church and religious institutions...

So, not all the factors that have a negative effect on the number of vocations are due to the faults or weaknesses of the religious: it is beyond our ability to make most of them alter or disappear.

However, we would be irresponsible if we just sat and stared at our inability to influence these socio-cultural factors. In fact, most of the religious families have not adopted that attitude and I feel it appropriate here to mention the 1997 European Congress on Vocations, at which the Consecrated Life was actively represented.