| Table of Contents: Main - Work | Words: Alphabetical - Frequency - Inverse - Length - Statistics | Help | IntraText Library |
| Unione dei Superiori Generali (U. S. G.) USG 55a Assembly - May 1999 IntraText CT - Text |
NEW VOCATIONS
FOR A "REVITALIZED" CONSECRATED LIFE
|
This report contains the results of the work done in groups at the 55th Assembly of Superiors General. The work done is part of a wider scheme taking in the replies to questionnaires sent out before the Assembly, and of the Conferences reported in this volume. |
"Pray to the Lord of the harvest, that he send workers into his fields."
The future of the consecrated life must on no account be judged by the number of those who undertake it, but on the way in which they follow the evangelical counsels and on the creative fidelity lived and witnessed by its members. There is no denying - as John Paul II has said - that "the mission of the consecrated life and the vitality of the institutes thereof... have a future only in the measure that more men and women generously accept the call of the Lord". (VC 64a)
It is easy to see that there are areas and continents where the number of vocations to the consecrated life is on a steady increase, that is why structures and methods adapted to their human, spiritual and pastoral formation are being developed. However, there are other areas and continents (Europe, North America, Australia...) where, in spite of the great efforts both spiritual and material that are being made to encourage new vocations, the results do not correspond to the expectations and the urgent needs. In consequence, the witness to the Gospel and to the Church, and not simply the important and traditional apostolic activities, run the risk of disappearing. For the consecrated life, particularly in the western world, there is a real "challenge" here, urgent and serious.