3.      THE JOURNEY OF RELIGIOUS-LAITY COMMUNION

            There has always been a relationship of communion between religious and laity; just remember the phenomenon of the Third Orders and similar institutions. However, today, we notice the need of a new type of relationship, thanks to three factors:

-         the ecclesiology of communion and the rediscovery of the role of the laity,

-         a new awareness of the potentiality of the charism,

-         the drop in vocations and lack of personnel to support the works of the Institute.

This last factor was probably the one that initially stirred the waters.

We can retrace the stages of this journey in outline form.