For Your Vocation

The thing is, orders of religious brothers are all but extinct since the time of the council because of the way Catholics have looked at religious vocation. Aware of the risks of clericalism or elitism, it can’t be ignored that the priestly training absolutely demanded men of a very high intellectual calibre, and the various congregations of religious brothers (including the non-clerical brothers of otherwise clerical orders) provided an alternative for men who had discerned a religious vocation but either could or would not cope with the strenuous theological training.

Of course we can’t ignore the almost total abandonment of totally contemplative modes of life due to the modern utilitarianism, the abandonment of apostolates like teaching and forming boys because of feminism, and of course the rejection of their own charism and identity (including traditions of prayer and dress) by endless orders.

Until the Catholic faithful come to understand that prayer is itself an essential work of the Church that needs to be done full-time by someone, and the assorted unhabited congregations of religious men reclaim their own heritage and the authentic spirituality of their founders, promoting vocations for societies of religious brothers will not produce sufficient results to make it worthwhile – we’d be better off pushing priesthood, since at least people still have a vague idea of what that is.

Yes, for example the habit of the Holy Cross brothers (CSC, related to the Holy Cross priests and Holy Cross sisters) was a generic cassock with a cross. After “reforms” that jettisoned generic cassocks in favor of mostly generic guayaberas with a sprinkling of suits and ties, brothers were allowed to wear their cassocks until they wore out. Some twenty years later, some of them had still not worn out …

Richmond has this one – http://blog.ndp-agency.com/storage/PublicityCollar.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1268234983672 – which I love. We’ve got a framed copy in our parish’s social hall.