Religious life, Paco Pepe's data, Carmen Bellver's analysis and mine

meher172

Francisco José Fernández de la Cigoña has written a series of articles in which he gives data on the number of members of religious orders and congregations, dated January 1, 2012 . So that you don't go looking for them on their blog, here I put links to all of them: The latest data on the crisis of the religious (I) The latest data on the crisis of the religious (II) The latest data on the crisis of the religious ( and III) And now the nuns (I) And now the nuns (II) And now the nuns (III) And now the nuns (and IV) Data is, and can be, the subject of various analyses. Carmen Bellver has made her own on her blog at Religión Digital . She raises the fact of the crisis of religious life in the social context that the Church has experienced, especially in the West .


She says: The Second World War brought about a reconstruction of Europe that was convulsed in the sixties. The scheme of thought that had remained unchanged for generations was suddenly questioned and collapsed. The material progress of society gave way to consumerism and the welfare state. The sexual Job Function Email List  revolution and feminism took center stage among the youngest. The political utopia mutated in those years that idealized the Cuban revolution. This social panorama of search for new alternatives, of changes that directly affected the family, also had to manifest itself in the structures of the Church. I agree with the description of the facts but not with the fact that "it also had to manifest itself in the structures of the Church." The Church cannot follow what the world does. Quite the contrary, it must always be a beacon. of light capable of illuminating said world.



That does not mean that it should not be adapted to historical and social circumstances. But it is one thing to look for the best way to transmit the gospel and live the Christian life, especially in the case of consecrated religious, and another to allow the vagaries of societies to transform the Church into something incompatible with its nature . Carmen adds: It was not difficult, therefore, for those people who made a life choice to have their personal crises and many to reconsider their path. The world had changed, it was no longer like that of their ancestors. It was therefore necessary to find new paths and new ways to connect with society. And there those experiments with soda that we all know took place. Something that brought a two-speed Church, that of the progressives and that of the conservatives.