Yesterday Thursday 26 May, they had continued their reflection and discussions following up the seminar “Theology of Consecrated Life: “Identity and Significance of Apostolic Consecrated Life”. First Fr Mario Aldegani, Superior of the Society of St Joseph of Murialdo encouraged his fellow Superiors to identify the priority theological themes regarding apostolic consecrated life still to be developed.
This was followed by Br. Alvaro Rodríguez Echeverria, of the De La Salle Brothers, Fr. Mauro Jöhri, Minister General of the Capuchins and Br. Josep Abella, Superior General of the Claretians, who spoke about the need to live a spirituality directed to God, and to mankind, that was dynamic and reflected a presence; the importance of fraternal life understood as the central and essential nucleus of religious life; possible new horizons for the mission in consecrated life through the integration of practical experience and theological reflection.
The third and last working day of the Assembly opened with a report “Forms of identity hoped for. Consecrated Life in the face of a crisis and the expectations of contemporary society” by Prof. Salvatore Abbruzzese, Professor of the Sociology of Religion at the University of Trent.
In his analysis he focused specifically on what made consecrated life still alive and relevant, in the first place its being out of harmony with the trends of the modern world. While modern society was losing its natural connectedness with the territory, religious communities represented oases of permanent memories and traditions; while the society of non-stop production annulled times and cycles, religious life with its regular rhythms presented a alternative life option; while the contemporary search for the aesthetic prescinds from the desire for beauty, the religious dimension preserves the link between beauty and truth.
In a context of secularisation no longer marked by ideological rejection but only by a natural indifference, the religious dimension can respond to the needs of men and women who cannot find elsewhere the satisfaction of their real desires. “The search for meaning no longer represents the need of a few but is becoming the desire of many” Prof. Abbruzzese declared.
Finally Fr Chávez, in his role as President of the USG, thanked all those taking part in the Assembly as he summed up the salient points from the three days, remarking that the vast amount of theological reflection that had been produced did not consist in a simple theoretical speculation but found its real meaning as it concerned the fruitfulness of consecrated life in itself.
Published 27/05/2011
