Catholic pamphlet.

The beginning of the twenty-first century has provided abundant evidence of the necessity to reexamine the relationship between Catholicism and the modern, global world. This book tries to proceed on this path with a focus on the meaning, legacy, and reception in today’s world of the ecclesiology of Vatican II, starting with Gaudium et Spes: “This council exhorts Christians, as citizens of two cities, to strive to discharge their earthly duties conscientiously and in response to the Gospel spirit.” Catholicism and Citizenship is a call for a rediscovery of the moral and political imagination of Vatican II for the Church and the world of our time.

This book examines the historical antecedents of the concept of general chapter, the supreme authority in an institute of consecrated life. This provides the basis for an examination of the contemporary understanding of the nature of its power and authority, as portrayed in the 1983 Code of Canon Law. The general chapter is analysed in terms of its juridic status, collegial nature, participative character and representative function as well as its dynamic aspects and faith dimension. The author applies the findings to one institute of consecrated life, Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary Loreto Branch. This application provides an example of the challenges inherent in working participatively and collaboratively within a hierarchical structure. Because consecrated life has an inalienable ecclesial dimension, understanding authority and power and their exercise in institutes of consecrated life has relevance for understanding authority and its exercise in other organs of authority at all levels in the church.

Pope John Paul II speaks to the need for a fresh enthusiasm for a renewed and revitalized consecrated life.

This book explores the experience and understanding of Roman Catholic sisters of their vocation to the apostolic form of religious life as they age.Based on interviews with twelve religious women, it draws on the practice of Lectio Divina to explore how these women describe their call to service and activity at a time in life when these might be curtailed by physical diminishment and increasingly reduced social interaction and influence.As the very institutions of religious life are themselves under threat, the book identifies new emerging forms of ministry through presence, to each other and to their carers.