This book brings together God's call, the cries of the world and of the earth today, and charisms in consecrated life in a way that dynamically engages the vows, prayer, community, and ministry for the particular time and contexts in which we live. Here is a valuable theological and pastoral resource for the conversion, transformation, and revitalization needed in consecrated life today.

Written by a diverse group of younger women religious from North America, In Our Own Words offers a collection of essays on issues central to apostolic religious life today. The thirteen authors represent different congregations, charisms, ministries, and histories. The topics and concerns that shape these chapters emerged naturally through a collaborative process of prayer and conversation. Essays focus on the vows and community life, individual identity and congregational charisms, and leadership among younger members leading into the future. The authors hope these chapters may form a springboard for further conversation on religious life, inviting others to share their experiences of religious life in today's world.

Sandra Schneiders continues her rethinking of the traditional religious vows in the context of postmodernism, reaching back into the gospels for the meaning of ¿world¿ in order to discern the meaning of renunciation of the ¿world¿ by religious, examining, the vow of poverty both in its economic and spiritual sense as well as the vow of obedience.

Are religious women in the United States disappearing and finally dying out? Or is there any new way of religious life emerging? Conversations at the Well tries to respond to this question. In the twenty-first century of the global world, newly emerging religious life would be rooted with the Jesus Movement and develop in the spirit of collaboration, networking, and intercultural living. As the liminal space, religious life is located at the margins, subverting the existing social order and creating a new vision for the world. This book explores an alternative meaning of religious life within the context of the apostolic mission. In this new religious life, the concept of community is not limited to living as a community in the convent, but extended into collaborating friendship. Primarily, the apostolic religious life is deeply related to social justice, delinking the global capitalism in which many people suffer from human trafficking, immigration, and exile. The new leader of religious women would require skill in handling uncertainty, amplifying resources, and opening to the new reality. In this new religious life, spirituality would be articulated as freedom and liberation to let go of the old frame, as well as letting the new life become reality. In this way, as radical disciples, religious women in the twenty-first century embody the Jesus Movement, building bridges between different cultures and people.

This seminal work surveys the historical rise and fall of religious orders and congregations and reveals an unfolding pattern that gives hope for the present and future.

This is the first book in English on priesthood in religious life to be published in twenty years. Its fourteen contributors search for new ways forward in the understanding of the distinct identity and ministry of religious men—committed to community, the prophetic lifestyle of vows or promises, and the particular charisms of their congregations—who have also answered the call to priesthood. Essays in this collection include reflections from a bishop, from the perspective of a lay theologian, from an expert in the social sciences, and on Pope Francis’s teachings on priesthood. Included as well are essays that are rooted in particular cultural traditions, in spirituality, and in canon law.

A guide to help Catholic women discover a vocation to religious life.