vision - 2021

compassion, justice, and carefor the environment.

Drawn to God, service,
community

Men and women who becomepriests, brothers, and sisters todayenter at a time of unprecedentedopenness within the U.S. church forlaypersons to serve professionally.

Laity are campus ministers, parish
pastoral staff, directors of religious
education, Catholic schoolteachers,
hospital chaplains, and more; yet
the attraction to service is still quite
strong. The number-one draw, unsur-
prisingly, is God—namely, the “desire
for a deeper relationship with God.”
The other factor that draws—and is
unique to religious life—is commu-
nal life, that is, a community lifestyle
and structure that supports a life of
seeking God and serving others.

For me it was a desire for community after having been inparish ministry for 20 years asa single person. Everywhere Ilooked didn’t have the fulfillment of community that I waslooking for. It’s not that therewasn’t community . . . but Iwanted to work and pray andlive with people of the samemindset and heartset.

Some religious were not really seeking out community life, but whenthey stumbled upon it, they loved it.To wit:

What ultimately drew me toreligious life was sort of thetotality of gift to Christ, andreally wanting to live my lifetotally for him. So when I metour sisters, I was not discerning, but I was very struck byhow authentic they were, thatthey were each totally themselves, and they were reallyhappy, and joyful, and normal.That was what drew me to ourcommunity.

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in these days of uncertainty?

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