Vocations - Consecrated Life

 

Consecrated Life (men & women)

There are many ways the Lord calls men and women to consecrated life. Any discussion on these requires an understanding of what the Catholic Church refers to as the evangelical counsels (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 915):

Christ proposes the evangelical counsels, in their great variety, to every disciple. The perfection of charity, to which all the faithful are called, entails for those who freely follow the call to consecrated life the obligation of practicing chastity in celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom, poverty and obedience. It is the profession of these counsels, within a permanent state of life recognized by the Church, that characterizes the life consecrated to God.

Expressions of Consecrated Life include:

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  • Religious Life. This is the most common form of consecrated life, with religious sisters, religious priests, and religious brothers being the primary visible examples. These people make a public profession of the evangelical counsels, living in a fraternal community with a liturgical character. They express a witness of the union of Christ with his Church. Some men in these groups may be ordained as priests for their religious order. There are many such groups with deep history in St. Boniface, including:

     

    • Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
    • Clerics of St. Viator
    • Missionaries of the Sacred hearts of Jesus and Mary
    • Sons of Mary Mother of Mercy
    • Oblates of Mary Immaculate
    • Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus
    • Missionary Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart and Mary Immaculate
    • Sisters of Charity of Montreal (Grey Nuns)
    • Sisters of Holy Cross
    • Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions
    • Sisters of the Cross
    • Sisters of St. Benedict
    • Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
    • Marianists
    • Sisters of the Saviour
    • Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk

     

     

    • Secular Institutes. These people live and work in the world while committed to the evangelical counsels of poverty and obedience, with the express purpose of sanctifying the world from within by striving for the perfection of charity. They observe among themselves their community’s established form of communion and fellowship. Voluntas Dei is one example which is present in Manitoba.

     

    • Consecrated Virgins. These women live in a state of virginity and are consecrated to God by their diocesan bishop. They are mystically betrothed to Christ and become a transcendent sign of the Church’s love for Christ in this world and the world to come. They live and work in the world yet are free to form themselves into associations for mutual support.

     

    • Hermits. These people live hidden, apart from the world. Profession of the evangelical counsels is optional for this life. Their purpose is to devote their life to the praise of God, to prayer, and to penance; manifesting the interior life of personal intimacy with Christ.

     

    Societies of Apostolic Life. These people have a particular apostolic purpose, living in common as brothers and sisters according to a rule and a constitution. Some of these societies embrace the evangelical counsels, according to their constitution. Myriam Bethlehem Family is one example that has ties to St. Boniface.

 

 

 

 

 

 


Vocations