Abbey-Roads2

Photo: Dancing Jesuit priest from India.

For those of you who may not care for the way the Jesuit Order has evolved since the Council, the Order’s Father General has an interesting interview concerning the demise of certain orders in the Church through the centuries.  Here is a snippet from Catholic News Agency:

“The Father General of the Society of Jesus, Father Peter Hans-Kolvenbach, said this week no religious congregation or institution has a guaranteed future and that each one “could disappear” if the work entrusted to it by the Lord has been fulfilled, as the history of the Church has shown.

“I am convinced that religious life should always be in crisis, if we really want to be constantly attentive to the Spirit, who never rests.  It’s not enough to follow the constitutions, the rules, in order to have a certain future,” the Jesuit superior said in an interview with the magazine “Jesus” and quoted by the Spanish daily “La Razon.”

In this sense, he said, there must be discernment of what the Lord is asking of each congregation in the different circumstances of life and history, since for example, “He may ask of a certain group of consecrated a specific task during a determined period of time,” and when that is finished, “that institute may disappear.  This is not something new in the history of the Church.”” - CNA 

Of course the Jesuits have been suppressed in previous times and places, and they came back again.  I’ve met excellent Jesuits however, and I respect the Order.  Of course, some people are not in agreement with me on this.  It is for them to have good hope. 

Religious Orders can indeed come and go.  Look at the Sisters of St. Joseph of Corondolet for instance - oh, that’s right, they are still around.  I’m certain some of the newer diocesan congregations will probably not stand the test of time, neither will the increasing numbers of idiosyncratic, free-agent hermits - but these types have sprung up at various points in the history of the Church, and were often incorporated into existing Religious Orders of the time after awhile.

(One local group, The Hermits of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel, was recently incorporated into the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance.  Although the group was pretty much started because they felt the Discalced Carmelites were not observant enough. and now they are O. Carm..  Ironic.)