Foreword
Within the framework of the project Monastic Pastoral Care, there has been theological research into what the Christian consecrated life can mean today for Western Europe. The accompanying field research has been carried in large parts of Germany, the Netherlands, and Flanders.
In a time in which the consecrated life seems to be dying, this study may be too late for some. In previous decades, various congregations and communities were confronted with the question how they could prepare and process their death in the best way possible. It was viewed as irresponsible to accept new vocations. Various testimonies that reflect this can be read in the report on the field research that Paul Wennekens carried out. But it is more than likely that this project will never be too late. As has already proved to the case more often, it is always darkest before the dawn, before a bit of new light can be admitted or detected.
This theological research starts in the 1960s. The Second Vatican Council opened the windows and doors, with its well-known “aggiornamento,” and also asked the religious to renew their life and give it a contemporary form. The document Perfectae Caritatis and the sixth chapter of Lumen Gentium posed some particulars in 1965 for rethinking the life of the religious. That is where we will start with the exercise before us. For some, that is the cause of the “decline” of the consecrated as that has been perceived since then. In the meantime, time has not stood still, and the consecrated has been faced with still other challenges. It is not too late but rather a good time to examine this way of life.
I would like to thank those who have contributed to this project: Paul Wennekens, Pierre Humblet (KNR), Wim Vandewiele (KULeuven), Mattias Henckelmann (ZAP Bochum), Peter Unterberg (Porticus). And I would also like to thank all the religious who live the life that presents the vision of another world.
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