Finding the Treasure: Locating Catholic Religious Life in a New Ecclesial and Cultural Context (Religious Life in a New Millennium)

How did Sandra Schneiders get the courage to write this book? I was amazed and delighted to work my way through her research and logic and find an explanation for the alienation I feel in the Church of my youth. She names clearly and well what is the matter with the church today. Although this book is aimed at woman in religious life I found in it a treasure of facts on church history,teaching and contempory culture. It dares to tell what is wrong at the center of the Church. In doing so the author gives me the first hope I have had in 20 years that there is a way to give the church back to the people.

This is the first of a two-volume work, this one defining where and what Religious Life (RL) is today, the second to be published later this month deals with how RL is or should be lived, and it's said that there may be a third volume to address a number of remaining issues. It is a bricolage of insights from many disciplines fit into an intelligible pattern out of Schneiders's long experience; Religious and other readers will judge the results depending on their own experience. It deals with present-day, first-world Religious women and specifically apostolic sisters. Contemplative, male and third-world Religious will need to make their own adaptations.Part I of this volume describes the human context of RL. RL is humanly grounded in the anthropological archetype of the Monk (who seeks one thing), the psychological archetype of the Virgin (one-in-herself), and the sociological type of the Religious virtuoso. A sociological approach to RL as an organic life form with multiple interrelated aspects rather than distinct separable elements addresses the issues of (various levels of) membership in a congregation as well as its growth, self-renewal and possible decline and death. Since and because of Vatican II sisters have leapt from the middle ages to postmodernity in the space of 30 years, and the types of postmodernity that form the present historical context and options for RL are distinguished.Part II looks at the ecclesial context of RL. Theologically it is rooted in the grace of Baptism, but characterized by consecrated celibacy; contemplative closeness to God and social unity with the marginalized put Religious in a unique place to exercise a prophetic role and calling particularly inside the Church. Spiritually RL seems to be collectively going through a postmodern crisis comparable to the Dark Night of the Soul, not showing the characteristic signs of death throes, but the real possibility for new life. The ecclesiastical confusion about the place of Religious in relation to the hierarchical structure, canonical status and theological identity is seen to be caused by the mandatory singleness of the clergy, the sexualization of power relations in the Church, and the privative connotations of the term "lay," as well as from positive developments of Vatican II. The issues of canonical status and the (hypothetical) ordination of Religious women are addressed to clarify related topics. Various levels of the charism of RL are disentangled and on one level the mobile ministerial form of RL is affirmed as an ages-old calling valid in itself and not a watered down form of monasticism. Three special areas need the prophetic mission of RL today: interreligious dialog, the dialectic of religion and spirituality, and feminism in the Church.Schneiders is herself the prophetic Religious she describes in the book, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, consoling Religious in their spiritual Dark Night, and summoning them from be

Sandra Schneiders rightly describes the situation of women's religious life as "700 years in 3 decades"--religious life for women went from pre-modern to modern with Vatican II, just as the forces of post-modernity challenged it even further. The impact of this rapid change, and women religious' remarkable ability to weather it, is Schneiders' focus. Under her careful eye, the multiple problems they face are sorted out. Taking account of both the secular and ecclesial situation in which the orders are located, she surfaces key elements of religious life through the ages as 1) relationship with Christ 2) ecclesial context 3) community and 4) ministry, and shows how these can be seen in the variety of forms religious life has had in 1700 years. Noting that many sociological studies of religious life show it to be an institution on the decline, she points out that the creative behavior of members belies this prediction. The time is right, she argues, for religious to consider whether to change radically or or seek the guidance of the Spirit asking "What are we for?"

Finding the Treasure is not casual reading. Nor is it for the unitiated. Those who will appreciate it most are those who have lived through the tumult of religious life since Vatican II. One of the benefits of this book over other similar ones is that it provides a solid historical, theological and spiritual foundation for the past thirty years of religious life. Anyone who has lived the life during this period will experience the satisfaction that comes with recognition of the situations described with clarity and compassion. I look forward with great eagerness to the promised Volume II.

With the exception of Edith Bignell, your customer "reviewers" merely use the opportunity for a forum to vent their fear and anger. I doubt if they have read the book, which is a thoughtful and theologically sound reflection not only on the institution of Religious Life in 21st century Catholicism, but on the ways in which we might all respond to our Baptismal call to holiness. Sandra Schneiders is, as always, clear, compelling, and - yes - challenging.