1 -
The phenomenon of the abandonments
2 -
Analysis attempt;
3 -
How to proceed (Method See, Judge and Implement)
The Pope expressed himself thus: "You have chosen an
important theme. We can say that, at this moment, loyalty is put to the test.
The statistics you have examined prove it. We are facing a
"hemorrhage" that weakens the consecrated life and the life of the
Church itself. We are worried about abandonment in the consecrated life. It is
true that some leave for an act of coherence, because they recognize, after a
serious discernment, that they have never had a vocation. But others over time
weaken in fidelity, and often only a few years after perpetual profession. What
happened?"
We live in a society, the Pope continued, where
economic rules replace moral laws, dictate and impose their own systems of
reference to the detriment of the values of life. "A society in which
the dictatorship of money and profit defends its vision of existence.In such a
situation, we must first let ourselves be evangelized and committed to
evangelization
A)
absence
of spiritual life: personal prayer, community prayer and sacramental life.
Often, the lack of spiritual life leads to a great crisis of faith, for many
the deepest crisis of religious and consecrated life and of the life of the
Church itself. This means that the votes lose their meaning - in general,
before abandonment, there are many and continuous faults against them - and not
even the consecrated life. Clear, therefore, that in these cases the
abandonment is the "normal" and more logical exit.
b) Loss of sense of belonging to the community, to the
institute and, in some cases, to the Church itself. There is a disaffection for
the community and the Institute, with a series of consequences (of every two
priests who leave, one goes to the diocesan clergy ...): problems of
interpersonal relationships, misunderstandings, lack of dialogue and authentic
communication , psychic inability to live the needs of fraternal life in
community, inability to resolve conflicts. I was always impressed to see the
religious who abandon the religious life with all the naturalness, without any
drama. They leave happy. It is clear that they leave nothing, because their
hearts were already elsewhere.
c)
affective problems: a very wide problem: the falling in love that often ends in
marriage, the violation of the vow of chastity with homosexual or heterosexual
relationships, more or less frequent - both among men and women, much more than
what is he thinks, says the secretary. These problems have clear repercussions
on fraternal life, which influence relationships, continuous conflicts ...