How do you deal with the aging of some religious institutes?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIt is true that the average age of religious in Spain is higher than in other countries, as is also the case in Spanish society as a whole. But this does not detract from their vitality. We find in our religious institutes people who in civil society would be retired and in religious life are very active and committed people. God works wonders with these people. Perhaps they do not appear in the newspapers, but that is not what we want either, but to be faithful to Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are several lines of action. One is to form and train ourselves to accompany this important stage of life and vocation in old age; also the local superiors and those responsible for communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is true that life expectancy has increased. On the other hand, aging in some congregations-not in all of them, but it is true that the average age is higher than in other times-is leading us to look creatively at how to maintain service to the mission in another way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Forty years ago a seventy-year-old religious was an old man. Today he is not. He may not be able to continue as a teacher in a religious school, but he can continue to be active as a reference in this apostolic work or continue to accompany young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I would say that we are facing it with realism and hope, because in the end - and here the Pope has made an important call to us - our trust is not in numbers, figures or youth, but in the Lord, who can do great things with what we are. If what is evangelical at times is the small and the weak, a high average age can also be evangelical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We face it with a look, at the same time, believing and grateful. Because the elders have accumulated wisdom and experience and are a testimony of fidelity to the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can reducing the workload by reducing the number of provinces of an Institute also be a line of action? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe grouping of provinces, which implies reducing operating structures, is not so much to reduce the mission, but just the opposite, to strengthen the mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am thinking, for example, of my congregation, the Company of Mary. We did a reduction of provinces more than twelve years ago. We went from five provinces to one, but not so much to reduce the mission as to have more people active in the mission and less in the provincial structures. Many of these measures are taken to adjust the organization to reality and to be able to continue to strengthen the mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another thing is that it is necessary to make discernment on certain presences, whether or not there is a reduction of provinces, because of the reality itself or because of the demands of reality. It is hard to say that today this work is either transformed or our health, educational or pastoral presence would have to be different in order to respond better to the reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What are the points on which Pope Francis insists the most for religious?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIn the first place, we religious feel challenged by what the Pope says to the whole Church, not only to us. But, in addition, it is true that when he addresses the religious, some constants are observed, which seem to me to be in line with the idea that we should live our religious vocation with depth and joy. He calls us to be experts in communion and witnesses of hope, of joy and, in short, of the Lord. And to be part of that Church in going out, from our own vocation. It seems to me that this is the key to what the Pope is asking of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another of his insistence is that we should not put ourselves at the center, not even our difficulties, but that the center should be the Lord and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I believe, moreover, that these calls are significant because the Pope speaks to us knowing religious life from the inside. His words are accurate, for example, when he insists on fraternity and communion, not only among religious. These are not theories, but the insistence of one who loves religious life well and knows it from the inside with all its riches and difficulties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few years ago there was talk of increasing the length of the novitiate for better vocational discernment. Is there any news about this?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIn fact, some Congregations that had one year of novitiate have extended it to two. Other orders or institutes already had two years of novitiate. What is being done is to take great care of the pre-novitiate and discernment processes. Some Institutes, in addition, have extended the time of the postulancy, before the novitiate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is clear is that today formation and processes are much more personalized than they were thirty or forty years ago. The situation is different today, because society is different and the origins of vocations are different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The idea is to ensure a good process of vocational discernment and formation that confirms the vocation to a religious institute.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0Mar\u00eda del Rosario R\u00edos, superiora de la Compa\u00f1\u00eda de Mar\u00eda desde 2010, era hasta hace poco la vicepresidenta de CONFER. En abril del a\u00f1o pasado se convirti\u00f3 en presidenta interina, al ser nombrado obispo de Mondo\u00f1edo-Ferrol el anterior presidente, Luis \u00c1ngel de las Heras. Luego, en noviembre, la Asamblea general de CONFER la ha elegido […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6884,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[36,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actualidad","category-espana"],"yoast_head":"\n
\u201cEl Papa nos pide que vivamos con hondura y alegre<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n