Apostolic Religious Life in America Today: A Response to the Crisis

ISBN-13: 9780813218656 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 192 str.

Richard Gribble

Opis

Apostolic religious life in the United States today is in a state of crisis. Signs of this situation are readily apparent and well-known to all who practice Roman Catholicism. The significant decline in the number of priests and religious and fewer vocations to religious congregations have produced a severe blow to formerly active apostolates and brought grave concern for the future of these ministries. While the reasons for this present situation are complex, interpretation of the documents of Vatican II is clearly one very important factor. Scholars hold two basic interpretations of the Council: the hermeneutic of rupture sees the Council as a revolution which placed the Church on a completely new trajectory. A second hermeneutic, however, views the Council as reform with continuity. While most literature to date has analyzed the hermeneutic of rupture and the consequent transformation of apostolic religious life, this book describes the opposite position.