ORBIS CATHOLICVS: The lost vocation: the brother...

Monday, January 26, 2009

The very last seem to now be in their eighties and soon enough even these few will be gone. Many are still called to this vocation. Be open.

Anonymous said...: You can say that again. It is a lost vocation.

Even before Vatican II, the vocation to the brotherhood in monastic and religious Orders of friars etc. was not abundant...but it was enough to sustain the brotherhood.
The Augustinian friars of the St. Thomas of Villanova Province in the USA had, before Vatican II close to 500 priests, but only about 40 brothers. Today thanks to the wonderful "fruits" and "New Springtime" of Vatican II, there are only 190 priests...and the brotherhood for the Province has been extinct for several years.
There were once close to 4,500 De La Salle Christian Brothers in the USA, with another 2,000 in training. Today, again thanks to "The New Springtime of Vatican II", there are less than 700 Christian Brothers, and perhaps 1 in training for the whole of the USA. World-wide, Christian Brothers have declined from 21,000 before Vatican II (1962), to less than 5,000 today.
In the Trappist Order, the venerable class of the lay brothers (Conversi), is just about extinct with only about 40 in the entire Order.
So yes, the vocation of Brothers is a dying vocation....especially when nearly ALL the Orders of brothers have become radical progressives which threw out all Catholic tradition.
I think only in the recently reconciled SSPX , are brothers flourishing, young, and have kept Catholic tradition.
No surprise there. 'nuff said.; 3:16 PM

Monday, January 26, 2009