After hearing foreign terms for religious life many times, I finally wrote my thoughts into an article.
Isn’t it time to stop labeling religious communities with alien terms?
I always wonder what commentators mean when they say a religious community is traditional or progressive, conservative or liberal. Why do we bring these foreign terms into religious life and the Church?
There obviously are different types of religious communities.
A contemplative community is different from an active one; a preaching community is different from one dedicated to serving the poor; a community might follow an Ignatian or Franciscan spirituality; it might be charismatic or do the liturgy in Latin; it might do mental prayer together in adoration or leave it for each to do on his own; and many other divisions that distinguish the hundreds of religious communities around the globe.
But none of these things make them “traditional” or “progressive,” “conservative” or “liberal.”
Read the rest on Aleteia.
Very good, Father. Never thought about the fact that Religious societies are being labeled along with society in general. I wonder who is so successfully labeling all …..