Journey into Faith and Fidelity: Women Shaping Religious Life for a Renewed Church

Description

This book is a collection of related stories by members of the Adrian Dominican congregation that reflects the creative movement that has taken place in religious life as women have responded to the inspiration of Vatican Council II as well as to the impact of contemporary culture. While the impetus to renewal came directly from the Church authority, adaptation and change far exceeded what was originally envisioned by those who authorized the process, particularly when the institutes responded to the directive to "consult all the members".The contributors to this book trace the most critical influences that moved religious congregations toward a renewed religious life. They embraced a God who does not remain static but who moves in human history, a loving God who relates to us in care and compassion, a Holy Spirit who dwells within and inspires through discernment the decisions and directions that are to be taken, a sense of personal worth and empowerment as women baptized into gospel mission and ministry, a response to Church teaching that action on behalf of justice is constitutive of Gospel mission. In renewing their religious life, women have an important experience to offer the Church for ongoing renewal in the future, as reflection upon these essays and continuing dialogue will reveal.

Nadine Foley, OP, has served as a prioress, vicaress, and General Councilor of the Adrian Dominican Congregation, as well as US delegate to the International Union of Superiors General. She has a doctorate in philosophy from Catholic University and a masters degree in theology from Union Theological Seminary. She writes and speaks frequently on religious life and women in the Church.

"The book makes exciting and interesting reading as it ranges over theological, social, political, cultural and even financial dimensions of renewal in religious life. It displays a close familiarity with Vatican and Synodal documents, as well as in-depth knowledge and expertise in the many different areas under discussion." - Religious Life Review, May/June 2001 "As we stand at the 'eve' of the new millennium, this volume provides a welcome and wide reflection of the sea changes that forever transformed the religious life while at the same time tracing out the contours of a challenging future that has yet to be achieved." - Margaret Brennan, IHM, past president of the Leadership Council of Women Religions "This book shares with the scholarly community and the wider public what has been well-documented internally: the unique instance of social change within a defined group - 180,000 women directed to examine and transform every aspect of their lives within a defined time period." - Doris Gottemoeller, RSM, President Sisters of Mercy of the Americas "In reading this book, most of us in other religious communities will experience the joy of recognizing our own stories in these accounts by members of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, women of faith and women of fidelity to the spirit." - M. Luke Tobin, SL, official observer representing American religious women at the second Vatican council, and former President of the Sisters of Loretto "An informative, thoughtful, and honest book that includes critical appraisals of relevant Vatican documents....It would be a serious mistake not to read this book because of its location in one particular religious congregation. This is an extremely impor