Finding the Treasure: Locating Catholic Religious Life in a New Ecclesial and Cultural Text (Religious Life in a New Millennium) [Paperback]

Sandra M., Ihm Schneiders (Author)

Book Description

Series: Religious Life in a New Millennium | Publication Date: July 2000

Does religious life still make sense today?

Controversial author Sandra Schneiders asks the question, does being a religious still make sense in today's world? Her answer is yes, that religious life has a future full of hope but that it must be rethought and remodeled within the radically new context of post-Vatican-II postmodernism. Situating religious life both within a historical-cultural setting and within the Catholic Church, Schneiders addresses major questions of meaning, identity, and boundaries that have arisen over the past decades.

With tremendous cohesion, she examines issues about celibacy, permanent commitment, formation, community, vows, and prayer, as well as issues of particular concern to women: patriarchy, feminism, the role of women in the Church, and female ordination. The years since Vatican II, she says, have been a "Dark Night of the Soul" for religious life; she uses this paradigm to make sense of what has happened, the purification and transformation of religious life from dinosaur to songbird.

Schneiders' book is both deeply exciting and genuinely consoling for North American Roman Catholic women religious. Yet this sweeping multidisciplinary work has a crucial message as well for brothers, women religious in other countries or denominations, and anyone interested in the state of the church today.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In her earlier book, New Wineskins, Scheiders (a Catholic Sister who teaches at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley) was concerned with the revisions of the daily way of life that members of religious orders of women might expect in light of Vatican Council II. In this book, the first volume of a proposed two-volume work, she analyses the entire institution of religious orders of women (the Catholic term for this institution is religious life) as these orders intersect and interact with postmodern culture. She situates religious life as a human phenomenon and then considers it in its specifically Christian context. Against this background, Schneiders sketches the emerging contemporary form of religious life in the First World, which is "truly Religious and contemplative without being cloistered and ministerial without being clerical." Though addressed primarily to members of religious orders of women, this may have a broader audience among those who are interested in the contemporary institutions of the Catholic Church. Recommended for academic libraries, particularly at Catholic institutions.DDavid I. Fulton, Coll. of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

An invaluable resource. -- The Catholic Journalist

As a married Associate of a congregation I was moved by this book's ability to help clarify issues. -- Joann Wolski Conn, Professor, Christian Spirituality, Neumann College, Aston, PA

Dynamic. -- Elaine Wainwright Catholic Theological College Australia

I highly recommend this book and urge men Religious to read it, especially Religious Brothers. -- Cornelius Hubbuch, C.F.X. Vicar General, Xaverian Brothers

Recommended for academic libraries, particularly at Catholic institutions. -- Library Journal

Schneiders provides a framework within which the meaning of Religious Life emerges with clarity and a strong message of hope. -- Ethel M Bignell R.S.M., Sisters of Mercy, Aotearoa New Zealand

Schneiders pushes the best of theological analysis to new frontiers. -- Regina Siegfried, I.H.M., National Catholic Reporter

This book is an example of the prophetic charism of religious in the Church. It is challenging, thought-provoking, and hopeful. -- Theological Studies

This book leads us to ask the right questions and gives us the material to be able to answer them. -- Joan Chittister

This is a profound and very valuable book, carefully argued by one of the best theologians of religious life today. -- The Catholic Weekly (Australia)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Paulist Press (July 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809139618
• ISBN-13: 978-0809139613
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #426,664 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #96 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Monasticism

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Major Work In This Area For Years To Come, May 12, 2001

By 

Peter Fennessy (Bloomfield Hills, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Finding the Treasure: Locating Catholic Religious Life in a New Ecclesial and Cultural Text (Religious Life in a New Millennium) (Paperback)

This is the first of a two-volume work, this one defining where and what Religious Life (RL) is today, the second to be published later this month deals with how RL is or should be lived, and it's said that there may be a third volume to address a number of remaining issues. It is a bricolage of insights from many disciplines fit into an intelligible pattern out of Schneiders's long experience; Religious and other readers will judge the results depending on their own experience. It deals with present-day, first-world Religious women and specifically apostolic sisters. Contemplative, male and third-world Religious will need to make their own adaptations.

Part I of this volume describes the human context of RL. RL is humanly grounded in the anthropological archetype of the Monk (who seeks one thing), the psychological archetype of the Virgin (one-in-herself), and the sociological type of the Religious virtuoso. A sociological approach to RL as an organic life form with multiple interrelated aspects rather than distinct separable elements addresses the issues of (various levels of) membership in a congregation as well as its growth, self-renewal and possible decline and death. Since and because of Vatican II sisters have leapt from the middle ages to postmodernity in the space of 30 years, and the types of postmodernity that form the present historical context and options for RL are distinguished.

Part II looks at the ecclesial context of RL. Theologically it is rooted in the grace of Baptism, but characterized by consecrated celibacy; contemplative closeness to God and social unity with the marginalized put Religious in a unique place to exercise a prophetic role and calling particularly inside the Church. Spiritually RL seems to be collectively going through a postmodern crisis comparable to the Dark Night of the Soul, not showing the characteristic signs of death throes, but the real possibility for new life. The ecclesiastical confusion about the place of Religious in relation to the hierarchical structure, canonical status and theological identity is seen to be caused by the mandatory singleness of the clergy, the sexualization of power relations in the Church, and the privative connotations of the term "lay," as well as from positive developments of Vatican II. The issues of canonical status and the (hypothetical) ordination of Religious women are addressed to clarify related topics. Various levels of the charism of RL are disentangled and on one level the mobile ministerial form of RL is affirmed as an ages-old calling valid in itself and not a watered down form of monasticism. Three special areas need the prophetic mission of RL today: interreligious dialog, the dialectic of religion and spirituality, and feminism in the Church.

Schneiders is herself the prophetic Religious she describes in the book, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, consoling Religious in their spiritual Dark Night, and summoning them from becoming merely a cheap ecclesiastical work force to assuming the mantle of prophecy and renewed leadership. She is prophetic too in identifying the continuous systemic injustices caused by the patriarchal structures of the Church and the sexism of churchmen, and so is likely to receive a prophet's welcome and reward in many quarters. But whether you agree with her or not, in whole or in part, she has with clarity and expertise defined the terms, identified the problems and mapped out the areas for the discussion of Religious life for years to come.

49 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Putting it together, November 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Finding the Treasure: Locating Catholic Religious Life in a New Ecclesial and Cultural Text (Religious Life in a New Millennium) (Paperback)

Sandra Schneiders rightly describes the situation of women's religious life as "700 years in 3 decades"--religious life for women went from pre-modern to modern with Vatican II, just as the forces of post-modernity challenged it even further. The impact of this rapid change, and women religious' remarkable ability to weather it, is Schneiders' focus. Under her careful eye, the multiple problems they face are sorted out. Taking account of both the secular and ecclesial situation in which the orders are located, she surfaces key elements of religious life through the ages as 1) relationship with Christ 2) ecclesial context 3) community and 4) ministry, and shows how these can be seen in the variety of forms religious life has had in 1700 years. Noting that many sociological studies of religious life show it to be an institution on the decline, she points out that the creative behavior of members belies this prediction. The time is right, she argues, for religious to consider whether to change radically or or seek the guidance of the Spirit asking "What are we for?"

44 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "Must Read"!, October 24, 2000

By 

Mary Naughton "Spenser Fan" (City Island, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Finding the Treasure: Locating Catholic Religious Life in a New Ecclesial and Cultural Text (Religious Life in a New Millennium) (Paperback)

With the exception of Edith Bignell, your customer "reviewers" merely use the opportunity for a forum to vent their fear and anger. I doubt if they have read the book, which is a thoughtful and theologically sound reflection not only on the institution of Religious Life in 21st century Catholicism, but on the ways in which we might all respond to our Baptismal call to holiness. Sandra Schneiders is, as always, clear, compelling, and - yes - challenging.