Chiesa.com: Religious Superiors Report to the Pope. Between Decline and Rebirth

Sandro Magister in Chiesa.com reports on the meeting "behind closed doors" with heads of Religious Orders on February 18th. The article documents the situation with respect to the Jesuits and Dominicans that has been reported widely, but also documents some startling rebirths:

As for the blossoming of "new experiences of consecrated life" faithful to doctrine and rich in spirituality in vocations, here also Benedict XVI did not cite any specific cases.

But there are many of these. Some, although not very well known, are astonishing.

One of these, for example, is the Institute of the Incarnate Word.

Founded by Fr. Carlos Miguel Buela in 1984 in Argentina, in the city of San Rafael in the province of Mendoza, after just a quarter century it counts today, in its men's branch, 302 priests, 21 deacons, 195 seminarians studying philosophy and theology, 51 novices, and 95 students in the minor seminary.

Its generalate house and its center of formation are in Segni, 40 miles east of Rome, in the empty buildings of the diocesan seminary. The bishop of Segni, with the approval of the Holy See, recognized it in 2004 as an institute of diocesan right. But it is also present in 32 countries, including Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Jordan, China, Tajikistan, and Greenland.

Its women's branch, named the Servants of the Lord and of the Virgin of Matarà, counts 226 religious under perpetual vows, 251 under temporary vows, and as many novices and postulants. It is headed by a young Dutch sister, Maria de Anima Christi Van Eijk, and is present in 22 countries. A Dutch bishop is also a close friend of the institute, Johannes Baptist Gjisen, who is now in Iceland as head of the diocese of Reykjavik.

Furthermore, there is a burgeoning third order composed of laypeople, under vows and not, with various degrees of membership.

The institute incorporates both the active and contemplative life. The latter of these is represented in five monasteries: In San Rafael, Argentina; in Arequipa, Peru; in Tenerife, Canary Islands; in Anjarah, Jordan; and in Trivento, Italy.

It's spirituality is founded upon the Incarnation of the Word, and is expressed in both a strong missionary impulse and in the "evangelization of culture."

Read the entire article here.