Obligation and Right of Admission and Preparation of suitable Candidates to Religious Institutes by Competent Superior in the Light of Can. 642. A Case Study of the Institute of the Order of Carmelites Discalced
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Date
2017
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Publisher
Tangaza University College/Duquesne University
Abstract
The preparation and effective admission of candidates in religious institutes
is one of the main areas of focus in the Catholic Church. The church through
religious institutes facilitates proper admission through the major superiors to ensure
that we have well equipped religious men and women who understand this way of
life and are ready to live and bear witness to the people, through the evangelical
vows which are professed publicly.
This admission should always cope with the needs of the contemporary
world by not necessarily getting rid of old but giving room for flexibility and
adjustment to enhance smooth integration between the new norms and old ones
without distorting the identity and roots of the religious institutes. A charism needs
to be lived according to the place, times and people. It needs to be lived with energy
rereading it culturally, too
In general vocations to religious life are generated through familiarity and
friendship with the communities and a sustained relationship with a particular
community, for a specific duration of time. The discernment process for entry into religious life begins at the time of formal association with the institute through the
vocation promoter. The initial discernment is not first about suitability for ordained
ministry, but rather about the fit of the person with the charism and spirit of the
institute. Usually, a candidate for religious life goes through a period of candidacy
and postulancy before being admitted formally to the institute’s novitiate to become
a religious.
Religious life begins with the novitiate, a period of intense preparation for
first profession of the evangelical counsels. Therefore, admission to the novitiate is a
major step and it is appropriate that is reserved to major superiors Can.620 of 1983
code
2
Proper law refers to statutes of juridic persons of institutes of consecrated life and
societies of apostolic life. They are special because they do not only include written
laws of juridic person but also include their legal customs Canon.20 of the 1983
code
. Though there is room for proper law of each institute to determine more
detail to the extent that may be considered necessary for the procedures for
admission of candidates to religious life.
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Keywords
Right, Admission, Religious Institutes, Competent, Schema Codicis, Religious life