Questions - Consecrated Lay Persons

Consecrated singles usually below to a secular institute, sometimes referred to as a lay community.

1. What is a secular institute?
2. What are the main characteristics of secular institutes?
3. How did secular institutes start?
4. How do I join a secular institute?

What is a Secular Institute?

A vocation to a secular institute involves a form of life relatively new in the Roman Catholic Church. It is open to single lay men and women or diocesan clerics who feel called by the Holy Spirit to consecrate their lives to God more intensely through vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Members of secular institutes witness to Christ and spread the Good News of the gospel by striving to live as a transforming presence or as "leaven" in contemporary society, endeavoring to restore all things in Christ while living in their own residence and engaging in the employment of their choice. Hence, their entire lifestyle of prayer, work, and social activities becomes their apostolate.

Over 160 secular institutes with some 600,000 members exist throughout the world. Institutes in the Unites States meet annually as part of the United States Conference of Secular Institutes. Attendees exchange information and discuss how this style of consecrated life can bring Christ to the world and the world to Christ.

What are the main characteristics of secular institutes?

Members of secular institutes live their daily lives within the different strata of society. Exteriorly, they appear no different from others. Interiorly, they are consecrated to God and dedicated to the service of others. Consecration, secularity, and apostolate are the main characteristics of secular institutes.

CONSECRATION - consists in professing the three gospel counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience. It is a formalization of one's commitment to belong to God alone and to serve one's neighbor in imitation of Christ. Chastity opens one to love inclusively and belong only to God; Poverty frees one to live among the good things in this world without attachment to them; and Obedience offers one's talents in service to others.

SECULARITY - which is inseparable from consecration focuses on the reality of living in the world, engaging in the activities that belong to this world while aiming at the infusing gospel values into one's environment and thereby effecting the transformation of society.

APOSTOLATE - is living out this secular consecration while working, at leisure or in retirement. Everywhere that humanity lives and moves and has its being, one finds Secular Institute members quietly working to restore all things in Christ.

How did secular institutes start?

Consecration as a way of life was practiced from the beginnings of Christianity. Individual women and men took the vow of celibacy while living in the world and with their own families.

Attempts were made to establish associations of persons consecrated to God and living in the world. In 1535, Angela Merici made efforts to have her followers live a life of consecration in the world. At that time, there were insurmountable difficulties; women did not have juridical independence, full personal responsibility, and autonomy which are necessary components to live in the world as a consecrated secular. With the degree Ecclesia Catholica confirmed in 1889 by Pope Leo XII, norms were given for the approval of some associations whose members remained in the world, lived a dedicated life, and did not wear a religious habit. However, it was not until 1947 when Pope Pius XII issued Prodiva Mater Ecclesia that this new vocation in a Secular Institute became officially recognized.

The latest revision of canon law allowed the inclusion of secular institutes in the 1983 Code.

How do I join a secular institute?

Any single lay person or diocesan cleric who is emotionally mature, balanced psychologically, and who is self-supporting can seek membership in a secular institute. Secular institutes accept those individuals who are handicapped, who have had marriages annulled, or who are widowed.

Members live in their own residence, dress in attire similar to their colleagues, and work in or are retired form various positions such as secretaries, laborers, doctors, social workers, educators, office workers, nurses, or lawyers.They provide for their own retirement and health needs. Individual members find the strength and courage to fully live their unique vocation in a spiritual life nurtured by daily prayer, meditation, and Eucharistic liturgy.

Each secular institute has a structured formation program that helps in the development of a spiritually mature person. A support system is effected through regular contacts with other members in addition to monthly days of recollection and the yearly retreat.

Information on this page is courtesy:
www.ccinfo.org