Appointments in the order: a new way for young people discovered!

Appointments in the order: a new way for young people discovered!

The Benedictine and Rector of the Benedictine University of Sant’anselmo in Rome, P. Bernhard Eckerstorfer, has called for a new view of the calls in religious communities. The priest warned against considering young religious exclusively in the light of the negative number shifts of the religious landscape. Instead, according to Eckerstorfer, appeals should be recognized as a sign of new ways to the future. In a contribution to the Herder portal "Communio", he emphasized the need to attract young people and offer them good training. In the same breath, he pointed out a comprehensive examination that pursues the attraction of the God -consecrated life in order to better understand today's circumstances, as already reported by CNA German.

Eckerstorfer was based on several sociological studies, including a surveys carried out by the Center for Apostolate (Cara), which have evaluated the new newcomers in the United States for over 15 years. A central result of these studies is that the motivation of young people to enter an order, especially in the deepening of one's own life, lies with like -minded people. It is particularly striking that the average entry age for men and women was reduced from 2009 to 2020. The researchers also noticed that there are now more over 90-year-olds than under the age of 30 in the order and warned against ignoring this knowledge.

new appeal culture required

In order to respond to the changing needs of young people, Eckerstorfer demands a new culture of appeal that, with sensitivity, determines the conditions it needs so that young people can take the path of religious full hesitation. He also emphasized that this applies primarily to the western culture, while in countries such as Africa, Latin America and Asia there are different challenges. The knowledge gained from the studies offer potential to change the life of the religious positively and to strengthen its attraction, even if cultural differences have to be observed, says Eckerstorfer.