An Unprecedented Crisis in Western History

Historians of religious life are well aware that, throughout the history of the Church, certain religious institutes—both male and female—have disappeared after years of fruitful activity. They also note that every new cycle of religious life—the transition from monasticism to the mendicant orders, from the mendicant orders to modern apostolic congregations, and so on—has, in some way, thrown the previous cycle into crisis, requiring time for it to recover and adapt. This is a positive reality: Western religious life has been enriched by the experience of the desert, the periphery, and the frontier.

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