Partnership in lay spirituality: religious and laity find new ways / Maureen Dolan

Plot

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) gave great encouragement to religious to renew themselves and their congregations, while also challenging the laity by the universal call to holiness found in the council's central document. At first religious and laity sought to answer this call in their own way, but soon there would be an exciting new development as religious and laity together found a new approach to fulfilling the vision of the council: laity seeking a viable spirituality; religious trying to show their charism as relevant to the contemporary world. This current phenomenon goes by various names, such as lay association, affiliation or lay associate membership of a religious institute; the reality is sharing in the charism, life and spirituality of religious institutes by lay people.