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Inside NCR Ads tell their own tales of religious
life
Readers will already have noticed
that this is an unusually hefty issue of NCR. Another glance reveals
that a special section on religious life is a contributing factor. Further
investigation will show that a superabundance of advertisements is also part of
the cause. In fact, it is our unofficial estimate that this is the greatest
volume of ads weve ever had in one issue in the history of NCR --
so long as we dont count Summer or Fall Listings, which, experts say,
fall into a different category.
So, without further ado, let us salute our advertising team of Jan
Branning, Bob Gately, Marcie Ryan and director Chris Curry. We in editorial are
well aware not only that ads are our bread and butter, they are also an
important reason why people read this newspaper.
In this issue, for example, not only do the articles in our
supplement give a good account of religious life in general and in particular,
the ads are a story in themselves.
Many church observers seem to harbor the suspicion that religious
life is waning if not dying. There are no vocations any more, this body of
opinion holds -- except (the same sources say) to conservative groups whose
spirits were spent before the Second Vatican Council.
But if religious life is so endangered, why all those ads in
NCR? Dont look now, but religious communities are up to all kinds
of activities, missions, causes. Sure, theres a debate about who will put
out the lights eventually. But in the meantime, the ads indicate, religious men
and women are far from resigned to going gently into retirement or
extinction.
Not only the articles but the ads express the immense vitality
that circulates in religious life. A perceptible cloud of resignation bordering
on defeatism that hovered on the horizon 10 years ago is cast aside with
purpose and hope and imagination. In this regard who would deny the
lioness share of the credit to Sr. Joan Chittister, in these very pages,
when she wrote at white heat about the challenge and exhilaration of rising
from the ashes and flying even higher (NCR, Feb. 21, 1992, and
elsewhere; Chittister followed up the article with her best-selling book,
The Fire in These Ashes: A Spirituality of Contemporary Religious Life,
Sheed & Ward, 1995).
This issue, by the way, is not the last word on religious life,
even in NCR. Editor at large Arthur Jones has been studying the lives
and times of women religious for nearly a year. His report is so extensive,
there just wasnt space for it this time. But some week soon.
The church and its various manifestations are equally
unpredictable. Yes, there is a tentativeness, as the church pauses -- takes
stock at the end of a century, a millennium, a pontificate. There will be new
energy anon, even if its only in our minds. But look what religious have
done for the world when they put their minds to it.
Those concerned about the possible
dangers of medical products containing PVC (polyvinyl chloride), may want to
join the campaign, outlined in the report on page 5, to rid our hospitals of
such products. For more information, contact Health Care Without Harm, P.O. Box
6806, Falls Church VA 22040, phone: (703) 237-2249. On the Web:
www.noharm.org
Her ministry is the Spirit in song
welling up within her," was the headline of a profile of Notre Dame Sr.
Kathleen Deignan in the Special Ministries section of Jan. 22. This article
obviously made a favorable impression because people have been trying -- in
vain -- to reach Deignan. We neglected to include her particulars: c/o Judy
Warren, 6 Brookdale Lane, Brookfield CT 06804; or (914) 235-0816; or
www.animaschola.org
National Catholic Reporter, February 19,
1999
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